Return to Balance.
Reconnect with Yourself.

Yoga advocates Adhija Vyadhi, which means the cause of physical disorders stems from the seed in the mind and beyond. Adhi (the disturbed mind) is the cause and vyadhi (the physical disease) only the manifest effect in the body. By paying careful attention to personal history, one can nearly always trace origins of psychosomatic disease back to patterns of mental and emotional pressures.

At The Samattvam, Yoga is not only done at the physical level but at 5 layers (Panchakosha) to eradicate the problem from the root.

The Taittiriya Upanishad, belonging to the Krishna Yajur Veda, is a major Upanishad that deeply analyzes the nature of the Self (Ātman), the structure of human personality, and the realization of ultimate reality (Brahman). In traditional commentaries (Bhāshyam), especially those attributed to Adi Shankaracharya, the text is explained as a systematic guide to Self-realization through inquiry, discipline, and meditation. One of its most famous teachings is the doctrine of the Five Sheaths (Pancha Kosha) — showing that the true Self is beyond the body, mind, and intellect. It also declares the powerful statement: “Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma” (Brahman is Truth, Knowledge, Infinity). The Upanishad guides seekers from outer personality to inner awareness, ultimately revealing that bliss (Ananda) is the very nature of the Self.

According to the Taittiriya Upanishad; Pure Consciousness in the individual and the body of the individual which is constituted of five sheaths, known as annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijnanamaya and anandamaya — the physical, vital, mental, intellectual and causal sheaths. The investigation into the real nature of these five sheaths will enable one to know that Pure Consciousness, which is the essential nature of all things, is independent of the five sheaths, and the human individual actually is not a bundle of these sheaths.

Inasmuch as it is possible to know the deepest Atman hidden in the cave of the heart by distinguishing it from the five sheaths, we now undertake the task of knowing what these five sheaths. The outermost sheath is the physical body that is visible to the eyes. Internal to the physical body is the vital body, which is made up of prana — the breath, the vital energy. Internal to the vital sheath is the mental sheath, which contains the mind and the senses of knowledge.

Internal to the mind is the intellect, which has the consciousness of the doership in actions. We begin to feel that we are doing something — we are going, we are sitting, we are such and such. This appropriation of individuality and doership in actions is the function of the intellect, which is inseparable from the ego.

Internal to the intellect is the causal body. It is also known as the anandamaya kosha.

Internal to the physical body is the vital sheath, known as the pranamaya sarira. This vitality it is that gives strength to the system. The energy that we feel in ourselves is due to the prana moving through the body. The strength of the prana is also the strength of the body. If the prana is weak, the body will also be weak. The prana energises the sense organs as well. Clarity of vision, clarity of audition, and clarity and ability of the other sense organs are also caused by the energy quantum of the prana, the vitality in us.

The extent of vitality that we have in our system will determine the extent of health that we enjoy, the ability that we have, the strength that we have, and so on. This vital sheath is the subtle aspect of the air principle. But this vital sheath — the prana, which is inside the physical body — also cannot be identified with the Atman, because prana has no consciousness. It is like electric energy; it works, but it does not know that it is working.

Even in the state of dream and sleep, the prana is working, but we are not conscious that the prana is working. As we are not conscious of the physical body, so also we are not conscious of the breathing process. Therefore, neither the physical body nor the vital sheath can be regarded as identical with the Atman.