Koshas

I've been trying to evolve my yoga practice beyond the physical asana practice by reading more yoga philosophy. I came across an article about the confusion of defining oneself since there are multiple parts of ourselves like our physical identity, our beliefs and opinions, our job, our emotions, and our spiritual selves, just to name a few. The article identified this crisis with the 5 sheaths, or koshas of the soul. The term, koshas is found within the yoga philosophy. It states that these 5 layers encase the soul and function as a journey into the soul starting from the first kosha, the physical and most tangible aspect of ourselves to the last kosha, the spirit. According to yoga philosophy, any question of who you are or the meaning of life can be solved by exploring all of these layers of the self; physical, breath, mental, wisdom, and spirit. Once each kosha is fully understood and acknowledged, one can appropriately apply to areas of areas in one's life instead of focusing on a few layers, like the mental or the physical which is limiting. Understanding and acknowledging each of the koshas only gives you more control and enlightenment in your life.

Motivation

I haven't continued or started any major photography projects since I graduated college 4 years ago. I was really interested in street documentary and environmental portraits focusing on young artists. I loved to edit out the best 12-20 photographs and insert into a handmade book. I loved to create books by hand, cutting pages and binding them with thread and needle and using pen and ink to write the titles. I create a few books one of of my favorites being images of people isolated from each other using the backdrop of California. I miss those projects and think that I could expand on some of the subjects or create my own since my interests have narrowed to a few activities. I am sharing a few of my favorite photographs from college. I'll start off with a few photographs from two of my environmental portrait series which were all shot using a view camera and strobe lights. The first three are from my "Young Artist" series and the last ones are from my "Yiayia" series. Enjoy!