प्रत्याहारpratyāhāra · drawing back, withdrawal
Pratyāhāra, the withdrawal of the senses
4 min read · Updated October 17, 2026 · sources checked October 17, 2026
In short
Pratyahara is the fifth of Patañjali's eight limbs of yoga: the withdrawal of the senses from their objects, so that they follow the mind turned inward (Yoga Sutra 2.54). It comes after posture and breath, before concentration. In practice, you let sounds, sensations and thoughts come and go without following them, often by moving the attention from the outer world to the breath.
The word
प्रत्याहार (pratyāhāra) joins prati, back, against, and āhāra, bringing, taking, and also food. The Monier-Williams dictionary gives its first sense as an army "drawing back" from battle, then "withdrawal, especially of the senses from external objects". The image of food is worth keeping: the senses constantly "feed" the mind with impressions; pratyāhāra is a fast from that feeding.
In the Yoga Sutras
Pratyāhāra is the fifth of the eight limbs, the last of the "outer" ones. Patañjali defines it in two sutras:
स्वविषयासंप्रयोगे चित्तस्वरूपानुकार इवेन्द्रियाणां प्रत्याहारः ॥
sva-viṣayāsaṃprayoge citta-svarūpānukāra ivendriyāṇāṃ pratyāhāraḥ ||
Withdrawal is when the senses, no longer joined to their own objects, take on, as it were, the very form of the mind.
ततः परमा वश्यतेन्द्रियाणाम् ॥
tataḥ paramā vaśyatendriyāṇām ||
From that comes the highest mastery of the senses.
From the texts
"The right Withdrawal is the disengaging of the powers from entanglement in outer things, as the psychic nature has been withdrawn and stilled." Yoga Sutra 2.54, translated by Charles Johnston (1912), public domain.
The king of the bees
The oldest commentary on the Sutras, attributed to Vyāsa, gives an image that teachers of pratyāhāra still use: as bees fly up when the king of the bees flies up, and settle when he settles, so the senses are stilled when the mind is stilled (our paraphrase of the commentary on 2.54). The senses do not need a separate battle. Calm the mind, and they follow.
On 2.55, the same commentary lists the opinions of earlier teachers on what "mastery of the senses" means: not being addicted to sense objects; using them at will; perceiving sounds and the rest without attraction or aversion; or, for the sage Jaigīṣavya, simply not perceiving them, the mind being one-pointed. Its own conclusion: the highest mastery is when the senses are stilled together with the mind, without any further effort.
The tortoise of the Gita
The Bhagavad Gita, which most scholars date earlier than the Yoga Sutras (both dates are debated), gives the image that most Indians associate with pratyāhāra:
यदा संहरते चायं कूर्मोऽङ्गानीव सर्वशः । इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥
yadā saṃharate cāyaṃ kūrmo 'ṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ | indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā ||
When he draws in his senses from their objects on every side, as a tortoise draws in its limbs, his wisdom is firmly established.
The tortoise does not destroy its legs; it draws them in when it needs to, and puts them out again to walk. That is the balance the texts ask for. Later in the Gita (5.27), the sage "shuts out the outer contacts", sets his gaze between the eyebrows and evens out the breath: withdrawal, gaze and breath in one verse.
In the hatha texts
The Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā devotes its fourth lesson to pratyāhāra, sense by sense: "Let one bring the Chitta (thinking principle) under his control by withdrawing it, whenever it wanders away drawn by the various objects of sight"; then from praise and blame, from sweet or foul smells, from every taste (4.2-4.5, Vasu, 1914-1915). The method is simple and patient: each time the mind goes out, bring it back.
Steps: a ten-minute practice
- Settle. Sit upright on a cushion or a chair, eyes closed. Take a few slow breaths, exhaling a little longer than you inhale.
- Sounds (two minutes). Let the sounds around you come to you, far and near, without naming them or following them. When you notice that you are thinking about a sound, return to simply hearing.
- Body (two minutes). Feel the points of contact: the seat, the hands, the feet. Then the whole body at once, as a single sensation.
- Breath (three minutes). Narrow the attention to the breath at the nostrils. Each time a sound or a thought pulls you outward, notice it, and come back, gently, like the bee to its king.
- Rest (two minutes). Drop even the breath as an object. Stay with what remains: a quiet, inward attention.
- Return. Open the eyes slowly, and let the senses go back to the world.
Rhythm for beginners and progression
| Period | Practice | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | sounds, body, breath, as above | 10 minutes |
| Weeks 2-4 | the same, after a few minutes of slow breathing or bhramari | 15 minutes |
| After a month | as the doorway to concentration on one object | 20 minutes and more |
Good to know
Hatha yoga offers physical supports for withdrawal: the humming of bhramari with the ears closed, the steady gaze of trataka, the deep rest of yoga nidra. Try them when sitting still feels too abrupt.
What research shows
Pratyāhāra has not been studied as such, so we make no measured claim. What it trains, the ability to notice that attention has wandered and to bring it back, is the core skill of most forms of meditation.
Common mistakes
- Forcing the senses shut, clenching the eyelids or blocking every sound. The texts ask for detachment, not combat.
- Fighting thoughts. They are objects too; let them pass like the sounds.
- Expecting silence. Withdrawal is a direction, not a switch.
- Skipping the earlier limbs. A painful posture or agitated breath keeps the senses on alert; Patañjali places pratyāhāra after them for a reason.
In context
Pratyāhāra opens the inner limbs described on dharana, dhyana and samadhi. For a first meditation practice, see how to meditate; for the whole map, the eight limbs and the Yoga Sutras.
Questions people ask
What is pratyahara in simple words?
It is the moment when your senses stop pulling you outward. Sounds are still there, the body is still felt, but the attention no longer runs after them. Patañjali places it between breath control and concentration.
How do I practise pratyahara?
Sit still, then take each sense in turn: notice the sounds around you without naming them, then the sensations of the body, then the breath, letting each one go before moving inward. Ten minutes are enough to begin.
Is pratyahara the same as meditation?
Not quite. In the Yoga Sutras it is the fifth limb, the preparation; concentration (dhāraṇā), meditation (dhyāna) and absorption (samādhi) are the sixth, seventh and eighth. In practice they flow into one another.
Does pratyahara mean shutting out the world?
It means not being dragged by it. Patañjali's commentator compares the senses to bees that follow their king: when the mind settles, they settle. Nothing is forced shut.
Sources
- Patañjali, Yogasūtra, Sanskrit text, sūtras 2.54-2.55 (GRETIL, University of Göttingen) checked October 17, 2026
- Patañjali, Yogasūtra with the Yogabhāṣya attributed to Vyāsa, Sanskrit text, on 2.54-2.55 (GRETIL) checked October 17, 2026
- The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translated by Charles Johnston (1912), Project Gutenberg checked October 17, 2026
- Bhagavadgītā, critical edition, Sanskrit text, 2.58 and 5.27 (GRETIL) checked October 17, 2026
- Srisa Chandra Vasu (tr.), The Gheranda Samhita, Sacred Books of the Hindus vol. XV (1914-1915), lesson 4, Internet Archive checked October 17, 2026
- Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899), entry pratyāhāra, Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries checked October 17, 2026