You Are [Not] What You Eat: A Yogic Look at Feeding The Subtle Body & Digesting Stories
Feeding The Subtle Body: A Yogic Look at Digesting Stories
For those who follow me on social media, you may have noticed that I’ve been posting more reflections and reviews for movies and stories I’ve been watching and hearing. I’ve come to see writing reflections as a kind of svādhyāya (self-study), a Niyama or observance in the practice of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga, a way of exploring how yoga applies not only to our physical bodies but also to our subtle bodies that are fed by media, sound, and story.
You Are [Not] What You Eat
It is a profound maxim to contemplate: you are what you eat. But food is not the only thing we eat. Stories, music, and conversations also feed us, shaping our health, our moods, and the way we experience life.
Yoga philosophy reminds us that we are not limited to a physical body. In yoga philosophy, we have three bodies (shariras) and five sheaths (koshas), layers of being that extend from the gross to the subtle. This gives us even more reason to reflect on what we are “eating” on subtle levels.
And yet, yoga philosophy reveals that the true Self (ātman) always shines beyond all these layers, untouched by conditions, remaining free from experience.
So it is also profound to contemplate: you are not what you eat.
Let’s Dive In: What Are the Koshas?
The koshas are described in the Upaniṣads as the “sheaths” or layers that wrap around our true nature, from outer to inner: food, energy, mind, wisdom, and bliss. They shape how we experience life, but they are not the deepest truth of who we are.
The 5 koshas are:
Annamaya = food/physical
Prāṇamaya = energy/breath
Manomaya = mind/emotions
Vijñānamaya = wisdom/discernment
Ānandamaya = bliss
What Are the Shariras?
Vedānta also describes the embodied self in terms of three shariras or bodies:
Sthūla sharira = gross body (physical)
Sūkṣma sharira = subtle body (mind, energy, wisdom)
Kāraṇa sharira = causal body (bliss, impressions)
Each sharira is made up of corresponding koshas (as discussed above).
Sthūla → Annamaya kosha
Sūkṣma → Prāṇamaya, Manomaya, and Vijñānamaya
Kāraṇa → Ānandamaya
Together, they form the field of experience for the jīva, the embodied self.
Sthūla Sharira (Gross Body)
The gross body is fed by food, sleep, and movement. Stories and music may seem more subtle than physical food, but they still affect the body by creating tension or relaxation, stress or ease. Just as calming music can soothe the nervous system, disturbing impressions can trigger pain or illness.
Sūkṣma Sharira (Subtle Body)
The subtle body includes breath, mind-heart (thoughts and emotions), and discerning wisdom. It is fed by breath, sound, stories, and reflection. This is where stories most strongly shape us by clarifying or clouding our thoughts, emotions, and discernment.
Kāraṇa Sharira (Causal Body)
The causal body is subtler still. It is said to be the storehouse of our deepest impressions (saṃskāras). Vedānta texts like the Pañcadaśī describe this as the field of ignorance (avidyā) that carries karmic tendencies from lifetime to lifetime. When stories or experiences are left undigested, they can sink inward and become seeds that condition our rebirth.
Stories Are Subtle Food
Just as food nourishes the physical body, stories and music nourish the subtle body.
Without digestion, accumulated food in our system becomes toxic. Without reflection, accumulated impressions in our system become saṃskāras, patterns of conditioning that limit freedom.
The Fire of Digestion and Transformation: Agni
In both Yoga and Āyurveda, agni is the fire of digestion, reflection, and transformation. On the physical level, jatharāgni digests food. On the subtle level, manas-agni digests impressions from stories, sounds, and experiences.
Agni’s role goes even deeper. In the Vedas, Agni is the divine priest of sacrifice, the flame that carries offerings upward to the gods; and in yoga practice, this same principle burns within us: the inner fire transforms what we take in, offering the essence upward as clarity, vitality, and wisdom.
When our agni is strong, both food and experience are properly digested; when weak, undigested residue accumulates as toxins in the body or saṃskāras in the mind.
To tend the fire of Agni is therefore a sacred ritual:
To keep what nourishes = viveka (discernment)
To release what afflicts = vairāgya (letting go)
In this sense, yoga itself can be seen as a continuous yajña, sacrifice or offering, into the fire of Agni for transformation.
Yogic Reflection
As such, yoga is not only about how we can move or still our external bodies. It’s also about how we can move or still our inner mind-hearts and discern what’s inside the stories and music that do the same.
Reflection on what we create and consume allows us to:
Absorb the nourishing essence (rasa)
Release toxic residue (hāla-hāla, the poison)
Clarify wisdom (jñāna) and devotion (bhakti)
You Are [Not] What You Eat
Paradoxically, the true Self (ātman) remains free from all consumption and experience.
You are what you eat because what you take in conditions your three shariras and five koshas.
You are not what you eat because your true nature is beyond conditioning — beyond body, breath, mind, emotions, and even bliss.
So it is our paradox as yoga practitioners to care for what we consume and create, while remembering that our true Self is free from all consumption and creation.
