8 Limbs of Motherhood: Pratyahara

Today I experienced mental pratyahara - sense withdrawal, as a mother.
This morning I rolled out my mat and put on a good “The Yoga Gypsea” 30 minute flow before getting ready for work. My two and a half year old son was having fun on his tablet on the couch.
Any yogi parent of a toddler knows how hard it is to do yoga with kids in the house. I didn’t let that get in the way of my practice because after waking up with awful stomach pain and surviving from, I really needed it.
As I’m in my flow, my son cranks up his tablet as loud as possible and repeatedly played a seriously loud clip of his cartoons which was constantly repeating utter gibberish! As annoying as it was, I was so immersed in my practice, so immersed in my body that I was able to drown really it out!
I was so proud of! “This is pratyahara!” I said to myself. Though I could hear my son’s tablet loud and clear, instead of yelling at him to turn it down or telling him to go in another room (like I usually do), I was able to absorb the experience and use it as a challenge to really stay focused on my mat. I became so immersed in my breath - pranayama, that I was unaffected by the outside world.
Have you ever had this type of experience whether through meditation or asana practice?

What is pratyahara?

Pratyahara is one of the branches in Patanjali’s 8 Limbs of Yoga philosophy. Pratyahara is generally translated to mean “withdrawal from the senses”. Pratyahara is a sanskrit word that breaks down to two parts: “prati-against” and “arhara-food”. “Food” in this yogic context can mean anything that we take in or ingest from external sources. In this case, pratyahara can mean controlling the intake of external sources! There’s several kinds of pratyahara meaning there are several ways to control the intake of the outside world: mano-mental pratyahara, action-karma pratyahara, prana-energy pratyahara, and withdrawal of the senses-indriya pratyahara. Pratyahara is a pretty vast spiritual discipline, click here to learn more.

Pratyahara as a mother is so important because our outer world can often be both imperfect and overstimulating. In our world, we’re constantly being pulled in several directions, someone is always crying, screaming in high pitch, asking for snacks, the T.V. is too loud, the living room is messy, dishes are piled up, and the list goes on. As women and as mothers, we are required to multi-task. We also deal with outside noise from external sources like social media, constantly feeding us BS about what a real mom looks like. Being able to block out the outside noise from the world-whether that’s literal or figure noise-is a superpower.
As yogi mothers, we know that waiting for the “perfect” time to meditate or do yoga is nearly impossible as there never seems to be any time, and when we do get that time, it’s often for just a few moments. You can only control so much of your outside environment. With pratyaharya - sense withdrawal, you take control of your own mind to take control of your sensory output. Practicing pratyaharya in your asana practice can better train you to control your intake of sensory stimulation when taking care of your baby.

For example, our babies have those days where they won’t stop crying. This was especially true for me in the early newborn stages when my son would be “colicky” and I didn’t know why he was crying. I would often lash out around the house, running around panicking because I didn’t know what to do with the overstimulation. This would of course backfire because my baby would just mimic my nervous system. Now when my son has those days, I don’t absorb his tears or outbursts. Instead I take a moment to breathe and I mentally tune it out LOL long enough for me to get my nervous system regulated, and then when I’m READY I lean in and give him the love and attention he actually needs.

There’s so many moving parts to motherhood and each day is a new lesson and new approach. That’s why as a yogi, I use the 8 Limbs of Yoga as my frameworks for navigating motherhood!

My virtual and in person 4th trimester postpartum services include learning the 8 Limbs of Yoga and how to apply to motherhood. Click here to learn more and set up a free consultation with me!