Self Portrait by Ming Smith

by Beth

My nine steps to self-awareness are sourced from the kosha model, which proposes that we are more than a mind interacting with a body. It provides us a 360-degree view of what it means to be a spiritual being having a human experience through five layers, or sheaths, which are:

  1. Physical
  2. Breath/energy
  3. Mental/emotional
  4. Witness/intuitive wisdom
  5. Bliss

Understanding ourselves this way gives us a broad foundation for self-exploration.

The first known mention of this model is in the Taittiriya Upanishad, written in India almost 3,000 years ago when the sages sought to shift the focus of religious life from external rites and sacrifices to internal spiritual quests.

To apply the kosha model to everyday life in our five-sense material world, we need accessible yoga techniques to work with. The lectures by Joseph Le Page (my teacher and founder of the School of Integrative Yoga Therapy) on the koshas and his ten steps to freedom, a handout from his yoga therapy training manual, provided me with both an understanding of the kosha model and techniques for embodying it. After working with this model personally and professionally I eventually adapted the ideas for my book Enlighten Up! Finding Clarity, Contentment and Resilience in a Complicated World.

I gratefully acknowledge the source material from the Taittiriya Upanishad and from Joseph Le Page’s work. Joseph’s ten steps to freedom and my steps to self-awareness both provide accessible yoga techniques but there are differences. Because I wanted to introduce this concept to students who come to yoga seeking ways to manage stress and live with more balance, I did not include Le Page’s tenth step, True Self (another way of describing Unity Consciousness or self with a capital ‘S’) because each person’s relationship to an interpretation of the Divine is personal and discovered in their own time.

The focus of my nine steps to self-awareness is on developing conscious self-exploration through all five layers of being during our existence in Earth school with all of its ups and downs:

Physical Body and Environment (Annamayakosha)

  1. Become aware of your body and your environment.

Breath/Energy (Pranamayakosha)

  1. Become aware of your breath and energy states.

Mind/Emotions (Manomayakosha)

  1. Identify your thoughts and feelings.
  2. Explore your beliefs

Witness/Intuitive Wisdom (Vijnyanamayakosha)

  1. Turn the mind back on itself.
  2. Take skillful action.

Bliss (Anandamayakosha)

  1. Find your bliss.
  2. Connect to your bliss.
  3. Bring bliss into your daily life.

Self-awareness is the ability to see, understand, and accept our beliefs, habits, and behavior without judgment. Then we can consciously choose to make changes, remain unchanged with full awareness of the consequences, or find acceptance and peace of mind if change is not possible. Cultivating this level of self-awareness is a lifelong journey that can be started at any age.

I believe that working with the nine steps of self-awareness can help you:

  • Make better lifestyle choices
  • Manage stress
  • Improve relationships that can be improved
  • End toxic relationships that cannot be improved
  • Lessen the tendency to judge yourself and others
  • Understand what you can and cannot control
  • Learn how to relax

Research shows that people with self-awareness skills tend to have better psychological health, a more positive outlook on life, and are likely to be more compassionate to themselves and others. This larger sense of self results in the ability to navigate life from a calm center no matter the swirls, whirls, and storms that will inevitably surround us.

I’ve gotten positive feedback from several people who used the nine steps and the yoga techniques that come with it. One person said it helped her grandson who was struggling with self-esteem issues. Another said the breathing techniques helped her manage anxiety. And here is what one doctor wrote about the effort to make this model relevant to today’s world:

“Ms. Gibbs seeks to help the reader understand oneself as opposed to fixing oneself. She has clearly spelled out the layers of awareness and shares her journey to enlightenment through her many stories. The book is enriched with yoga exercises that a beginner like myself was able to appreciate. – Marilyn Martin, M.D., The Resource Group

My next several posts will discuss the nine steps to self-awareness step by step and share several accessible practical yoga techniques for embodying these steps in your daily yoga practice. The next post will discuss Step 1: Become aware of your body and your environment.

 

Beth’s self-awareness newsletter is published six times a year. It features informative, inspiring and entertaining tips for finding clarity, contentment, and resilience in a complicated world. For more information and to sign up for the newsletter go to www.bethgibbs.com.

• Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook and follow Nina on Instagram • Order Yoga for Times of Change here  and purchase the companion videos here • Order Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being here.