Yoga at OHM Newsletter Vicyasa™ 3/23 - 3/29/2026: Are you letting THAT get to you?

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
― Viktor E. Frankl

Indriya Pratyahara is the yogic practice of withdrawing the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) from external stimuli to reduce mental distractions and sensory overload. As the fifth limb of Ashtanga yoga, it is crucial for directing attention inward, calming the mind, and creating the necessary environment for meditation.

How does it manifest in our asana (poses) and daily yoga practice on the mat?

We can find Drishti (Gaze Points) ... locking in our gaze on a specific, non-distracting point (e.g., tip of the nose, navel, or the space between the eyebrows) reducing our mental wandering and eye "bouncing" to many points in the room, students or any other potential distractions.

For many practitioners, closing their eyes, shutting out visual stimuli, can better focus on internal sensations, turning attention away from the outer world.

Cultivating stillness (Sthiram) during Asana practice itself acts as a foundation for Pratyahara by training the body to remain still and creating a quiet internal environment. In our modern yoga world, practitioners often avoid stability and stillness, preferring to flow from shape to shape instead of building strength and sustaining the pose to develop higher thresholds for focus and mental acuity.

Releasing distraction during poses instead of focusing on pain or difficulty-level, consciously withdrawing energy from thoughts about the pose and focus on the sensation within the body is a vital way to achieve a state of withdrawal. Many students focus on what's next, dwell on what happened in a prior pose, or constantly seek more stimulus, more strength building, more stretch, more "feeling" ... as I like to say in class, "torture." The perpetual state of being engaged and overly stimulated. Just the opposite of the practice of Indriya Pratyahara.

Key Principles:

• Internalization: The goal is to move from awareness of the external environment to the internal, subtle sensations.
• Non-Reaction: Pratyahara is not just shutting out, but also non-reaction to the stimuli that are registered, allowing sounds or thoughts to occur without emotional response.
• Energy Conservation: By limiting sensory input, one conserves energy for deeper, internal work, turning it into a "meditation in motion."

By applying these, asana moves from a mere physical exercise to a profound practice of internal awareness, serving as a bridge to meditation & peace within. For modern life, this aspect allows practitioners to break the habit of constantly reacting to external sensations. How many times in life; at work, during meetings, in relationships, or as we go about our day do we allow external happenings effect how we can go about our day?

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NAMASTE,
Victor Cotto
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