How can you apply yogic philosophy to tune in to your intuition as a parent or parent-to-be, a skill you know will serve you well during this time? Practical Yoga Philosophy Course Creator, Claire Holloway, shares her wisdom and an exercise to help you fine tune this innate ability.
It’s increasingly common to be advised to listen to your intuition, even in mainstream pregnancy care, birth education and parenting. This is a wonderful form of encouragement towards autonomy, but it is much easier said than done.
On a personal level, how readily do you find you can tune in to your intuition?
Is this something that comes naturally to you, or does it feel like a rather foreign or abstract concept?
The Koshas and Matrescence
An ancient Vedic text, the Taittiriya Upanishad, describes our existence as human beings as being made up of 5 layers or sheaths called the Koshas. These layers are:
- Physical – Annamaya Kosha
- Energetic – Pranamaya Kosha
- Mental – Manomaya Kosha
- Intuitive – Vijnanamaya Kosha
- Spiritual – Anandamaya Kosha
As you journey through preconception, pregnancy, postpartum and parenting, you are undertaking an intense period of transformation known as Matrescence. During this time, every one of these five layers is affected in life-changing ways. You can explore more around the application of yogic philosophy as it applies to Matrescence in my course Practical Yogic Philosophy for Parenthood.
It can be natural to feel a little ‘out of touch’ with yourself during this phase of your life because there is so much change occurring over such a short period of time. At times, you may feel like you’ve lost your intuition, or that it seems impossible to connect to it. You may feel overwhelmed and uncertain about the number of decisions you need to make about your pregnancy, birth and parenting, on behalf of not only yourself but your baby as well.
Know that this wise and intuitive part of yourself is always there, often just buried beneath the symptoms of the physical body and busy thoughts of the mind in response to your life experiences. The inner two Koshas (the intuitive and spiritual layers) are unchanging. They remain steadfast despite the many external inputs that our body, emotions and mind respond and adapt to.
One feature of your Vijnanamaya Kosha (wisdom body) is your innate ability to be discerning (Viveka).
What is the meaning of Viveka?
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (one of the foundational texts of modern yoga) speak of this concept of Viveka. T.K.V. Desikachar, a translator of the Sutras says that “Viveka means to see both sides, to be able to see what we are and what we are not, to discriminate”.
Viveka is about being aware that there are multiple truths. And then determining what is your Truth, always remembering that there might be other truths as well. A way to adopt this awareness is to approach things with a curious attitude, rather than jumping to reactions or conclusions. Simply taking a moment to check in with the body, mind and spirit before making a decision or acting upon something can provide enough pause to allow discernment.
Discernment Exercise
- Take a moment to adopt a comfortable seated or resting position.
- With eyes closed or comfortably resting, take a few deep breaths.
- Now think of the words Connection and Community. As you reflect upon these words, notice any sensations or experiences in your body:
Which parts of your body is your attention drawn to?
What words would you use to describe any sensations: temperature, texture, colour, etc.
Are there any emotions that you are experiencing?
- After you have finished exploring this experience, let go of the words and come back to the breath for a few more deep breaths.
- Now think of the words Disconnection and Separation. Repeat the same reflection of bodily experience as you did for the earlier words.
- When you are finished, once again let go of the words and come back to the breath for a few more cycles.
- Gently guide yourself back into your external reality. You may now like to spend some time journaling about your experience.
Connection & Community Vs Disconnection & Separation
Yoga means ‘to unite’, or you could say ‘to connect’ or ‘come together’. Connection is something that can bring you closer to yourself, others and your Truth.
If you want to be saying yes to something that is right for your True self (and your baby), it’s possible to correlate that this would be equivalent to saying yes to connection. So what you experienced during your reflection on Connection and Community is your body telling you ‘Yes’.
It follows then, that words representing the opposite experience – Disconnection and Separation – would be alluding to a bodily ‘No’.
Often, it is your mind that takes control in any decision-making process, turning to logic and past experience. This practice can start to help you to piece together what signals your physical body (Anandamaya Kosha) and your energy body (Pranamaya Kosha) give you, which can assist in discriminating between what is a conditioned belief or perceived expectation (things your mind picks up all the way from childhood onwards) versus knowing whether something is a full body “Yes” or a clear “No”.
These sensations and experiences you’ve felt in your body and emotions can start to be little indicators for you in those uncertain moments. You can make the choice to take a pause rather than jump into a decision or reaction.
Simply take that breath and ask yourself: how is this feeling in my body? In my emotions?
The sensations and experiences might not be always exactly the same, but if you practice this over time, you will be connecting more regularly with your inherent and unwavering wisdom, tapping into Vinjanamaya Kosha.
Additional Information
If you resonated with this exploration of Viveka and the Koshas, you may be interested to learn more about:
- Yoga Philosophy: join author Claire and Bliss Baby Yoga Founder Ana Davis for our online Practical Yoga Philosophy for Parenthood course
- Your Koshas: Claire has a fun 5 Koshas quiz on her website here.
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