Kosas: Yoga Bodies

The physical body Annamaya Kosa: we move around in this. Our physical body is our form, our flesh, our blood and bone. It is the vehicle with which we experience life. It is our own personal temple. The physical body has its own intelligence and awareness. It speaks to us in sensation: pleasure, pain, cold, hot rather than words. The physical body speaks loudly, adamantly. The needs and desire of the physical body are strong drivers of action.

The intellectual body Vijnanamaya Kosa: our thoughts and ruminations. Writing these essays is an act of my intellectual body. The intellectual body desires puzzles, stimulation, and mental activity. It enjoys beauty and is yet called to the underside of life as well. The intellectual body is engaged at the computer screen.

The emotional body, Manomayo Kosa: our response to relationships. The yearnings of the heart come from our emotional body: love, joy, anger, jealousy, loneliness. The emotional body is is activated in interactions with others and the feelings that arise from those interactions, or from the lack of interactions.

The energy body, Pranamaya Kosa: our chi, prana, joie de vivre. The energy body provides the umph that gets us out of bed in the morning. The energy body provides the fuel of passion to ignite the physical, intellectual and emotional bodies. Lack of prana can lead to depression, exhaustion, illness.

The divine body Anandamaya Kosa: the spark of life at our center. The part of us that knows we are part of something greater than ourselves. The divine body experiences bliss and awe at existence: enlightenment. When we find balance between the other bodies we can bring the divine body forward into our awareness. We can let the light shine for all to see and we can see the spark in everyone around us.

Yoga means to yoke. Yoga is a practice designed to bring the bodies together into resonance. From this resonance comes a deep glow of grace.