Prāṇamaya-kośa

Sheath made of vital breath

The vital sheath, woven of the five prāṇas (prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, udāna, samāna). Taittirīya II.2 says the food-body is filled by this prāṇa-body 'as a body is filled by self' — the breath-body has the same shape as the food-body, and gives it animation. Yogic anatomy locates its main currents in the thoracic cavity and along the central axis; in haṭha and tantric sources it threads the nāḍīs and is governed by the breath at the heart. It is the first sheath that is not directly perceptible. You can feel its presence as the difference between a living body and a corpse of the same shape.