Introduction Post from JYP Participants
Graça Azevedo, Sintra Portugal
“Pratyāhāra” the 5th limb of Astanga Yoga:
I recently read an article about Pratyāhāra and felt touched about the importance of this limb for understanding Yoga.
As Ācārya explains in lecture YS 1.31,
“Pratyāhāra” is the withdrawal of the mind whereby none of the senses are able to work by themselves.
They are associated with the mind. As long as we succeed in the withdrawal of the mind, our senses will keep quiet − this represents control over the senses. It is known as Indriyāṇāṃ Pratyāhāraḥ.
But we do not mean retreat from the external aspects of our daily life.
Our thoughts are useful for decisions and acts in the waking state.
Our purpose is to lessen modifications in a balanced way, for meditation and for opening the door to Samādhi.
When I was learning about the 8 limbs of Aṣṭang Yoga for the first time, this stage didn’t appear to me as relevant as the others, because I couldn’t grasp the central role of this step. Being vaguely aware of the benefits that controlling external influences could bring me, this soon became my primary motivation for learning yoga. In that time, this new Yogic culture I was about to discover, also represented an escape from cultural impositions of our society.
With practice, I began to realize how the mental distance from external interference brings more freedom and inner wisdom.
“Pratyāhāra”, despite being the less known stage, allows higher levels of the Yogic experience and is a powerful instrument to control our existence and to achieve an interior awareness, an essential stage for Enlightenment.