hindu-selfWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.
The Vital Sheath (Prāṇamaya-Kośa)
The layer of breath and vitality — the living energy that animates the body from within.
The prāṇamaya-kośa is the 'sheath made of vital energy' — the life-force and the breaths that animate the body and keep it alive. Subtler than the physical body it pervades, it is the living vitality you feel as energy, breath, and aliveness, and it serves as a bridge between the gross body and the mind. Like the other layers, it is not the true self but a vehicle the self enlivens.
Key passages(3)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi 165↗explains
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
High
High
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi 166↗explains
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
High