Final answer:
All of the above sensations can serve as backdrops to students in class during pratyahara or meditation, including light, heartbeat, sounds, and tactile sensations. These aspects can help create a mindful environment when approached non-reactively. Pratyahara involves becoming aware of but not attached to these sensations to maintain focus.
Step-by-step explanation:
The sensations that can serve as backdrops to students in class during pratyahara or meditation include all of the above options mentioned: the light in the room, the heartbeat in the chest, sounds reaching from outside or within the class, and the cloth on the skin. Pratyahara is the practice of withdrawing the senses to help focus the mind during meditation. In this state, even though individuals are aware of these sensations, they remain non-reactive to them and maintain internal focus.
To support students in entering a state of pratyahara, certain steps can be encouraged: sitting upright on a comfortable chair, ensuring a quiet environment, repeating a mantra such as "alert mind, calm body," and focusing the mind on pleasant thoughts. Conscious awareness of internal stimuli like the heartbeat, or external stimuli such as the texture of clothes or the ambient sounds in the environment, can sometimes play a role in meditation if noted passively.
A variety of somatosensations can be consciously perceived, including pain, cold, and stimuli. The sensory homunculus represents how these are experienced in the brain's somatosensory cortex. Moreover, during meditation, physical sensations and visceral senses can provide a rich tapestry but are not to be focused on, rather they are to be acknowledge as they arise and then returned to a point of focused relaxation.