Yoga Integrating The 5 Layers Koshas

This is a yoga nidra practice of unifying the 5 koshas or layers and being aware of being. In the yoga meditation tradition there are 5 layers or sheaths called koshas that surround our being. The most manifest and solid is the annamaya kosha - the body made of food - our bones, muscles, tissues etc. As we relax our physical body, we become aware of: The pranamaya koshas is the body made of energy and breath and is more subtle than the physical body. As we relax our physical body and breath, we become aware of: The manomaya kosha is the lower level of the mind, our thought stream. As our body, breath and thoughts become unified and settled, we have access to: The vijnanamaya kosha is the higher level of the mind, our wisdom and intuition. More subtle still is the anandamaya kosha - the layer of bliss and joy that covers our Being.

Transcript

Bring your attention in from all other times,

All other places.

Let your attention settle in this moment in time.

Bring your attention to your being,

Your presence,

Your consciousness,

Whatever words you might use for that.

In yoga meditation we talk about the five kochas or layers or sheaths and it refers to how our physical bodies are very solid,

Even though quantum physics now is telling us in fact they're not,

It's mostly space.

Our physical body is known as the Anamaya Kosha,

The body made of food.

This includes our bones and blood and tissues,

The physicalness of our body.

And right in the very same location but a little bit more subtle is the energy body,

The Pranamaya Kosha.

And these are the feelings,

The sensations,

The energies.

The Pranamaya Kosha is the subtle body.

And then a little bit more subtle than that,

A little bit less solid is the lower level of the mind,

The Anamaya Kosha.

This is the part of the mind that tracks things,

Records things,

Reminds us to go to the store,

Sees what's going on around us.

And more subtle than that is the Vijnanamaya Kosha,

The layer of the intuition,

Wisdom,

Intelligence.

And more subtle than that is the Anandamaya Kosha,

The layer of limited joy and bliss.

And that all of these layers or sheaths surround our consciousness,

Our being.

And the way that we work with this in our relaxations is that we start with the physical body.

We relax the muscles and tissues of our body.

We work with our breath and energy layer,

The Pranamaya Kosha.

We stabilize our lower level of the mind by focusing on the body and breath.

We give it something to do,

So it's more likely that it'll stay in this moment.

And as we integrate and assimilate through those first three layers,

The body,

The breath and energy,

And the lower level of the mind,

Then we have more access to the higher level of our mind,

To our intuition,

Our wisdom,

To our bliss.

That feeling of all is well.

Bring your awareness now to your physical body.

And these are not obviously sharp dividing lines.

They're kind of a way of understanding it in our mind or organizing it.

It's a descriptive way of understanding.

And when we bring our attention to our physical body,

Of course,

Our mind is still there.

The energy in our body or sensations might be attracting our attention,

Certainly the breath.

And as we start,

Primarily focus on the muscles and the bones and how it is that your body is appearing in space,

What are the sense perceptions in your body.

Notice the muscles of your forehead and eyebrows.

And as you let those soften,

Notice what's going on in your mind as well.

Oftentimes,

Thoughts in the mind attract our attention and then we can bring it back to the body.

And when thoughts are in the mind,

They have any kind of reactivity to them,

Where our body is responding in some way,

The energy in our body is being activated.

And we notice that and we can soften it.

If you were worrying about something right now,

You might have a lot of tension in your forehead or eyebrows and then you notice and it's like,

Ah.

We take a breath and we relax.

And notice the corners of your eyes,

The deep muscles of your eyes and your sense of sight.

We bring signals in through the optic nerve and then the mind interprets them.

And with the eyes closed,

We can turn our sight inward.

Really paying attention to the sensation and feeling in the face right now.

Forehead,

Eyebrows,

Eyes.

And then notice the sensation of the air as it moves through your nostrils.

And notice the subtle qualities of the breath,

Calm.

When our breath feels calm,

It's a different experience than when we're kind of agitated or holding our breath.

The sensations in the nose might be similar.

There's the coolness of the in-breath.

The warmer,

Moister air as it leaves our body.

But if we're holding our breath or if the breath is jerky or agitated,

It's a different energetic feel.

And notice that as soon as you become aware that you're holding your breath,

Most often the breath will start to move again.

It's like,

Oh,

And then we go.

And then we breathe out and then we breathe in again and things get a bit calmer,

More stable.

Bringing your attention down into your mouth and throat.

Notice if you're clenching your teeth.

You could move your lower jaw around a bit,

Relax the hinges of your jaw.

And when you notice your sense of speech,

It involves the physical,

Your tongue,

Your vocal cords.

And it also works on these other levels.

Might be subvocalizing,

Even though you're not even whispering or talking out loud.

There's some activity in the throat.

We're hearing,

We're talking at times.

And right now,

All of that activity could come to rest.

It's like we don't need to be scanning the environment with our eyes.

We don't need to be preparing to talk.

We don't need to be holding back words.

None of that activity has to be going on right now.

Really let your muscles and the whole area of your mouth and throat become soft and inactive.

Notice if you can feel the coolness of your breath as it comes into the throat.

This is so simple.

And it becomes so familiar as well.

Very stabilizing for the mind to rest like this.

Bring your attention to the whole back of your body,

Back of your head,

Back of your neck,

Muscles of the upper back,

Back of your shoulders,

Down through the back of your arms.

The upper back.

Very common for people to kind of brace,

Tighten up through the neck and shoulders.

And there's a physical component to this,

Of course,

The muscles are tight.

Blood isn't getting through as easily.

You might have pain in that area because of that.

And there's that energetic component too.

The mind is a little bit alarmed.

Maybe it's not on red alert,

Might be on a yellow alert.

That's pretty constant.

And then we have this habit of holding ourselves ready.

And then when we notice that,

We could relax all through the back of our body,

Especially the back of the neck,

The upper back,

Behind the shoulders.

And notice what it feels like as you're breathing out to let everything soften.

Bring your attention down through your lower back,

Behind your hips,

The back of your legs as well,

All the way down to the soles of your feet.

Let your arms and legs be at rest.

We're not using them to move about in the world right at the moment.

Let yourself just settle,

Let the whole back of your body be soft.

Let yourself rest.

Notice how your body is placed in space.

If you're sitting,

It will have a different feel than if you're lying down.

If you're on something hard,

It will feel different than if you're on a bed or something soft.

Notice your whole body from head to toes,

Toes to head.

And then come back to the top of the head.

Notice your forehead and eyebrows again.

Most often they will have gathered up some tension again.

Notice your eyes,

Your mouth and jaw,

Your chin,

Your throat.

Notice your whole face.

And then bring your attention down into your collarbones,

To your rib cage.

Notice the muscles that cover your rib cage.

Notice the ligaments in the bones.

So we can't really feel the bones directly,

But we can feel the motion as our ribs expand with the in-breath and then settle back with the out-breath.

We can't feel the diaphragm muscle,

But we can infer that it's there because it's moving the rib cage.

Notice what a few deeper breaths feels like.

And then let your breath come back to whatever pace is natural for you right now.

Notice your stomach.

When we breathe we can feel the muscle fibers lengthening as we breathe in and softening as we breathe out.

And we can also notice the more subtle qualities,

The energetic qualities of the breath.

When our body is really relaxed,

Our breath is often very smooth and easy.

When we're worried about something,

The stomach muscles might be tight and then the breath would be as well.

It's a struggle to breathe when our stomach muscles are really tight.

We'll come back to the breath in a moment.

Just for now,

Noticing the physical movement in your chest and in your stomach area,

Your belly,

Your lower belly.

And bring your attention down into your legs.

Does it feel like through the muscles of your thighs?

Down through your knees,

Your lower legs and into your feet.

Notice if your legs feel settled.

And then again,

Bring your attention all the way up through your body from the soles of your feet to your legs,

Your pelvic floor and up through your abdomen,

Through your throat center,

Up through to your head,

Top of your head.

Notice your whole entire body from head to toes.

Notice your breath.

Notice how your body's moving as you breathe.

And notice the energy,

The feel of your body right now.

What's going on energetically in your body?

And sometimes we can kind of relate that to a physical sensation.

My jaw is tight and clenched.

What's going on energetically that that would be happening?

Or maybe it's that tightness in your stomach or that in a black hole.

Maybe there's a restlessness through your whole body.

Just notice what's going on on the energy layer right now.

It's a little bit different than the physical,

But it's definitely in the same location.

Not really separate.

And notice the thoughts in your mind.

It's that lower level,

The thought stream.

If you think back through the last 20 minutes,

Has your thoughts stream been kind of quiet?

Is it being pretty engaged with something?

Is it easy to bring yourself back?

We have so many different experiences in our thoughts.

And then let this confluence,

This union of your body,

Breath and mind kind of settle.

Notice what your higher wisdom might be revealing right now.

What does it feel like to tune into that,

To your intuition,

To your knowing?

And notice if there's a sense of basic goodness or well-being.

Is the body and the energy and the lower level of the mind settle and become calmer?

This is revealed to be here.

It's always here.

It's just sometimes we are distracted by the other stuff.

What is your experience right now?

And if physical sensations or thoughts come up,

It kind of distracts you.

Let them be in the background just for another minute or so as we finish the practice.

All of these layers are here.

And we're paying attention to the deeper layers at the moment,

To our basic goodness,

To what we know.

And set your intention to carry that out into your day,

To be present with all of the layers of your being as you move through the day.

And then when you're ready,

Open your eyes.

Reviews

A beautiful and very relaxing meditation. Thank you Lynn!

A lovely, relaxing progression....as practiced on the dock, in the sun, next to our boat ~ Swelltime II , in Cap Sante Marina ~ Anacortes. WA. Thank you! Namaste
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Top notch with such complete explanation of our exploring and deepening

I liked this. It was a bit different than what I expected. Sort of a yoga nidra. A body scan, but slower and less specific. Not much attention to sankalpa. Lovely quiet background. A lot of explanation of the layers, which I hadn’t thought about before.

I loved this Yoga Nidra practice. Thank you.
I do a lot of QiGong - was lovely to be led in a gentle, deep practice.
I did fall asleep at the very end, waking up 6 minutes past the end. Feeling refreshed, and energised.
I will definitely return to this meditation.
😊🙏💞

Enlightening !
immersing into recognizing the 5 layers of the body explains a lot of my perceptions, thoughts and moments of joy
Exploring this more
Thank you
🙏🏼

This meditation draws me in in wonderful & surprising ways.

Very effective. I loved the pace and length of this practice. Thank you.

Love!!!!!

A most wonderful journey. Thank you.

Super calming voice. Loved it

I love the depth of this practice

Thank you. However i found a different explanation of the koshas with the manomaya kosha not so much as lower mind as of emotions and perhaps the stream of consciousness narrative that runs like ticker tape. Namaste.

Really nice. Great! Thank you!!

A very clear, excellent explanation of the koshas. Grateful.

Simple and very effective relaxation technique. Thank you🌱

Learned about the koshas in a classroom setting. Never really got it until today as I listened to this meditation with your gentle voice guiding me through the layers of my being. Thank you!

Subtle and powerful.

Thank you for this interesting meditation on the 5 layers of Koshas the being aware of being.

Thank you
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