Who do you want to be?
Have you ever asked yourself, “Who am I” or “Who do I want to be?”
It’s an interesting question to ponder. I have been leaning into this personal inquiry when I sit in meditation or right before I fall asleep. The fascinating thing I find is that there are really no boundaries holding me back from unleashing my imagination. When I give myself permission to play with the endless possibilities of who I want to be, all sorts of fun and surprising ideas begin to pop into my consciousness. I like to think these spontaneous whispers of insight and inspiration are really coming from the essence of my true and authentic Self.
By stepping out of the shadows of the typical labels we attach to that define who we are…such as mother, sister, wife, friend, yoga teacher, graphic designer…there’s another dimension or layer that reveals our true Self. This layer or sheath of the body is called the Bliss body or Anandamaya Kosha and it’s the deepest and subtlest of all five koshas in the mind and body. This level of consciousness relates to the essence of your true self or nature, which is perfection. Transcending all five sheaths can lead to a state of samadhi, or unity between individual and universal consciousness. This is said to be pure bliss or joy.
Finding this state of pure bliss or joy takes practice and it may not happen right away but there’s a pathway to knowing who you really are and who you are meant to be. If you have a regular meditation practice or yoga practice or some other method of deep relaxation practice, you can integrate an empowering exploration of the five koshas to illuminate your unique layers of body, breath, mind, wisdom, and bliss. I added an article by Sally Kempton about the five koshas below that explains how to tap into each kosha. I hope you will find a glimpse of your divine Self because we are all radiant beings with something special to offer on this planet. Once we remove the rigid labels of who we think we are, perhaps we can all see each other for the endless possibilities of who we can be. “Loving” – “Compassionate” – “Joyful” – “Phenomenal” …
I am still exploring my journey towards bliss and living into my true Self. I do know that I am seeker of truth, so this keeps me on track to continue learning from my spiritual teachers and my inner teacher to guide me each day to fully knowing who I am. I have a feeling this exploration will reveal many colorful layers, much like the famous series of impressionist paintings, Water Lilies by Claude Monet. Each paint stroke up close looks messy and unorganized but when you look at the whole painting it’s a beautiful masterpiece. I like this analogy…and I don’t mind being a water lily floating in a serene pond on a warm sunny day.
EXPLORATION
Get to Know the 5 Koshas—And Learn More About Yourself
Explore the layers of your body and soul to find your inner core of goodness.
by Sally Kempton
yogajournal.com
(Excerpt…)
When you know how it feels to be fully present in your physical sheath, rather than floating through life dissociated from it, you will find yourself more centered and sane, less prone to accidents, and more intuitively tuned in to which foods and activities nourish the body. When you can touch the subtle power of expansion and healing in the vital energy sheath, you can move stuck energy, release your own vitality, and connect to the energy in nature and in others. When you acknowledge your mental sheath, you can note the effect of certain thoughts and step out of the trancelike states that arise when you blindly accept thoughts and emotions. Access your wisdom sheath, and you’ll find that you have more clarity and intuition to keep your life on track. And each time you get in touch with the bliss sheath, you fall into the fundamental goodness of life.
What you need to know about the 5 koshas
Annamaya Kosha (Physical Sheath)
Though the physical sheath, or physical body, is the most tangible aspect of ourselves, very few of us have a real sense of where our organs are or what goes on inside our bodies. When I first began practicing yoga, it was nearly impossible for me to feel my feet or the muscles in my legs unless they hurt. Instead of sensing the body from the inside, I would “think” about the physical body, simply because so much of my energy and attention was parked in my mental body. Injuries and accidents—and even eating compulsions and other addictions—often come from the tendency to move and use the body without feeling how it responds. If you have difficulty fully entering your physical body, you may feel ungrounded, spacey, and fearful. But once you learn to feel your body, to sense it from within, you will learn how to move inside a posture to protect yourself from injury. You will begin to sense what kind of food you need and how much. Your attention will become grounded. Consciously inhabiting your physical body will bring more presence and ease to your life.
How to tap into this kosha: To get into the physical body, try this exercise. Notice your feet in your shoes. Tighten and relax the muscles in your calves. Touch your face and sense the contact between the fingers and the skin. Put your hand over your chest and feel your heartbeat, or feel the contact between the hand and the flesh. Then pick an inner organ—your liver, heart, or kidneys—and try to find it with your attention. Really sink your attention into that organ. Just as you would in meditation, notice when you become distracted by thoughts. When this happens, note “thought” to yourself and come back to sensing the organ. Notice the settling and grounding effect of this practice.
Pranamaya Kosha (Vital Energy Sheath)
The next three koshas are subtle—they can’t be tangibly grasped. Nonetheless, they can be felt, and feeling them is essential for mastery of your inner world.
The pranamaya kosha, or vital energy body, interpenetrates the physical body but is much larger. When you feel energy expanding into your heart or head during meditation or asana practice, or when waves of heat ripple through your body, you are in contact with the vital energy body. Feeling energized, sleepy, dull, restless, or calm are all attributes of the vital energy body. Just as you have a physical “look,” you also have a personal energetic signature. Once you become sensitive to the energy within and around you, you will start to recognize the vibrational signature that you and others leave in a room, or even on a piece of clothing. (Remember how comforting it was the first time you wore your partner’s shirt to bed?)
You may also notice how much of your communication with the world happens on an energetic level. Consider the way you feel when you’re in a room with an angry person, the peace you can find by sitting under a shady tree, the subtle transmission of energy you get from being near a good teacher.
Meditation is intended primarily to tone the energy body, as is asana practice. We often think of these practices as toning the mental and physical bodies, respectively, but yoga and meditation are also aimed at moving stagnant energy, or prana, through the body. One way to tune in to the power within the energy body is to practice letting yourself “be breathed.” Without changing your breathing pattern, become aware of the breath flowing into and out of your body as a natural, spontaneous flow.
How to tap into this kosha: Instead of feeling “I am breathing,” feel “I’m being breathed.” Let yourself relax into this feeling. If you notice your breath tightening, just notice it, with the thought “I am being breathed.” Eventually you may begin to feel the breath as energy, and you may sense that the body is bigger than the boundaries of the skin. This is a sign that you’ve entered the vital energy body. As this happens, you may find that your posture automatically readjusts itself, that your back or hips open. These are all effects of consciously accessing the vital energy body, which is the storehouse of healing power in your system.
Manomaya Kosha (Mental Body)
The manomaya kosha—within which you think, fantasize, daydream, and practice mantra or affirmations—is the part of you that creates meaning out of the world you inhabit. But just as the physical body has layers of skin, fat, blood, and bones, so the mental body has its own layers. The most superficial layer comprises passing thoughts, images, perceptions, and emotions that bubble up in your inner world.
However, if some of the thoughts in the manomaya kosha are like bubbles in the ocean, others are like tides and have a stronger hold. The deeper levels of the manomaya kosha contain the powerful mental structures formed by the beliefs, opinions, and assumptions that you’ve absorbed from your family and culture as well as from your accumulated mental patterns. Called samskaras in Sanskrit, these deep thought grooves in the mental body cause your perceptions of yourself and your life to run in certain fixed patterns. When you examine the contents of the manomaya koshaclosely, you can often see these patterns, which take the form of repetitive thoughts like “This isn’t how things should be” or “I’m not good enough.” Samskaras not only color your experience but also help shape it, which is why one of the most effective practices is to notice and question the “stories” that, without conscious prompting, run through your mind over and over again.
How to tap into this kosha: Try this basic self-inquiry, adapted from an exercise developed by the spiritual teacher Byron Katie. Look at a situation in your life that is charged in some way. Write down your thoughts about it. Then, one by one, consider each thought and ask yourself, “What would I be without this thought?” Notice how your breathing, your energy, and your mental experience shift.
Consciously replace the thought with one that feels empowering and real—such as “I am free to choose my attitudes” or “There is another way to see this.” Notice whether this new thought brings greater spaciousness to your mind.
