On the surface, the causes of illness and disease seem pretty obvious. We can catch something, we can inherit something or somewhere along the way there is a misfire in our DNA or a rogue cell in our body which creates notorious inflammation and we develop something like cancer.
So, what do we usually do? We go to the doctor, even if it’s an alternative doctor and try to correct the physical cause and treat the physical symptoms. But, it’s not quite that cut and dry.
Humans are so much more than just physical bodies we go beyond the physical to a whole radiant being before we are truly whole we have blessings and lessons we need to learn.
Ayurveda can be considered an ancient gateway where we unlock 5 koshas systems and functioning parts that make up our whole being. Your heart, your breath, your mind, your spirit and your physical body.
Our first natural doorway is the physical body the Annamaya - Anna in sanskrit means food. Maya means covering - Annamaya means matter which absorbs food. This is our physical covering.
Think of a russian doll each one nestled within another and the outward and largest one housing all the others is the “annamaya” the physical body operating at a conscious waking state and conscious mind level.
As physical bodies we are the muscles, bones, ligaments tendons, connective tissue, systems and cells. This kosha is concerned with what we put into our physical container and how it is then used. It is all about the right food and all that nourishes it. Annamaya refers to sheath of food.
In ayurveda moving from outer to inner, from bottom to top from disconnect to embodiment involves the body’s amazing navigation systems and our ability to be connected at different levels so that our body can reach its destination.
When forms of disease show up in the physical system we have to look ourselves from the heart, mind and body.
Understanding that illness and disease are physical conditions aswell as more is the first step toward true and lasting healing. When we look at the more serious illnesses such as cancer, it is likely the result of a combination and culmination dis-ease in all the five areas of our being to varying degrees that are involved.
When we begin working with the core underlying energies in each of our navigation centers we accelerate our healing potential. The annamaya kosha is our first step to that healing journey.
Edgar Cayce once said “all healing comes from the one source. And whether there is the application of foods, exercise, medicine, or even the knife - it is to bring the consciousness of the forces within the body that aid in reproducing themselves - the awareness of creative or Divine forces”
When we begin to understand that we hold a unique energetic vibration in each of the five centers of our own body we begin to see great results.
Today we know that cellular communication is the key to success. Healthy cells are required for healthy tissues. Healthy tissues lead to healthy organs. Healthy organs make up a healthy body. We address the exact nutritional needs at the cell level to affect the greatest change in health.
Who we are goes far beyond our physical manifestation but the annamaya kosha is the first centre which takes us from the physical to the whole being.
I did a little Google research recently.
Who am I ? has 5,830,000,000 results
“Why am I fat?” has 10,100,000,results.
“Why am I tired?” has 8,690,000 results
why do I have cancer? 451,000,000 results
“Why is my memory so bad?”... 9,150,000.
That’s a lot of answers!
Even if you had the time to sift through a ¼ billion web pages - how would you know which advice was right? And which was dangerously wrong?
Getting accurate health and nutritional advice can be challenging because there’s SO much information out there.
So how do we trust ourselves to get it right?
Moving from being disconnected to connected, from the first kosha to the fifth kosha, addressing the auras, the chakras, our breath, our diet, our innate intelligence. Tuning in to our physical body and working with our whole human being until we are in harmony and balance enjoying the sweetness of life is the start toward that blissful voyage.
If you have a bad back because one of your interverbral discs is causing an impingement in your nerve plexus your neurons are misfiring and your in so much physical discomfort that your not experiencing much joy in your life. Once your back recovers and the pain dissipates the neurons stop firing so angrily and there is a feeling of joy in the body again.
Sometimes we can’t hear our own body, because we are in such pain. We are not in the present moment because we are focused elsewhere. Once we begin to listen to the signals our body has been sending us we are in the present moment and so in order to be present we actually need to be in our body.
Sadly, our world is full of people who are neither in the present moment or in tune with their own bodies. We are conditioned to follow rules and check off boxes, process and follow the crowd which often enough leads to denial of our authentic self and eventually dis-ease ensues too.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is probably one most common ailments today that is associated with depression and suppression. The body doesn’t want to move, cant move for long and at the core of this are blocks of one’s personal truth. Even the smallest acts of expressing ones own truth can create huge shifts in the physical body.
Headaches and migraines often come from our unconscious judgements or limiting beliefs that block us from seeing the world in new ways and opening us up to new avenues of thinking. Over-thinking and analysing also keep many of us stuck in the head and underutilizing the gifts of the heart and spirit.
When you experience an illness, there is a core energy in the originating centre of our being that needs to be addressed to assure the effectiveness of an external treatment.
When we address the annamaya kosha we are addressing the physical manifestation and are also looking to resolving any underlying energetic conflict to ensure that the chances of recurrence are eliminated.
In most cases by the time physical symptoms have been experienced an under-expression or over-expression in one or more of the kosha centers of your being and the dis-ease has already been there for some time.
A whole being is made up of more than just the physical body, so treating something only at the physical plane is simply not enough. Healing does not occur solely on the physical plane but its a definitive start to the wholeness approach needed for true healing to occur.
Much Love Nisha