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 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", 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 texts on yoga contain different interpretations of pratyahara. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali explains that through Pranayama the mind experiences concentration and alignment. 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 the Self.

The development of the sensory organs

The sensory organs are used 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 take 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 for spiritual experience. If a person is too strongly attached to worldly things, this 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 aspects of pratyahara

Pratyahara, the 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, 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 bring 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. During sleep, the senses are also barely in contact with the environment.

"When you are concentrated or your state of mind is on another plane, 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.

Shedding the Old and beginning anew in one’s Conciousness

Heinz Grill (* 1960), author and spiritual teacher, describes pratyahara not only as a prerequisite for meditation, but also as a way of promoting a synthesis between spirit and world that is neither a withdrawal from the outside world nor an attachment to it. This process is opposed to the natural sensory process and is motivated by a mentally guided perception:

To practise pratyahara, he recommends keeping your eyes open to avoid daydreaming. The next step is for the practitioner to become aware that they convey unconscious emotions, desires and intellectual knowledge through their eyes:

"They glace, for example, at a forest landscape and, with their sense processes directed to the trees and forms they see, the need to go for a walk there is immediately carried over. Strictly speaking, people do not experience themselves in the reality of the outer world they are looking at, but due to their many needs of sympathy or antipathy and through their inner lying emotions they experience mostly their inner world. […] The first process of freeing the senses from one’s own emotions and the resulting projections, is to observe an object in the outer world or, for example, a piece of text, objectivity for a long period of time perhaps for two to five minutes. Finally, the gaze can be turned away from the object and an attempt can be made to describe what has been seen with objective criteria. What words were in the text, what is the main thought, what is being said, the sentence structure as it is in reality? The uncertainties that ultimately arise, can always be overcome through a repetition of the sense-observation, so that the reality, as it is, appears completely as reality. Those practising in this way attain the viewpoint of the so-called witness, which, for example, in yoga is called the sakshi."

Pratyahara here does not mean completely withdrawing the senses or closing the eyes, but refers to a conscious process of perception that restrains the unconscious and automatic inner life. As a result, the individual develops correct ideas corresponding to the object of the senses:

"Through a careful approach to the various observations and their repetition, the aspirant's consciousness expands and the first correct ideas emerge relatively quickly. The sensory objects observed speak to the human soul through the discipline of repetition."

For Heinz Grill, the withdrawal of the senses described by pratyahara corresponds to the process of "shedding the old and beginning a new", a characteristic of the 5th centre, the Vishuddha Chakra (Sanskrit विशुद्धचक्र, IAST viśuddha-cakra)."In all conversations, all forms of relationship, in all exercises or activities, the consciousness by nature literally breaks away from the old, familiar forms, and through the existence of the thought or even, to put it another way, through the existence of light, it wants to acquire an experience that goes beyond the old form."

The sensory nerves, with their afferent (from the Latin affere, 'to carry towards/over/to bring‚) function gain the upper hand through shedding the old and beginning a new in thought as opposed to the motor nerves with their efferent (from Latin effere, "to carry out, to lead out") function.

Sensory Perception and spiritual Content lead to Insight and Connection

The Bhagavad Gita distinguishes between mere abstinence, which is not yet capable of removing the urge in the senses, and a deeper insight that has a purifying effect on the senses. Chapter II, verse 59 states:

viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ rasavarjaṃ raso.apyasya paraṃ dṛṣṭvā nivartate

If one abstains from food, the objects of sense cease to affect, but the affection itself of the sense, the rasa, remains; the rasa also ceases when the Supreme is seen.

Rudolf Steiner says that sensory perception strips away everything that is not sensory from the objects being observed – he also uses the word "effaced". By adding spiritual content, humans can reconnect with the essence of things:

"Sensory perception excludes all those aspects of things which are not sensory. It divests things of all that is not sensory in them. If I then proceed to the spiritual, the idea-content, I only re-establish that aspect of things which sensory perception has effaced. Hence sensory perception does not show me the deepest nature of things; rather it separates me from this nature. Spiritual comprehension, comprehension by the idea, again connects me with this nature."

Pratyahara and Natural Science

Rudolf Steiner also sees human beings as the central element and describes how natural processes raise questions in people, encouraging them to explore these questions in greater depth. For him, this need to explore the essence of something is true science, whereas he distinguishes it from research that serves an external purpose, such as the advancement of technology: "…It is something entirely different to observe the processes of nature in order to place its forces in the service of technology, than to seek, with the help of these processes, to look more deeply into the being of natural science. True science is present only where the human spirit seeks to satisfy its needs, without any external purpose."

Effects on health

Deep relaxation and regeneration

Sukadev Bretz describes how pratyahara can induce deep relaxation, which in turn is very important for the regenerative capacity of the human body. Beta waves, which occur when we are awake and produce stress hormones in certain situations, are reduced. Alpha waves, which produce calming neurotransmitters, increase, and in some cases delta or theta waves, which are active during deep meditation or sleep, may even/even may occur. This promotes the body's ability to regenerate and strengthens the immune system.

According to Heinz Grill, the sensory nerves are strengthened when the more impulsive motor nerves are first successfully brought to recede/are withdrawn.“ However, if from the very beginning the motoric automated processes predominate in the senses, the whole nervous system generally weakens and the person becomes like a plaything of many stimuli, opinions and suggestions."

Anticarcinogenic effect

Heinz Grill compares the effects of pratyahara, the control of the senses, with those of natural sunlight, which has a generally structuring and shaping/forming effect on humans and thus counteracts the formless proliferation and cell degeneration associated with tumour diseases:

"Natural sunlight, unfiltered and pure, mild and warming, provides the human organism with a natural stimulation of the periphery, that in general transports structuring processes right into the organic interior.[…] This development of a healthy perception- and sense-process, connected with thought content, that does not come from the motoric and emotional sphere of the human desire-world, provides increasing forming forces that open up a healing atmosphere for both inflammation and also with cell degeneration."

Mental stabilisation

In Chapter II, verses 64–65, the Bhagavad Gita describes the development of human reason as another positive effect of pratyahara, for which the formation of objective views is a necessary foundation:

rāga dveṣa vimuktais tu viṣayā nindriyaiś caran ātmavaśyair vidheyātmā prasādam adhigacchati
prasāde sarvaduḥkhānāṃ hānirasyopajāyate prasannacetaso hyāśu buddhiḥ paryavatiṣṭhate

"It is by ranging over the objects with the senses, but with senses subject to the self, freed from liking and disliking, that one gets into a large and sweet clearness of soul and temperament. By that, large and sweet clearness of soul and temperament, passion and grief find no place; the intelligence of such a man is rapidly established in its proper seat."

Through this "foundation" of reason//intelligence, humans experience overall psychological stability and become capable of consciously facing both the pleasant and unpleasant phenomena of the world. The psychology of Viktor Frankl, for example, deals with the question of meaning, a question of existential importance for human beings. In order to recognise which action is meaningful in a situation, it must be seen in its entirety. In the so-called Sinnerfassungsmethode, a method developed by Alfried Längle (* 1951) in 1988 as part of logotherapy, the perception of reality is the first step towards ultimately arriving at an appropriate course of action through further steps, which the individual decides on freely and independently.