Thoughts on Yoga

We all long for lasting inner peace and security, yet the world as we know it provides us no sanction. Life continually presents us with demands that we focus on outer circumstances.  Life feels like it is just happening to and around us.

When we feel that life is happening to us, we are being pulled up and down with the "pairs of opposites": pleasure and pain; fame and ill–repute; gain and loss; praise and blame. We feel good and then we feel bad. Up and down, over and over, according to our circumstances. We are riding the wheel of fortune, our bodies, minds and emotions suffer and sicken from the wear and tear.

Sense withdrawing shows you that the location of all your experience is within you. Your thoughts are "in here," sound is heard "in here," sights are seen "in here," etc. By withdrawing you can stem the tide of stressful mental and physical experiences into your mental sphere. 

The first step is to seclude yourself from the world. Throughout history there have been yogis who have chosen to live apart from society, spending years in extreme seclusion. Yoga students living in the world today go on spiritual retreats that can vary in length from a few days to a several years.  Seriously consider taking an annual spiritual retreat that offers nature, simplicity, quietude, and intensive yoga or meditation practice.

You should also create a period of seclusion every day. Go into a quiet room to do your yoga practice, meditate or come take a yoga class where you are assisted to pay attention to your inner world.

In hatha yoga practice, we use body sensations and and movement. Every time we let go of an outside thought during practice we are strengthening sense withdrawal, called "pratyahara."

In Yoga we are learning how to take control of our emotions and our life by harnessing our capacity to decide what we focus on. This helps us to get off the wheel of fortune by becoming its hub. We detach from the outer conditions of our life (the ups and downs) and come to rest at the stable center of inner self.

Unlike the outer world, your center can be stable and reliable. This part of you is a sanctuary that is always available for your rest and renewal. Yoga is all about cultivating your ability to touch, know and dwell within your still center.

You will receive the benefits of "Pratyahara" while you are practicing and while you are not.  When you are practicing it, withdrawal has a pleasant feeling to it that leaves you nourished to your deep soul.  When you are in the flow of daily life you will notice fewer ups and downs; you will be more relaxed about what might happen in the future; you will be uninterested in what others think of you. You know your own goodness.

You will become less fixated on gaining happiness from doing-being-having things in the world.  You will come to know and trust another, greater source of happiness that simlply wells up from within you. On the material level, you will find yourself naturally making new and better choices based on your new and greater sense of personal security.