The Koshas: Annamayakosha

The vast wisdom of yoga never ceases to amaze me and also overwhelm me! Our past few months have been a whirlwind of yamas and niyamas and kleshas and now....the koshas. The koshas, like the kleshas, can be considered veils, but rather than veils of ignorance, the koshas are more like veils of enlightenment. More commonly the koshas are referred to as sheaths, or coverings of which there are five. The koshas are the understandings of ourselves as dense physical beings all the way to infinite, ethereal, spiritual beings. The visual of an onion can be helpful, the most outer layer being our physical bodies, our bones, and our organs. Peel back a layer and you will find our energy and our breath. Peel back another layer to find our thinking mind and our emotions, another layer to arrive at our wisdom, intellect, and intuition, and finally, one final layer to arrive at pure love or bliss.

The first layer is called the annamaya kosha. This is our physical body, our bones, our ligaments, and our organs all of which are comprised and fueled by the food that we eat. This layer or sheath is associated with the element of earth, as we can really perceive the density of a rock or see the veins in a leaf. So often in our yoga practice we are asked to go beyond this layer, to tune into our heart space and to let go of our physicality. As an instructor, I am guilty as charged. While I am teaching asana to the physical body, I very much talk about all that is beyond. Yet, how can we expect ourselves to move beyond something we haven't fully explored, nurtured, and accepted? Yes, we may be identified with our bodies, but how can we inhabit our bodies in a way that will illuminate our souls. 

Let us consider our bodies as the pearly gates, a glorious entryway to be brushed with loving touch, to be fueled with nutritious ingredients, to be attended to with kind words of affirmation, and to be strengthened  with mindful movement. 

For it is only when we make the intentional effort to experience ourselves with such love and understanding that we will find the keys to unlock pranamaya kosha or the gateway to our energy or inner chi. The awareness, attention, and devotion to each aspect of ourselves will lead us into the spiral staircase of our queendom or kingdom to the all encompassing, oneness of love, bliss, and ananda, our true home or om. 

Thank you Beautiful Human,

May this interpretation be your reminder to love your body, cherish it as your temple, because it is.

I love you,

Andrea Dawn