YTT Short Course

Pratyahara:
Mindfulness within Yoga

Pratyahara: Mindfulness within Yoga

  • Format: YTT Short Course
  • Chose four Short Courses to create an Eclectic Weekend Module
  • Also part of the “Yoga Psychology: The Mind of Freedom” YTT Themed Intensive Module
  • Instruction Time: 3 hours

So few practitioners and teachers of yoga are practicing the traditional pratyahara practices, considered the actual doorway into the deep subconscious mind and the realm of the inner silence, that pratyahara is often referred to as the Lost Limb of yoga.

Patanjali describes eight limbs of yoga, of which pratyahara stands as the sensorial gateway between the physical (asana, pranayama) and the subtle (mind, soul). Pratyahara guides us through the fundamental experiences of sensory witnessing and control. In the conventional sense, the mind was designed to engage the busy world of sensory information by seeking and interpreting stimulation, but on the yogic path meditation inquires into it’s counterintuitive opposite – inner silence. How then do we turn off the mind? Pratyahara practices such as Antar Mouna will be reviewed and taught.

Yoga Alliance: This program satisfies Yoga Alliance requirements for anatomy and physiology, philosophy, lifestyle and ethics, and elective hours.

Course Outline (3 hrs)

REALITY-BASED SPIRITUALITY: Myths, Anti-myths, Checks and Balances

  • Yoga as a Reality-Based Spiritual Practice
  • Reviving Meditation in Yoga
  • Pratyahara: 5th Limb of Classical Yoga

PRATYAHARA IN YOGA

  • Where the Senses Yield to the Mind
  • Antahkarana: The Inner Instrument Linking Mind and Soul
  • Mano Mani Avishtha: Point With No Name

PRATYAHARA IN AYURVEDA

  • Rogakaaranas: The Ayurvedic Cause of Disease

PRATYAHARA: The Fifth Limb in Classical Yoga

  • Definition of Pratyahara
  • The Foundation of Meditation
  • The Four Types of Pratyahara
    – Indriya Pratyahara: Sensory Withdrawal (yoga techniques, quiet time)
    – Prana Pratyahara: Prana Withdrawal (ajna chakra)
    – Karma Pratyahara: Control of Actions (behavior)
    – Mano Pratyahara: Withdrawal of the Mind (meditation)
  • Practices in Pratyahara
  • Concepts of Pratyahara
    – Awareness
    – Witnessing
    – Extension
    – Detachment
    – Withdrawal

THE PRACTICE OF ANTAR MOUNA

  • The Definition of Antar Mouna
  • The Practice of Antar Mouna
  • The Six Stages of Antar Mouna