Simple Steps: #25 Pratyahara in Relationship

As the limbs of yoga explore all aspects of mankind's relationship with himself and others, we see that sense control is the limb that invites us to withdraw our senses from attachment to external objects so that we may constantly return to the path of self realization and internal peace.

This objective is never more difficult than in relationship with a significant other, but it does most profoundly apply.

Todays Simple Step

Allow that your loved ones are not your property!

Allow that your lover is fiercely independent and must walk his/her own talk rather than be spoken for by you.

Allow that what loved ones do is their own choice, and you can guide but not force as you respect free will for all.

Allow that the most profound work you can do is on yourself, and release your attachment to fixing someone else.

Till next time,
ohmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Simple Steps: #24 The Pratyahara of Shopping

We go to the mall. We shop online. We fill our basket. We've gotta have it.

It pleases us... and then it plagues us.

Pratyahara or sense control brings us back the truth that everything is temporal - and temporary.

What is real and valuable cannot be bought, and the next new thing will not guarantee lasting comfort.

Todays Simple Step

Take a walk through a store with no intention to buy.

Appreciate beauty without having to own it.

The World is yours - trees and flowers and gardens surround you.

You do not "need" to have more.

Practice having without owning today.

Till next time,
ohmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Simple Steps: #23 Raisin Consciousness Through Tasting

When we practice pratyahara, or control of the senses, we will experience phenomena that might seem contradictory.

Rather than becoming dull and lifeless, with practice the senses become extraordinarily sharp.

This, of course, adds to our authentic enjoyment and appreciation of the interactions of our body-mind-spirit with all of our surroundings.

In short, the relationship we have with sense objects becomes more enjoyable, not less.

In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali describes the process of human unhappiness and uneasiness and relates it to our influence by outside events and our corresponding effort to suppress unwanted sensations while heightening others. This is a no-win situation.

When people seek out yoga, hoping to find the inner peace that seems so elusive, they often find it was theirs all along. (Ruby slippers anyone?)

In a sense, yoga is nothing more than a system which enables us to stop and look at the processes of our own minds; only in this way can we understand the nature of happiness and unhappiness, and thus transcend them both.

Todays Simple Step

As I look to the Yo-Ki-Bics of sense control (Yoking body/mind/spirit - expressing innate Ki energy - into effective Bites of action) I remember this story...

I once went on retreat with a Buddhist monk who did a process with us called "Raisin' Consciousness."

It involved a deep meditation on appreciating the journey of a small handful of raisins from their initial seed stage to bursting on our tastebuds. This guided meditation seemed to take for-ever !

All the while we simply listened and contemplated the raisins in the palm of our hands.

Rich and varied, our guide took us through the sunny orchards into the harvesting, the processing, the production, the box, the crate, the buying and the market, the truck and the driver... and finally to me and my own shelf in the kitchen.

We stopped along the way to appreciate the life, work, time and sacrifice of every single person who greeted some portion of the tiny raisins journey.

Then we were invited to slowly and silently eat the raisins one by one - knowing - feeling - and relating with gratitude to all aspects of their glorious journey.

You can bet these were just about the best tasting raisins anyone in the group had ever had.

PS - In entirty it took us a full hour to swirl six raisins around our mouths, hearts and minds.

It was worth every moment.

I invite you to do the same with something lucious and alive with flavor.

This is your simple step.

Till next time...
ooooohhhhhmmmmmm

Simple Steps: #22 Sense Control

In observing how the eight limbs of yoga interact and build upon each other, pratyahara, or sense control, occurs almost automatically when we meditate because we become absorbed in the object of meditation.

Precisely because the mind is so focused, the senses follow; it is not happening the other way around.

Author Oriah Mountain Dreamer offers us the following opportunity in her book The Invitation:

"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for,

and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me who you know

or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me

and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself...

and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments."

To me, this is the essence of pratyahara, the limb of yoga highlighting sense control.

Todays Simple Step

Notice your relationship to sound distractions.

Is there an area of your life where you need to close the door, lower the radio, turn off the TV?

Do you always need to be surrounded with chatter, people, events, happenings?

If so, can you agree, just for today, to enjoy the sounds of silence?

This is today's simple step.

Till next time...

ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm

Simple Steps: #21 Sense Attachment

Pratyahara is the next limb of yoga that we will address. Like taming a wild horse, pratyahara is the process that invites us to relinquish our untamed attachment to sense objects and mine the gold of the soul.

Control of the senses means that our senses stop living off things that stimulate and no longer depend on these stimulants as distractions on the road to self-realization and the achievement of peace.

Attachment to the senses means that under normal circumstances the senses become our masters rather than being our servants.

The senses - once attached to the objects of our desire - entice us to develop cravings for all sorts of things.

In pratyahara the opposite occurs: when we have to eat, we eat, not because we have a craving for food but because we have an appreciation of nourishment.

Todays Simple Step

Today ask for honesty from yourself so that you might gain your freedom from your own creations.

What are your particular stimulants?

List them.

What are you attached to seeing - hearing - tasting - touching - breathing that now owns you rather than you freely engaging with it?

Today is your day for accessing what internal house cleaning must be done for you to truly obtain your freedom.

Can you let go just for today?

Choose at least one thing and commit to cutting the cord of attachment.

This is your simple step.

Till next time...
ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm

Photo credit: Steamboat Horse by Bob Alba