Pratyahara Paradox: Sense Withdrawal and a Contemporary Yoga Aesthetic
July 20, 2025 Elizabeth McKibben
The Pratyahara Paradox describes a tension between yoga philosophy's call to withdraw the senses (pratyahara) and the sensory-material experiences central to modern, commercialized yoga. Using autoethnography and Karen Barad's ethico-onto-epistemology, the author examines how branded clothing, curated spaces, and body ideals reproduce neoliberal health imperatives and whiteness, obscuring yoga's spiritual purpose. Through narratives and a makeshift yoga mat, the research reveals latent power structures in everyday yoga settings and proposes that pratyahara and self-study can serve as tools for critical reflection and withdrawal from hegemonic norms.