10.7 Trigunas, Pancha Kosha, Pancha Prana & Shat Chakra in Health and Disease
Key Takeaways
- Syllabus item 3.19 asks for knowledge of four subtle frameworks specifically in relation to health and disease, not as abstract metaphysics.
- Guna imbalance maps to clinical states: excess Rajas produces agitation, hypertension and insomnia; excess Tamas produces lethargy, obesity and depression; Sattva is the healthy condition.
- Kosha-wise assessment locates the level at which a complaint originates, which determines the entry point of treatment rather than merely the site of symptoms.
- Prana disturbance takes three forms in the Yoga Vasishtha - Atigati (excessive), Anugati (deficient) and Mithyagati (perverse flow) - each with recognisable clinical presentations.
- Chakra correspondence links each centre to an endocrine and autonomic region, which is a useful heuristic for teaching but not an established anatomical identity.
10.7 Trigunas, Pancha Kosha, Pancha Prana & Shat Chakra in Health and Disease
Item 3.19 names four frameworks and then adds the operative words: "and their role in Health and Disease." The metaphysics has already been covered — Trigunas in Section 3.6, Pancha Kosha in Section 5.4, the Pranas and Chakras in Section 7.6. This section does what the syllabus actually asks: converts each into a clinical instrument.
1. Trigunas in health and disease
Health is Sattva-dominance. Disease is dominance by Rajas or Tamas — the two mental doshas.
| Sattva | Rajas | Tamas | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | Clarity, lightness, harmony | Activity, agitation, craving | Inertia, heaviness, obscuration |
| Mental presentation | Calm, clear, contented, discriminating | Restless, anxious, irritable, driven | Dull, confused, apathetic, hopeless |
| Physical presentation | Good energy, regular appetite and sleep, easy elimination | Insomnia, palpitation, hypertension, hyperacidity, muscle tension | Lethargy, hypersomnia, obesity, oedema, congestion, sluggish digestion |
| Diet | Fresh, mild, nourishing (BG 17.8) | Bitter, sour, salty, very hot, pungent, dry (17.9) | Stale, putrid, leftover, unclean (17.10) |
| Yogic correction | Maintain | Cooling and settling: Sheetali, Bhramari, Nadi Shodhana, long Shavasana, slow asana, Yoga Nidra | Activating: Surya Namaskara, Kapalabhati, Bhastrika, Surya Bhedana, dynamic asana, early rising |
The therapeutic principle is straightforward and worth stating explicitly: you do not treat Rajas with more Rajas. Prescribing a vigorous class to an agitated insomniac is a common and avoidable error. The classical route out of Tamas runs through Rajas — you cannot go from inertia to clarity without passing through activity — which is why Tamasic presentations are first activated and only then settled.
2. Pancha Kosha in health and disease
The Kosha model's clinical use is locating the level of origin, which is not necessarily the level of the symptom.
| Kosha | Presentation when disturbed | Assessment questions | Primary intervention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annamaya | Structural pain, stiffness, weakness, digestive and eliminative disorder | Where is it, when does it hurt, what makes it better or worse? | Asana, Shatkarma, diet, Dinacharya |
| Pranamaya | Fatigue without cause, breathlessness, palpitation, low or erratic energy, poor stress tolerance | How is the breath at rest? Energy through the day? | Pranayama, breath awareness, Nadi Shodhana, Bandha where appropriate |
| Manomaya | Anxiety, low mood, emotional reactivity, rumination, poor sleep | What is the mind doing at 3 a.m.? What is unresolved? | Relaxation, Yoga Nidra, Pratipaksha Bhavanam, Dhyana, counselling |
| Vijnanamaya | Poor decisions, confusion of values, meaninglessness, identity disturbance, Prajnaparadha | Does what you do match what you believe? | Svadhyaya, study, Viveka, reflective inquiry |
| Anandamaya | Joylessness, disconnection, existential emptiness in the absence of any deficit | Where is joy in your life? | Bhakti, chanting, Karma Yoga, Satsanga, Ishvarapranidhana |
Working the model
Two students present with insomnia. The first is an athlete with shoulder pain that wakes her — Annamaya origin, and the intervention is postural and structural. The second sleeps in physical comfort but wakes at 3 a.m. rehearsing a conversation — Manomaya origin, and asana will not touch it. Same symptom, different sheath, different treatment. That judgement is the whole clinical value of the Kosha model, and it is what an examiner is testing when they present a scenario.
The direction of causation is downward and outward: disturbance ordinarily originates in a subtler sheath and manifests in a grosser one. That is the Adhi → Vyadhi cascade of Section 10.1. It follows that treating only the grossest sheath produces relief without resolution — the recurring back pain that always returns, because its origin was never at the back.
3. Pancha Prana in health and disease
Each Vayu has a domain, and disorder of a Vayu presents as disorder of that domain.
| Vayu | Domain | Disturbance presents as | Corrective practices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prana | Thorax; intake | Breathlessness, palpitation, anxiety, poor appetite, difficulty "taking in" | Deep abdominal breathing, Ujjayi, chest openers |
| Apana | Pelvis; elimination | Constipation, urinary and menstrual disorder, prolapse, difficulty letting go | Mula Bandha, Ashvini Mudra, Pavanamuktasana, Malasana, forward folds |
| Samana | Navel; digestion | Weak digestion, bloating, poor absorption, low metabolic heat | Agnisara, Nauli, twists, Kapalabhati |
| Udana | Throat and head; expression | Speech difficulty, throat disorder, thyroid dysfunction, difficulty expressing | Ujjayi, Bhramari, Simhasana, chanting, Jalandhara |
| Vyana | Whole body; circulation | Poor circulation, numbness, incoordination, oedema | Surya Namaskara, dynamic movement, Sukshma Vyayama |
The three disorders of Prana flow
The Yoga Vasishtha names three, and they are directly examinable:
| Disorder | Meaning | Clinical picture |
|---|---|---|
| Atigati | Excessive flow | Hyperventilation, palpitation, agitation, hypertension, panic |
| Anugati | Deficient flow | Fatigue, hypotension, depression, sluggishness, weak digestion |
| Mithyagati | Perverse or wrongly directed flow | Reversed peristalsis, reflux, paradoxical breathing, cramp, incoordinated movement |
The whole point of Pranayama in therapy is to correct these three: slow and lengthen for Atigati, energise for Anugati, and re-pattern for Mithyagati.
4. Shat Chakra in health and disease
The chakras are associated with regions of the body, and each region has an endocrine and autonomic correlate. This gives a teaching heuristic that is genuinely useful — but its evidential status must be stated honestly, and at Level 3 you will be marked for stating it.
| Chakra | Region | Associated plexus / gland | Psychological theme when disturbed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muladhara | Perineum, pelvic floor | Sacrococcygeal plexus; adrenals (association) | Insecurity, survival anxiety; pelvic floor and eliminative complaints |
| Svadhishthana | Sacral, lower abdomen | Sacral plexus; gonads | Creative and sexual disturbance; reproductive and urinary complaints |
| Manipura | Navel, solar plexus | Coeliac plexus; pancreas, adrenals | Low self-worth or domination; digestive and metabolic complaints |
| Anahata | Cardiac region | Cardiac plexus; thymus | Grief, difficulty in relationship; cardiac and respiratory complaints |
| Vishuddhi | Throat | Pharyngeal plexus; thyroid, parathyroid | Difficulty expressing; throat and thyroid complaints |
| Ajna | Between the eyebrows | Cavernous plexus; pituitary, pineal | Confusion, loss of discernment; headache, visual and sleep disturbance |
The honest statement
Chakras are not anatomical structures and the correspondences are not established physiological identities. They are a subtle-body model whose regions happen to coincide with major autonomic plexuses and endocrine glands, which makes the mapping a useful mnemonic and a useful organising frame for a practice sequence. It is not evidence that stimulating a chakra treats a gland.
A Level 3 teacher who presents the correspondence as demonstrated physiology has overclaimed; one who dismisses the model entirely has thrown away a workable clinical heuristic and a genuine part of the tradition. State it as what it is. That balance is exactly what distinguishes a Master Trainer's answer from a beginner's.
Integrating the four
A complete yogic assessment runs all four frameworks over the same person:
| Framework | Question |
|---|---|
| Guna | Is this presentation Rajasic, Tamasic, or mixed? (Determines whether to settle or to activate.) |
| Kosha | At which level did this originate? (Determines the entry point of treatment.) |
| Prana | Which Vayu is disturbed, and is the flow excessive, deficient or perverse? (Determines the breathing prescription.) |
| Chakra | Which region and theme is involved? (Determines the focus of the sequence and the meditation.) |
Four questions, four different answers, one integrated plan. That is what item 3.19 is asking you to be able to do.
Summary of Exam-Key Points
- Do not treat Rajas with Rajas. The way out of Tamas passes through Rajas.
- Kosha assessment locates the level of origin, which need not be the level of symptom.
- Atigati (excessive), Anugati (deficient), Mithyagati (perverse) — the three disorders of Prana flow, from the Yoga Vasishtha.
- Vayu correspondences: Prana intake, Apana elimination, Samana digestion, Udana expression, Vyana circulation.
- Chakra–gland correspondence is a heuristic, not an established anatomical identity — say so.
A student presents as agitated, sleepless and hypertensive. Which Guna predominates, and what class of practice is indicated?
Two students report insomnia. One is woken by shoulder pain; the other sleeps comfortably but wakes at 3 a.m. rehearsing an unresolved conversation. What does the Kosha model tell you?
Which term names the perverse or wrongly directed flow of Prana in the Yoga Vasishtha's classification?
How should a Level 3 teacher present the correspondence between chakras and endocrine glands?
Which Vayu governs elimination, and what practices correct its disturbance?