Pratyahara

Pratyahara - the conscious withdrawal of energy from the senses

The word Ahara means “nourishment”; pratyāhāra translates as “to withdraw oneself from that which nourishes the senses.” What does this mean? It means our senses stop living off the things that stimulate; the senses no longer depend on these stimulants and are not fed by them any more. Our eyes are drawn to a beautiful sunset as bees are drawn to honey—this is the way our senses function normally. But there is also the possibility that the most beautiful sunset on earth will not attract our attention, will not engage our senses, because we are deeply immersed in something else. Normally the senses say to the mind: “Look at this! Smell this! Touch that!” The senses register an object and the mind is drawn to it at once.

In pratyāhāra we sever this link between mind and senses, and the senses withdraw. Each sense perception has a particular quality to which it relates: the eyes relate to the form of something; the ears to the sound, the vibration it makes; the nose to its smell. In pratyāhāra it is as if things are spread out with all their attractions before our senses, but they are ignored; the senses remain unmoved and uninfluenced.

Pratyāhāra can be a means for controlling physical discomfort by directing the attention elsewhere. Imagine you have been sitting in the full lotus pose, completely absorbed in God or OM. You have not even been aware that you have been sitting for so long in this position. When you return to your normal awareness you find you have to massage your legs; you have not been aware of what has been happening in your legs and feet because your interest was focused on something else. In this sense it is possible for pain to be masked by pratyāhāra, but it is difficult to direct the senses to a particular object with the express purpose of forgetting pain because our senses always function collectively. Pratyāhāra is rather a state that occurs spontaneously.