Day 13 The Physical Body

“The soul of man should be likened unto this sun, and all things on earth should be regarded as his body. So long as no external impediment interveneth between them, the body will, in its entirety, continue to reflect the light of the soul, and to be sustained by its power. As soon as, however, a veil interposeth itself between them, the brightness of that light seemeth to lessen.”

- Bahá’u’lláh -

Integrative yoga therapy works with the five Koshas, meaning layers or sheaths of the human body, 

• The physical body – Anna-maya kosha, 

• The energy Body – Prana-maya kosha 

• The mental and emotional body - Mano-maya kosha 

• The Witness body - Vjana-maya kosha 

• The bliss body - Ana-maya kosha 

In order for purification to happen, first you need to know that you have all these layers to begin with, second you need to know what exists in each of these layers - which of course is a never ending unfolding process, we take life-times to understand the layers.

Each layer of the human body requires nurturance, connection and love to thrive, essentially the healing of one layer has an ultimate influence and wellbeing on the whole. You don’t have to work on all layers at the same time.

For the next five 19 day purification series, I’m going to describe, what each layer of the human sheath actually is, where problems arise in these layers and how to fix it. 

Anamaya Kosha – The Physical Body

Your body is a temple of your soul. How you treat your body is going to affect your soul.

The physical body, is the most obvious outer layer of the human body, we can weigh it, measure it, see it, touch it, smell it, heart it, taste it, experience it with all our senses. This frame structure made up of bones, muscles, tissues, vital organs needs to be taken cared of appropriately, so that your mind space is not constantly being taken up by the strain in your neck, pain in your shoulder, the jab in your knee etc.

Other than the structural importance of having a frame that is supportive, these slight structural tilts, protrusions and bulging of bones, tendons and what not, have a direct influence on your physiology, like your blood flow, hormones, nervous system – such as it presses on a blood vessel, inhibits blood flow and nutrient supply to one part of your body, the other side has to compensates etc.

This layer of the physical body has slow gradual changes. It takes 3 months for your entire bodies cells to regenerate, be fed something new, and look and feel different. As we already know, it takes about 19-21 days to build any habit, hence why our 19 days of purification is fixated on that number ;)

Effort, however, little or small according to your own ability, needs to be made daily, to do something, anything, to just simply remain the same physically. If you have problem areas, you need to seek a professional’s advice.  Exercise for about 5-10 minutes a day, stretch (mobility) and work on strength (muscle structure), do something that will work on the resistance of your muscles to keep them in one place, where they are needed for optimal function.

You don’t need to start strong, it’s more about building a habit and consistency. 

Hope that was helpful!

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Introduction to the Author 

作者简介

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Nahal Haghbin's Chinese name is Chen Nana, a Canadian-born foreigner who grew up in Tianjin, China. She is an Integrative Yoga Therapist (IAYT) in training. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences from the University of British Columbia and a Master's degree in Control of Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2014, Nahal worked with the World Health Organization on the H7N9, MERS-CoV and Ebola global outbreaks whilst serving in the Assistant Director General's Office Taskforce. It was her teenage experience of SARS in 2003, that led her to choose her eventual profession and future career in the control of infectious disease outbreaks. 

作者简介：Nahal Haghbin 中文名字：陈娜娜，出生于加拿大，在中国天津长大的外籍人士。她是一名在训的综合瑜伽理疗师（IAYT），她拥有英国哥伦比亚大学生命科学学士学位和伦敦卫生及热带医学院传染病控制科学硕士学位。2014年，Nahal与世界卫生组织合作处理H7N9、MERS-CoV和埃博拉全球疫情，同时在助理总干事办公室工作组任职。正是2003年她十几岁时的非典经历，让她最终选择了她未来的职业方向：控制传染病的爆发

Nahal has found that she can best be of service to mankind by combining her passions of global health and integrative yoga therapy. To her, both serve as complementary systems of knowledge to interpret the world around her. Nahal has found that by bridging the two disciplines, it broadens the availability of language and understanding that she can access, to share her interpretations of various health conditions. 

Nahal发现她能结合自己对全球健康和综合瑜伽理疗的热情，为人类提供最好的服务。对她来说两者是互为补充的知识系统，可以用来帮她解读周围的世界。Nahal发现连接这两个学科拓宽了语言和理解的可用性，使她能够分享她对不同疾病的理解.