Especially at this time of year when we’re led to believe that happiness comes in a wrapped package tied up with ribbons and a bow, it’s great to reflect on pratyahara, meaning turning inward.

When practicing pratyahara, you go from energy-draining distraction to energy-building direction, turning a focused mind inward so that you can begin to plumb the depths of your soul. In this process, you connect to your truth and to your true self. Ideally, this helps you live more from your intuition, listening to the promptings of your own heart. Pratyahara is the moment in yoga when you decide to let answers and joy come from the divine wellspring within rather than looking outside yourself for happiness and fulfillment.

Writes Rolf Gates in Meditations from the Mat: “At the heart of pratyahara is the notion that we are already there. We are already in heaven, and heaven exists in us, right now. We must simply stop reinforcing the fear that this is not so.”

Thus, in practicing pratyahara, we begin to acknowledge the true gift we have to offer is not neatly wrapped in ribbons, but rather comes from sharing the divine light already within, which gives everyone else in your world permission to shine brightly, as well.

Pranayama Breathing

In continuing to explore the eight-limb path of yoga, we move next to pranayama, or mindful breathing. According to the Yoga Sutras, “Pranayama is the regulation of the incoming and outgoing flow of breath with retention.”

Ujjayi pranayama is a foundational breathing practice in yoga, and it involves inhaling and exhaling through your nose, directing your breathe across the back of your throat, so you sound a little bit like Darth Vader, especially on the exhale.

Understanding pranayama helps one to experience it, and that is really quite something. What yogis eventually discover is how wonderful it feels to breath deeply and mindfully. Many of us, before we develop a regular yoga practice, have heard that taking a few deep breathes can help you calm down. Then you start to take these deep, cleansing breathes for a whole yoga practice, and the level of calm and peace deepens to new levels.

In his book Meditations from the Mat, Rolf Gates explains how pranayama goes beyond simply a process of inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. He writes:

“It is said that the breath is the bridge between the body and the spirit. Pranayama is a practice that we experience both physically and spiritually. The moment we close our eyes and bring our attention to our breath, distinct, positive physiological effects commence. Our heart rate slows, cardiopulmonary stress is decreased, there is a decrease in metabolic activity, blood sugar and lactate levels, muscle tension and skin conductivity. The sum total of these positive changes is an increased sense of well-being, a sense of coming home. This shift on the emotional level is accompanied by a shift in attention. We are aware that the concerns that held us so tightly just a moment before have receded. We sense a powerful presence some call stillness. Experience for yourself the peace of a mindful breath, enter into that stillness, and you will have a glimpse of the grandeur of the universe.”