Pratyahara
Pratyahara means to turn the senses toward within oneself. Prati- counter/away/against (and can also mean TOWARD or to OBSERVE) Ahara- food or anything taken into ourselves. I would also like to extract the word "hara" from "Pratyahara", to make an interesting point... Hara - Energetic center, also associated with what we refer to as "the second chakra", called Swadisthana [sweetness] (womb -- can still be symbolic in males as that very source of self residing within us all.) Hara also refers to Shiva, who represents the essential embodiment of pure consciousness, and is also translated as destroyer/remover/seizer. Now, pure consciousness sounds great, but how is this also seen as 'destroyer/remover/seizer', why would we be turning toward removal and what are we removing? Often spiritual practitioners turn to the mantra of HARA so that anarthas (impurities) are removed. Impurities commonly addressed are those such as emotionally corrup