ABSTRACT
Samkhya philosophy details the psychophysiological and environmental components of materiality, which are the subject of this chapter. Our relationships with worldly phenomena are commonly driven by senses and habits, which then create the next moment in a continual cycle of action and reaction; yogic practice teaches ways of more skillfully relating to stimuli. This chapter considers the attributes that emerge from the constituents of material nature (prakriti) and how they develop or obscure insight. The inner instruments of buddhi (discernment and wisdom), ahamkara (individuality), and manas (mind) are discussed, as are the senses and action capacities, which enable us to perceive and experience worldly phenomena. Sections on clinical relevance are informed by contemporary pain science, which demonstrates how persistent pain results in misinterpretation of safe stimuli. The phenomenological concepts of the lived and habitual bodies are also introduced as significant to yoga’s therapeutic applications.
