Success in practicing the eight limbs of Patanjali’s yoga is quite reliant on limb number five.

In Sanskrit it is called Pratyahara.

In English it means to literally retract mental and emotional attention energies out of the things they are usually compelled to invest in and to redirect those energies into the 'self' for the purpose of self-examination and purification.

So first of all, who exactly is it that is doing this pratyaharic retracting?

It is the core-self, the spiritual person, in Sanskrit called the atma, who is performing the retraction.

The core-self is the one who the entire system of yoga is addressing, awakening, enlivening, developing and ultimately, liberating.

Without the atma, there is nothing to be done in yoga, therefore pratyahara keeps us self-focused, self-interested and self-referenced so as to not abandon or fake the practice.

Through the retrieval (pratyahara) of attention energies, the core-self is empowered to take on the job of yogically managing its local physio-psychic environment (the body and mind) and to begin the big job of clearing away and learning how to avoid karmic (action) debt.

Pratyahara becomes a deep type of introspection, a super sensitive kind of special attention I’ve only found in the advanced psychological practice of Yoga. In fact once an individual has been working away at the Yoga for some lifetimes, he/she might come to the conclusion that the act of pratyahara is the real champion in the quest for liberation.

Why?

Because in yoga it’s all about being careful about the choices we make. From our social behaviors, to asana, to how we perform meditation, every action and non-action has consequences. These consequences are the equivalent of debt. Yoga is meant to distance the core self from its investment in material creation through what Patanjali describes as ‘the cultivation of non-interest in the mental and emotional energies (cittavrtti)’ and to, even while acting in the world, eliminate the debt.

Patanjali says in chapter 1 verse 12 of the Yoga Sutras translation by Michael Beloved:

“By not having an interest in the mental ideas and emotional feelings, you may develop the power to stop their influence”.

By putting the core self to work and accepting the responsibility of itself and its fate, this willful action of internalizing attention can give the self (atma) the leg up it needs to manage the other limbs of yoga practice that come before and after it, which are:

- Social engagements and restraints (yamas, niyamas parts 1 & 2) - we constantly and unconsciously increase karmic debt through unnecessary interactions and by avoiding necessary interactions. Pratyahara brings our attention to necessary lifestyle adjustments that serve our practice of inner detachment even when we cannot outwardly. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains very clearly that by maintaining yogic inner detachment to the outcome of worldly events, one can act in this material creation but not be indebted with the usual consequential energies (phalam).

- Mystic exercises (asana part 3) - must be done with the special focus and the mental cooperation needed to allow the body to move itself in just the right ways to access all the parts of the psyche for clean out. Asana are not the same for each person therefore each person must be self-focused on a super-sensitive level in order to cull out the mystic cleansing benefits of the postures.

- Breath infusion (pranayama part 4) - without pratyahara, we will not pay yogic level attention to the intricate job of distributing oxygen while extracting heavy gases (mostly CO2) and psychological waste energies. Pranayama must be so efficient as to be the bridge one crosses into heightened awareness and mystic insight.

- Progressive Meditation (samayam parts 6, 7, & 8) - If we don’t engage pratyahara we will never cross the barriers of mind and body into real, transcendental, direct line meditation.

The type Patanajali expects from those who accept his standard.

We have the most serious job to do in Yoga.

If we are studying our Yogic scriptures we understand that this job is to take control of ourselves, connect to higher energies and beings and to do our best to make ourselves ready and eligible for transit to a higher dimension upon the death of the current physical form.

If the psyche is dirty and clogged up it will continue to reincarnate right where it is or even into lower species or dimensions. Pratyahara helps us avoid this and to keep our focus on spiritual goals.

Again, in Yoga we believe that the only way we can transcend out of the current dimensional level is to clean out the psyche (aka astral body or inter-dimensional energy body) by changing out the energies within it through:

• lifestyle management (steps 1 & 2)
• yogic exercise (step 3)
• yogic breathing (step 4)
• internalized yogic attention (step 5)
• samyama meditation (steps 6, 7, 8)

During a session of asana and pranayama, we engage pratyahara so that we do the best job of getting out heavy, depressive, anxious, passionate, hyper energies from the body/mind, while simultaneously infusing oxygen throughout, establishing a clean environment for the sake of the core self and its ability to sense itself during meditation.

We use powerful, serious breathing exercises (pranayama) to make this happen, but it’s the pratyahara that makes the pranayama and asana work how they should for real yogic success.

Pratyahara makes the whole Yoga system work, the axis that keeps it all together.

During application of pranayama the mind energies are brought inside the psyche. This takes mystic will power. No more thinking about this and that, or feeling emotion this or that. During repetitious yoga practices the mind is trained to be ready, cooperative and to work for the goal of the core-self, which is self-realization and acquaintanceship with divine beings during meditation in this lifetime, as well as future relocation to those divine places and people in our next circumstance. The mind learns to sacrifice itself and even find contentment under the existential direction of the core-self.

With us and at work at all times, pratyahara is the willful action of keeping control of what the mind does, where it goes, what it seeks and when.

Pratyahara keeps us in a non-distracted state of clarity and focused strong on our spiritual goals.