Whole Human Self Care and the Koshas

Are you in the shame spiral of self care? 

You don’t feel good and know you should “do self care” to prevent burnout. But you lack time and feel too depleted or overwhelmed to figure out what you actually need to feel better. So you fall back to doing what you know and working more… Which causes you to not feel good. And so the cycle continues.

How do you break that pattern and learn accessible self care without the shame and overwhelm?

Explore a layered model of your self care, because what's depleting you probably isn't just physical.

What is the problem with self care now?

There are many reasons why self care is so hard. But when it comes to self care, we’re told that self care is something that you buy or get from someone else. Or there’s so many steps to taking care of yourself that it feels overwhelming or prescriptive.

I see self care as the things you do to replenish your life energy so that it nourishes you and can overflow into the interactions you have with the people, beings, and causes that matter to you.

Using that definition, you’re already doing so much already to take care of yourself. Claiming that has been so helpful with people that I work with. They go from “I’m not doing anything” to “Wow, I’m doing so much. No wonder I’m tired.”

But also, why are they tired? Is there a way to do less and still feel good?

As with so many things, when a system is out of balance (like muscle groups or how the different layers of your body interact with each other), there’s pain, pressure, disease, etc.

We are taught that people are physical. Or maybe there’s a mind-body connection to take care of. But there’s more to it than those buckets.

What are the Koshas and how do they relate to your self care?

In the yogic texts of The Upanishads, your body is made up of 5 different sheaths (Koshas). You can think of each sheath like Russian nesting dolls or the different layers of an onion. Following this framework means supporting the following aspects of yourself: physical, energetic, mental and emotional, wisdom, and bliss or true self.

Anamaya Kosha - the physical body

This is what most people think of when they think of the word body. It’s the body that you can see, move, and touch. Sore muscles, imbalances that cause changes in your posture, the way your movement is coordinated are all part of this layer.

Some ways you can care for your physical body are practicing yoga poses, taking a walk, lifting weights, eating nourishing food, swimming, biking, hiking, getting a massage, or chiropractic care.

Pranamaya Kosha - the energetic body

This is your life force energy. Part of it is an amount of energy: Do you have all the energy to do all the things you want, or are you depleted? Another part is a quality of energy: vibrant, meh, completely drained, weary, etc. There is also a flow of energy.

Your energy flows through you like the breath or a river. Sometimes it’s stuck or stagnant. Other times it flows really fast. When either one of these happens for long periods of time, it can cause imbalances that affect the other layers of your body. Imagine a river with a rock in the middle of it, blocking the normal flow. The space above the rock has excess water and the space below the rock is depleted of normal flows. 

Things like pranayama (breath work), acupuncture, and Reiki can affect the flow of this energy.

Some other ways you can care for your energetic body are spending time in the sun, putting your feet on the ground, eating nourishing food, or spending time with friends.

Manomaya Kosha - mental and emotional body

In yoga, your thoughts, emotions, and senses are all considered part of your mind.

For example, I see a peach. The peach tastes sour. I feel disappointed. These are all part of the manomaya kosha.

Some ways you can care for yourself here are through the Yamas & Niyamas (yoga’s ethical principles), therapy, making space for your emotions (the “good” and the “bad”), spending time in nature, or sensory rest.

Vijnanamaya Kosha - the wisdom body

Inside this layer is your discernment, logic, and knowledge. Your cognitive thinking.

To continue with the peach example. You’d tap into your wisdom body by checking in with the time or year and the weather to realize the peach was sour because it wasn’t ripe.

This is a separate layer in the kosha framework AND, interestingly enough, your brain processes your cognitive thinking in a separate area than your thoughts and emotions.

Some ways you can care for yourself here are through meditation, journaling, exploring what spirituality means to you, reading spiritual texts, and tapping into the question of “Who am I?”

Anandamaya Kosha - the bliss body

This is the layer that contains your deepest, truest Self. It’s who you are underneath all the conditioning and “shoulds”. Some might think of this as your True Self or your soul. It can feel like deep joy, interconnectedness, or spiritual bliss.

Some ways you can care for this part of your Self are through deep meditation, time with who/what makes you feel alive, spiritual practices, loving kindness meditation, or seva (selfless service).

Separate layers that interact

While these koshas appear separate, they actually interact with, and affect, each other. You’ve probably experienced this when you’re stressed (a disturbance in your mental/emotional body), and your shoulders get tight (an impact in your physical body).

Because of these different aspects of self and the interconnectedness of it all, finding self care that works for you can be complex. The best practices for you change with your energy level, your responsibilities, your resources, and your support systems. Nothing is static.

Since all the layers interact, the good news is, one practice can care for many different aspects of yourself. For example, you can have a philosophical conversation with friends over a nourishing meal and care for your physical, energetic, emotional, and wisdom bodies all at once.

The Koshas and self care as freedom, not perfection

Self care is designed to replenish your life energy so that it can overflow into the interactions you have with the people, beings, and causes that matter to you. It is NOT meant to burn away imperfections or make you live a longer life (no matter what the wellness industry promises you).

Freeing yourself from the expectation of perfection or attachment to other empty promises of the wellness industry is a thing to celebrate. It means you can see your self care efforts without believing there’s something wrong with you.

Going through the different layers of the Koshas, to witness and connect with your True Self, helps you to see the deeper layers of yourself.

• You are more than your physical body

• You are more than your energetic body

• You are more than your mental/emotional body

• You are more than your logic

• You are connected to Bliss, Spirit, the interconnectedness of the all of everything… and that is so much better than perfection

Yes, you deserve to feel good in all the layers of your body. AND if that doesn’t happen or your current experience falls short of expectations, that doesn’t mean you can’t experience Bliss.

What to do next?

Check out the free self care toolkit. It'll give you a space to claim what you're already doing, identify any gaps in your care, and hold space for self care experiments that you can try and fill those gaps with.

If you'd like extra help with this, because self care is complex, I'd love to chat with you. In this free discovery call, you'll have space to talk about your situation, receive insights, and know what a good next step would be -- whether that's doing some work on your own with a free resource, private yoga, or working with someone else.