PRATYAHARA (withdrawal of the senses)

At a recent class with one of my teachers, something happened that was the perfect example of citta vrtti (fluctuations of the mind) and the power of pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses).

We were at the end of class, and we usually sit for 5-10 minutes. The teacher had a CD in the CD/radio player of Gregorian chant-like repetitions of the word OM. It was quite trance inducing. At the same time, the radio must have been picking up a strong feed because I could hear a staticky talk radio feed in the background. Not loud or clear enough to understand what was being said, but loud and staticky enough to be completely annoying and distracting.

Being the Buddha-like practitioner that I am, I began screaming (just kidding). It was interesting though, because I thought after a while that this must be exactly what my incessant mind chatter (citta vrtti) must be like. Not loud enough to be a conscious thing, but steady, full of static (metaphor for annoying and negative), and damned distracting.

The whole point of yoga is to ultimately quiet the mind - Yoga Sutra 1.2: Yogah cittavrtti nirodhah: yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind - and here was this perfect metaphor right in front of me.

So, I began listening to my breathing, feeling for my heartbeat, looking inward, and guess what? I know it sounds like I'm making it up, but it really seemed that the distracting static went away for a while. I didn't believe it was really working, because I could still hear the OMs, and I thought, "Oh, well, it just isn't picking up static anymore." So I started listening for the static again, and sure enough, it was still there. The other thing that happened, was that even though I wasn't even thinking about it, I came up with an idea for which I'd been searching for weeks.

Why am I telling you this? For two reasons:
1. These yoga practices really do work.
2. Your practice is a microcosm of Life. Figure this stuff out in the practice room, and you will have tools to manage and improve your life.

We all have distracting, destructive mind chatter, and most of it is pretty repetitive. The easiest thing is to distract the mind with something positive, a short phrase or word (a mantra of sorts, if you will). As long as your brain is on a hamster wheel, it might as well be a positive - or at least neutral- one.

Eventually, the mind really does quiet, and the more you practice, the easier it gets and the quicker the quietness comes. When your mind is quiet, that's when the good stuff arrives. Try it out- your creative brilliance might surprise even YOU!