UNPICKING THE LAYERS FROM
GROSS TO SUBTLE and back again

• Prana with a capital P – life force, vital force, animating principle, without Prana there is no life. Originates outside the body
• Gives vitality and strength
• Provides the link between the physical body and the energetic bodies/astral body. When this link is lost, death results
• Associated with the sun, all pervading. Exists in both macrocosm and microcosm
• The same energy from the same force, but manifests in different forms

• - that which is/goes everywhere, in all beings, in earth and rocks.
• - flows through the nadis whose gateway is the nostrils.
• 2 main channels in yoga: Left nostril = ida nadi and right nostril = pingala

• Prasna Upanishad –prana “issues out of the mouth and nostrils, resides in the eyes and ears”. In other words, it is manifest in the breath and animates the sense organs. However it is NOT the breath itself. The confusion arises because we need the breath to survive and we can manipulate the Prana through pranayama.
• Desikachar in Heart of Yoga says that Prana enters the body in the moment when there is a positive change in the mind, occurring over a long period of time. It does not simply flow into us when we inhale.
• We cannot acquire more prana from the outside, by breathing it in, for example. When allowed to flow correctly, then we have conditions for optimum functioning.
• Breath is the expression of Prana, the expression of life and the force behind it.

Drastuh
Anandamaya
Vijnanamaya
Manomaya
Pranamaya
Annamaya

• Koshas means sheath, ie something which covers something else underneath, like a wrapping
• They help us understand who we are.
• Liable to change, flux, fragmentation but there is something beyond that which remains unchanging, boundless, Atman.
• Interdependence of all 5 koshas
• The pull and push of the “personality” which causes us so much pain and torment
• Meditation enables us to peel back the layers of the koshas and reveal the unchanging Self below
(PYS I.2-3
)

• Physical body or the food sheath
• Subject to birth, growth, disease, death, decay
• Relates to food matter nature rayi (associated to the moon) , whatever possesses tangible form
• Comes into the body through the senses and nourishes us
• Depends on gross prana in the form of water food and air
• Comprises 5 elements : air earth water fire and ether
• How can we develop this area?
• Transition now to astral body, which is divided into 3 sheaths

• Comprises the 5 subtle elements which manifest on the physical plane : ether akash , fire tejas (what word does this resemble?); air vayu; water jala and earth prithvi.
• Divided into 3 sheaths, of which the
Pranamaya Kosha is the outermost.

• Comprises 5 life energies or pranas, known as the vayus
• These are subsidiaries or subdivisions of
Prana, each with responsibility for a different function in the physical body.
• More subtle that the physical sheath but more gross than those which follow

• Is the way we activate the pranamaya kosha
• Conscious and deliberate regulation of the breath (
T.K.V. Desikachar)
• Reason to practice PY is to remove the covering of the inner light (PYS II.52)
• As if the clouds had parted and more sunshine was coming through
• It prepares the mind for meditation

• Conscious and deliberate regulation of the breath (
T.K.V. Desikachar)
• Reason to practice PY is to remove the covering of the inner light (PYS II.52)
• As if the clouds had parted and more sunshine was coming through
• It prepares the mind for meditation

• Do you have enough energy to do what you want to do?
• Do you burn out or overspend your energy?
• Do you have strategies for conserving energy?

• 2 nd of the 3 astral body layers
• More subtle than pranamaya kosha
• Mental sheath
• Messenger bringing information, experiences and sensations from external world to the intelligence sheath
( vijnanamaya kosha ) and the influences of the more subtle levels to the physical body
• Comprises sensory organs of perception, intellect, integrates knowledge, comprehension, learning, images, ideas, information, etc. The constant babble in the head.
• How do we develop this kosha?

• Mind is an excellent servant but poor master
• Develop this kosha through meditation
• All yoga is about refining the mind
• PYS I.2 – yogaha citta vritti nirodaha
• PYS I.33 – happy for people who are more fortunate than you are; compassionate to those who are less fortunate; undisturbed by errors – outcome is citta prasadanam” mind becomes quiet

• Manomaya kosha needs to slow down and settle to make ourselves available to the
Vijnanamaya Kosha. Level of thinking and enquiry. Start of insight
• Referred to in Bhagavad Gita VII.2

• Sheath of discrimination or intellect; wisdom or discrimination
• Our value system : how we as individuals uniquely see the world.
• Clarity, realm of insight
• Also known as buddhi
• Vi means special, so special knowledge

• Most subtle of the 5 koshas – causal body
• Cause of both subtle and physical bodies
• Blissful state in which there is no ego, no thoughts, dreamless sleep; in tune with ocean of awareness
• Joy that depends on nothing but itself – end up feeling elevated, inspired, magic moment
• Unlimited bliss; fundamental insight; intuition

• We could say the outcome of this kosha is more clarity, less suffering or more stability within the suffering, freedom within suffering.
• Experience a link to something beyond yourself, no matter how transitory
• A sense of spaciousness in the heart space, more sukha less dukha.
• a sense of trust that you are held & supported

• Means “all”
• BG VI.19
• Soul, Atman, Brahman, unbounded, limitless, drastuh, purusha, unchanging, ocean of awareness

• Heart of Yoga
TKV Desikachar Inner traditions
International
• Yoga Anatomy
Leslie Kaminoff Human Kinetics
• Yoga Book
Stephen Sturgess Motilal Publ .
• Windows into the Infinite
Barbara Powell Jain
Publish .
• Yoga for Body Breath & Mind
AG Mohan
Shambhala Pubs
• The Upanishads, especially Prasna & Taittiriya Easwaren