“Self-actualization is the process of becoming everything you are capable of becoming”
-Abraham Maslow, a humanistic psychologist
Ever wondered what is all the things that YOU are capable of becoming?
What could be the ultimate potential that YOU can tap into to become the version of YOUrself?
What could the best version of YOU look like?
If you noticed something common in all of these above questions,
It is YOU.
It indicates that before we put efforts to become the best version of ourselves, it is essential to understand ourselves!
We need to understand “WHAT AM I?” or rather “WHO AM I?”
We need to understand our SELF
And if you have ever had these questions at any point of time in your life , trust me, you are on the right track!
When it comes to understanding the self, who better to seek than the ones that have experienced the SELF? – the seers in the path of YOGA
And what better guidance than the yoga texts?
For yoga is the path to realizing the SELF!
But the term self can be vague and daunting if you are new to the “yogic” slang –
Because when someone talks about understanding the SELF, it is natural for these questions to arise in our minds –
Are they talking about my body?
Are they referring to my mind? My emotions? My career?
Are they referring to my soul? Also… What is the soul?
As an answer to these questions, the yoga scriptures have dissected the SELF as sheaths – 5 sheaths, one wrapped around the other just like the layers of an onion. The true self is the innermost layer. So to reach the SELF, one has to understand and win over the outer layers before one can reach the innermost SELF.
We will see how:
SHEATH 1: ANNAMAYA KOSHA
This is the outermost sheath called the Food (Anna) sheath literally. This is the grossest layer of us that we can touch and feel – Our body, muscles, liquids in the body all belong to this sheath.
It is essential that this sheath is well maintained before we can even think about other sheaths – or about going beyond our physical calls/needs in this world for any higher purpose.
Asanas, physical workouts, eating healthy, good sleeping habits will keep this sheath healthy – But not just these since these sheats are interconnected, emotional weakness can also affect this sheath, if there is no proper prana flowing in our Nadis, this sheath again gets affected.
So it is important that we take the responsibility of healing ourselves in all these levels and if it feels overwhelming, choose a healer that can understand you and your health needs from a 360 view and not find solutions in a reductionist approach that can only suppress the immediate symptoms of the deeper issue.
At meiyogam, any ailment is looked at from a deeper understanding of not just the necessary physical health, but with the understanding that the human body is the perfect machine for spiritual upliftment. And because of that, the health solutions given are always nourishing in more than one dimension and without any side effects.
Many tools are used to help any seeker – With deep experience, many alternative medicines are prescribed for the overall health improvement of the ones in need.
Prevention is always better than cure – That is why Meiyogam offers yoga, Tai chi, Qi Gong, Karate, Ayurveda, and Siddha.
What works for one may not work for another. That is why Meiyogam’s expertise is in choosing the right tool for each based on a lot of factors.
SHEATH 2: PRANAMAYA KOSHA
The word PRANA in Sanskrit literally means “Life Force”. One single line of definition or a single blog and not even a single book is enough to talk about Prana.
It is the life force that enables you, me, an ant, to breathe, to move, to live, and experience life!
If you have practiced Pranayama before, it is one of the ways to keep this sheath in us healthy and keep the Nadis clean and free of impurities for the prana to move through them freely.
This dimension of us needs to be worked with for us to have a sense of well-being. And without working with this sheath, it is tough for us to work with the deeper sheaths responsible for higher spiritual purposes in life.
Meiyogam offers workshops like VASU to understand the Prana within us and various techniques to work with the Prana – All these techniques are time-tested and offered to us by great seers of our yogic lineage.
SHEATH 3: MANOMAYA KOSHA
Manas – means the mind that is responsible for our thoughts, emotions, that we feel within.
Understanding our emotions, healing through trauma, our memory power, healthy usage of thoughts, all indicate good health in this layer.
Understanding the manas can be tricky – We many a time need an experienced kind-earted guide to help us overcome emotional distresses – this is also where the modern generation is suffering and needs the most help. Depression and anxiety are as common as headaches now. Our overall emotional intelligence/ health is seeing a new low that it is high time we look at ways to equip ourselves for any challenge life throws at us.
This is where meditation practices, grounding asanas, help us.
At Meiyogam, since there is a deeper understanding of how mind and body are two sides of the same coin, their approach to mental health is holistic too.
Flower remedy is one such tool used at Meiyogam to work with a person’s emotions and heal from within.
Personal counseling is also provided to uplift anybody from any confusion they are facing currently.
Plus, workshops like Gaandham (law of attraction), Meiyogam youtube videos for understanding the emotions of us and of those around us, all work towards elevating the awareness of oneself – thus nourishing the Manomaya kosha.
SHEATH 4: VIJNANAMAYA KOSHA
Vijnana translates to our innate wisdom – the seat of intuition. This layer is the one responsible for our awareness and for seeing reality for what it is.
This layer of our being helps us to be a witness of everything happening around /within us without entangling too much with life’s happenings.
Enhancing this sheath is the foundation of spiritual growth.
And it takes a good teacher/guide to take us to that level of awareness.
This is where Meiyogam specializes like none other, by providing deep insights on our spiritual texts, and spiritual practices to be fully present and detached, regardless of the situation we are put in.
Weekly group discussions called THERAL, to discuss yoga texts, or anything related to human upliftment.
Workshops on meditation, pranayama techniques, to the mind of any clutter, FB live, youtube videos focussed on unlearning self-degrading patterns of thinking, etc
And many other tools to enhance our intuitive power.
SHEATH 5: AANANDAMAYA KOSHA
Aananda – Pure and eternal Joy. We all want to be blissful all the time right. They say happiness is a choice and we can be happy come what may. But is it possible just by thinking that we should be happy always? Think about it. Even if we know we should be blissful, circumstances push us to feel desperate and depressed. We end up losing the curiosity and interest to live to the fullest.
This is why the yogic tradition insists on the physical practice, breathwork, understanding our own emotions, etc before we can even understand what eternal bliss could even mean! So only after working with the above 4 sheaths can one begin to experience the SELF.
To help us understand this sheath and work towards eternal bliss, Meiyogam constantly organizes numerous gatherings, classes, that anybody with true seeking can come and surely see themselves grow in their spiritual path and get answers to their questions that books cannot answer.
