✨ The Koshas // The Pause That Takes Us Deeper

Hi Reader,

Coming to you post some late night AthFest adventures and teaching three classes out of my home studio this past weekend. One of those was a Yoga for Yoga Teachers class and it was a delight to bring yoga teachers from different studios together to practice - like really connect to their practice. I hope you can make one one day.

We’ve been exploring how to teach through the lens of the koshas recently – with emphasis on the pranamaya kosha (breath/energy body).

The Deeper Invitation

Last week we explored how our pranamaya kosha (breath/energy body) serves as our gateway into manomaya kosha (mental/emotional body) - how breath creates space between our thoughts and feelings, allowing us to observe with compassion rather than being swept away. If you missed the last email, check it out here.

Lately, I’ve been playing with the pause between breaths, recognizing this as a place for deep knowing. A place where I can be, observe, and really feel what it’s like to be present to a moment that feels suspended in time.

By pausing (and sometimes retaining) the breath, I’m able to access this liminal space between transitioning from one thing to the next - and it’s in that space that I can access the wisdom of my being. This wisdom is the vijnamaya kosha.

It’s the part of me that knows. It’s my intuition, my inner guide. Sometimes she whispers, sometimes she’s screaming, but damnit she’s there.

The same breath that helps us create space around our thoughts and feelings becomes our doorway into knowing. Not the kind of knowing that comes from our minds analyzing and figuring out, but the kind that arises from noticing, softening, and allowing parts of us to show up.

And sometimes, if we can really stay present, we touch something even deeper - moments where we remember who we are beneath all the stories, all the sensation, all the effort. This is anandamaya kosha - not bliss as a feeling, but bliss as recognition of our essential nature. When we can access anandamaya kosha, our thinking, feeling, and intuiting selves soften and we instead experience what some call our essence, our wildness, the Self, the Divine within. It might last for a split second or even a few minutes.

How this Translates to Teaching: The Pause Approach

Instead of rushing from pose to pose, we can use strategic pauses to help students touch their own wisdom and essence. In a class, there are so many opportunities to pause, each has their own unique take. Consider:

• The pause between sides. The pause between Triangle (Trikonasana) on right side vs. left side. The pause between a yin shape on the right vs. the left. Or the pause between a flow pass-through on one side vs. the other.
• The pause before transition. The moment before you move from Chair (Utkatasana) to forward fold (Uttanasana). Or the moment before Extended Side Angle (Utthia Parsvakonasa) to reverse triangle (Viparita Trikonasa). Or the moment you’re about to exit a restorative shape after several minutes.
• The pause at the top/bottom of a breath. These are the best pauses (in my opinion).
• The pause after a build up of energy. The pause once your pelvis lands on the mat after a long Bridge Pose (Setubhandasana). The moment you soften to your belly after a long Plank Pose (Phalankasana).

It’s in these moments where we can practice accessing our knowing. In the pause, everything slows down, attention is soft and focused, there’s space for allowing.

We facilitate the pause, and then we offer space for our students to inquire. It often sounds like…

“Soften. Resist the urge to move to what’s next. What’s waiting for you here in this moment?”

“What’s here in this pause? This space between sides?”

“What is it that your body knows to be true right now?”

“What do you hear? What’s waiting for you in this last breath?”

“Can you find space to just *be* right now?”

“Can you breathe into the space of your deepest Self? The source of your Essence?”

“What would it be like to pause here, tap into your inner Knowing, and simply breathe with your Self?”

Try On

Before you teach this week, spend a few minutes in your own practice exploring the vijnanamaya/anandamaya connection. When can you sense your wisdom/intuition? When can you feel the quiet presence of your essence? I often practice this in pranayama and meditation, but you can find it in moments of movement or places of rest.

Then bring that authentic experience into your teaching. What do you want to facilitate for your students? How can you create moments for them to tap into their wisdom/intuition? To taste what it’s like to just *be*? Consider using or adapting some of the inquiry questions above.

And don’t forget - this is deep stuff. We’re going beyond postures and choreography. We’re creating space for subtle body awareness.

In the next email, I’ll share a teaching resource that ties all of these ideas together into one simple framework.

Until then,

// Kate

P.S. I'd love to know how this lands and read your reflections. Hit reply when you're ready.