Human beings possess a garden of energy but often overlook the need to nurture their subtle terrain in order to grow their physical landscape.
In nature, plants don’t just require watering and good soil, they also require subtle stimuli such as gravity, light and proper temperature – in addition to good vibes and lots of love. In fact, vibrations of nearby sound turn on two key genes inside of a plant that influence growth. And, as most gardeners will tell you, plants grow faster, healthier and stronger when given positive encouragement.
Humans are really no different.
Recognizing that you are so much more than just a physical being and that the subtle aspects of you need attention as well can be extremely powerful for achieving holistic health. This article focuses on the subtle body, what it is and why it is important to cleanse and nourish all layers of your being.
Ayurveda & The Subtle Body
Ancient Vedic traditions spoke of a “true Self” – or pure consciousness – encased in three bodies: physical, subtle and causal.
The physical body is a dense collection of matter. It is tangible, physical, easy to see and to connect to. It is the only true “body” in the strictest sense of the word.
Everything outside of the physical body is the subtle body. There is no collection of matter, it cannot be physically touched but it can be seen, heard and even felt. The subtle body consists of the emotional, mental and spiritual roots of imbalances.
The causal body is made up of our most deep-seated tendencies, it is the deepest layer of your consciousness and connects to karmic patterns, or lessons to be learned in life. It is your soul.* Subtle body impressions can indirectly affect causal body healing.
From a holistic healing perspective, understanding the three “bodies” is essential to creating a root cause approach to healing. For example, if a physical imbalance only resides within the physical body, learning constitutionally-appropriate nutrition and general healthy eating guidelines can be enough. In fact, healing with food can become a means of healing both physical and subtle bodies since food can also support our mind and emotions.
However, one’s relationship to food is often a reflection of their relationship with themselves. And, more often than not, our clients struggle with dietary changes even when they know certain foods and eating habits would help them to feel healthier, happier and more fulfilled. This is when imbalances reside throughout an energetic being and physical body therapies simply aren’t enough. Subtle body healing must take place first.
Digesting The Five Senses
In Ayurveda, digestion is the root cause of disease. “Digestion”, in this sense, does not refer solely to food. It includes everything digested in the physical, subtle and causal bodies.
In the subtle body, you digest everything you take in through your five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. Absorption and assimilation of physical and subtle “nutrients” make up the tissue layers of the body as well as mental impressions and emotional experiences.
The cumulative effect of these digestive processes can create patterns, tendencies and behaviors deep in your being of which you may be completely unaware. These patterns can become cyclical, evolutionary or transcendent – indirectly affecting the causal body.
Similar to plants, the “vibrations” you receive through each of the five senses with the impressions you see, the aromas you smell, the sounds you hear, the food you taste and the touch you receive will create subtle body energetic imprints that will either help you to grow stronger and healthier or impair growth and create further imbalances.
Cleansing the Senses
As with all things in Ayurveda, each sense connects to an element: earth, water, fire, air and ether. Knowing the elemental nature of your imbalance, and the connected sense organ, helps you to determine which sensory therapies will most help you.
The eyes are a fiery organ used for sight; the nose an earthy organ used for smell; the ears an etheric organ used for sound; the tongue a watery organ used for taste; and the skin an airy organ used for touch.
Each combination of elements connects to a doshic pattern: vata (air & ether), pitta (fire & water), and kapha (water & earth).** Vata governs sound and touch, pitta governs sight and kapha governs taste and smell.
While every sensory experience can be influenced by any of the doshas or elements at anytime and may require specific healing therapies, we offer you some general guidelines for balancing the doshas in their sensory homes:
- Excess vata in the subtle body translates to anxiety, fear, overwhelm and self-criticism. To help balance vata’s sensory organs (ears and skin), listen to soothing, grounding music, oil the ears, perform self oil massage (abhyanga) or take a warm mineral salt bath.
- Excess pitta in the subtle body translates to anger, judgment and self-righteousness. To help balance pitta’s sensory organs (eyes), perform a rosewater eyewash and enjoy a sensory withdrawal (pratyahara) meditation with a cool eye pillow. Reduce the amount of red or stimulating colors in your environment and on your body, favoring instead cooling blues and grounding earth tones.
- Excess kapha in the subtle body translates to sadness, melancholy and depression. To help balance kapha’s sensory organs (nose and tongue), cleanse and nourish the sinuses with neti and nasya and use stimulating aromatherapy scents such as lime, orange or juniper. Scrape the tongue every morning and consume light foods with heating spices such as black pepper, dry ginger and cayenne.
Most importantly, cultivate self-love. Changing our beliefs in ourselves and our habits (how we treat ourselves as a result) by creating trust, compassion and love has immense benefits in all of the energetic bodies.
For more information on Subtle Body Self-Healing, visit our articles on Prana, Tejas & Ojas, the Koshas and Ayurveda, Anxiety & Depression.
Article authored by Kirsten Ahern, Founder of Path Wellbeing, Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist and Wellbeing Advocate; and by Chloe Chaput, a Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist (CAS) who works with women’s health, male and female fertility challenges, parents/caregivers, and children to address a variety of clinical health concerns at the root of their cause.
*While we touch on the causal body as it relates to the physical and subtle, its intricacies and unique meaning for each individual require more attention than can be paid here or perhaps in any article. It is important to know, however, that subtle body impression can and will affect causal body healing. Stay tuned for an upcoming article on prana, tejas and ojas for more information.
**As the science of the elements, we conduct a comprehensive analysis to know how much earth, water, fire, air, and ether show up in your body, mind and spirit (your constitution). Earth represents the solid structures of your body such as bone and muscle mass and density, as well as stability of the mind and its resilience under stress; water represents the consistency and quantity of plasma, lymph, synovial fluid, etc. as well as your ability to “go with the flow” and not let stress overwhelm you; fire represents metabolism and thermal energy and the quality of discernment, judgment or “seeing clearly” in the mind; air represents movement and how much oxygen, CO2, and other gasses are moving about your body as well as the movement (rate, motility and distraction) of the mind; and, finally ether represents the hollow cavities in the body and the expansiveness of the mind.
The information contained within this article is for educational purposes only and should not replace the direct advice of a qualified healthcare professional. Always consult a medical or other professional healthcare provider when considering a new health regime.
