I ran 9 miles a few weeks ago, so I had plenty of time to think during that run. Which is how I came up with this subject. There are 5 Koshas, so it fit perfectly.
What is a Kosha, you ask? According to most Yoga philosophy, you have 5 bodies (some philosophy actually says 10!):
- Annamaya (Physical, literally translated as food body)
- Pranamaya (Breath or vital life force body)
- Manomaya (Mental body, including your thoughts & emotions)
- Vijnanamaya (Wisdom or intuitive body)
- Anandamaya (Bliss body)
These bodies are all seen as interconnected, but as I ran this run I realized that I was running in and out of the various bodies at different points during this run. Hey, that thought kept me going 9 miles!
I’m linking up with My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Runs with Pugs, Zenaida and Run Laugh Eat Pie for Fit Five Friday. Today I’m sharing 5 bodies according to Yogic Philosophy.
1: Annamaya
My first mile of many runs tends to be slow. It takes me a while to warm up. Plus I swear that first mile seems to go on forever! After about 6 miles I was dealing with some almost-cramping in one calf, and that definitely had me in Annamaya Kosha for much of the last 3 miles!
2: Pranamaya
I had made it a goal to take it easy for this run, and really pay attention to my breath. I was trying to keep my HR on the lower side (although I never actually checked it) — since my Garmin dumped those first 6 miles, I don’t know how successful I was on the HR, but I do know I took it easy and I did pay close attention to my breath.
3: Manomaya
The fact that I came up with the idea for this post while running makes it pretty clear that I was definitely in my mental body at times!
4: Vijnanamaya
Tapping into the wisdom body can be a hard thing for runners sometimes. We want to push things. We want to complete our planned workouts and runs. Listening to our body’s wisdom is usually more important than completing workouts exactly as written. If we tap into that, we often can tell whether the planned run is right, whether we need to drop some miles, run for fun instead of what’s on our schedule — or skip a run entirely.
5: Ananadamaya
One of the blissful moments of this run for me was running back down the really big hill. It’s a relatively flat path, and I chose it for that reason — although the really big hill is also long hill with rolling hills after it. I decided to head in that direction because I knew once I turned around, I’d be running downhill (or a slight decline) for most of the rest of the run.
Running downhill is one of my favorite things to do. I know lots of runners really fear the downhills, but I guess it just makes me feel fast! There were other times during this run when there was just a smile on my face — even towards the end of the run.
Final Thoughts
I had never thought of the tie-in between the Koshas and running before this run, but it became really obvious to me as I was running. I think it’s something I will try to tap into more on the run going forward.
Can you relate parts of your running to the Koshas?
Which Kosha do you think you spend the most time in?
Which Kosha would you like to spend the most time in?
Chocolaterunsjudy 
This was interesting, and I’ll think about during my long run on Sunday. I definitely cycle through the different bodies as I run (I think we all do.) I’m curious to know what the 10 bodies are in other philosophies!
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I’d have to look up the 10 bodies — that’s according to Kundalini & I only dabble in that.
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I had never heard of the Koshas before so this was a learning experience for me- thanks for the info! I probably spend the most time in the mental state but I seem to bounce between that and the wisdom state. I’ll often do a body scan and see if there are any problem areas, especially if I’m struggling on a run. If everything is good physically, then I tell my brain the reason I’m struggling must be because of the hills or the heat, or other circumstance out of my control.
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Yes body scans are great to do on the run & I do that a lot too. Works in both physical & mind bodies!
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how interesting! I have not heard of these before. I will have to pay attention on my next run and see what I can come up with
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It’s something to take your mind off the run — if need be. I know how much you love Summer running. 😉
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No idea.
I almost always do my long runs with friends. We chat the whole time.
If I’m alone, I try to catch up on my podcasts. So far behind on those.
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This is really interesting. I’ll have to give this some thought during my run this weekend.
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Looking forward to what you tune into!
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I absolutely love this. What a thoughtful way to consider the anatomy of the run, and it all makes perfect sense. ❤
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Even though I’ve known about this for a while, it’s the first time I put it together with running. It does make sense!
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You’ve explained this soooo beautifully Judy! This reminds me of a conversation I had with Ditiro after our race on Saturday. I used it as a training run but he raced it. When we were talking about our runs, he said he had had the perfect run – he was in complete tune with his breath, body, mental state which I guess ultimately led to the most blissful run. I will share this blog with him today as I think it will totally resonate with what he experienced on that run!
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That’s what a lot of people call the flow state — and it’s so rare! I have had it happen, but not often. There was a race when I kept singing to myself “this is gonna be the best race of my life” — and it was, up to that point.
Now, if only we could bottle that!
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I’d only we could bottle it!!!
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I think running takes you through all these bodies but 1, 2 & 3 are probably the most common for me.
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That’s the thing; they are all interconnected!
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