The Layered Self is drawn mainly from Samkhya and Patanjali. The older Upanishadic tradition maps the same territory a little differently, as five koshas, or five bodies: sheaths nested like cases around a blade, from the food body at the surface to the bliss sheath nearest the centre. Not a rival model; the same recognition drawn by a different cartographer.
Most sheaths fall cleanly on a layer of the self; one or two we draw a little differently. Tap each sheath to see where it lands on the Layered Self, and why.
Annamayathe food sheath
The food sheath: the physical body, built from and sustained by what you eat. It maps cleanly to the Body, the layer Asana meets first.
Pranamayathe breath sheath
The energy sheath: the breath and the life-force (prana) that animates the body. The classical map counts it as a covering of its own; we draw it as the breath rippling the whole field, the living, wavy outer edge itself, the home of Pranayama. Same prana, different geometry.
Manomayathe mental sheath
The mental sheath: the sensing, reacting mind. We open the one sheath into two: the Senses (Manas) that take the world in, and the Ego (Ahamkara) that makes it personal. So much of our distortion happens in the seam between them. Their fluctuations are what play across the field we call Consciousness (Chitta).
Vijnanamayathe wisdom sheath
The wisdom sheath: discernment and the witnessing intellect. It maps cleanly to the Intellect (Buddhi), refined by Dharana and Dhyana.
Anandamayathe bliss sheath
The bliss sheath is the subtlest covering, the quiet joy that surfaces when the noise settles. In the old map it is still a covering: peel even bliss, and what remains is not a sheath but Love itself.
The experiential subtle body (the energy channels and centres, the nadis and chakras, and how the life-force prana actually moves) is worked on the Subtle Anatomy page under Asana. The shared life-force itself (Prana ≈ Qi ≈ Ki) is taken up in The Convergence.