The Five Kosha and Yoga Nidra

Having completed our series on the main seven chakra, this week, we discuss the five kosha.

Not to be confused with the word kosher, the five kosha are elemental to yoga nidra meditation. These five layers are integrally woven into the yoga nidra practice.

Kosha is a sanskrit word that literally translates to sheath or house (Desai, 2017). These sheaths are layers of your overall being, so we sometimes see that translated as "being" or "body." As you go into your deep yoga nidra meditation, your guide/teacher is helping to move you through these levels from the physical body all the way through to the bliss body.

My intent here is to share with you a basic knowledge of the kosha. It is not something you need to know when you are practicing a guided yoga nidra meditation. Since your guide will take you there. My goal here is to give you further understanding of what may be happening to you during intensively deep meditation. Understanding the basics of the kosha may help explain why you may feel or think a certain way during the practice.

Moving through these levels of energy during the yoga nidra practice is what helps us to feel so good and refreshed after the meditation. The 5 kosha or sheaths are:

1. The physical body
2. The energy body
3. The mind or emotional body
4. The knowledge or witness body
5. The bliss body

Over the next five weeks, I will discuss each kosha in more detail and describe how they apply to yoga and yoga nidra practice, in particular.

Resources and further reading

Desai, K. (2017). Yoga nidra: the art of transformational sleep. Twin Lakes, WI:Lotus Press.

Sartain, C. (2012). The sacred science of yoga & the five koshas. Kindle Edition.

Johnsen, L. (2021). The koshas: five layers of being. Yoga International. Retrieved from https://yogainternational.com/article/view/the-koshas-5-layers-of-being

Classes

Dialing-in to Audio

All of my online classes are done on Zoom. What's nice about the Zoom app is not only can you connect via Internet, you can also connect to just the audio via phone dial-in. This method is ideal if you are in a place where you cannot connect to the Internet. It is a great option particularly when you are traveling away from home or you only have access to a landline. The process is that after you register, shoot me an email or text and I will send you the dial-in phone number for the live audio of that class. My only caveat is, do not drive while listening to Yoga Nidra. 😃

Yoga Nidra is the perfect class for dialing in since my guidance is mostly presented as an audio experience. I hope to hear from you tonight!

Yoga Nidra Tonight!

Experience the five levels of being in Monday's Yoga Nidra online class 7:30 pm on Monday. Feel free to bring your pets!

I expect that I will resume the OLLI at Eckerd classes next January.

If you would like a private lesson, whether it's yoga nidra or a yoga movement (asana) class, I am happy to accommodate you as best I can. I will come to you, if you are fully vaccinated as am I. Online arrangements can also be made. Contact me using the form below.

Stay tuned to this space for future information about the chakra workshops.

Past issues of this newsletter/blog can be found here.