THE 8 LIMBS OF YOGA: PRATYAHARA

Pratya means to ‘withdraw’, or ‘draw back’ and ahara refers to anything we ‘take in’.
Our manas mind is literally the gateway between the outside world and our inside world and although it can be helpful in navigating ourselves around the environment, we can at times be overwhelmed with it all.

For us to be able to dive deeply into meditation, a certain level of this external noise must be put aside. Once we have set aside the external noise, the internal mind chatter can become quite deafening.

Last week we looked at Pranayama. Pantanjali states that pranayama can be determined by three things: time, number and space. Time being how long we practice, number being number or rounds and internal counts, and space being an internal luminous space in which we can create to attract our energy (prana).

We looked at not allowing unconscious gaps between breaths as this creates an opening for the mind to escape. Instead, we practiced inviting in conscious gaps (kumbhaka) to intentionally drop the mind into the space.

This week we’ll look at creating a spontaneous kumbhaka through a luminous field, drawing and attracting the mind, senses and awareness, and amplifying our ability for Pratyahara. We look forward to seeing you on the mat!