Pratyahara - the Forgotten Limb of Yoga by David Frawley

""Many of us find that even after years of meditation practice we have

not achieved all that we expected. Trying to practice meditation without
some degree of pratyahara is like trying to gather water in a leaky
vessel. No matter how much water we bring in, it flows out at the same
rate. The senses are like holes in the vessel of the mind. Unless they
are sealed, the mind cannot hold the nectar of truth. Anyone whose
periods of meditation alternate with periods of sensory indulgence is in
need of pratyahara."
Pratyahara: the Forgotten Limb of Yoga
by David Frawley, from Yoga and Ayurveda
Pratyahara itself is termed as Yoga, as it is the most important limb in
Yoga Sadhana
-Swami Shivananda
Yoga is a vast system of spiritual practices for inner growth. To this
end, the classical yoga system incorporates eight limbs, each with its
own place and function. Of these, pratyahara is probably the least
known. How many people, even yoga teachers, can define pratyahara? Have
you ever taken a class in pratyahara? Have you ever seen a book on
pratyahara? Can you think of several important pratyahara techniques? Do
you perform pratyahara as part of your yogic practices? Yet unless we
understand pratyahara, we are missing an integral aspect of yoga without
which the system cannot work.
As the fifth of the eight limbs, pratyahara occupies a central place.
Some yogis include it among the outer aspects of yoga, others with the
inner aspects. Both classifications are correct, for pratyahara is the
key between the outer and inner aspects of yoga; it shows us how to move
from one to the other.
It is not possible to move directly from asana to meditation. This
requires jumping from the body to the mind, forgetting what lies
between. To make this transition, the breath and senses, which link the
body and mind, must be brought under control and developed properly.
This is where pranayama and pratyahara come in. With pranayama we
control our vital energies and impulses and with pratyahara we gain
mastery over the unruly senses --- both prerequisites to successful
meditation.
What is Pratyahara?
The term pratyahara is composed of two Sanskrit words, prati and ahara.
Ahara means "food," or "anything we take into ourselves from the
outside." Prati is a preposition meaning "against" or "away." Pratyahara
means literally "control of ahara," or "gaining mastery over external
influences." It is compared to a turtle withdrawing its limbs into its
shell --- the turtle's shell is the mind and the senses are the limbs. The
term is usually translated as "withdrawal from the senses," but much
more is implied.
In yogic thought there are three levels of ahara, or food. The first is
physical food that brings in the five elements necessary to nourish the
body. The second is impressions, which bring in the subtle substances
necessary to nourish the mind --- the sensations of sound, touch, sight,
taste, and smell. The third level of ahara is our associations, the
people we hold at heart level who serve to nourish the soul and affect
us with the gunas of sattva, rajas, and tamas.
Pratyahara is twofold. It involves withdrawal from wrong food, wrong

impressions and wrong associations, while simultaneously opening up to

right food, right impressions and right associations. We cannot control
our mental impressions without right diet and right relationship, but
pratyahara's primary importance lies in control of sensory impressions
which frees the mind to move within.
By withdrawing our awareness from negative impressions, pratyahara
strengthens the mind's powers of immunity. Just as a healthy body can
resists toxins and pathogens, a healthy mind can ward off the negative
sensory influences around it. If you are easily disturbed by the noise
and turmoil of the environment around you, practice pratyahara. Without
it, you will not be able to meditate.
There are four main forms of pratyahara: indriya-pratyahara --- control of
the senses; prana- pratyahara --- control of prana; karma-pratyahara --control of action; and mano-pratyahara --- withdrawal of mind from the
senses. Each has its special methods.
1. Control of the Senses (Indriya-pratyahara)
Indriya-pratyahara, or control of the senses, is the most important form
of pratyahara, although this is not something that we like to hear about
in our mass media-oriented culture. Most of us suffer from sensory
overload, the result of constant bombardment from television, radio,
computers, newspapers, magazines, books --- you name it. Our commercial
society functions by stimulating our interest through the senses. We are
constantly confronted with bright colors, loud noises and dramatic
sensations. We have been raised on every sort of sensory indulgence; it
is the main form of entertainment in our society.
The problem is that the senses, like untrained children, have their own
will, which is largely instinctual in nature. They tell the mind what to
do. If we don't discipline them, they dominate us with their endless
demands. We are so accustomed to ongoing sensory activity that we don't
know how to keep our minds quiet; we have become hostages of the world
of the senses and its allurements. We run after what is appealing to the
senses and forget the higher goals of life. For this reason, pratyahara
is probably the most important limb of yoga for people today.
The old saying "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" applies to
those of us who have not learned how to properly control our senses.
Indriya-pratyahara gives us the tools to strengthen the spirit and
reduce its dependency on the body. Such control is not suppression
(which causes eventual revolt), but proper coordination and motivation.
Right Intake of Impressions
Pratyahara centers on the right intake of impressions. Most of us are
careful about the food we eat and the company we keep, but we may not
exercise the same discrimination about the impressions we take in from
the senses. We accept impressions via the mass media that we would never
allow in our personal lives. We let people into our houses through
television and movies that we would never allow into our homes in real
life! What kind of impressions do we take in every day? Can we expect
that they will not have an effect on us? Strong sensations dull the
mind, and a dull mind makes us act in ways that are insensitive,
careless, or even violent.
According to Ayurveda, sensory impressions are the main food for the
mind. The background of our mental field consists of our predominant
sensory impressions. We see this when our mind reverts to the
impressions of the last song we heard or the last movie we saw. Just as
junk food makes the body toxic, junk impressions make the mind toxic.
Junk food requires a lot of salt, sugar, or spices to make it palatable
because it is largely dead food; similarly junk impressions require
powerful dramatic impressions --- sex and violence --- to make us feel that
they are real, because they are actually just colors projected on a

screen.
We cannot ignore the role sensory impressions play in making us who we
are, for they build up the subconscious and strengthen the tendencies
latent within it. Trying to meditate without controlling our impressions
pits our subconscious against us and prevents the development of inner
peace and clarity.
Sensory Withdrawal
Fortunately we are not helpless before the barrage of sensory
impressions. Pratyahara provides us many tools for managing them
properly. Perhaps the simplest way to control our impressions is simply
to cut them off, to spend some time apart from all sensory inputs. Just
as the body benefits by fasting from food, so the mind benefits by
fasting from impressions. This can be as simple as sitting to meditate
with our eyes closed or taking a retreat somewhere free from the normal
sensory bombardments, like at a mountain cabin. Also a "media fast,"
abstaining from television, radio, etc. can be a good practice to
cleanse and rejuvenate the mind.
Yoni mudra is one of the most important pratyahara techniques for
closing the senses. It involves using the fingers to block the sensory
openings in the head --- the eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth --- and
allowing the attention and energy to move within. It is done for short
periods of time when our prana is energized, such as immediately after
practicing pranayama. (Naturally we should avoid closing the mouth and
nose to the point at which we starve ourselves of oxygen.)
Another method of sense withdrawal is to keep our sense organs open but
withdraw our attention from them. In this way we cease taking in
impressions without actually closing off our sense organs. The most
common method, shambhavi mudra, consists of sitting with the eyes open
while directing the attention within, a technique used in several
Buddhist systems of meditation as well. This redirection of the senses
inward can be done with the other senses as well, particularly with the
sense of hearing. It helps us control our mind even when the senses are
functioning, as they are during the normal course of the day.
Focusing on Uniform Impressions
Another way to cleanse the mind and control the senses is to put our
attention on a source of uniform impressions, such as gazing at the
ocean or the blue sky. Just as the digestive system gets short-circuited
by irregular eating habits and contrary food qualities, our ability to
digest impressions can be deranged by jarring or excessive impressions.
And just as improving our digestion may require going on a mono-diet,
like the ayurvedic use of rice and mung beans (kicharee), so our mental
digestion may require a diet of natural but homogeneous impressions.
This technique is often helpful after a period of fasting from
impressions.
Creating Positive Impressions
Another means of controlling the senses is to create positive, natural
impressions. There are a number of ways to do this: meditating upon
aspects of nature such as trees, flowers, or rocks, as well as visiting
temples or other places of pilgrimage which are repositories of positive
impressions and thoughts. Positive impressions can also be created by
using incense, flowers, ghee lamps, altars, statues, and other artifacts
of devotional worship.
Creating Inner Impressions
Another sensory withdrawal technique is to focus the mind on inner
impressions, thus removing attention from external impressions. We can
create our own inner impressions through the imagination or we can

contact the subtle senses that come into play when the physical senses
are quiet.
Visualization is the simplest means of creating inner impressions. In
fact, most yogic meditation practices begin with some type of
visualization, such as "seeing" a deity, a guru, or a beautiful setting
in nature. More elaborate visualizations involve imagining deities and
their worlds, or mentally performing rituals, such as offering imaginary
flowers or gems to imagined deities. The artist absorbed in an inner
landscape or the musician creating music are also performing inner
visualizations. These are all forms of pratyahara because they clear the
mental field of external impressions and create a positive inner
impression to serve as the foundation of meditation. Preliminary
visualizations are helpful for most forms of meditation and can be
integrated into other spiritual practices as well.
Laya Yoga is the yoga of the inner sound and light current, in which we
focus on subtle senses to withdraw us from the gross senses. This
withdrawal into inner sound and light is a means of transforming the
mind and is another form of indriya-pratyahara.
2. Control of the Prana (Prana-Pratyahara)
Control of the senses requires the development and control of prana
because the senses follow prana (our vital energy). Unless our prana is
strong we will not have the power to control the senses. If our prana is
scattered or disturbed, our senses will also be scattered and disturbed.
Pranayama is a preparation for pratyahara. Prana is gathered in
pranayama and withdrawn in pratyahara. Yogic texts describe methods of
withdrawing prana from different parts of the body, starting with the
toes and ending wherever we wish to fix our attention --- the top of the
head, the third eye, the heart or one of the other chakras.
Perhaps the best method of prana-pratyahara is to visualize the death
process, in which the prana, or the life-force, withdraws from the body,
shutting off all the senses from the feet to the head. Ramana Maharshi
achieved Self-realization by doing this when he was a mere boy of
seventeen. Before inquiring into the Self, he visualized his body as
dead, withdrawing his prana into the mind and the mind into the heart.
Without such complete and intense pratyahara, his meditative process
would not have been successful.
3. Control of Action (Karma-Pratyahara)
We cannot control the sense organs without also controlling the motor
organs. In fact the motor organs involve us directly in the external
world. The impulses coming in through the senses get expressed through
the motor organs and this drives us to further sensory involvement.
Because desire is endless, happiness consists not in getting what we
want, but in no longer needing anything from the external world.
Just as the right intake of impressions gives control of the sense
organs, right work and right action gives control of the motor organs.
This involves karma yoga --- performing selfless service and making our
life a sacred ritual. Karma-pratyahara can be performed by surrendering
any thought of personal rewards for what we do, doing everything as
service to God or to humanity. The Bhagavad Gita says, "Your duty is to
act, not to seek a reward for what you do." This is one kind of
pratyahara. It also includes the practice of austerities that lead to
control of the motor organs. For example, asana can be used to control
the hands and feet, control which is needed when we sit quietly for
extended periods of time.
4. Withdrawal of the Mind (Mano-Pratyahara)
The yogis tell us that mind is the sixth sense organ and that it is

responsible for coordinating all the other sense organs. We take in

sensory impressions only where we place our mind's attention. In a way
we are always practicing pratyahara. The mind's attention is limited and
we give attention to one sensory impression by withdrawing the mind from
other impressions. Wherever we place our attention, we naturally
overlook other things.
We control our senses by withdrawing our mind's attention from them.
According to the Yoga Sutras II.54: "When the senses do not conform with
their own objects but imitate the nature of the mind, that is
pratyahara." More specifically, it is mano-pratyahara --- withdrawing the
senses from their objects and directing them inward to the nature of the
mind, which is formless. Vyasa's commentary on the Yoga Sutra notes that
the mind is like the queen bee and the senses are the worker bees.
Wherever the queen bee goes, all the other bees must follow. Thus
mano-pratyahara is less about controlling the senses than about
controlling the mind, for when the mind is controlled, the senses are
automatically controlled.
We can practice mano-pratyahara by consciously withdrawing our attention
from unwholesome impressions whenever they arise. This is the highest
form of pratyahara and the most difficult; if we have not gained
proficiency in controlling the senses, motor organs, and pranas, it is
unlikely to work. Like wild animals, prana and the senses can easily
overcome a weak mind, so it is usually better to start first with more
practical methods of pratyahara.
Pratyahara and the Other Limbs of Yoga
Pratyahara is related to all the limbs of yoga. All of the other limbs --from asana to samadhi --- contain aspects of pratyahara. For example, in
the sitting poses, which are the most important aspect of asana, both
the sensory and motor organs are controlled. Pranayama contains an
element of pratyahara as we draw our attention inward through the
breath. Yama and niyama contain various principles and practices, like
non-violence and contentment, that help us control the senses. In other
words, pratyahara provides the foundation for the higher practices of
yoga and is the basis for meditation. It follows pranayama (or control
of prana) and, by linking prana with the mind, takes it out of the
sphere of the body.
Pratyahara is also linked with dharana. In pratyahara we withdraw our
attention from ordinary distractions. In dharana we consciously focus
that attention on a particular object, such as a mantra. Pratyahara is
the negative and dharana the positive aspect of the same basic function.
Many of us find that even after years of meditation practice we have not
achieved all that we expected. Trying to practice meditation without
some degree of pratyahara is like trying to gather water in a leaky
vessel. No matter how much water we bring in, it flows out at the same
rate. The senses are like holes in the vessel of the mind. Unless they
are sealed, the mind cannot hold the nectar of truth. Anyone whose
periods of meditation alternate with periods of sensory indulgence is in
need of pratyahara.
Pratyahara offers many methods of preparing the mind for meditation. It
also helps us avoid environmental disturbances that are the source of
psychological pain. Pratyahara is a marvelous tool for taking control of
our lives and opening up to our inner being. It is no wonder some great
yogis have called it "the most important limb of yoga." We should all
remember to include it in our practice.
Pratyahara and Ayurveda
Pratyahara, as right management of the mind and senses, is essential and
good for all constitutional types. It is the most important factor for
mental nutrition. However, it is most essential for those with a vata

constitution who tend towards imbalanced or excessive sensory and mental

activity. All vata types should practice some form of pratyahara daily.
Their restless vata distracts the senses, disturbs the motor organs and
prana, and makes the mind restless. Pratyahara reverse harmful vata and
turns it into a positive force of prana.
Kapha types, on the other hand, generally suffer from too little
activity, including on a sensory level. They may slip into tamasic
patterns of being lazy, watching television or sitting around the house.
They need more mental stimulation and benefit from sensory activity of a
higher nature, like visualizations of various types.
Pitta types generally have more control of the senses than the others
and incline toward martial-type activities in which they discipline the
body and the senses. They need to practice pratyahara as a means of
relaxing the personal will and letting the divine will work through
them.
Pratyahara and Disease
Ayurveda recognizes that the inappropriate use of the senses is one of
the main causes of disease. All mental disease is connected with the
intake of unwholesome impressions. Pratyahara therefore is an important
first step in treating all mental disorders. Similarly it is very
helpful in treating nervous system disorders, particularly those that
arise through hyperactivity. Most of the time we overly express our
emotions, which loses tremendous energy. Pratyahara teaches us to hold
our energy within and not disperse it unnecessarily. This conserved
energy can be drawn upon for creative, spiritual or healing purposes as
needed and can provide the extra power to do the things that are really
important to us.
Physical disease mainly arises from taking in unwholesome food.
Pratyahara affords us control of the senses so that we do not crave
wrong food. When the senses are controlled, everything is controlled and
no wrong or artificial cravings can arise. That is why Ayurveda
emphasizes right use of the senses as one of the most important factors
in right living and disease prevention.