Hey there,
My name is Matthew Carter and I'm going to tell you a little bit more about the koshas of yoga nidra.
Koshas are the energetic sheaths or layers of our body.
We have five different layers that we practice through in yoga nidra.
And often our classes are designed in such a way that we go through these layers one by one sequentially.
So let's take a little bit of time to learn about the different koshas.
The first kosha is called anamaya kosha.
This first layer of koshas represents the physical body,
Including the skin,
Muscles,
Connective tissue,
Fat,
And bones.
When you pinch the side of your waist and you feel the skin and muscle under your fingers,
You engage with anamaya kosha.
For a lot of people,
This first layer might be where they spend most of their time hanging out,
Locked in the physical senses.
The second kosha is pranamaya kosha and it represents the pranic or subtle body.
In essence,
It's the circulatory system for prana or life force energy.
It also includes the fluid,
Physical aspects of the anatomical body that control the movement of blood,
Lymph,
And cerebral spinal fluid through the body and circulatory system.
It would also include the movement of our breath through the respiratory system.
In psychological terms,
Pranamaya kosha controls our bodily and spiritual rhythm.
The third kosha is manomaya kosha.
This takes us deeper into the recesses of the mind,
Emotions,
And nervous system.
While modern science has developed an acute understanding of the inner workings of the brain,
The mind motivations and emotions still retain a mysterious quality.
The manomaya kosha makes up the control panel for the emotional and physical body,
Sending messages through your brain synapses and central nervous system.
It's this layer where you move from physical feeling and rhythm into emotional feeling.
The fourth kosha is called vijanamaya kosha.
Diving underneath the sea of emotions in manomaya kosha,
We reach this next kosha known as vijanamaya kosha,
The wisdom body.
It's here that we develop awareness,
Insight,
And consciousness.
Emotions left unchecked by awareness are destructive.
The awareness of vijanamaya kosha illuminates our deeper desires and motivations and allows us to see the choice we have in all things.
Instead of simply feeling or acting,
We choose to feel or act with intention.
The fifth kosha is anandamaya kosha.
This last kosha drops from conscious awareness into the pure and radiant bliss body.
Within the anandamaya kosha,
You might experience connection with all things,
Liberation from suffering and a state of being often described as in the flow.
Now also in yoga nidra are various techniques that we use to help deepen our experience.
You might hear the word sankalpa used during yoga nidra.
This is a very important part of every yoga nidra class.
The purpose is to connect your intention of the class to how it can show up in your practice and on a deeper level in your life.
The word sankalpa simply means intention or deeper resolve.
It usually follows the initial relaxation at the beginning of each yoga nidra class.
Another technique that's used in yoga nidra is called a rotation of consciousness.
This is all about connecting to the first kosha,
The physical body.
It is part of every yoga nidra class.
In the first phase of the session,
You typically relax the body progressively.
This is the rotation of consciousness,
Moving by muscle to muscle from body part to body part through the entire body.
Another technique is awareness of opposites and it's just like it sounds.
This is where we bring awareness to opposite sensations and emotions.
This might be hot and cold,
Heavy and light,
Sad and happy.
This helps the mind understand that we are allowed to feel many different sensations and emotions during our lives.
It helps to improve the body's ability to regain balance and it brings the related involuntary functions under conscious control.
Another technique is rapid visualizations.
This is a part of the yoga nidra where numerous images will be called off in rapid succession.
Visualization is a method of consciously using a symbol or image as a catalyst to provoke a reaction in the unconscious mind.
But since no time is given for the conscious mind to react,
You remain detached and the ego becomes temporarily inactive.
This phase helps to resolve suppressed conflicts,
Desires and memories.
Now lastly is guided journeys.
Though not always a part of yoga nidra,
It's a very powerful technique that can simply be like a bedtime story,
But a story that you get to build visually inside of your mind.
I really love this visual aspect of yoga nidra and I personally like to include them in most of my classes.
Often during these longer visual journeys you will meet an inner sage,
Guide or teacher and connect deeply with your sankalpa a few times.
Thanks so much for taking the time to learn a little bit more about yoga nidra.
I hope to see you in some of my other yoga nidra sessions if you ever have the time.
Take care and have an awesome day ahead of you.
Namaste.
