Pratyahara Meditation
Now we are ready to practice pratyahara. Begin immediately after you complete pranayama.
Return to your meditation posture. Take a deep breath and hold; as you exhale, try to keep your torso in the same inhaling shape, heart rolled forward, shoulder blades down and back, chin tucked slightly. Take several long slow breaths until your mind begins to still. Remember to come back to this posture throughout your practice.
Part 1
Go through the entire list one at a time. If you are having difficultly with one particular sense, repeat the phrase over and over until it falls under your control.
Say to yourself the following phrases:
“I have the ability to eliminate. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to reproduce. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to move. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to grasp and hold. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to speak. I am not using that ability.” You can replace “I am not using that ability” with “I am practicing pratyahara”.
Bring your awareness to the center of your being. Even bring your eyes to the center, allowing them to cross slightly, seeing everything darken.
“I have the ability to see. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to hear. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to smell. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to taste. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to feel sensation. I am not using that ability.”
Pull your awareness to the center and allow things to grow even darker.
“I have the ability to create mental images. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to imagine sounds. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to imagine smells. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to imagine tastes. I am not using that ability.”
“I have the ability to imagine sensations. I am not using that ability.”
Again, turn to the center. Create the intention of going deeper within.
“I have the ability to imagine eliminating. I am not using that ability”.
“I have the ability to imagine reproducing. I am not using that ability”.
“I have the ability to imagine moving. I am not using that ability”.
“I have the ability to imagine grasping and holding. I am not using that ability”.
"I have the ability to create words and thoughts. I am not using that ability”.
Remember that your nervous system is going to move into complete rebellion against this practice. All of the senses are going to try to get your attention. The noisiest abilities will be the ability to create mental images and the ability to create words and thoughts. As images and monologue arise, simply remind yourself that you are practicing pratyahara, and return to the center of your being. Create an intention of operating from a whole new level of consciousness.
Part 2
Reconsider the diagram of the Antahkarana, the inner instrument. From this new level of consciousness, re-engage your ability to form images in your mind. Visualize the inner instrument. Bring your awareness to the manas, the senses superintendent. Visualize how manas manages the cognitive and active senses. Visualize it working, keeping you safe, responding to the environment.
Bring your awareness the ahamkara, the ego. Visualize how the ego affects your thought processes. See how the things that you believe define you affect your decision making. See how your sense of self colors all your thoughts and emotions.
Bring awareness to the citta, the memory banks, the storage shed for all the impressions left on you by your life and possibly past lives. Visualize how these impressions affect all your interactions.
Then bring awareness to the buddhi, the higher mind, driven and powered by your individual consciousness. See how the buddhi receives input from the lower mind, weighs and considers the information, and how it attempts to respond appropriately. See how it sometimes responds poorly, based on the samskaras, the ego driven information, and the misperceptions of the senses.
Then bring awareness to the individual consciousness itself. That place in you that is awake, enlightened, free from suffering, self aware. Stay in that knowledge, reveling in your beautiful complexity.