Sense Withdrawal is drawing our senses away from the external world long enough to find relaxation, peace and santosha within. The world we live in is a highly sensory world. “Sensory overload” is a great term to describe the overwhelming feeling of just too much!! It takes practice and control to step back from this overstimulated momentum of life to replenish our life force energies and find peace in our everyday life.

 

In the modern day world and in most countries we are a very consumer oriented world. Our senses are constantly looking for things that are pleasing to the eye; “eye candy”. We are addicted to sugar and it is hard to find foods without sugar unless you cook your own meals from whole foods. From this our taste bud senses are easily enticed by the mention of soft drinks, energy bars, alcohol and other processed foods. We are a rich nation in that the more toys you own the higher up the ego ladder you rise. We spend, spend, spend on products that are pleasure to our senses. In the world of consumerism, the goal of the advertisers is to entice the senses of it’s audience, and in most cases subliminally. And they succeed! Since the technology of smart phones, we are beckoned by ring tones, sometimes responding to the beckon even while listening to a friend or eating a meal. We are so driven by our senses that we have no control over the mind when our senses are activated. We will sometimes go to great lengths to have what we are grasping for. Sometimes to the point of producing harmful karma. Living in a consumer world we believe that we are what we own. That we are what we seek. That we are what we create. That we are what we eat and post on Face Book. Our mind, and consequentially our life force energies, are scattered and directed towards the external world. The external world only gives us temporary pleasure and then when that pleasure is gone we become unhappy and have the need to grasp for more. Our prana is scattered. Most of the time we are so focused on the external world we lose sight of who we really are. This is maya; illusion. Illusion that we are the external world. Therefore, we differentiate ourselves as separate from everyone else, for example: "I own 2 houses on the water", "I am an artist", "I am a lawyer", "I am a double cheeseburger with bacon and avocado", "I am an American". The problem is not the senses as our senses navigate our world for us. The problem is getting swept away from our sense of oneness to a point of grasping, desire, attachment and separateness. And when we are desiring, we are unhappy; we are not content! We are living a life of constantly consuming and grasping for external pleasures. Just think what it is like to be highly addicted to anything. You are constantly seeking more and have no knowledge that the big picture of Life exists. Goswami Kriyananda has in his book The Spiritual Science of Kriya Yoga, chapter 3 of the Bhagavad Gita states:

“Cravings cause addiction. When that addiction is thwarted kyour mind becomes confused. Confuse your mind and you lose the power of discernment. Lose the power of discernment and you forget life’s meaning. Lose life’s meaning and you miss the purpsoe of life. Miss the purpose of life and you become unhappy… and what is life without happiness?”

The undisciplined mind has no restraint on letting our past experiences and our samskaras run the show and run our lives. And this state of desiring, stress and unhappiness is taxing to the central nervous system. We have sensory overload, we have chronic stress and fatigue.

 

Pratyahara or sense withdrawal practice, allows us to transcend or control the senses to direct the mind and our life force energies inward providing peace and calm. The parasympathetic system is thus stimulated to help us feel safe, content and grateful. This provides the yogi with a calm sense of “I have everything I need within me; spiritual health and santosha”. We begin to connect with the calm sense of inward realization that we are of one Spirit, and of one mind, the mind of Universal Consciousness.

Lets say this another way. The major obstacle to happiness and santosha is sense attachment. We must learn to control the senses. If we learn to control the senses then we can through other yogic techniques, see where our deep desires arise from and learn to heal those deep seated desires.

 

Hatha Yoga is a great way to practice pratyahara and move our senses inward. The mindful and slow movements allow us to tune out the outward senses and tune into the inward senses which quiets and centers the mind. Hatha Yoga and Pranayama open the pathways of energy flow promoting our prana, life force energies, to flow unimpeded by stress and desires or greed. And when our prana is flowing and healthy, our mind is healthy and more centered on the present moment, thus moving away from grasping and sensory overload and moving towards the intuitive mind and aware consciousness. Everything goes better when we are relaxed, living in the present moment and living a self-aware and conscious life. Pratyahara allows old stuck patterns of thinking to come to the surface so that we can heal these patterns and flood the mind with healing energy and goodness. We begin to have “ah ha” moments and once that happens our spiritual evolution is on the forward projectory and of no going back!!

 

Besides Hatha Yoga, here are a few other ways to practice Pratyahara that we practice in Santosha Recovery:

• Neti, Neti, Neti - Seated or situated in an effortless position, find calm in the breath and begin to watch your mind. When a thought comes into the scene, gently mentally say “neti, neti, neti”. I am not his thought, I am not that thought, I am not thought at all.

• Kriya Rotation and other Pranayamas - These practices draw your senses inward to a place of calm but also draws prana inward and upward to the intuitive center.

• Loving Awareness Practice – Sitting within the sensations of the mind and body in a loving and non-judgmental manner is healing and promotes being in the present moment and a break up of old thought patterns and beliefs.

• Practice detachment – only have what you need for your spiritual advancement.

• Live a healthy life style. When our mind is flooded with sensory items and we are not eating properly or getting enough rest, our mind goes into default mode or ways of unhealthy living.

• Watch less television and have less screen time. Commercials and advertisements are designed to entice the sense organs. They are specially designed to get the listener to buy, buy, buy. And without you even knowing that this is what they are doing.

 

The senses allow us to experience life here on the planet Earth. The senses are the vehicle in which we serve and achieve our purpose here as humans. Enjoy what the senses hear, see, smell, taste and feel and have gratitude. Let the senses draw you into a feeling state of peace, calm and contentment.

 

May you find joy and beauty in the world for this short time of incarnation. May you find appreciation and kindness as you witness the divine intelligence of our existence. Namaste fellow seekers and explorers!