Are you happy? What makes you happy?
Is it the 5Cs? (cash, car, credit card, condominium, country club)
How many bodies do you have? How many bodies do you have ? One? two? THREE bodies? Anyone with more than one bodies? When I asked this question in my class, someone said, “ I am in two minds”
We have five bodies which most people are not aware of. In yoga, we call it pancha kosha, which means Five layers of the body .
If we want to be healthy, happy and want stress free life, we need to understand, nourish and maintain these five bodies. But most people forget four of our bodies, many people even forget all.
As we peel off an onion, we can see each layer, the same way we have these layers wrapped and connected to each other. So, let’s see what these five layers are
Annamaya Kosha/physical body:
First one is Annamaya kosha, which refers to our physical body. It is your bones, tissues, muscles, organs etc. It depends upon the food you eat to get energy. Very often, we associate our self and others with the physical body we see. This is the entry point for all the inner layers of our body.
We need balanced diet, exercise/yoga asananas, rest, sleep to nourish this layer. We give so much importance to this layer that we totally forget the subtler and deeper level of bodies we have.
The Second layer of body is Pranamaya kosha or energy sheath
Pranamaya or energy Sheath:
This is the life force which we have, also called Chi in Chinese. This is recognized by breath. It is the energy which we need to do our daily task. It is present in almost all living beings on the earth. It is the prana that makes the blood flow, carries impulses from our body, to the brain and back through nerves.
Do you feel tired and lethargic even when you are not sick?
DO you feel short of breath when you are tensed or stressed?
It is due to imbalance in prana
Pranayama or breathing technique, panic energy healing, deep breathing helps to bring balance on panic level.
This level is the bridge between physical body and subtle level of body
This brings us to the third layer, which is manomaya kosha
Manomaya kosha or Mind sheath: This is our daily mind – the entire store of feelings and emotions that we have. It is all about our likes, dislikes, hates, fears, phobias, love, compassion, irritation, anger, passion, obsessions etc. This is the seat of all pleasures and pains.
Do you know that the Mind is the cause of 90% of health problems?
Do you know most of the problem arises at this level?
And imbalance at this level manifests on the physical body in terms of diseases like Diabetes, asthama, migraine, back pain etc. which we call as psychosomatic ailments. It uses Prana or breath as a medium.
Meditation, relaxation, understanding your emotions and bringing emotional balance will help keep balance on this sheath.
Do you know there is no difference between us and animals until this layer?
The next two layers is what differentiates us from animals.
The fourth layer is
Vijyanmaya kosha or the wisdom kosha:
This is the higher knowing, inner voice and our inner conscience. This one tells us what is fundamentally right or wrong. This one tells us what I should be doing and saying vs. what I may end up doing or showing.
Do you feel there is always conflict between what you think and what you feel?
Do you have fear, insecurities, stress and anxiety?
This is because we are always out of sync between mental and wisdom sheath
We need to stimulate this layer by constantly feeding with correct knowledge, continuous learning, getting counselling if required, analysis of happiness in life.
Anandmaya Kosha – The Bliss Sheath This is the last part, subtlest level of our body, Anadmaya kosha/bliss.
Do you want to be healthy, wealthy and happy?
This is what should be looked at. This is the sheath of pure happiness, bliss without any strings attached or connected to material acquisitions. This is where you, me and everyone wants to be, but we are too far away from it. Usually we are stuck on first or second level , but we never make that journey inwards.
The selfless acts, simply being in nature along with taking care of rest of the sheaths of the body will help to be in this level. And this is available freely.
Do you want peace?
Do you want to live stress-free life?
Do you want to save on your medical expenses?
Then you need to make switch from 5Cs to 5Bs.
The 5Cs are necessary but 5Bs are essential.
The 5Cs are important in your life but you can’t be truly happy with just 5Cs
Once you have 5B, you are ready for your 5Cs. Remember B comes before C.
Are you ready to make that switch from 5C to 5B
Then know your bodies, take care of it, and it is the only place you have to live in!
If you need help on how can you move yourself and your life towards bliss and consistent happiness, please write comment below, we will reach out to you. We are here to help you
