The posting of meaning

In a culture devoted to the pleasures of the senses, it can be difficult, but rewarding at the same time, practice pratyahara, ie the detachment of the senses. Pratyahara in Sanskrit means, "shoot" and is the fifth of eight stages of the classical system of Patanjali. In practice, this technique shows a detachment from the world around them, directing your awareness, usually directed outwards, inwards towards the self. 

Following this effort, the five senses stand apart from the real world. This new state can avoid the distractions of the environment, to focus awareness dispersed and otherwise prepare the sixth and seventh stage of the classic practice: dharana (concentration) and dhyana (meditation). Vyas, the first commentator of Patanjali, with a metaphor, brings our senses to a swarm of bees, making a parallel between our awareness and summit queen: "As the bees follow the flight of the queen, stopping when it stops, so directions also interrupt their activity when the mind rests. 

The scale of 

A practical technique for achieving the pratyahara is documented in the "Yoga Yajnavalkya Gita (" Song of Yajnavalkya yoga "), an educational dialogue between the sage Yajnavalkya and his wife Gargi. The technique of Yajnavalkya, called vayu pratyahara ( "posting of the wind") or prana pratyahara ( "posting of the strength of life"), is to focus your awareness and your breath in a sequence of 18 vital points (marma) of the body. 

The 18 of Yajnavalkya marma (the Ayurvedic tradition indicates 107) are: toes, ankles, the central part of the calf, "the roots of the calves, knees, the middle part of the thighs, perineum," the center of the body, reproductive organs, navel, center of heart, base of the throat, root of tongue, root of nose, eyes, point between the eyebrows, forehead and apex of the head. Yajnavalkya advised to follow the sequence dall'apice head to toes, but many prefer to do the opposite, climbing from bottom to top. 

You can use the "posting of the wind" as a preparation for pranayama or pranayama practice in itself. Marma I can also be used for therapeutic purposes, since each point is in line energy with a particular body organ or apparatus (nervous, circulatory, etc.).. In this way, the practice becomes a kind of "massage marma" with beneficial effects in the area of the body concerned.