Week Two - Pranamaya Kosha - The Energetic Body

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much to all who came for practice last Sunday for the first class of our brand new term! It was an absolute joy to be there and facilitate as we moved with the element of earth through the annamaya kosha - the physical layer of the pancha kosha! Ah, sooo cool! We grounded down, explored physical sensations, and threw ourselves off balance a few times ;)

In today's world, where it's so easy to live primarily through the mental/emotional body and try to think our way out of problems, balancing postures can be a powerful reminder to anchor into the moment, and let that anchoring be the answer. There are few more true 'yoga' moments than when you are falling - because you're in a state of surrender. To get back up and try again, this then becomes the counterpart of stirha (steadiness) and sadhana (dedication to practice). And this is what it's all about!

This Sunday May 11th we will explore the second layer of the pancha kosha: the pranamaya kosha. You may recognise the word prana as it relates to the well known word for breathwork in sanskrit: 'pranayama' - which literally means to consciously guide one's life force...

a.k.a....to breathe! 

So, the word prana means life force, your energy, and the word maya (as in pranamaya kosha, the energetic layer of the panchakosha) means illusion; as in, a perception of reality. Pranamaya kosha can then be described as the energetic perception of our reality; our energetic body. 

Have you ever walked into a room and felt immediate tension without knowing why? Or felt a stranger's suffering on the train as surely as you might feel your own? Have you ever indulged in a bath or a shower after a long day and experienced the immediate, undeniable relief? This is the pranamaya kosha. It is associated with the quality of water - because it is fluid, changeable, easily contamable, buoyant, and free. 

I was once told by a teacher that my pranamaya kosha (energetic body) was so dominant that she could see me swaying even as I tried to sit still, and that my energetic boundaries were almost non-existent. She told me that water needs structure to hold its form - if you pour it out on a flat surface, it will go everywhere and disappear. I was training to be a yoga therapist at the time, and she asked me bluntly how I could expect to hold space for someone if I was constantly pouring myself into them and becoming their suffering. 

Put the water in a strong glass, she said, and it will hold its power.

In other words, balance is key. The energetic body can be an amazing tool when the fires of the mind get too hot and you need something to put the blaze out. This is why swimming, sweating, showering, yelling, crying, can all be so healing for an angry heart. Empathy and compassion are skills that cannot be undervalued in our world. But living too much in the energy body can be like walking around with no skin - painful, exposed, and without the power to help those whose pain you take you on so bravely. 

Woah, okay - a lot to uncover here in the pranamaya kosha! Essentially, however, this Sunday we will simply work to focus on energy and what that means to you. Practically, we will explore several fun breathwork practices, discover stirha and strength in standing postures, and cleanse any pent up stress you may have with age-old Kundalini techniques and a grounding meditation/relaxation to close :)

I can't wait to see you there! If you haven't signed up already, please send me a little message to save your spot. If you have any questions at all, just let me know :) 

Where Many Rivers Meet 

By David Whyte

All the water below me came from above.

All the clouds living in the mountains

gave it to the rivers

who gave it to the sea, which was their   

dying.

And so I float on cloud become water,

central sea surrounded by white 

mountains,

the water salt, once fresh,

clouds fall and streams rush, tree root and

tide bank

leading to the rivers' mouths

and the mouths of the rivers sing into the 

sea,

the stories buried in the mountains

give out into the sea

and the sea remembers 

and sings back

from the depth

where nothing is forgotten.

Le grá,

Macha