<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n B. K. S. Iyengar’s book Light on Life uses the sheaths of the body (the five koshas) to organize the chapters.\u00a0 He describes the koshas in his commentary to Yoga Sutra 1.2, yoga cita vrtti nirodha (Yoga stills the fluctuations of the mind.).\u00a0 We can use the koshas as a way to understand the process of involution (the movement of attention from the external sheath to the internal sheath), and to view progress in the eight limbs of yoga (particularly from the third to the fourth limbs, asana and pranayama. \u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Koshas<\/em> (sheaths of the body): from B.K.S. Iyengar’s\u00a0 commentary on Sutra 1,2, LOY<\/strong>]<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Annamaya kosha<\/em> (physical body)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pranayamaya kosha<\/em> (energetic\/subtle\/physiological body)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Manamaya kosha<\/em> (mind)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Vijnanamaya kosha<\/em> (wisdom\/discriminating intelligence)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Anandamaya kosha<\/em> (spiritual body)<\/span><\/p>\n The process of involution (penetration from the external to internal sheaths) in practice<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat I teach is spiritual practice in action\u2026I use the body to discipline the mind to reach the soul.\u00a0 [LOL<\/strong>, p. 62]<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe begin at the level of the physical body, the aspect of ourselves that is more concrete and accessible to all of us\u2026 [LOL<\/strong>, p. 22]<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c \u2026one must do asana<\/em> not merely as a physical exercise but as a means to understand and then integrate our body with our breath<\/em>, with our mind, with our intelligence, with our consciousness, with our conscience, and with our core.\u201d [LOL, p. 23, ital. added<\/em>] <\/span><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026in asana you must align and harmonize the physical body and all the layers of the subtle emotional, mental, and spiritual body.\u201d [LOL, <\/strong>p. 27]<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u201cIn asana and pranayama practice, we should have the impression we are working on the outer to get closer to the inner reality of our existence\u2026We work from the periphery to the core.\u201d [LOL<\/strong>, p. 61]<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOf the two aspects of asana, exertion of our body and penetration of our mind, the latter is eventually more important. Penetration of our mind is our goal, but in the beginning to set things in motion, there is no substitute for sweat.\u201d [LOL<\/strong>, p. 45]<\/span><\/p>\n Eventually, he says, the process can be reversed so that the posture can emerge from the inner to the outer sheaths of the body, a process of evolution of the posture from your center.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe goal of all asana practice is doing them [the postures] from the core of your being and extending out dynamically through to the periphery of your body.\u201d [LOL<\/strong>, p. 33]<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Asana and Sheaths (koshas) of the body \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Quotations about Practice from \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 B. K. S. Iyengar, Light on Life [LOL] & Light on Yoga [LOY] \u00a0 B. K. S. Iyengar’s book Light on Life uses the sheaths … Continue reading