January 29, 2024 • 32 mins
Escape the relentless noise of the world and discover the sanctuary within, as we journey through the practice of pratyahara. This episode promises to guide you toward harnessing your energy for profound self-growth, urging you to question the nourishing value of your daily engagements. Join us for an enriching discussion that peels back the layers of life's distractions, sharing personal stories and insights that challenge you to discern between what truly feeds your soul and what drains it.
Dive deep into the essence of pratyahara, where the focus is on the delicate art of withdrawing our senses to embrace inner silence. We explore the transformative effects of minimizing sensory inputs, such as music during yoga practice, to fine-tune our body's inner dialogue. This is more than just an exercise in self-control; it's a pathway to healing, self-awareness, and ultimately, personal freedom. Learn to listen and honor the messages of pain and discomfort your body communicates, as they are often the first steps toward true understanding and connection with oneself.
This conversation culminates in the realization that self-connection is paramount to our overall well-being and relationships. Yoga emerges not only as a physical practice but as an intentional guide to inner peace and unconditional love. By sharing practical steps to silence life's incessant buzz, we invite you to rediscover moments of stillness that reveal your inherent purity and wholeness. Tune in and be inspired to lead yourself with intention, enhancing your relationships with others and the world around you.
We would love to hear from you! Email us at becomeoneliving@gmail.com or reach out to us on Instagram at BecomeOne Living.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Greetings my friends.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello everybody.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
And welcome to Become One Living.
We're here with the tools forliving a conscious life with
Jody and Dan Boisitz.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome.
We're happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And happy that you're here with us.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, we're looking to put a little yoga back into
yoga.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I love that, bringing the yoga back to yoga.
Well, let's get serious now.
We have been talking about theeight limbs of yoga and we are
now on pratyahara.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Which means withdrawing the senses or
turning in.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Pratyah means to withdraw or go against or to
turn away from, and ahara meansfood.
So pratyahara means to turnaway from food, to withdraw from
food, but not the food that wethink.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Like food, you eat, food for thought, all sorts of
food that nourish the human.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Anything that you take in.
Anything you take in isconsidered food in this in ahara
.
So, pratyahara is saying turnaway from distractions outside
of you and turn back towards you.
Now where does that fit in inthe eight limbs of yoga?
(01:52):
We just ended with pranayama,which is breathing, and before
that you have asana.
We have moved from bigger,denser, more external things.
Now we're moving into moreinternal.
The only way we can getinternal is by turning away from
(02:17):
the outside world.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Who knew there was so much more to yoga than just
asana.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Probably not many people, because we live in a
world that offers yoga as anexercise or a quick fix 20
minutes here, 20 minutes thereloud music, heat.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, lots of distractions, distractions, but
we've experienced all of thegreat residual or results of
regularly practicing.
For instance, you're atmeditation now and we're going
through the eight limbs, but Imean there's great things that a
(03:07):
human can experience with usingthe tools yamas, niyamas, asana
, pranayama, pratyahara.
You know they're all tools andawareness to create a practice
and rituals that can enrich andenhance anyone's life.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Beautifully said.
Beautifully said, what I'veheard was practice.
All of the past podcast we'vediscussed yoga, the eight limbs
of yoga.
The eight limbs are a frameworkthat you can return to over and
over again to check yourself,how to check your progression,
(03:53):
to check if it's working.
Am I happier?
Do I feel more ease in my life?
Is there less stress?
Am I less reactive?
There's so many different waysthat you can check the eight
limbs against how you're living,to see if there's growth, if
you want it.
But here, right now, we'rediving into internal awareness,
(04:20):
not the outside, not the bodywith the asana, not the breath,
but what's inside.
And it is a continual practiceto turn away from distractions.
But you first have to know whatis distracting you.
The question I would like topose to you all is when does
(04:45):
your energy go every day?
Where are you looking onInstagram for three hours?
Are you watching YouTube?
Are you listening to podcasts?
Are you at work?
Are you gossiping?
Are you eating, sleeping?
Where is your energy and yourfocus, and is it feeding you or
(05:08):
Draining you?
How is it impacting you?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, it's big.
It reminds me of that story ofBuddhist monk coming to Time
Square for the first time in NewYork City and seeing all the
signage and the flashing lightsand he says they're trying to
steal my mind.
It's just distractions, so manydistractions and now we hold
(05:31):
them in the palm of our hand onour phone and you really could
go down a rabbit hole there.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yes, which I have multiple times.
Dan is looking at me sweetlyand trying not to tell you all
that when I feel stressed, Ihave a part of me that goes
right to the phone not as muchnow, actually, barely now but
would start scrolling and hewould say to me what are you
(05:59):
doing?
I'm trying to calm down or Idon't know what I'm doing.
I was stuck in a loop, but whatI realized was it was either
enraging me, exhausting me.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I'm dating you Adjecting yeah, you know, and
that's a good, noteworthy storythere job, because it's a great
thing for any of our listenersin the audience to become aware
of, and it's not a judgment.
It's like so, if you go to acertain something, your phone or
(06:31):
TV show or Another distractionof your choosing, don't I would,
I would always say, don't judgeit, but become aware first of
okay, if I go there, if and Ikeep going there Try to get that
flashpoint right before you gothere.
What's going on right beforethat?
Are you?
You know what's triggering youto be stressed out that you go
(06:52):
there instead of Choosingwellness or breath or going to a
yoga class or something likethat instead, yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
There is no judgment, and that's where I want to go.
Next is music in yoga.
People ask me why I don't usemusic and and the answer is it's
an extra distraction.
It doesn't mean yoga is good orbad.
As a yoga teacher, you need toknow what you want to offer your
(07:23):
students, and as a person whotakes yoga, you want to know
what your goal is.
And if your goal is Pratya Hara, it will be challenging if
you're listening to music andit's invoking emotions right,
that's what music often does.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
It, he it creates a, it evokes emotion or thought
patterns or brings you somewhereoutside of the space in your
practice.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Which isn't a concern if you weren't doing yoga,
which is trying to bring youinside to your internal body and
to start to learn more aboutyourself not yourself in dance
class or yourself with musicyourself and that's what these
limbs are about.
What's happening out in theworld was the first two limbs.
(08:12):
What's happening with your bodynow, with your breath.
But if we start to go more andmore, we have to control our
senses, and the word control Ilooked up because I always feel
that control has a negativeCognitation connotation Yep I.
I always feel that it has anegative Cognitation connotation
(08:37):
connotation.
Why don't you say it instead?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Jody always feels like control has a negative
connotation.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yes, so I looked it up and here are different words
for control, to direct yourbehavior, nice, to direct
people's behavior or the courseof events.
So you're directing yourbehavior again towards something
.
It can also mean to regulate,to manage and to oversee.
(09:07):
Pratyahara is overseeing andmanaging your senses, your sight
, your smell, your hearing, yourtaste, your sensory, and
bringing it back to you, turningaway from the attraction.
(09:28):
Oh, shiny object.
Right, I'm over here, I'm overthere, where are you?
I can't stay still, I can'tfocus.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
That in my asana practice that singularly is this
great thing that I listendeeply.
I've had a couple of injuriesin my life that have taken me
decades to get with andlistening inward to the feedback
my body gives me in particularspots For me it's my neck and my
(09:58):
shoulder from an injury butI've spent so much time undoing
tissue that has been moved fromaccident in my body and it just
feels like this never endingunwinding.
(10:19):
But it's not possible if I had.
It would not be possible if Ihadn't taken the time to slow
down in my practice and reallylisten to my body and feel, and
it almost gosh in a great way.
It almost controls or guides ordictates how I thirst to move.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Listen.
That's the word that stood outas you shared.
Pratyahara is asking are youlistening to me?
Are you listening to yourself?
What are your needs?
What do you want?
How do you feel?
Are you hungry, are you tired?
We lose this connection toourself because we override
(11:10):
internal signals on a dailybasis.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Interoception.
We override I'm hungry, oh, andjust five more minutes.
Or we override when we're tired.
The other night it was lateseven and Dan and I had to go to
Whole Foods and in my mind Ithought bed, go to bed, go to
bed.
But I overrode that and we wentto Whole Foods and a couple of
(11:38):
minutes later Dan says you'rebeing mean, I'm being mean, I'm
tired, I'm cranky, and Ioverrode the signal of tiredness
.
What Pratyahara offers on thispath of yoga is an opportunity
to look out and say do I reallywant to go to Whole Foods right
(12:00):
now?
Look out, look out at theexternal circumstances and then
say no, no, no, no, what's here?
Listen inside.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Whatever important.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
When we withdraw our senses, it could seem like we're
asking you not to look, not tolisten, not to smell, not to
taste.
That can't happen.
Pratyahara means to turn awayfrom when I'm meditating, I can
hear Gabby, our dog.
She's the cutest little thing.
(12:35):
She's got a beard.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
And big ears.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
And big ears, Baby Yoda with a beard.
She looks like I'll hearGabby's feet Now.
I could open my eyes and gowith that, or I can turn back
and say what's here right now.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Would you say that this, then, can become an
opportunity where Pratyahara isyou're turning in so much that
you're becoming aware andlistening deeper to your body.
So like, for example, like Idon't know what I do without
(13:15):
listening to my pain sensationto greater and lesser degrees,
like chronic, the chronic painthat I have, I feel and I've
witnessed and seen on the tablewith with my practice and body
work, where, essentially, peopleare adapting to the pain that
they're experiencing instead oflistening to it and working with
(13:38):
it.
Because, with all that I'vewitnessed and all that I've
heard and all that I've beeneducated on and all that I've
seen, pain is our mostsophisticated signal that's
telling us simply something'snot right, something's not in
the right place.
And so Pratyahara in your asanapractice, when you're listening
(14:00):
to your body, feeling it,feeling deeply the sensation in
your body and working with itinstead of running away from it,
is such a great experience.
You can come to this thresholdwhere you realize that pain can
be Sweet, it can be productive,it can be rewarding and it can
(14:26):
create a sense of freedom if youhave the courage to work with
it.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Wow, we do move away from pain.
Pain changes us and the bodysignals us over and over again
hey, I'm over here, just stretch.
Or hey, I'm over here, maybedon't eat dairy.
Hey, I'm over here, I'm overhere.
And we ignore the signals.
And once we ignore the signals,we then create stories about
(15:00):
the signals, excuses,rationalizations and fear around
the signals.
Oh my God, I have a headache.
Oh my God, this is happening.
Instead of meeting it, thepractice of asana with breath
offers sustainability anddiscomfort.
(15:22):
When you can sustain discomfort, sit with it, meet it.
Even uncertainty doesn't haveto be pain.
But when you can meet it longenough, not get distracted,
right, prathya Hara, not get.
Oh over here, I'm over here, Igot to go to this doctor, I got
to go to this healer, I got todo this, I got to do that.
If you can stop that for amoment, turn in and say I want
(15:46):
to be with you, I want to bewith my pain, I want to be with
my joy, I want to be with mysorrow and learn how to not
change it.
Be with it.
It will inform you, it willshare with you.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Big time.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
The reason it's there .
Speaker 2 (16:08):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Then transformation occurs.
In modern yoga, prathya Hara ispracticed by focusing on a
drishti, and a drishti is a gaze.
In a stanga yoga, that's astyle of yoga.
In a stanga yoga, they focus ona drishti, a gaze, and that
(16:36):
gaze helps people.
That focal point, whether it'sthe fingers or the tip of the
nose or the wall, whatever thatgaze is the person is asked to
keep returning or stay focusedon that gaze.
So you're practicingwithdrawing from the room and
staying at that one point overand over and over again.
(16:58):
I don't know if our listenershave ever heard this, but some
teachers say stay on your mat,don't look around the room, stay
on your mat.
That's Prathya Hara.
Sally may be huffing andpuffing.
Tommy may be breathing likeDarth Vader in the corner.
(17:19):
I've heard that I know Nuke, Iam your father Breathing to the
point where they're burningtheir lungs.
It's funny and endearingBecause we don't know how to
breathe.
We work the breath, andsometimes too hard, but there's
(17:42):
always one person.
I shouldn't say that.
There's sometimes one personlooking around the room at all
those people annoyed with thembecause they can't focus.
Right, there's the work.
Right, there is the work Is.
Stop focusing on them andfighting it.
(18:03):
Notice it?
Oh, there it is, and I'm goingto come back to me on this mat,
right here, right now.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Powerful.
It's a challenge, though.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Well, when in our life are we taught to withdraw
from the outer world and to sitand be still with no music, no
TV, nothing, no books?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
But it's in that time of stillness and quiet where
what has been kept at bay comesto be seen.
And if we don't have the skillsto do that, to see it and to be
with it.
We then distract again.
I'm thinking of a story.
(19:01):
Dan and I went on a silentretreat for our honeymoon up in
yogaville in Virginia.
Oh, down in yogaville?
Listen, I know about yoga, notgeography.
Okay, so I have a little storyabout a silent retreat.
(19:25):
Dan and I went on and we're atthis silent retreat and these
women are talking and thesewomen are talking all the time,
not loudly, but it's botheringme because it's supposed to be a
silent retreat.
Now me and Dan go to bed andwe're sleeping in separate beds.
We're not talking.
It's a silent retreat, I playby the rules and the people
(19:47):
downstairs are doing yoga,talking.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I remember.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I go downstairs.
I knock on the door.
It's a silent retreat.
I'm so angry that people aretalking during this silent
retreat that I talked to theevent planner.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I said you talked to the host.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
No wait, first the event planner and I shared that.
Listen, people are talking andI'm not going to have it.
I paid for a silent retreat andthey're they're bothering you,
yeah you meant business, I meantbusiness.
Well, I didn't think she wasgoing to tell the spiritual
teacher but, she did.
(20:27):
And spiritual teacher corneredme and said can I talk to you
for a moment?
And she said yes, she brings mein a room, an empty room, and
sits me down and says I hear youhave a problem, that people are
talking.
And I said absolutely, it's asilent retreat and they're
bothering me.
And she said hmm, I saidthey're being noisy.
(20:51):
And she went hmm.
I said, oh, my God, I'm theproblem, aren't I?
And she said yes, the problemisn't the noise outside that's
bothering you, the noise insideis bothering you.
I cried and I realized that Icouldn't sit still with the
(21:17):
noise inside, that I needed tokeep running and doing things
and if not, I needed to be sosilent so I could focus.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, that was some challenging times for you
health-wise, and you know so.
It would be hard to figure outexactly.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, it doesn't matter what's causing it.
That's also important.
It doesn't matter why we dowhat we do.
What matters is doing practicesto support us to change and
transform if we want to.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
So you discovered a piece of work that you had to do
.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yes, if we cannot cultivate the ability to turn in
, we will never meet our trueessence.
And what I mean by our trueessence is underneath it all.
(22:28):
We're all connected Underneathit all.
Innate goodness and love livesthere.
Hatred does not come from thewomb.
We don't come out with hatred.
We don't come out with divisionand divisiveness and natively
we're whole and we wantwholeness.
We gravitate towards wholeness,but through life we turn out
(22:53):
for validation, for love, formultiple reasons.
We turn out but the goal ofyoga and the progression to
mastery of self.
According to yoga, if you wantto master self, you have to turn
away from the distractions andthe noise and be in stillness
(23:17):
and silent for extended periodsof time to meet peace and
unconditional love.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Which, beyond asana, is a loftier, larger goal that
all these tools are bringing youtoward Is, you know,
concentration and meditation,all of the things that pre our
(23:50):
predecessors of that, all thelimbs before that, are tools
we're using to get us in shape,such good shape that we're able
to sit still.
My experience with craniosacralenergy work is that, in that
deep stillness, the opportunityfor you to experience the
(24:11):
essence of who you are, of whatyou are, whatever you want to
call it, who you are, what youare the stillness creates an
opportunity for you toexperience the essence of
yourself, the essence of whatyou are, of who you are, and
that essence I experienced to belove, purity.
(24:33):
But it's in the stillness, it'snot in the asana, it's not in
the breath work, although thoseare the tools that are taking us
on this path to be able to bestill.
It's in the quiet, it's in thestillness, it's in the calm.
You get to experience who youare, truly, deeply, purely.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Breathe that in, take a deep breath in my friends and
breathe that in.
There's a part of us deepwithin that has never been
altered.
We just have forgotten.
We've forgotten peace, we'veforgotten love, we've forgotten
(25:23):
community.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We've gotten busy.
Yes, we've been preoccupied,we've gotten distracted, but all
this lies in waiting.
All this lies here.
All these tools, they'renothing you can't do, and if
(25:46):
you're considering going to ayoga class and you don't know
exactly what to expect, you justhave to start to clock your
experience with it.
Asana is a great way in.
You want to go to a yoga class,just bust down the door and get
in there and have theexperience and develop the
(26:09):
experience and cultivate yourexperience with it and listen,
and listen, and listen.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
And become comfortable with yourself.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Then you'll be living .
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yes, Asana is the body.
The breath moves the body feedsthe body nourishes the body.
You're in it.
What pulls you out?
(26:40):
Who pulls you out?
Music can pull you out.
Tv shows can pull you out.
People.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Processing your own challenges.
If you're not keen, if you'renot really working it, you know
your own challenges, your ownstress can.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Yes, but you're not aware of.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
So I ask you that, in this moment, as we just shared
some of this stuff, can youbring to mind something that
distracts you, or that you allowto distract you, or that feels
safe to take you away from you,that has to take you out of you?
(27:28):
Is it TV?
Because coming home on theweekend and watching TV isn't
relaxing.
It may feel relaxing, butrelaxation is active.
So what is distracting us?
Who is distracting us?
It could be food.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah, and we're humans too, We've had those
distractions.
But it's really cool when wecome around around full circle
and to that moment we're like,how about?
How about?
After seven o'clock we shut offall the electronics and it's
amazing what that does.
It's amazing how our systemsturn down, turn in and we fall
asleep in no time, whereas ifwe're on our phones or watching
(28:13):
a movie, it like amps us up andthe next thing you know, we're
up late hours and it's just thatthat magical thing is literally
just turning off.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
I am.
I am an IFS practitionerinternal family systems
practitioner founded by DickSchwartz, and I work with people
in guiding them through the IFSpractice.
I work with multiple addictions, people that have addictions
(28:50):
even to caffeine, and whathappens is people will say, oh,
it's not that bad, I just I loveit.
I need the coffee, I need thisto function.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I am, I choose it.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
And so I offer this what happens if you can't have
your coffee?
What happens if you can't haveit for three months?
If we cannot live without asubstance for a certain amount
of time or a thing?
That is when I would start tobe concerned, or I would start
(29:29):
to communicate with that.
So if there's a point where Ican't stop watching a certain TV
show, I like to binge watch.
When I watch TV Bosch orMacGyver, or MacGyver.
Monk Monk, monk Monk.
Dan giggles at me because I canwatch 30 episodes in one day.
(29:55):
When I feel driven to somethingthat I have to watch it, I have
to do it.
That's when I start to have adeeper conversation.
So the offering is withPratyahara.
If you want to really meetyourself underneath the stories,
(30:18):
underneath the persona,underneath the pain, you will
need to turn away, pratyah, turnaway from the external world
and be with yourself long enoughto get to know yourself again.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Right, and it doesn't always have to be weighty or
negative.
Yeah, I just wanted to say aclient recently said it's just
like quitting anything.
She said have a warm bath everynight before you go to sleep
and then have somebody tell youyou can't take a warm bath
tonight.
It's that same thing.
It's not always so stark ordeep or bold or alienating, but
(31:04):
get tuned in.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah, here's some homework.
Would anyone like homework?
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Homework from becoming living.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I think I heard the crowd go wild homework.
Just to contemplate that.
Where is your energy going?
Where do you feel you'refocusing on the external world,
and is there one place or onething you can do to release it,
(31:34):
to change it, to come back hometo yourself?
Turn away from the outer world.
You need you, you're waitingfor yourself, and we long for
this sense of connection, andyet most of us are so
disconnected from ourselves.
So may we take time to seewhere are we focusing our energy
(31:59):
.
May we see our importance ofself, because once we can lead
ourselves, then we can be withothers more deeply.
And to me, that's why I do yoga.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Same here.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Thank you for listening, thank you for being
here.
If you have any questions youcan email us the questions at
become one living at gmailcom,and you can follow us at become
one living on Instagram.
Greetings my friends.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello everybody.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
And welcome to Become One Living.
We're here with the tools forliving a conscious life with
Jody and Dan Boisitz.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome.
We're happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And happy that you're here with us.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, we're looking to put a little yoga back into
yoga.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I love that, bringing the yoga back to yoga.
Well, let's get serious now.
We have been talking about theeight limbs of yoga and we are
now on pratyahara.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Which means withdrawing the senses or
turning in.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Pratyah means to withdraw or go against or to
turn away from, and ahara meansfood.
So pratyahara means to turnaway from food, to withdraw from
food, but not the food that wethink.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Like food, you eat, food for thought, all sorts of
food that nourish the human.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Anything that you take in.
Anything you take in isconsidered food in this in ahara
.
So, pratyahara is saying turnaway from distractions outside
of you and turn back towards you.
Now where does that fit in inthe eight limbs of yoga?
(01:52):
We just ended with pranayama,which is breathing, and before
that you have asana.
We have moved from bigger,denser, more external things.
Now we're moving into moreinternal.
The only way we can getinternal is by turning away from
(02:17):
the outside world.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Who knew there was so much more to yoga than just
asana.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Probably not many people, because we live in a
world that offers yoga as anexercise or a quick fix 20
minutes here, 20 minutes thereloud music, heat.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, lots of distractions, distractions, but
we've experienced all of thegreat residual or results of
regularly practicing.
For instance, you're atmeditation now and we're going
through the eight limbs, but Imean there's great things that a
(03:07):
human can experience with usingthe tools yamas, niyamas, asana
, pranayama, pratyahara.
You know they're all tools andawareness to create a practice
and rituals that can enrich andenhance anyone's life.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Beautifully said.
Beautifully said, what I'veheard was practice.
All of the past podcast we'vediscussed yoga, the eight limbs
of yoga.
The eight limbs are a frameworkthat you can return to over and
over again to check yourself,how to check your progression,
(03:53):
to check if it's working.
Am I happier?
Do I feel more ease in my life?
Is there less stress?
Am I less reactive?
There's so many different waysthat you can check the eight
limbs against how you're living,to see if there's growth, if
you want it.
But here, right now, we'rediving into internal awareness,
(04:20):
not the outside, not the bodywith the asana, not the breath,
but what's inside.
And it is a continual practiceto turn away from distractions.
But you first have to know whatis distracting you.
The question I would like topose to you all is when does
(04:45):
your energy go every day?
Where are you looking onInstagram for three hours?
Are you watching YouTube?
Are you listening to podcasts?
Are you at work?
Are you gossiping?
Are you eating, sleeping?
Where is your energy and yourfocus, and is it feeding you or
(05:08):
Draining you?
How is it impacting you?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, it's big.
It reminds me of that story ofBuddhist monk coming to Time
Square for the first time in NewYork City and seeing all the
signage and the flashing lightsand he says they're trying to
steal my mind.
It's just distractions, so manydistractions and now we hold
(05:31):
them in the palm of our hand onour phone and you really could
go down a rabbit hole there.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yes, which I have multiple times.
Dan is looking at me sweetlyand trying not to tell you all
that when I feel stressed, Ihave a part of me that goes
right to the phone not as muchnow, actually, barely now but
would start scrolling and hewould say to me what are you
(05:59):
doing?
I'm trying to calm down or Idon't know what I'm doing.
I was stuck in a loop, but whatI realized was it was either
enraging me, exhausting me.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I'm dating you Adjecting yeah, you know, and
that's a good, noteworthy storythere job, because it's a great
thing for any of our listenersin the audience to become aware
of, and it's not a judgment.
It's like so, if you go to acertain something, your phone or
(06:31):
TV show or Another distractionof your choosing, don't I would,
I would always say, don't judgeit, but become aware first of
okay, if I go there, if and Ikeep going there Try to get that
flashpoint right before you gothere.
What's going on right beforethat?
Are you?
You know what's triggering youto be stressed out that you go
(06:52):
there instead of Choosingwellness or breath or going to a
yoga class or something likethat instead, yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
There is no judgment, and that's where I want to go.
Next is music in yoga.
People ask me why I don't usemusic and and the answer is it's
an extra distraction.
It doesn't mean yoga is good orbad.
As a yoga teacher, you need toknow what you want to offer your
(07:23):
students, and as a person whotakes yoga, you want to know
what your goal is.
And if your goal is Pratya Hara, it will be challenging if
you're listening to music andit's invoking emotions right,
that's what music often does.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
It, he it creates a, it evokes emotion or thought
patterns or brings you somewhereoutside of the space in your
practice.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Which isn't a concern if you weren't doing yoga,
which is trying to bring youinside to your internal body and
to start to learn more aboutyourself not yourself in dance
class or yourself with musicyourself and that's what these
limbs are about.
What's happening out in theworld was the first two limbs.
(08:12):
What's happening with your bodynow, with your breath.
But if we start to go more andmore, we have to control our
senses, and the word control Ilooked up because I always feel
that control has a negativeCognitation connotation Yep I.
I always feel that it has anegative Cognitation connotation
(08:37):
connotation.
Why don't you say it instead?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Jody always feels like control has a negative
connotation.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yes, so I looked it up and here are different words
for control, to direct yourbehavior, nice, to direct
people's behavior or the courseof events.
So you're directing yourbehavior again towards something
.
It can also mean to regulate,to manage and to oversee.
(09:07):
Pratyahara is overseeing andmanaging your senses, your sight
, your smell, your hearing, yourtaste, your sensory, and
bringing it back to you, turningaway from the attraction.
(09:28):
Oh, shiny object.
Right, I'm over here, I'm overthere, where are you?
I can't stay still, I can'tfocus.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
That in my asana practice that singularly is this
great thing that I listendeeply.
I've had a couple of injuriesin my life that have taken me
decades to get with andlistening inward to the feedback
my body gives me in particularspots For me it's my neck and my
(09:58):
shoulder from an injury butI've spent so much time undoing
tissue that has been moved fromaccident in my body and it just
feels like this never endingunwinding.
(10:19):
But it's not possible if I had.
It would not be possible if Ihadn't taken the time to slow
down in my practice and reallylisten to my body and feel, and
it almost gosh in a great way.
It almost controls or guides ordictates how I thirst to move.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Listen.
That's the word that stood outas you shared.
Pratyahara is asking are youlistening to me?
Are you listening to yourself?
What are your needs?
What do you want?
How do you feel?
Are you hungry, are you tired?
We lose this connection toourself because we override
(11:10):
internal signals on a dailybasis.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Interoception.
We override I'm hungry, oh, andjust five more minutes.
Or we override when we're tired.
The other night it was lateseven and Dan and I had to go to
Whole Foods and in my mind Ithought bed, go to bed, go to
bed.
But I overrode that and we wentto Whole Foods and a couple of
(11:38):
minutes later Dan says you'rebeing mean, I'm being mean, I'm
tired, I'm cranky, and Ioverrode the signal of tiredness
.
What Pratyahara offers on thispath of yoga is an opportunity
to look out and say do I reallywant to go to Whole Foods right
(12:00):
now?
Look out, look out at theexternal circumstances and then
say no, no, no, no, what's here?
Listen inside.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Whatever important.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
When we withdraw our senses, it could seem like we're
asking you not to look, not tolisten, not to smell, not to
taste.
That can't happen.
Pratyahara means to turn awayfrom when I'm meditating, I can
hear Gabby, our dog.
She's the cutest little thing.
(12:35):
She's got a beard.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
And big ears.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
And big ears, Baby Yoda with a beard.
She looks like I'll hearGabby's feet Now.
I could open my eyes and gowith that, or I can turn back
and say what's here right now.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Would you say that this, then, can become an
opportunity where Pratyahara isyou're turning in so much that
you're becoming aware andlistening deeper to your body.
So like, for example, like Idon't know what I do without
(13:15):
listening to my pain sensationto greater and lesser degrees,
like chronic, the chronic painthat I have, I feel and I've
witnessed and seen on the tablewith with my practice and body
work, where, essentially, peopleare adapting to the pain that
they're experiencing instead oflistening to it and working with
(13:38):
it.
Because, with all that I'vewitnessed and all that I've
heard and all that I've beeneducated on and all that I've
seen, pain is our mostsophisticated signal that's
telling us simply something'snot right, something's not in
the right place.
And so Pratyahara in your asanapractice, when you're listening
(14:00):
to your body, feeling it,feeling deeply the sensation in
your body and working with itinstead of running away from it,
is such a great experience.
You can come to this thresholdwhere you realize that pain can
be Sweet, it can be productive,it can be rewarding and it can
(14:26):
create a sense of freedom if youhave the courage to work with
it.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Wow, we do move away from pain.
Pain changes us and the bodysignals us over and over again
hey, I'm over here, just stretch.
Or hey, I'm over here, maybedon't eat dairy.
Hey, I'm over here, I'm overhere.
And we ignore the signals.
And once we ignore the signals,we then create stories about
(15:00):
the signals, excuses,rationalizations and fear around
the signals.
Oh my God, I have a headache.
Oh my God, this is happening.
Instead of meeting it, thepractice of asana with breath
offers sustainability anddiscomfort.
(15:22):
When you can sustain discomfort, sit with it, meet it.
Even uncertainty doesn't haveto be pain.
But when you can meet it longenough, not get distracted,
right, prathya Hara, not get.
Oh over here, I'm over here, Igot to go to this doctor, I got
to go to this healer, I got todo this, I got to do that.
If you can stop that for amoment, turn in and say I want
(15:46):
to be with you, I want to bewith my pain, I want to be with
my joy, I want to be with mysorrow and learn how to not
change it.
Be with it.
It will inform you, it willshare with you.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Big time.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
The reason it's there .
Speaker 2 (16:08):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Then transformation occurs.
In modern yoga, prathya Hara ispracticed by focusing on a
drishti, and a drishti is a gaze.
In a stanga yoga, that's astyle of yoga.
In a stanga yoga, they focus ona drishti, a gaze, and that
(16:36):
gaze helps people.
That focal point, whether it'sthe fingers or the tip of the
nose or the wall, whatever thatgaze is the person is asked to
keep returning or stay focusedon that gaze.
So you're practicingwithdrawing from the room and
staying at that one point overand over and over again.
(16:58):
I don't know if our listenershave ever heard this, but some
teachers say stay on your mat,don't look around the room, stay
on your mat.
That's Prathya Hara.
Sally may be huffing andpuffing.
Tommy may be breathing likeDarth Vader in the corner.
(17:19):
I've heard that I know Nuke, Iam your father Breathing to the
point where they're burningtheir lungs.
It's funny and endearingBecause we don't know how to
breathe.
We work the breath, andsometimes too hard, but there's
(17:42):
always one person.
I shouldn't say that.
There's sometimes one personlooking around the room at all
those people annoyed with thembecause they can't focus.
Right, there's the work.
Right, there is the work Is.
Stop focusing on them andfighting it.
(18:03):
Notice it?
Oh, there it is, and I'm goingto come back to me on this mat,
right here, right now.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Powerful.
It's a challenge, though.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Well, when in our life are we taught to withdraw
from the outer world and to sitand be still with no music, no
TV, nothing, no books?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
But it's in that time of stillness and quiet where
what has been kept at bay comesto be seen.
And if we don't have the skillsto do that, to see it and to be
with it.
We then distract again.
I'm thinking of a story.
(19:01):
Dan and I went on a silentretreat for our honeymoon up in
yogaville in Virginia.
Oh, down in yogaville?
Listen, I know about yoga, notgeography.
Okay, so I have a little storyabout a silent retreat.
(19:25):
Dan and I went on and we're atthis silent retreat and these
women are talking and thesewomen are talking all the time,
not loudly, but it's botheringme because it's supposed to be a
silent retreat.
Now me and Dan go to bed andwe're sleeping in separate beds.
We're not talking.
It's a silent retreat, I playby the rules and the people
(19:47):
downstairs are doing yoga,talking.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I remember.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I go downstairs.
I knock on the door.
It's a silent retreat.
I'm so angry that people aretalking during this silent
retreat that I talked to theevent planner.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I said you talked to the host.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
No wait, first the event planner and I shared that.
Listen, people are talking andI'm not going to have it.
I paid for a silent retreat andthey're they're bothering you,
yeah you meant business, I meantbusiness.
Well, I didn't think she wasgoing to tell the spiritual
teacher but, she did.
(20:27):
And spiritual teacher corneredme and said can I talk to you
for a moment?
And she said yes, she brings mein a room, an empty room, and
sits me down and says I hear youhave a problem, that people are
talking.
And I said absolutely, it's asilent retreat and they're
bothering me.
And she said hmm, I saidthey're being noisy.
(20:51):
And she went hmm.
I said, oh, my God, I'm theproblem, aren't I?
And she said yes, the problemisn't the noise outside that's
bothering you, the noise insideis bothering you.
I cried and I realized that Icouldn't sit still with the
(21:17):
noise inside, that I needed tokeep running and doing things
and if not, I needed to be sosilent so I could focus.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, that was some challenging times for you
health-wise, and you know so.
It would be hard to figure outexactly.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, it doesn't matter what's causing it.
That's also important.
It doesn't matter why we dowhat we do.
What matters is doing practicesto support us to change and
transform if we want to.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
So you discovered a piece of work that you had to do
.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yes, if we cannot cultivate the ability to turn in
, we will never meet our trueessence.
And what I mean by our trueessence is underneath it all.
(22:28):
We're all connected Underneathit all.
Innate goodness and love livesthere.
Hatred does not come from thewomb.
We don't come out with hatred.
We don't come out with divisionand divisiveness and natively
we're whole and we wantwholeness.
We gravitate towards wholeness,but through life we turn out
(22:53):
for validation, for love, formultiple reasons.
We turn out but the goal ofyoga and the progression to
mastery of self.
According to yoga, if you wantto master self, you have to turn
away from the distractions andthe noise and be in stillness
(23:17):
and silent for extended periodsof time to meet peace and
unconditional love.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Which, beyond asana, is a loftier, larger goal that
all these tools are bringing youtoward Is, you know,
concentration and meditation,all of the things that pre our
(23:50):
predecessors of that, all thelimbs before that, are tools
we're using to get us in shape,such good shape that we're able
to sit still.
My experience with craniosacralenergy work is that, in that
deep stillness, the opportunityfor you to experience the
(24:11):
essence of who you are, of whatyou are, whatever you want to
call it, who you are, what youare the stillness creates an
opportunity for you toexperience the essence of
yourself, the essence of whatyou are, of who you are, and
that essence I experienced to belove, purity.
(24:33):
But it's in the stillness, it'snot in the asana, it's not in
the breath work, although thoseare the tools that are taking us
on this path to be able to bestill.
It's in the quiet, it's in thestillness, it's in the calm.
You get to experience who youare, truly, deeply, purely.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Breathe that in, take a deep breath in my friends and
breathe that in.
There's a part of us deepwithin that has never been
altered.
We just have forgotten.
We've forgotten peace, we'veforgotten love, we've forgotten
(25:23):
community.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We've gotten busy.
Yes, we've been preoccupied,we've gotten distracted, but all
this lies in waiting.
All this lies here.
All these tools, they'renothing you can't do, and if
(25:46):
you're considering going to ayoga class and you don't know
exactly what to expect, you justhave to start to clock your
experience with it.
Asana is a great way in.
You want to go to a yoga class,just bust down the door and get
in there and have theexperience and develop the
(26:09):
experience and cultivate yourexperience with it and listen,
and listen, and listen.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
And become comfortable with yourself.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Then you'll be living .
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yes, Asana is the body.
The breath moves the body feedsthe body nourishes the body.
You're in it.
What pulls you out?
(26:40):
Who pulls you out?
Music can pull you out.
Tv shows can pull you out.
People.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Processing your own challenges.
If you're not keen, if you'renot really working it, you know
your own challenges, your ownstress can.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Yes, but you're not aware of.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
So I ask you that, in this moment, as we just shared
some of this stuff, can youbring to mind something that
distracts you, or that you allowto distract you, or that feels
safe to take you away from you,that has to take you out of you?
(27:28):
Is it TV?
Because coming home on theweekend and watching TV isn't
relaxing.
It may feel relaxing, butrelaxation is active.
So what is distracting us?
Who is distracting us?
It could be food.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah, and we're humans too, We've had those
distractions.
But it's really cool when wecome around around full circle
and to that moment we're like,how about?
How about?
After seven o'clock we shut offall the electronics and it's
amazing what that does.
It's amazing how our systemsturn down, turn in and we fall
asleep in no time, whereas ifwe're on our phones or watching
(28:13):
a movie, it like amps us up andthe next thing you know, we're
up late hours and it's just thatthat magical thing is literally
just turning off.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
I am.
I am an IFS practitionerinternal family systems
practitioner founded by DickSchwartz, and I work with people
in guiding them through the IFSpractice.
I work with multiple addictions, people that have addictions
(28:50):
even to caffeine, and whathappens is people will say, oh,
it's not that bad, I just I loveit.
I need the coffee, I need thisto function.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I am, I choose it.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
And so I offer this what happens if you can't have
your coffee?
What happens if you can't haveit for three months?
If we cannot live without asubstance for a certain amount
of time or a thing?
That is when I would start tobe concerned, or I would start
(29:29):
to communicate with that.
So if there's a point where Ican't stop watching a certain TV
show, I like to binge watch.
When I watch TV Bosch orMacGyver, or MacGyver.
Monk Monk, monk Monk.
Dan giggles at me because I canwatch 30 episodes in one day.
(29:55):
When I feel driven to somethingthat I have to watch it, I have
to do it.
That's when I start to have adeeper conversation.
So the offering is withPratyahara.
If you want to really meetyourself underneath the stories,
(30:18):
underneath the persona,underneath the pain, you will
need to turn away, pratyah, turnaway from the external world
and be with yourself long enoughto get to know yourself again.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Right, and it doesn't always have to be weighty or
negative.
Yeah, I just wanted to say aclient recently said it's just
like quitting anything.
She said have a warm bath everynight before you go to sleep
and then have somebody tell youyou can't take a warm bath
tonight.
It's that same thing.
It's not always so stark ordeep or bold or alienating, but
(31:04):
get tuned in.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah, here's some homework.
Would anyone like homework?
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Homework from becoming living.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I think I heard the crowd go wild homework.
Just to contemplate that.
Where is your energy going?
Where do you feel you'refocusing on the external world,
and is there one place or onething you can do to release it,
(31:34):
to change it, to come back hometo yourself?
Turn away from the outer world.
You need you, you're waitingfor yourself, and we long for
this sense of connection, andyet most of us are so
disconnected from ourselves.
So may we take time to seewhere are we focusing our energy
(31:59):
.
May we see our importance ofself, because once we can lead
ourselves, then we can be withothers more deeply.
And to me, that's why I do yoga.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Same here.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Thank you for listening, thank you for being
here.
If you have any questions youcan email us the questions at
become one living at gmailcom,and you can follow us at become
one living on Instagram.
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