Table of Contents
Scale of Body Connection (See Text: P. 36)
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (See Text: P. 267)
Prana Vayu Evaluation Worksheet (See Text: P. 209)
Sample Script: Present-Moment Affirmation of Vijnanamaya and Anandamaya Kosha. (See Text: P. 45/ P. 319)
Communicating the Pancamaya Kosha Model’s Origins & Sample Script (See Text: P. 52/ P. 59)
Scale of Body Connection and Scoring
Price, C., & Thompson, EA. (2007). Measuring Dimensions of Body Connection: Body Awareness and Bodily Dissociation. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 13(9):945‐954.
Scale of Body Connection: A multi-sample construct validation study
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale
Citation: Cox, J.L., Holden, J.M., and Sagovsky, R. 1987. Detection of postnatal depression: Development of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. British Journal of Psychiatry 150:782-786.
Sample Script: Present-Moment Affirmation of Vijnanamaya and Anandamaya Kosha.
Sometimes, a client may need more overt guidance, a step-by-step deeper dive. This sample script was inspired by training I did in Yoga Nidra’s iRest practice in 2014. I think of it like an elegant combination of cognitive and experiential work. It’s not for every client, or every therapist. When you use longer prompts, let them be jumping off points for your own present-moment inspired guidance of your client. I’ve seen so many yoga therapy students read from scripts, eyes glued to the page, totally disconnected from their client. This is not yoga therapy. Don’t provide a service they could just as easily get from an online video. Be present! Be receptive. Be willing to put the practice down if it doesn’t feel like a good fit.
The silence you let unfold between statements is as important as the language you use. The ellipses below indicate a pause I recommend taking. I notate where I think a longer pause is useful. Don’t rush it. Look for signs of fidgeting. Bring your client back to her felt experience. If you notice a lot of fidgeting, or if her eyes abruptly open, use inquiry to explore what’s stimulating her response. The sheer act of paying attention to one’s self can stir things up. Don’t assume that just because you are inviting an experience of anandamaya kosha, that your client is having one. Have faith that your client can handle what they feel and also know that their own recognition of that is a process that can’t be rushed.
If it feels comfortable, you might let the eyes close. If not, find a single point of focus and let the gaze be soft.
As you begin to settle into this space, I invite you…to invite yourself…to truly settle into this space. We use the mind, the thing that often distracts us from this present moment, as a tool to tune in to this present moment.
Tune in. As a musician before the start of a symphony might tune his or her instrument to align with the pressure and temperature of the room, so too can you tune your instrument, your body and breath, to the conditions of this present moment.
See if you can adjust your body so that every inch, every ounce of you can relax…release…soften…open… Joints and limbs relax, release. Let the body melt, fully. You are supported. By the solid earth beneath. By gravity. By the feeling of being here and now.
Let the body become heavy, and soft. Invite ease. Let deepening layers of skin, muscle, and bone grow heavy, soften, melt…
Notice areas that still might hold tension…the small muscles of face, and neck, shoulders. Jaw. Forehead. Shoulders. Hips and knees. Fingertips and toes. Notice if and where there is holding, tension. Vestiges of things that have come before, or thoughts of what has not yet occurred. Past. Future. Illusions. All that exists is this here, this now.
This present moment…in which no past or future sources of tension exist…see if you can take a deep breath in, and let those tensions go. What doesn’t serve you in this here and now? See if you can take a deep breath in, and, along with the carbon dioxide released during each exhalation, let those tensions go. On each, next exhalation… soften…release...relax…let go.
(Long pause.)
Bring your attention to the feelings and sensations of your body. See if you can welcome the feeling of the here and the now.
(Long pause.)
The body resting atop the surface beneath it: what does it feel like?…The feeling where backs of heels, calves, the flesh of your seat make contact; the middle back, shoulders, backs of arms, hands, resting, pressing, releasing; the feeling of space where body makes no contact: Backs of ankles, the small of back and neck. Notice all of you…Notice the feeling of being here, now.
Notice your subtler senses. What does light feel like? What does sound feel like? Let the simple act of noticing be enough. What does the space around you feel like? With curiosity, Notice. Practice noticing. As though noticing itself was the practice…Sensations are information about this present moment…In this present moment, you are safe, you can soften, open, release, relax.
Notice the feeling of being here now. Let each moment of noticing melt a layer between you and gradual, full, softening…There is nowhere to get to. Nothing to achieve. Let softening come as naturally as each, next, breath. Though the mind might wander, though drowsiness might tug you toward full sleep, see if you can remain present with my voice, and with feeling: I am here. I am now. I am at rest. I am aware. I am safe. I am receptive.
We practice noticing because noticing is the practice.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
(Long pause.)
What are you seeking in this life? What fills you? What pulls your heart toward an experience of wholeness?
(Long pause.)
Take a deep breath in. Deep breath out. As the next breath begins to fill the body, let yourself receive, also, what serves you most. What are you seeking?
See if you can bring into mind’s eye that thing that you seek. Let it take shape, form, color, texture. Perhaps it’s a quality of being: Strength. Resilience. Focus. Patience. Moderation. Gentleness. Compassion. Acceptance. Perhaps it’s simply a feeling: Completeness. Contentment. Wholeness. Oneness. Joyfulness. See if you can, with each, next, deep breath, along with the oxygen that supports the functioning of your physical body, take in this thing you are ready to receive. Take in this thing that fills your heart, that makes you feel whole. Receive it. Let it become part of you.
Call to mind a place or a person that inspires the feeling of the thing you seek. Put your feet in that place. Describe the place to yourself in as much detail as possible. If it feels useful, describe it to me out loud…What does it feel like to be in the place that makes you feel the thing you seek?
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
(Long pause.)
Now, craft a phrase that affirms that you already have that thing you seek: “I am strong”…”I am joyful”…”I am complete.” With each, next, deep breath, repeat those words to yourself. Let each breath fill you. And, let the thing you seek oxygenate your blood, become part of you.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
(Long pause.)
Now, let’s spend some time noticing the body, breath, and thoughts that compose the most overt experience of you.
Notice your physical body. See if you can bring into mind’s eye the feeling of all of you. Activate the feeling mind. See if you can notice the feeling of being here now. Let thought, and story, melt away. Notice the feeling of being here now, all of you. From crown of head, through limbs, to tips of toes.
Notice the whole body. The feeling of all of you…here and now. From crown of head to tips of toes. Feel your wholeness. Let noticing be a light. Shine the light of noticing on every inch of you. Bring your whole self into the light. Let this moment of noticing be an appreciation—a valuing—of yourself, here and now…
We practice noticing because noticing is the practice…
Notice the breath. Bringing your attention, your awareness, to the space just below the nostrils, just above the upper lip. Notice any sensations that arise as you inhale, and exhale. Without searching for specific sensation, see if you can notice whatever arises. Warmth. Tickle. Softness. Notice if the breath taken in, or released, is stronger through one nostril or the other. Notice sensation. Simply notice. Name. Notice again.
Notice the breath as it brushes the back of the throat. Notice the feeling of each inhalation as belly expands, ribs expand, chest rises. Notice the feeling of each exhalation. Chest contracts. Ribs, belly pull in. Notice how each breath spills, one after the next. Let your breath flow naturally, freely. No need to change your breath. Simply practice noticing the feeling of breathing here, now.
Notice how each inhalation is like a stretch from the inside out.
Bringing your attention, your awareness, to the length of each inhalation and exhalation.
Notice how, at the bottom of each exhalation there rests a space. A moment. An experience of your full potential. To take in. To receive.
Notice how, at the top of each inhalation there rests a space. A moment. An experience of your inherent completeness.
Each breath contains an experience of both your capacity to receive, as well as an experience of yourself as whole. Perfect. Complete.
We practice noticing because noticing is the practice…
Notice the mind. Let it drift. Let there be no shoulds,or have-tos. Let the mind be like a raft adrift upon waves of thought.
What is the feeling of thought? Does it have shape? Color? Texture?
Notice the next thought that drifts in.
Does it stir feeling?
Does feeling rouse emotion?
Welcome a spontaneous emotion that is present.
(Long pause.)
For the next few moments, notice your whole being. Body. Breath. Mind. Emotion. Feeling. Everything just as it is.
Feel yourself, whole being self. Dissolving into spacious awareness of the entirety of you. Every layer, melting.
The spacious awareness of your own being, in the light of all that is.
We practice noticing because noticing is the practice.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
(Long pause.)
Now, as though you might take a step back from yourself. Notice the one who notices.
Notice this part of you that has been doing the witnessing of this practice. Notice this part of you, bearing witness to your being. Witnessing the sensations of the physical and mental bodies. Witness to thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Notice that this part of you bears witness from a place just beyond the fluctuation of thought and sensation. This unwavering witness within you. Notice.
The witness within you is without judgment. Steady. Grounded. Wholly accepting. Infinitely compassionate.
The witness within you, while observant of thought, feeling, emotion, is not those thoughts, feelings, emotions.
The witness within you is without judgment. Steady. Grounded. Wholly accepting. Infinitely compassionate.
Notice that you are the Compassionate Witness, within.
Notice that you, here and now, rest fully in the seat of that witness.
You are the compassionate witness, within.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
(Long pause.)
Return, now, to thoughts of that thing you seek. That thing that made your heart feel full, that you brought to mind when we first began our journey within.
Resting here, in the feeling of the fullness of your being, in the seat of the Compassionate Witness, return to the statement of affirmation you made those moments ago.
“I am complete.” “I am strong.” “I am joyful.” With each, next, deep breath, repeat those words to yourself. Let each breath fill you. And, let the thing you seek oxygenate your blood. Dissolving into each layer of your being, from the physical body, to the layers of breath and feeling. Notice. Bear witness, from the seat of infinite compassion, within, to the recognition that you already contain all that you seek.
Let your experience be absorbed by an experience of the wholeness of you. Notice the golden thread that weaves the entirety of you together: From physical body, through your breath body, through thinking, feeling and emotional body…to the compassionate witness that sees and accepts all of you.
(Long pause.)
The compassionate witness that is, also, you. That which knows that that which you seek is already within and will help guide you toward that experience of Self. That is always within you, to guide you toward the knowledge that you already contain that which you seek. That all is within.
For the next few moments, set aside the thinking mind, the feeling mind. Let yourself melt into the fullness of your being. Free from even need to notice.
As though you could rest, fully, in the arms of the compassionate witness within. Let yourself be fully absorbed by full, self-acceptance. Free from even the need to notice.
Simply, sweetly, be here now, reveling in all that you are, in this here, this now.
(Long pause.)
Prepare to come back into the body. Begin to deepen the breath. Bringing soft movement into body.
Return, consciously, to the space around you.
Take a moment to notice, and to acknowledge, that this feeling of ease and peace is a product of your own efforts.
Your own being is the source of the experience.
All is within. You have sought, and so you have found.
Communicating the Pancamaya Kosha Model’s Origins
Let’s turn now to the Pancamaya Kosha Model, its origin and implications. The Pancamaya Kosha Model is derived from a concept related in the Taittiriya Upanishad. The Upanishads are a collection of some 200 texts—likely first transmitted orally—the earliest of which date to 6th century BCE, and contain many of the concepts central to Hinduism; Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism share many of the same tenets. The Taittiriya Upanishad is likely one of the earliest composed.
The word Upanishad means something akin to “sitting down near,” as spiritual teacher Eknath Easwaran shares in his translation of the texts; “that is,” as Easwaran writes, sitting “at the feet of an illumined teacher in an intimate session of spiritual instruction” (1987, p.19). The teachings are not instructional in the technical sense, but rather serve as inspiration for spiritual aspirants, and are grounded in the teacher’s personal experience, “ecstatic snapshots of transcendent reality.”*
*Side Note: I love this idea—that thousands of years ago, someone experiencing what it is to be a spiritual seeker in human form envisioned these sheaths, and shared them with someone for whom they became personal experience, and who felt compelled to share them again, so that others might learn from the experience; and the cycle continues today. And so, I invite you, if this model resonates with you, make it yours so that you embody its utility and can share it from that place of felt experience.
The text that describes these layers is much briefer in its description of each than even I’ve outlined below. It’s unlikely that the sage who envisioned these parts of self-envisioned their use by yoga therapists millennia later. To the original text—which I highly encourage you to read (Easwaran’s translation is truly excellent)—I’ve added my own interpretation based on my own experience of the koshas, both in my own “ecstatic snapshots of transcendent reality,” as well as in my experience of the koshas as a tool of yoga therapy. I encourage you to do the same. These are living concepts, meant to be moved and breathed and felt and discerned. Experience them. Make them yours so that you can communicate them from felt experience.
These sacred, yet wholly human teachings, present being human as multi-dimensional. Though the soul - atman - is viewed as an unchanging witness, being human manifests through five (panca) constantly changing dimensions, which exist as parts of the illusion of separateness (maya) that each human endures before consciousness. Each of these layers (koshas) pervades every other, affects, and is affected by every other.
Pancamaya Kosha Model Script
I’ll say something along the following lines:*
*Side Note: Note that when I communicate yogic concepts, I’ll sometimes use Sanskrit, sometimes not. I find it useful in some client cases, and less useful in others where I can feel that the client is distracted by the otherness of the language. In some situations, the fact that the language is foreign can be an asset. Words can become containers for experiences.
Yoga therapy is grounded in what is called the pancamaya kosha model. Panca means “five,” maya means “illusion,” and kosha means “sheath,” or “layer.” The idea is that there are five separate but interrelated layers of being. They are real in that we experience them. But, ultimately, the yoga therapy perspective perceives them as illusory; there is something greater—the divine light at the heart of the meaning of “namaste”—that illuminates and connects every living being. For the purposes of our work, right now, let’s focus on these five sheaths, these parts of self, and see what they are telling us, here and now.
We explore, in the pancamaya kosha lens, from gross—meaning the more tangible parts of self—to the more subtle. We start with the physical body.
The physical body, what we call the annamaya kosha, is the tangible stuff of you. Your limbs, your muscles and bones, the anatomy and physiology of you. It is nourished by food and water and sunlight, and speaks to you in the language of sensation. On this mat, we learn to listen.
The next body, the pranamaya kosha, is connected to the physical body; the breath and energetic body is what connects the physical body to the subtler aspects of you. Yes, breath is driven by physical processes, and yet, it is also the thing that animates us. Breath is the bridge between the physical and energetic. The root of the word “inspiration” is the Latin inspiritus, which literally means, “to take in the spirit.” And so, the breath body is also the energetic body, and as we pay attention to it, we begin to come into contact with the parts of you that are less tangible, but just as essential.
Going deeper still, we come into contact with the psycho-emotional realm, the manomaya kosha, the part of you responsible for your thoughts, your likes and dislikes. It is the part of you that interprets your body’s physical and energetic outputs as feelings; it is the part that writes stories, and attaches to some things, and feels aversion to others. It’s a vital part, and it’s easy to identify with it, but it’s not all of you.
Let’s try something. Take a deep breath in as though you were trying to energize your body and mind. Take a few rounds of breath like this, focusing on the power and energy of the in-breath. Good. Next, take let the exhale be your focus. Breathe out long and slow. Take a few rounds of breath, lengthening the exhale each time. Let it be easy. Lovely. You might notice that breath is both invigorating and calming; that a physical act involving the breath has an impact on your energy, and your emotional interpretation of the energy—that you feel invigorated or calm, is the mind describing the experience to you in emotional terms.
There is a part, deeper still, we call the wisdom body, or vijnanamaya kosha. I like to refer to it as your capacity for discernment, for sifting what is real, from what is only passing story. This part of you is your most incisive tool for this work of yoga therapy. Our work together will be to sharpen your connection to it. It’s the wisdom body that brought you here—that tugging part of you that said, “I want to feel better, and I know there’s a way.” And it’s the wisdom body with which you will learn how to craft your own healing practices.
Ask yourself: What do I need? Do I need another deep breath? Does my body need a shift, or a bigger movement? What do I need? And then, notice what part of you is asking this question: the discerner within has the capacity to observe body, breath, energy, and mind, and then make a choice about how to proceed. This is your wisdom body at work.
Subtler, still, we look to what many call “the bliss body,” anandamaya kosha. I think it’s something even more important. I like to think of this realm as the place where your capacity for awe and real joyfulness resides. To me, this part of self is what it’s like to gaze into the eyes of my newborn children—infinite, vast, limitless. It’s what it’s like to stare up at a night sky and see a wash of stars; to stand at the feet of great trees in a dense, rich forest, where you are both small, and also part of everything. It’s a place of few words, if any. In it I have felt a kind of acceptance and peace and gratitude that is more profound, more grounded, than anything else I’ve experienced. Our work together will be to connect you to this place within you, to help you find your way there so you can always find your way back.
This is a model, a lens through which we can understand the whole self. These koshas, or layers of our being, are inherently interconnected. They overlap, they flow back and forth, they reinforce each other, and are reinforced by one another. Each layer can be an entry point for another.
Understanding yourself through the lens of pancamaya kosha, offers entry points for seeking, and finding change, healing, and growth. As you build your personal practice, taking into account the health of each of these layers of being, you will begin to embody in every layer of self the changes you seek. When we embody these lessons fully, we are able to guide our children in a way that welcomes the wholeness of human experience. There is perhaps no greater work for a mother than to help her children become familiar and comfortable with all aspects of themselves so they can live in acceptance and peace.
* * * * *
I offer to you, yoga therapist, to explore the aspects of self so that you can offer your clients work grounded in your own “ecstatic snapshots of transcendent reality.” Do this meditation on the koshas regularly so you can take notice of how you change and shift, and where you are stuck, in each of these realms. Your own self-evaluation will help you understand how to guide your clients in their process.