Episode #208
Ep #208: The Subtle Body: Why Yoga Is More Than Stretching with Akshay Bhat
The subtle body is where yoga actually does its work. Akshay Bhat returns to map the three bodies yoga describes — the gross body you stretch, the subtle body that stores your patterns and karma, and the causal body the whole practice is pointing toward. Akshay opens with the question that shaped his own path: why is yoga more than asana, more than a breathing exercise? The answer sits in the three shariras — sthula (gross), sukshma (subtle), and karana (causal, or witness). He brings them to life through the cave yogis of his childhood and a Mouni Baba he met in Rishikesh who has lived alone in the Himalayas for seventeen years and says he can travel anywhere in the subtle body. Then Ramana Maharshi, whose presence was so expanded that people arrived with questions and found the question itself had dissolved. The practical half is the five chitta vrittis — right knowledge, wrong knowledge, imagination, sleep, and memory — each with an upside and a shadow. Why your neck tightens when your mind is busy. Why the real test of yoga begins the moment you leave the mat and hit traffic. Swami Satyananda's definition as the balance of head, heart, and hand. Michael admits to deleting Instagram and replacing it with a puzzle game, and Akshay explains why he'd sooner pour milk on a stone. Plus dark rooms and float tanks as modern pratyahara, how an assassin's arrow led to the discovery of acupuncture, sleep as a meditative state, and why the thing you're reaching for is already right in front of you. Episode Chapters: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:49 Why yoga is more than asana 00:03:06 The three bodies: gross, subtle, causal 00:05:11 Cave stories: yogis who travel in the subtle body 00:08:21 Mental impressions and why your neck tightens 00:10:31 Karma and past impressions in the subtle body 00:12:20 The real test begins off the mat 00:16:37 Pranayama and mantra as subtle-body practice 00:17:52 Is numbness the same as peace? 00:19:45 The causal body: the ocean and the unchanging screen 00:21:35 Ramana Maharshi and the aura that dissolved questions 00:23:05 Samadhi: the real goal of yoga 00:24:54 Dark rooms, float tanks, and pratyahara 00:25:49 Why constant stimulation blocks the subtle body 00:27:03 Head, heart, and hand 00:28:13 Dopamine, phones, and swapping one habit for another 00:29:32 Pouring milk on a stone: devotion vs. the screen 00:32:03 The five chitta vrittis 00:34:36 Right knowledge and wrong knowledge 00:35:55 Wrong perception: the snake that wasn't 00:43:00 The arrow that discovered acupuncture 00:46:40 Imagination: manifestation and delusion 00:50:16 Sleep as meditation 00:53:11 Memory and samskaras 00:57:54 "It's right in front of us": rest in I Am 01:07:09 Keeping the cup empty, and fasting Akshay's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akshaybhatyoga/ Michael Henri’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelyoga.pt/ Going Pro Yoga Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goingproyoga/ The IN Movement Website: https://theinmovement.com/ Trainings and Events: https://theinmovement.com/events The IN Movement Instagram: @the_in_movement The IN Movement Podcast was formerly the Going Pro Yoga Podcast — and before that, the Yoga Teacher Evolution Podcast and the Rat Race Rebellion Podcast. Same mission, evolved name. ----- Teaching yoga? Go deeper with Going Pro Yoga Academy — online continuing education built by the hosts of this podcast: the SmartCue™ cueing system for 180+ poses, 100+ ready-to-teach sequences, and anatomy & injury prevention taught by a physiotherapist. Start your 7-day free trial at goingproyoga.com .
