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We are what we eat… and taste, smell, see, hear, and touch. Every sensory experience is digested through the nervous system, the body and mind.

When we eat good food, we feel good. We’re stronger, more energetic, clear headed, and we’re better at fighting off infections.

Likewise, our wellbeing improves when we smell something good like bread baking in the oven, or when we see the sunset on the horizon, when we hear “I love you” from someone we care about, or when we plunge into a cold lake on a hot day.

All these experiences come into our bodies and minds through the senses. They increase our mental and physical health in subtle ways. We might not always be aware of it, but the blood pressure goes down when we hear a gentle breeze in the trees, and when we smell fragrant spices our digestive system kicks into action, preparing the body to receive nourishment.

So, what is pratyāhāra?

Pratyāhāra is a yogic practice to shut down the senses, or rather pause them mindfully. Now why would we want to do that? When there are so many pleasures in life—like good food and wine—what would be the point of that?

Let me answer the “why” question in a minute. But first I’ll outline what it is.

Of the eight limbs of yoga, pratyāhāra is the fifth.* It bridges our physical practices, such as āsana (poses), with deepening levels of meditation. As a quick refresher, here are the eight limbs of yoga:

1. yama (regulating our behaviour towards others)
2. niyama (self-regulation)
3. āsana (postures)
4. prānāyāma (conscious breathing)
5. pratyāhāra (withdrawal of the senses)
6. dhārāna (focusing the mind on one object)
7. dhyāna (meditating on the relationship between an object and ourselves)
8. samādhi (non-dual self-realization)

If you’re into soccer analogies, pratyāhāra is like the midfielder of yoga, distributing your energy around the pitch. Think of pratyāhāra as engaging with the field of our sensory experience. Balls are kicked towards us—sights, sounds, smells, flavours, and sensations.

As you train in pratyāhāra you gain more control in the field of the senses, you increase your ability to handle every ball that comes your way. Like a skilled midfielder, you can defend against an attacking team, and also distribute the ball to your striker for a goal.

How to practice pratyāhāra

In simple terms, pratyāhāra means a withdrawal of the senses. Like a fast, we spend a little time away from sensory stimulation to give our body and mind a chance to rest and digest all that sensory input.

Here are a few simple ways to practice sensory withdrawal:

1. Yoga nidra: Lie down and listen to a guided yoga nidra meditation. The rotation of consciousness through the body helps us reach a very deep level of relaxation and let go of sensory stimulation. It’s like sleep, but you’re still conscious.
2. Meditation: Sitting with a tall spine or in a comfortable supported position, close your eyes and focus your thoughts on one sense only. For example, listen to the sound of your breath. When you get distracted, bring your focus back to that sound during your meditation. Allow the rest of your senses to recede. Practice for 5 minutes or more.
3. Visualization: Rest in śavāsana or sit comfortably with the eyes closed. Take at least 5 minutes to visualize an image that’s positive and brings you a sense of ease, such as a tree, a calm lake, a candle, or a starry night sky. Notice how that imagery makes you feel.
4. Spend time in nature: Spend time away from hyper-stimulating environments, shut down your devices, and notice the sensory landscape of a natural environment like a forest, lake, seaside, or hilltop. Sit or walk mindfully in that landscape, paying attention to how the five senses begin to settle.

Why the senses need a break every now and then

If only the world was all pretty sunsets and adorable kittens!! Unfortunately, there’s other stuff too. Angry words spoken, internet trolls, doom scrolling, false needs created by marketing, addictive substances, and car crashes, plus all the minor injuries that assault our senses too, like headaches, icy sidewalks, noisy traffic, and food that’s gone off.

All this has to be digested. And it’s hard sometimes. What we hear, see, taste, touch, and smell can be so hard to digest sometimes that it gets stuck, stagnating somewhere in our nervous system, unprocessed. On a subtle level, this can lead to confusion, poor choices, depression, anxiety, and disease.

So we train our senses to filter, process, rest, and digest. This is the purpose of pratyāhāra.

Think of pratyāhāra as a fast

If we ate food constantly through the day and night, without taking any breaks between meals, we’d soon start to feel pretty sluggish and heavy. We need time in between meals to digest and expend energy. Then when we’re hungry again, it’s time to eat. Some people fast, not just between meals, but for a certain number of hours or days to give their digestive system a detox.

Sensory experience is the same. A constant feed of sensory input is too much for our nervous system to process. Imagine the difference between eating a slice of chocolate cake and eating the whole cake in one sitting.

We can caught up by too many sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and sensations—especially the negative ones, but even too much of the good ones. When that happens, our senses get disordered and they can lead us astray. We might crave pleasures like junk food, alcohol, or drugs that taste good and make us feel euphoric. But they aren’t good for us in the long run. We might avoid having difficult conversations because they make us feel tense and shaky. But we know some things need to be said for social bonds to strengthen and heal.

So press pause on the senses. When pratyāhāra is part of your practice, you give yourself time to process and digest the food of life. Feelings like fear, pain, confusion, avoidance, cravings, anger, lust, and addictions no longer control you. Instead of lobbing the ball out of bounds or passing it to your opponent, your energy can be directed skillfully towards the goal.

To begin your pratyāhāra practice, try my yoga nidra meditation or this meditation on mastering the five senses.

* See Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras 2.29 and 2.54 – 2.55 for reference.