The science of Pancha Koshas recognizes us as multi-layered beings, varying from the Gross Body - which includes your flesh and bones - to the Subtle Body within - which includes the mind and vital energies - to the Causal Body further within - which includes the timeless and spaceless aspect of our being.
Contained within these 3 bodies are 5 layers that together constitute the self, viz. Annamaya Kosha, Pranamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Vigyanamaya Kosha and Anandamaya Kosha.
— from the book Subtraction, the subtle art of unleashing boundless innovation.
As we wrote in the book, all layers have different purposes and roles.
Usually, these layers are visualized as concentric layers, like sheaths of an onion. The outer layer is the most physically relevant one, and the innermost is the closest to pure awareness.
Each of these 5 layers of awareness is home to a unique creative potential, need and driver through which we manifest our potential in the world.
To be whole, we need to access and integrate all dimensions of the self.
Are you using all your creative faculties (Physical, Social, Cognitive, Intuitive and Spiritual Intelligence)? Are you caring for all your primordial needs (I exist, I feel, I do, I realize, and I am)?
To do so, as counterintuitive as it may sound, we need to embrace a process of subtraction that help us remove anything that holds us back from accessing the creative potential of each layer and answering all our primordial needs.
To be whole, you need to practice subtraction.