Before the postures, the tradition describes the body that practises: five elements, five sheaths, five vital breaths. This is the background Acharya Lokesh gives every student.
The human spirit is wrapped in five sheaths, the Panchakosha. Practice moves inward through them, from the body to bliss.
The gross body, made of food, linked to the earth element. A right diet keeps it strong.
Between body and mind: the body of prana, with its five main pranas and five secondary ones. It works better with the regular practice of pranayama.
Mind, intellect and ego (the inner instrument). Purified by regular meditation and right knowledge, it governs the five senses.
Discernment and higher knowledge. The yogi who practises dhyana with discrimination and detachment reaches knowledge full of truth (ritambhara prajna).
The innermost sheath, said to dwell in the cave of the heart, turned towards the inner world. In seedless samadhi the seeker abides in it.
In the Indian tradition everything, living or not, is made of five great elements, the Pancha Mahabhuta: space, air, fire, water and earth. They also live in the senses: space in hearing, air in touch, fire in sight, water in taste, earth in smell. Knowing them helps bring body and conscious mind into harmony.
The spaces and channels of the body through which everything moves: from the throat to the stomach, and every channel of transport in the body.
The element of movement: the muscles, the beating of the heart, the expansion of the lungs, the movement of the intestines and the electrical activity of the nerves.
The sun outside, metabolism and digestion inside. Fire also shows as intelligence and vision: body temperature, digestion, thinking and sight are its work.
The juices of digestion, saliva, the mucous membranes, the plasma and the inside of every cell: the water of life. Taste belongs to water.
Everything solid: bones, cartilage, muscles, tendons, skin, nails and hair.
Life force is one, but it takes different names according to where it works. Pranayama keeps the pranas and the vital body (pranamaya kosha) clear: that is why this background matters before you start pranayama.
Breathing and circulation: the nose, throat, voice, lungs and heart.
Downward, eliminating movement.
Upward movement: energy and radiance of the face, the senses and the head.
Balancing movement: digestion and assimilation.
Pervading movement: it carries energy to every organ, muscle and joint.
For practitioners who want the philosophy behind the postures: what yoga works on, beyond the muscles.
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