User:Xenja/Pratyahara

Pratyahara is the fifth stage of the eight stages of Ashtanga Yoga or Raja Yoga, which was described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra. Pratyahara follows Pranayama, the control of the breath, followed by the next stages Dharana (concentration) Dhyana, the meditation.

Pratyahara is about controlling the senses. The senses instead of running after external objects of desire turn inwards.

Through this internalisation of consciousness, sensory impressions become conscious and controllable. The human mind should be trained to perceive subtleties that are normally hidden from the senses.

At an advanced level, one is also taught/it is also taught how to influence the activity of the involuntary muscles. These techniques flow smoothly into pranayama. Another technique of pratyahara is to concentrate on the point between the eyebrows, the ajna chakra (third eye).

From a spiritual perspective, the consciously guided sensory process is important for pratyahara. This takes place in the process of "detachment and new beginnings“/shedding the old and beginning anew, in which, in all forms of relationships, exercises or conversations, the individual detaches their consciousness from the old familiar forms and, through the existence of a consciously conceived thought, gains an experience that transcends the old form.

Etymology and interpretations in ancient yoga literature

The Sanskrit term pratyahara (Sanskrit प्रत्याहार, IAST pratyāhāra) is derived from the verb root hr "to take" and undergoes a modification to hāra. It is preceded by the two prefixes ā "towards, to, in the direction of" and prati "back", whereby prati becomes praty due to the following ā. Pratyahara literally means "to take back" or "to withdraw".

Patanjali writes in Chapter 2, verses 54 and 55 of the Yoga Sutra:

svaviṣaya-asaṁprayoge cittasya svarūpānukāra-iv-endriyāṇāṁ pratyāhāraḥ ||54|| tataḥ paramā-vaśyatā indriyāṇām ||55||

"The withdrawal of the senses is as it were, their assumption of the form of mento-emotional energy when not contacting their own objects of perception. From that accomplishment, comes the highest degree of control of the senses."

The ancient writings on yoga contain different interpretations of pratyahara. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali explains that pranayama brings about concentration and focus of the mind. The Prashna Upanishad uses the image of bees following the queen bee everywhere to describe this process in the Second Question II, Verse 4. Below is a translation of this verse by Swami Sivananda: "He from indignation appeared to go out upwards (from the body); thereupon as he was about to go out, all others seemed to go out and he being established, all others were established. Just as bees go out, and settle down when she settles down, so did the speech, mind eye, ears (etc.). Being satisfied they praised the Prana."

In the Gherandasamhita (17th century), the fourth chapter on pratyahara contains an interpretation according to which one should withdraw (his mind) from good or bad speech, sweet or bad smells, sweet, acid, bitter or astringent tastes, and bring everything within the control of his Self.

The development of the sensory organs

The sensory organs serve to perceive and orientate ourselves in the outside world. Through them, humans perceive the physical, sensory world. From a spiritual perspective, humans are not only part of the physical world, but also part of a spiritual and soul world. According to Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), the founder of anthroposophy, humans need to train their soul-spiritual organs of perception. In contrast to the development of the physical sensory organs, which takes place quite naturally, humans must accomplish the development of finer organs of perception themselves:

"It is true that the relation of man to these higher senses is rather different from his relation to the bodily senses. It is good Mother Nature who sees to it, as a rule, that these latter are fully developed in him. They come into existence without his help. For the development of his higher senses, however, he must work himself. If he wishes to perceive the soul and spirit worlds, he must develop soul and spirit, just as nature has developed his body so that the might perceive the corporeal world around him and guide himself in it."

For this, it is necessary for humans to understand themselves as spiritual beings and to view their bodies as relative. The body reflects all kinds of desires, but ultimately, the body only reveals a hunger for the spirit:

One must lift oneself out of the body with a mental jolt in order to satisfy the desire that the body creates in the spirit.

Renunciation of worldly things is a prerequisite/premise/precondition for spiritual experience. If a person is too strongly attached to worldly things, it stands in the way of their search for the spiritual. In this sense, pratyahara can be seen as an element that causes the physical senses to recede from their dominance and develop a more refined perception.

Different/various aspects of pratyahara

Pratyahara, the control/guidance of the senses, can be interpreted and practised in different ways. There are also various aspects and elaborations ranging from the development of the individual up to a future understanding of science.

Practical implementation in everyday life

According to Sukadev Bretz, the founder of Yoga Vidya, one meaning of the term pratyahara is withdrawal/retreat, for example, a time when one does not come into contact with external objects.

In concrete terms, however, pratyahara also means the ability to withdraw one's senses from the outside world. Normally, the five senses of human beings are geared towards perceiving something. The eyes want to see something, the ears want to hear something. This is usually followed by a reaction that Sukadev describes as undignified behaviour: reacting immediately to an external stimulus.

Sukadev describes another meaning of pratyahara as the ability to put one's mind into a meditative state in which contact between the senses and the environment is no longer important. This state is achieved through high concentration, in which the outside world recedes in its effect and the person hardly perceives heat or cold, for example. Even during sleep, the senses are hardly in contact with the environment. "When you are concentrated or your state of mind is on another level, your senses do not come into contact with objects. Being able to bring this about consciously is pratyahara.

Sukadev names two techniques for everyday life to break through the stimulus-response mechanisms to which humans are usually subject. When an external stimulus awakens a desire, a craving or even rejection, one can

• focus one's mind on something else, something spiritual, such as a mantra, and thus consciously direct one's attention,
• direct one's sensory perception in such a way that one withdraws one's attention into the sensory organ itself. So if a disturbance arises through seeing, one should concentrate on the eyes. In this way, one draws the energy of the organ of sight back into the eye itself.

The aim is not to feel frustrated about denying yourself a desire, but to become free from the desire itself. To generate pratyahara, for example at the beginning of meditation, he mentions the following possible means:

• Prayer in the sense of turning to God,
• Visualisations, for example, imagining light flowing into people,
• Positive affirmations, for example, by becoming aware of the benefits of meditation,
• Body scan, in which you consciously move from the bottom to the top of your body,
• Practising deep relaxation.