Relaxed Confrontation
– a Yoga Method – Pratyahara

How Can I Have a Relaxed Relationship to Influences?

Have you ever tried to sit for a while, allowing your mind to think of all the worries that usually make you unsettled?

To be independent of influences is called Pratyahara (abstraction).

Pratyahara is a natural process and has nothing to do with exertion or strain. You do not try to force disturbances to leave your mind. On the contrary, you allow your mind to be occupied with them until the mind is satisfied – while all along you remain the witness.

When you try to force your mind away from thoughts and disturbances, they will only return. Pratyahara is a yoga method that accommodates the mind’s habitual way of reacting.

Therefore, as a necessary basis for relaxing the mind, you learn to use the methods of Pratyahara – when the needs of your mind are satisfied, you will be able to concentrate with greater ease.

“Close your eyes right now, just as you are, and listen to all the surrounding sounds. Listen to all of them – without discriminating – as a whole, all at the same time.”

Pratyahara is mentioned in an article on the Pyramid and Pratyahara

Read more about the Pratyahara methods in chapter 9 of the book Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life by Swami Janakananda

>>> Next: Relaxation in Yoga – Yoga Nidra