4 that are designed to cleanse, balance, and invigorate the
body. Just as your breath is affected by your mental activ-
ity, your mind can be influenced by conscious regulation of
your breathing. Pranayama is a powerful technology to
enhance neurorespiratory integration.
Prana is the life force that flows throughout nature and
the universe. When you are tuned into the pranic energy
in your body, you spontaneously become more attuned to
the relationship between your individuality and your
universality. In this way, pranayama can take you from a
constricted state to an expanded state of awareness.
The Fifth Branch of Yoga—
Pratyahara
Patanjali encourages us to take time withdrawing our
senses from the world to hear our inner voice more
clearly. Pratyaharais the process of directing the senses
inward to become aware of the subtle elements of sound,
touch, sight, taste, and smell. Ultimately all experience is
in consciousness. When you look at a flower in your gar-
den, your eyes receive frequencies of electromagnetic
radiation that trigger chemical reactions in the rods and
cones at the back of your eyes. As a result of these
chemical changes in your retinas, electrical impulses are
generated that eventually reach the visual cortex at the
back of your brain. The interpretation of these fluctua-
tions in energy and information takes place in your
consciousness.
Although you imagine that you are seeing the flower
outside of you, you are actually experiencing it within
you on the screen of your awareness. This is why the
42 The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga