Doing an Assessment through the lens of the Koshas. During the intake/assessment, the questions I asked included ones that touched on information covered by each of the 5 koshas.

We addressed the Manomaya Kosha with a Pratipaksha Bhavana practice of mental affirmations during Meditation to counter feelings of shame and poor body image. 2 minutes would count as a practice, with the idea that practice could go longer. The client rated their feelings on a scale of 1-5 at the start and will rate again at the end after one week.

My client is in their 40s and has a stressful, detail oriented job. Weight gain during the pandemic has caused feelings of shame towards their body. Their energy level is low, they have a hard time focusing at work, and motivation to restart exercising again is hindered by the stress of moving, looking for a new place to live, taking care of an aging and ill pet, as well as heel pain in their left foot. They stopped their meditation practice due to lack of time, but will restart for this TCA.

To keep things simple we wanted to focus strictly on the practices that would help ease the Manomaya Kosha. We talked about ways to address the physical body (Annamaya Kosha) as well, but we both felt that starting with the mind would have the most benefit in the near term. As mentioned earlier, the client would practice their meditation with PB whenever they got a chance. It was fine if they did multiple sessions a day to have the ideal 10 minutes, but 2 minutes of practice would count.

In the initial assessment, I gathered information about the client using the model of the Pancha Koshas from Raja Yoga. Asking questions using the lens of the Koshas, helped ensure that I was taking into account the whole person–physical body, mental and emotional state, energy level and spiritual. In doing so, it revealed the client’s low energy and motivation and high stress, in addition to their feelings of shame about their body in the Pranamaya and Manomaya Koshas .

Then, again using Raja Yoga, we decided on the practice of Pratipaksha Bhavana using affirmations to replace the negative feelings during meditation. The client would inhale a positive affirmation they chose and exhale toxic feelings.

We had met again after several weeks from our initial session due to conflicts with the client’s work schedule and other stressful events and activities taking place in the client’s life. During that chaotic time, the plan we had initially talked about morphed in the client’s mind into a slightly different practice from the original. But everything worked out well in the end.

The client practiced nadi suddhi for 5 minutes using Pratipaksha Bhavana. They inhaled the positive message (“I am powerful, I am strong, I am confident”) and exhaled feelings of shame. This was followed by 5 minutes of meditation with the client’s personal mantra. On their own, the client added an asana practice following the traditional IYI Hatha class sequencing. They practiced whenever they got a chance, with a focus on the sun salutation.

During our conversation we thought the client could try mental nadi suddhi before bed to help with sleep. I showed the client how they could use their hands to indicate which nostril was open to help keep track of the flow of breath. In our initial session, we had also discussed other practices to help with their physical ailments. We discussed the option of the client incorporating one or two of these practices over time to help strengthen and stretch at the physical level (Annamaya Kosha) now that the mental/emotional level (Manomaya Kosha) was more regulated.

I was quite happy with the client’s reported results after only one week of practice. On a 10 point scale, with 10 being worst, the client improved their stress level from 10 → 3 and their self esteem went from 8 → 5.

We talked about their experience and the improvement they underwent after their week of practice. They were gratified with the great boost in how they were feeling. They were still stressed, but it was more tolerable than before the practice.

It seems that intention may be the most important factor for success. There were a few delays and a bit of mis-remembrance of the original practice, but the intent of the practice that was completed was true to the original plan. I didn’t get a chance to talk to the client until after they had already completed their week’s practice, so never got a chance to remind them of the initial plan.

However, both the client and I are quite pleased with how things worked out. They remembered the essence of the practice, which was the PB for about 10 minutes per day. They also remembered our earlier conversation about including a limited form of sun salutation in the morning to improve energy and mood, which we decided not to include for the TCA in the interest of time. I’m glad they practiced what they thought was appropriate for how they were feeling–and the results showed!

Yes. I found it gives a richer understanding of the client as a whole person to do the assessment using the model of the Five Koshas rather than just focusing on the physical body. By asking questions that address each of the layers, you can’t help but see how the client is doing energetically, emotionally and intellectually; seeing if they have a support system; and finding out a little about their beliefs and whatever keeps them going. This provides a more complete picture of the client as a complex human being in the context of their current situation. Also, in having a conversation with the client about their whole being, it’s possible for other pertinent parts of their life to be revealed that might not otherwise have come up.