The 8 Limbs of Yoga: Pratyahara

Welcome back to my blog series diving into the 8 Limbs of Yoga, coming to you from the Big Island of Hawaii this week! To get caught up to speed, I recommend going back to my previous posts where I discussed the first 4 limbs: the Yamas, Niyamas, Asana, and Pranayama, to give you a little bit of a foundation. To briefly summarize, the 8 Limbs of Yoga aim to provide ethical guidelines for how we can create purpose in our lives both on and off the mat.

Let’s dive into the 5th limb: Pratyahara.

In sanskrit, pratya means “withdraw” and ahara refers to anything we take in - such as sight, smell, taste, etc. - so pratyahara roughly translates to “withdrawal of the senses” or “drawing inward”.

You might be wondering how can you apply this so-called withdrawal of the senses to your life, especially in a world that’s constantly bombarding the senses… I sometimes feel like I’m in sensory overload, and know I’m not alone! But it’s important to note here that the goal isn’t to shut everything off, but rather to tune out the distractions, both the ones outside of us and the ones inside of us, as well.

Think about this: when we meditate, the first thing we do is go inward… we find a quiet space, close our eyes, and begin focusing on our breath, eliminating outside stimuli and distractions. We’re not shutting our senses off - that’s nearly impossible. What we are doing is simply becoming so absorbed in what we’re focusing on, so present in the moment, that the potential distractions no longer bother us.

We’re not shutting off our senses, we’re simply tuning out distractions.

Because we’re so used to reacting to every little thing that happens around us and pushing our energy outwards, practicing Pratyahara can be challenging. The easiest way to start is through your meditation or pranayama practices.

Don’t have a meditation or pranayama practice? Look no further! You can find a simple meditation for anxiety on this post I shared a few months back. I also recommend checking out YouTube to for guided meditations - you can just search “guided meditation for beginners” and you’ll find many options. Interested in pranayama? This post includes a simple pranayama technique known as box breathing, which can really be practiced anywhere.

Stay tuned for the final 3 limbs in the coming months!

xo,
Kelsey