Purity - What We Eat, What We Consume

Citified Pratyahara
Three key words in business are: location, location, location. Yogis, in the business of enlightenment, can learn something here. Business wisdom advises that if the store is not well placed, success is doubtful no matter how salable the goods.
Patanjali's Yoga Sutra guides many to useful steps on the path to Samadhi (peace, happiness). As a Yoga culture, most tend to know most about Asana (step three, posture). If practitioners spent some time on the yoga path they might have learned about Yama (step one, restraint) and Niyama (step two, observances). Perhaps they have some experience with Pranayama (step four, breath control).
For many, though, the experience with Patanjali's 8 limbs ends just after the fourth step. Yet the subtler steps, the more internal ones that lead directly to the goal, the state of Yoga, begin with fifth, Pratyahara. The Yoga Sutra, like all scripture, reveals timeless wisdom that needs to be related to our present circumstances, to those with modern lifestyles.
The most common definition for Pratyahara is withdrawal of the senses. And frequently we think of that as meditation, with Yoga teachers explaining the essence of it as attention away from the mundane concerns that are the crux of modern urban life - money, jobs, possessions - and instead taking attention inside oneself, toward the spiritual. People now live in a world infinitely more stimulating and distracting than the one in which Patanjali lived.
To apply the principle of Pratyahara to modern lives, one might expand the definition to include control of the senses, or focusing the senses. In an Asana practice, for instance, Pratyahara might mean choosing to focus on the breath when one might tend to get distracted with vision (i.e. "what does his or her Asana look like) or smell (i.e. the aroma of the fresh croissants coming from the bakery next door).
Few would argue that living in a city makes it harder to be healthy. The pace, the stress, the pollution - all challenge our well being. One famous yoga teacher recently said that enlightenment is very unlikely for one living in a city. The saying 'when in Rome do as the Romans' not only advises it might be helpful to blend in to our environment by doing what others are doing, it also indicates the truth that we do this automatically. So if the majority of people around us are primarily materially concerned, even at the expense of health and relationships, there is a momentum for us to do likewise.
With the number of yoga studios in cities still steadily growing, the question arises - are urban yogis wasting their money? Or is yoga's growing popularity the result of city dwellers' need to balance the stressful effects of city living?
On some level, whether enlightenment is more difficult in a city or not, it is possible. Everyone has experienced a momentary shift in thinking, which caused one to enlightened (to feel lighter). There is a feeling of knowledge that - letting go of stress is possible in the space of one breath, one thought - regardless of ones surroundings.
Still, the city living takes its toll. It's harder to stay healthy, to stay positive. So what's a Yogi to do? For the city dwelling Yogi, an expanded application of Pratyahara, including one related to geography, might be helpful.