Pratyahara (Withdrawal of Senses — Yoga Sutras)
Pratyahara — the withdrawal of the senses from their objects — is the bridge between outer and inner yoga, the fifth limb that prepares the mind for the profound inwardness of Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi.
Pratyahara (from 'prati' = against, away; 'ahara' = food, nourishment — literally 'not feeding the senses') is the turning of the attention inward. In ordinary life, the senses continuously draw awareness outward toward their objects — sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and sensations constantly stimulate the mind. In Pratyahara, this movement is reversed: the practitioner consciously withdraws from engagement with sensory experience, allowing the senses to become quiet and drawing the mind's energy inward. The fruit of established Pratyahara (sutra 2.55) is 'parama vashyata indriyananam' — supreme mastery over the senses. This is not the suppression of the senses but the development of the ability to choose, in every moment, whether to engage with them or not. The sensory world remains available; the practitioner simply becomes its master rather than its slave.
From the practice of pratyahara arises supreme mastery over the senses.
Pratyahara (prati = back, against; ahara = intake, food) literally means withdrawing the senses from their food; Vyasa likens the senses following the withdrawn mind to bees following the queen bee when she flies.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali