08/09/2021
Pratyāhāra translates into ‘withdrawal of the senses’ and is one of the eight limbs of yoga. I try to imagine what it might have meant for the yoginis and yogis who practiced hundreds of years ago. For them their eyes might have been looking at a flower, their ears might have heard children playing, their nose might have smelled breakfast being prepared, their mouth watering and their skin might have felt the warmth of the sun.
For them pratyāhāra might have meant not seeing, hearing, smelling and feeling all of this, once they immersed in their movement and breath. Once they practiced yoga. Pratyāhāra, the withdrawal of these sensory perceptions would have been the line into meditation.
Yoginis and Yogis of today!! I feel that we need to look at this concept, considering the specifics of our time. Do you look at a flower, hear children play, smell food and feel the sun on your skin? Maybe yes, but maybe your eyes and ears are so absorbed by your phone and computer and TV screens that in a weird and twisted way all our senses are withdrawn, are swallowed alive by whatever is grabbing our attention on those screens.
When I practice these days, I don’t feel like ‘withdrawing’ from my sensory perceptions. In fact, there is an utter need to re-embody them on my yoga mat. To free them from the screens that I look at.
Come and join me this week at for some yoga reclaiming our perception of body and breath through the wonderful senses we have!
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THURSDAY
12:30-13:30 VINYASA FLOW (de)
19:00-20:00 POWER YOGA (en)
