Episode 39: Layers of Being: Exploring the Koshas in Everyday Life

In this episode, we peel back the layers of the self - Dive deep into the ancient yogic concept of the Koshas, the five energetic sheaths that form our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual experience. From the tangible body to the blissful soul layer, you'll discover how these subtle energies shape your daily life—and how to work with them consciously for greater balance, vitality, and insight.

We’ll explore where the koshas come from in yogic texts like the Taittiriya Upanishad, how they were practiced traditionally, and how you can use them right now—in your yoga, your breath, your thoughts, and even your astrology. Whether you're a seeker, teacher, or simply curious, this episode will give you a powerful inner map to live more connected, aligned, and whole. Press play to remember: you are not just one thing—you are layered, luminous, and infinite.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to North Knight, the Yoga and Astrology Podcast. I'm Becky, a yoga teacher, astrologist, and businesswoman.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

And I'm Laura, founder of Soul Sanctuary Studios, Yoga Teacher Trainer and Wellness Coach and Consultant.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

In this podcast, we'll be diving into down to Earth Deep Soul Conversations. We'll explore how you can connect and stay on purpose with your true North Alignment through the transformative lenses of yoga and astrology.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Each episode is designed to inspire and guide you on your own journey towards self-discovery, self-love, and personal grace. We'd really appreciate it if you could leave us a five-star review at your preferred podcast platform. Your support will help us reach more listeners who are looking for insightful discussions and meaningful connections.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Thanks so much for joining us. Now, let's dive in to today's episode.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Hello everybody. So this week is just myself as Becky is a little bit poorly. So I thought I would do an episode which is quite specific to yoga. I am tying in some astrology, but it's a theory about the koshas. So you might have heard an episode before, which is the clacias, not to be confused with the kosher. So the clacias are the poisons of the mind, so things like asmita, the more I make the world about me, the more stressful it becomes. Ana vidya, the trunk of the tree of suffering, which is about spiritual ignorance. So those are kind of poisons of the mind and kind of causes of sufferings for humans. The koshas are very different. So the five koshas are essentially the layers of self according to yogic philosophy. And so what I want to do is kind of share what they are, and the reason that they can be useful is they can help us navigate daily life with more kind of clarity, ease, purpose, and also, like many other frameworks in yoga, like the chakras and Ayurveda, which we've also done episodes on, they can really help us find balance within these layers of our body. So I'm going to be looking at the definition, where they came from, how they were practiced quite traditionally to start with, and how that's changed and how we practice them in kind of modern day life these days. So let's start with what are the koshas. So the word kosher actually means sheath or layer, if you like, and it's this covering that almost wraps around something deeper inside. So in yogic philosophy, the koshas are described as five layers of being. So from the most tangible and physical on the outside, all the way to the most subtle and spiritual on the inside. So think of them as like concentric rings or layers of the onion, with the innermost being your true self or Atman as they call it in yoga, your pure awareness. And then the outside being your animaa kosher, which is your body made of food, or the sheath or layer made of food, which doesn't that make you uh consider what you eat? Um let's work through these one by one and see how they resonate and then see how we might be able to integrate some of this information more practically on a day-to-day basis. So each kosher is interconnected with the other kosher. They are not separate compartments, but they are aspects of how consciousness expresses itself in different ways through your body, your breath, your mind, your intuition, and your pure essence. So if we look at each one, so you've got anamaya kosher, the food body or the food layer. So anna means food, and Maya is made of, and kosher is sheath or layer. So this is your physical body, and this is literally made of the food that you eat: your bones, your muscles, your organs, and your skin. It's your most visible layer and also the most vulnerable to change, aging, and injury. So when you do yoga or stretches or anything physical or what you eat, nourishing food or deep sleep, that is you caring for anamaya kosha, for that kosher, for your physical body. Then you have pranaya kosha. So pranaya kosha, if you break it down, you've got prana, which is energy like pranayama when you practice breathing techniques. So prana is your energy. Maya made of kosher sheath. So this is the sheath made of energy or life force. Okay, so this is made up of your breath and subtle currents of energy moving through you. It's what animates your body, gives you vitality and keeps your systems flowing. So things like breath work, pranayama, um, energy healing all work on that energetic level. So Anamaya kosha is your physical level, and then pranamaya kosha is your energetic level, the level one in from the physical layer. Then you have Manamaya kosha. So Manamaya kosha is this mental, emotional body. So manas refers to the mind, the thinking, the reactive mind. And the kosher holds your thoughts, your emotions, your memories, your inner narratives, so those stories or those limiting beliefs or those samskaras, those deeply trodden pathways in the mind. So when you feel anxiety, judgment, or joy, that's what's moving through this kosher. And practices like meditation, therapy, emotional regulation can really help keep that layer balanced, and that's what we're going to look at is how can we bring these layers into balance? Vijnamaya kosher, which is the wisdom body. So vijna is all about discernment, knowing, or insight. This is the layer of intuition, of clarity, higher understanding, and deeper truth. So it's not reactive like the mind, it's part of you that sees the bigger picture. So I like to think of this as like my wisdom. You know, they say like intuition, inner teacher. We all have an inner teacher in our intuition. So this is the wisdom body. So Anamaya Kosha is the layer made of food, Pradamaya Kosha is the layer of uh energy, and then Manamaya Kosha is the mind, a thinking body, and then Vajanamaya kosha is the wisdom body. So we're working our way inwards. So when you experience an inner knowing, that is this kosher shining through. And then you have anandamaya kosha. So ananda means bliss, but not the fleeting kind. This is your deepest layer, this is the closest to your soul or Atman. And this is the experience of peace, stillness, and joy without reason and unconditional love. So you might get a glimpse of this in deep meditation or during sacred ritual or moments of awe in nature. And together those koshas form a map of the whole human experience from skin to muscles to bone to soul. Um, and these this concept of koshas, so where did it first come from? Was classical yogic philosophy, and it's most clearly outlined in the Upanishads, so key Vedantic texts. Um it dates back to the 6th or 5th century BCE, so it's part of the Vedic period, specifically part of Yajur Veda, so one of the four Vedas, obviously in Sanskrit. And like most Upanishads, so most of these really ancient texts, it's attributed to Rishis and sages who transmitted knowledge orally. So, you know, yoga, we have to be good at accepting that kind of grey, it's not black and white. Um, and often some of these teachings were written on you know pine leaves, which have you know since disintegrated. So it's a little bit Chinese whispers, but it is an orally passed on practice as we still do today through transmissions, through teachings. So this Upanishad is composed of three main sections, what we know as valis. So you've got Shiksa Vali, which is education and phonetics, ananda valli, which is the source of the kosher teaching, and then Bruji Vali, so a narrative teaching deeper insight into the koshas through inquiry. Okay, so the Upanishad that the Kosha sits in is split into those three main sections. So, how can we actually practice this today? Now we know where it's come from. Sometimes that can feel a little bit far from where we are now, and I always think the importance of a great teacher is somebody that can make quite ancient and often lofty and intangible subjects really kind of relative to day-to-day life. That's what we need. Um, and I'll explore interesting like how we've come to be like that in the West, and actually, maybe that isn't really the point, but it's sort of you know, we meet ourselves where we are, or we meet each other where we are, and that's kind of what we need in terms of teachings today. But I think it's also really important to look back at you know why it wasn't about that necessarily, you know, not self-improvement projects once upon a time. So we'll look at that. But for our kind of daily practice, what might be useful? Um interesting links to astrology, of course, the two subjects which are so tightly connected. Um, so it's a little bit like chakras. If you remember, the chakra system is those spinning wheels through the body, and we can always use it as a map when we understand the chakra system. If we're feeling out of balance, like if we have anxiety or if we have migraines or if we have problems with our kidneys or digestion, or whatever, we can look at the body and go, where is this happening? And what is the emotional root of this disease? And the chakras really show us you know how to bring ourselves into balance, and we understand that the body is communicating dis-ease because that part of the body is out of balance. When we know the root cause of being out of balance, which is usually an emotional root cause, then we can use the map of the chakras to bring us back into balance that way, going, okay, I feel like this because of this, so I'm going to practice these practices to bring that area of my body back into balance and these emotions back into balance. And in that way, we have almost this dialogue with our body where it's expressing disease as a communication, we listen and we can kind of self-treat the root cause of that through the emotional imbalance or the physical imbalance. So that's kind of what the map of the chakras does, if you remember. And then Ayurveda is again slightly different. So all these really useful frameworks. So Ayurveda is a sister practice to yoga, and um, it's like life science, they call it Ayurveda, um, and it gives us a certain body type, and then we know what we're kind of predisposed to. So if you're pitta type like me, then you're going to be attracted to things which are like fiery, fast-paced, competitive, but too much fire can turn to ash, and that's when pitta types might experience burnout. Vata types, which is of wind quality, can experience anxiety. Um, so to balance them, you know, we do more grounding exercises and eat more grounding foods. Um, pita kaffa is earth water, which has a tendency to um experience congestion, water retention. So, to balance those types, then we we do do more heat, um, heat in uh creating exercises and also foods to help burn that off. So that's a real oversimplified description of Ayurveda. But you can see how there's certain frameworks, you know, chakras give us a map to bring us into balance, Ayurvedas give us this um dosha, this constitution, so we know what we're prone to and how to keep ourselves back into balance. Um, and then kosher's can work in a similar way but different. So if we are experiencing disease in certain areas of these bodies, and I don't mean like how we describe disease in the West, I'm talking about like dis-ease. So we're experiencing an imbalance that could show itself physically in Anamaya Kosha, it should could show itself emotionally, okay, um, or mentally, manamaya kosher, um, a lack of wisdom, the Janamaya kosher. So, wherever the imbalance is felt in the body, when we have an awareness of these layers, a bit like the chakras, but just works in a different way, then we might be able to get to the root of it and then treat it in a way uh that would help bring us back into balance. So, why this connects to astrology is a bit like Ayurveda, when you know your type, so your chart, your birth sign, um, and where your placements are in your chart, then you're gonna know what you're more prone to experience in the kosher. So, for example, the physical body. So, this isn't a really earth element, okay. Our Anamaya Kosher is Earth. So, if you have placements like Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn, these Earth signs, really first house planets as well. So, it's about that our physical body, and Saturn or Mars um aspects to the body as well, then you're more likely to experience stronger feelings in this kosher. So, this is going to be the most prevalent kosher to you, likely. Um, so if grounded, so if in balance, you're gonna be body aware, you'll have discipline, you'll have good routines, you'll prioritize uh food, exercise, and structure. If it's overactive, so just like your chakras, uh, it's not like more is better in yoga, it's about balance. So if you're overactive or over-identified with these parts of your life, then you would be over identified with appearance, a body image, or productivity, or it could lead to rigidity, perfectionism, especially around health. Um, if it's underdeveloped, maybe you neglect the body, you have poor boundaries or a scattered lifestyle, physical depletion, disconnection from body signals. So practical tools to help bring Anamaya Kosha, our physical body, back into balance. For Earth Sign, we could really do with more structure, more routine, physical rituals, and movement-based practices like yoga, especially yin, really grounding hatha, um, so structured as well. Um, so you can kind of see how when you understand what part of this body relates to, so Anamaya Kosha, so is our physical body. And if you have those placements like Taurus, Virgo, or first house planets or Capricorn, um, then you're gonna be more prone to experience uh big feelings or a big reaction to your Anamaya Kosha. You're gonna be most closely linked to that, and if you are struggling with it, then that's how you can bring yourself back into balance. So moving on then to Pranomaya Kosha, to the energy body, if you remember, one in from the physical body. So this is air and water element. So the key placements astrologically here would be Gemini, Aquarius, and Libra. So if you have key placements with those signs, then you could be quite uh directly affected by Pranomaya Kosha. It's gonna be quite prevalent to you. Um, moon or Mercury is also emphasized. Uh, sixth house and mutable signs. So if they're showing up in your chart, then the chances are you're gonna really be impacted by Pranomaya Kosha and you're gonna feel um you're gonna be most sensitive to its balance. So if this is strong, if Pranomayo Kotia is strong, you'll have high vitality, you'd be quick to recharge, emotionally responsive, um, breath focused, energetically aware. If you're overactive here, Pranomaya Kosha energy body, you might feel anxious, you'd have scattered energy, oversensitive to others, maybe a nervous system dysregulation. If it's underdeveloped, maybe you would experience things like fatigue, uh, breath holding or difficulty managing your energetic boundaries. Uh, it might feel like leaky or drained in social situations or chaotic environments, so if that drains you, underdeveloped. Practical tools, so air signs would benefit from breath work, pranayama, and nervous system work. So daily breath check-ins or energetic hygiene rituals, so some way to keep your energy safe. Um, whatever that looks like to you. Some people visualize, you know, like a bubble around you, a shield around you, pressing a button, a colour, whatever it is that helps you protect your energy in certain situations. Um, Gemini and Aquarius types would need space to disconnect from stimulation, so that would also help. Okay, so you know which types are going to be most affected by Pranomaya Kosha and how to bring it into balance. So then moving on to Manamaya Kosha. So this is remember your mind body or your mind layer. Um, so key placements here would be Cancer, Gemini, Pisces, also strong for moon or Mercury, uh, and planets in the third or fourth house. So if you have those placements, then you're gonna be feeling Manamaya Kosha more directly. So if it is strong, you're gonna be feeling emotionally intelligent, reflective, curious, you might have good communication and self-awareness. If it's overactive, you might be overthinking, worrying, self-doubt, emotionally reactive, or easily influenced by external input. If it's underdeveloped, you might have unprocessed emotions, suppression, numbness, difficulty naming or understanding feelings. And practical tools for this, so like cancer and Pisces, you would need emotional expression and safe containers, whereas like moon-ruled people would benefit from journaling, therapy, routine, um, and Gemini might more need more like mental focus and like media boundaries, so social media putting your boundaries in there. Okay, and then moving on to Vajana Maya Kosha. So this is the wisdom intuition, and this is a fire air sign. So the key placement, so who this is going to affect most is the Sagittarius, um, Aquarius, Scorpio, Jupiter, Uranus, um uh Neptune dominant, so planets in the ninth or twelfth house as well. So if this is strong, then you're gonna have a strong intuition. Um, you might be a spiritual seeker, you'd be quite discerning, capable of self-inquiry and big picture thinking. So this is your wisdom, remember. So if this is strong, that's how you're gonna feel. Quite trusting as well, um, of the universe, of your path, of your dharma. If it's overactive, you would experience spiritual bypassing. So kind of know-it-all tendencies and detach from emotions or physical needs sometimes. If underdeveloped, you might be easily influenced, you might lack self-trust and have confusion around truth or purpose. So, practical tools for this layer for Vajana Maya, kosher, so the wisdom layer. So, Sagittarius and Aquarius types need freedom for their spiritual exploration. Okay, so making time for that. Ninth house folks would benefit from study and conscious travel. Um, and you can support this layer with meditation, discernment practices, and unlearning some of our uh cultural programming. And then looking at Anandamaya Kosha, finally, the bliss body. This is a water space element. So the key placements would be Pisces, 12th house planets, Neptune or North Node dominance. So if it's strong, then you would feel interconnected, intuitive, open-hearted. So remember, this is our bliss body, capable of deep stillness and joy in presence. If overactive, maybe you experience disassociation, escapism, addiction, addiction to transcendence or um drug use, drug abuse, escapism basically, and then avoiding reality or difficult emotions. If it was underdeveloped, you might feel like you have no access to joy. Maybe you are over-identifying with struggle, cynicism, spiritual dryness, disconnection from soul. So, some practical tools we can use. Um, Pisces or 12th house types would need solitude. Also, art and mysticism to bring this back into balance, back to life. Practices of surrender and devotion, like back to yoga or mantra, so chanting, uh, nature, dream work, and creative flow to help unlock bliss. So, maybe a creative self-practice or a class with like very little structure that you feel you can beheld and get creative in your yoga practice. Um, so that is kind of practically how we might be able to use these, especially when we are connecting it with our birth chart and astrology. Interestingly, they weren't always practiced like this. So, when we look at the koshas and how they were practiced traditionally, it was in ancient India, um, and they were not used as like a daily wellness check, which is kind of more how they're used today, um, but rather a map for like inner contemplation or self realization. So the practice was more meditative and philosophical, and it was aimed at dissolving. Layers of illusion or the Maya, as they call it. So Maya is the illusion of the material world. Um, to experience non-dual awareness. So to explain like non-dual awareness is the direct experience of realizing that there is no separation between self and other. There is no separation between subject and object, inner and outer. It's the understanding that everything is one. And it's not just like a logical understanding, it's a felt experience and a real knowing, a deep knowing that the boundaries that we perceive between me and you, spiritual material, are just illusions created by the mind. I'm not sure if we've spoken before when we look at the om symbol, you can actually see, you can see the line that separates our subconscious and then uh the maya, so the illusion, and then that bliss, and that is that boundary. And what we're trying to do is kind of dissolve that boundary and realize that we are absolutely oneness, like we are the world, you know, we are what we are looking at. So, for example, like duality is I am here, the world is out there, but non-duality, what we're working towards, is I am not separate from the world, I am the world. So everything is made of the same essence. So, unity of all things, like you feel a sense of oneness with people, nature, sounds, sensations. There's no longer a you watching an experience, like you are the experience itself. And I appreciate this can get a little bit out there, a bit deep, maybe, but it's important, I think, for us to consider and come back to our like original state. Um, you know, like humans were created to experience this bliss, not to be in struggle and living so focused on the material world like we do. And that's what I meant when I spoke about we can use this quite practically because we like that, you know, we like a practical tool, don't we, to help us feel better, look better, be healthier, bit of an improvement project. We can kind of tend to get into that even it within wellness. But actually, I think it's really important to look at these kind of roots and go, it wasn't really about that, like that's you know, a good thing. But we have to realize that actually these teachings came down to something much deeper than that, they came down to this you know, idea that we are one, you know, it's oneness that it's not this dual awareness that that's what we're trying to dissolve. And I think sometimes by just practicing the kind of the tools to keep us well, we can stay stuck in a dual awareness. So I think it's important just to remind that actually what we're working towards is that is not just being well, but stuck in dual awareness, but actually working towards non-dual awareness, so understanding that we are all connected, we are all the same thing. Um, which in yoga they call Advaita, which is not too, yeah. So it's like we are one. Um, so how would that feel? It would feel like a moment of stillness where you're completely present, like time stops. Like maybe when you're watching the sea and realizing like I'm not separate from this and from the movement. Um, in deep meditation, that sense of I meditating actually dissolves, and there is just pure being. Um, so it's different from normal awareness. So normal awareness is like I am breathing, whereas non-dual awareness is like there is breath, you know, it's not that you are breathing, it's that breath is present. Well, I see a tree, you know, uh, but then there's only seeing the tree and the observer are the same, they are connected, they are one. Um, so you kind of get the idea in it, and you know, how can you practice that? I mean, this is a lot of what we do in a yoga teacher training, you know, obviously paths to cultivate that are meditation. Um, and you can do that on awareness itself. So witnessing your consciousness, so witnessing yourself doing it and becoming aware of it, bringing into light is usually the first step, and then doing quite deep practices like who am I, which we do on teacher training and stripping away some of these external identities that we hold on to, you know, titles like I am a doctor, I am a lawyer, I am a mother, I am a rugby player, I am whatever it might be. Um, and then when those titles go, we can experience you know deep loss because we had such over-identification with them. Whereas when we kind of strip those away in practice and we draw a line through them and go, I'm actually not those things, that's just something that I'm doing in this lifetime. But what am I? Who am I? Um then we can start to access some of these kind of deeper realizations. So letting go of identification with thoughts, emotions, and body. That's a big one. So letting go of identification with thoughts, emotions, and body as well. I over-identifying with our body. Um traditional practices would include things like Vedic chanting, uh, fasting, food discipline, and the idea was that cleanse the animaecosia, so the layer made of food, meditation and inquiry, what they call neti neti, which is this realizing like I am not this body nor this mind, neti neti. I am not this body nor this mind. Um, and sometimes it's good just to like maybe you use that neti neti and you sit in meditation and you remind yourself, I am not this body or this mind, and just helping yourself detach and gain a bit of perspective can be useful for us in this lifetime. Um, so it's this simplicity and detachment from outer identity, and how they're used today is like a bit different, really. So, where traditionally we used to use them for kind of self-realization or moksha, they call it moksha, so this real sense of bliss and connectedness. Um, whereas today we kind of use it for like healing or uh self-integration, so learning more about self. So maybe before it was about Vedic ritual, renunciation, um, whereas today maybe it's more like yoga, physical yoga, trauma-sensitive work, so just more practical. Um, traditionally, they were very abstract, they were philosophical layers, they were to be discussed and felt, but now we like them to be more practical, lived experiences, so like nutrition, breath work, mental health, something more tangible than just philosophical philosophical concepts to consider and explore within. Um, yeah, I mean these koses are, we teach them on-teacher training, but I think you know what I love about this podcast is hopefully we're giving access to some of this these frameworks, which you know we see people transform on these trainings, and sometimes I feel like it's a shame that we only give access to that to people who want to become a yoga teacher, which is an incredible thing. Um, but I think there's loads of people out there who could benefit from these teachings who maybe don't want to become a yoga teacher. Um, I mean, not everyone does a yoga teacher training to teach, they just do it for deep exploratory work, but yeah, I think it's always nice to share teachings like this in case it helps others who are just interested in some more of the yoga philosophy, um, especially as it is connected to well-being and you know, this sense of inner peace. So I hope you found that helpful, and um uh Becky will be back with me next week, and I look forward to speaking to you then.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

Thanks, guys. Thanks so much for listening to this episode. Your time is precious, and we truly appreciate you spending it with us. We look forward to having you join us again soon. So, take care, and we'll catch you in the next episode.