We are complex beings. Underneath our skin, muscle, and bone lies a complex system. The most authentic version of you sits at the deepest layer of your being. You might refer to this as your soul or spirit. It’s your joy and bliss state. This is the part of you that is connected to truth. This is the part of you that is the love of the universe. This is the part of you that never dies or is conditioned. It’s the part of you that we were born knowing. It’s your highest consciousness. It’s the place where you can BE vs. DO.

In the Tantric texts, the Taittiriya Upanishads, the 5 Koshas are explained to be the 5 layers of being. Sanskrit for “sheath” these Koshas act like an onion, or a russian nesting doll, that encase the soul. Each time you peel back a layer, you reveal another, and another, until you reveal that deepest layer of bliss.

So why are these important?

When we are confronted with a challenge, or we feel blocked or stuck in some way, we tend to address the symptom of the issue instead of the root. When we approach adversity and healing from a WHOLE body perspective, we begin to heal from the inside out. We open ourselves up for the mind, body, and spirit connection.

We are moving through these layers on a daily basis. Meditation is just one practice that has been found to penetrate each of these layers as we go deeper inside of ourselves.

Through practice and awareness, we can reveal our most authentic and true Self to feel more connected. We are a soul having a human embodied experience. When we can tap into the vibration of bliss, joy, and love, we open the doorway for more love to enter in, and manifest the things at the vibration of what we deserve and desire.

The 5 Koshas

1. Physical Body (Annamaya Kosha)

   1. Maya means “made of” and anna means “food”or “physical matter.” This is the first sheath, or layer. It’s your skin, muscle, and bone. This layer is compromised of your organs, tissues, and everything that makes you function on a physical level. This is the layer that we nourish through the food we put into our body, the self-care practices we perform to nourish our skin and hair, and the movement that allows us to strengthen and lengthen this tangible layer of our being. It holds all of the other layers in, and is in turn impacted by each of the deeper layers.

2. Energy Body (Pranayama Kosha)

   1. Prana is your vital life-force energy. Also known as Chi in Chinese medicine, Prana is your energy vitality. When we are more aware of our energy, we can recognize the vibration in our environment around us. Everything has a vibration or frequency, and we can attune ourselves on an energetic level. In this layer you find your energy centers and channels such as the Chakras, meridians, and Nadis. Think of your energy as a subway map of life. Breath, or pranayama, is a beautiful practice that clears stagnant energy and gives life into this layer. It’s also important to understand that each of these layers has an impact on the next. You might hold the energy of exhaustion in your physical layer of your body. This might manifest in tightness, chronic pain, disease, or soreness. When we recognize what is going on in each layer, we start to recognize how each layer is impacting our entire being.

3. Mind Body (Manomaya Kosha)

   1. This is our mental and emotional layer. Underneath our physical body and our energy lies our Egoic mind. This is our mindset, belief system, and emotional response. The mind is taking in information every second. It creates patterns (Samskaras) and conditioning based on your sensory system. These patterns are often carried on from childhood and show up in our actions throughout life. Through your sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, your brain creates an emotional response or thought based on experiences. This is where our “mind chatter” comes from. Because our mental and emotional layer is the third layer in this system, it causes our emotions, beliefs, and thoughts to be stored in our energetic and physical body. This is why you might feel like you need to cry during half pigeon pose in yoga, or when you feel more courageous when you take a power stance, or less rigid when you stand up tall and open up your heart. These layers are interconnected and create a response or reaction.

4. Wisdom Body (Vijnanamaya Kosha)

   1. Through the culmination of the first 3 layers, the wisdom body appears. This is your intuition. It’s your inner knowing and understanding. This is the heightened sense of awareness that happens when you continue to look inside of yourself for answers, connection, and guidance.

5. Bliss Body (Anandamaya Kosha)

   1. Ananda means “bliss.” All the other layers work together in order to create the experience of joy, bliss, and consciousness. This is where we can offer ourselves as soul-centered human beings. This is a chance for us to connect with ourselves on the deepest level, and explore the essence of who we are.