To understand the Nine Bodies is to understand ourselves.
What are the Nine Bodies of Consciousness?
The Nine Bodies of Consciousness is an in depth exploration of Nine distinct domains of consciousness that are innate to all people. It is based on the work of Phillip Moffitt, who studied for over a decade with Himalayan yoga master, Sri Swami Balyogi Premvarni. Nine Bodies teachings explore the nature of mind, body, heart and soul and support a better understanding of experiences that are common to us all.
The Three Energetic Levels of the Nine Bodies
The Nine Bodies of Consciousness are divided into three levels. The first level, the Manifest Bodies, includes the Physical Body, the Emotional Body, and the Vital Body. While many of us have some familiarity with these bodies, the teachings often reveal dimensions that many of us are not entirely aware of.
The second level, the Subtle Bodies, includes the Etheric Body, the Astral Body, and the Intuitive Body. As the name suggests, these are more subtle than the Manifest Bodies. The Etheric Body is where deep psychological healing may take place.
The third level, the Causal Bodies, includes the Spiritual, Divine, and Cosmic Bodies. The Spiritual Body is the last Body that can be intuited in linear time. The final two Bodies are beyond understanding and can only be intuited as primary source material. While we can’t access them directly, we can develop our capacity to be open to the mysterious ways in which they inform and grace our lives.
We explore the Nine Bodies in a linear fashion, yet, they all exist simultaneously and some bodies are a bridge to, or a container of other bodies. In Phillip’s words, “In Balyogi’s system of the Nine Bodies, there is a clear cause and effect among the various levels of being, which can be experienced and worked with in meditation and in everyday activities. The effect is both “up” and “down” – the more subtle levels affect the coarser body levels, and if the coarser body levels are blocked, you can’t directly access the more refined levels.”
These teachings are not simply meant to be learned in the intellectual sense of acquiring knowledge. Yes, you will acquire knowledge, but I find an important benefit of this study is pragmatic – it is the deepening, over time, of your own reflections and inquiries that result in your own experiences of these Bodies and which may ultimately be used for personal development and your own liberation from suffering.
The Nine Bodies are a Multidimensional Lens
Balyogi’s lens of understanding of the Nine Bodies is through the Yogic tradition. Phillip’s translation of Balyogi’s material is through the Vipassana Buddhist tradition. As a psychotherapist, my interest has been in the healing capacity of these bodies, and it has become the lens through which I teach.
Your experience of this material and the language you will use to describe it will be through your own lens of understanding. The kaleidoscope nature of the bodies is a result of the fact that they are universal dimensions of experience; they are innate human capacities. We use the language of “learn” and “study,” but, in fact, what we are really doing is clearing away the cobwebs that obscure our experience by learning how to focus and direct our attention toward each of the bodies. Nine Bodies teachers point in the direction of these bodies, but your experience, while archetypally similar to others, is uniquely your own.
To view upcoming Nine Bodies workshops, please visit my Upcoming Events page or contact me to be notified when classes and workshops have been scheduled.
Please use the buttons below to easily navigate to other sections of this page.
To understand the Nine Bodies is to understand ourselves.
What are the Nine Bodies of Consciousness?
The Nine Bodies of Consciousness is an in depth exploration of Nine distinct domains of consciousness that are innate to all people. It is based on the work of Phillip Moffitt, who studied for over a decade with Himalayan yoga master, Sri Swami Balyogi Premvarni. Nine Bodies teachings explore the nature of mind, body, heart and soul and support a better understanding of experiences that are common to us all.
The Three Energetic Levels of the Nine Bodies
The Nine Bodies of Consciousness are divided into three levels. The first level, the Manifest Bodies, include the Physical Body, the Emotional Body, and the Vital Body. While many of us have some familiarity with these bodies, the teachings often reveal dimensions that many of us are not entirely aware of.
The second level, the Subtle Bodies, include the Etheric Body, the Astral Body, and the Intuitive Body. As the name suggests, these are more subtle than the Manifest Bodies. The Etheric Body is where deep psychological healing may take place.
The third level, the Causal Bodies, includes the Spiritual, Divine, and Cosmic Bodies. The Spiritual Body is the last Body that can be intuited in linear time. The final two Bodies are beyond understanding and can only be intuited as primary source material. While we can’t access them directly, we can develop our capacity to be open to the mysterious ways in which they inform and grace our lives.
We explore the Nine Bodies in a linear fashion, yet, they all exist simultaneously and some bodies are a bridge to, or a container of other bodies. In Phillip’s words, “In Balyogi’s system of the Nine Bodies, there is a clear cause and effect among the various levels of being, which can be experienced and worked with in meditation and in everyday activities. The effect is both “up” and “down” – the more subtle levels affect the coarser body levels, and if the coarser body levels are blocked, you can’t directly access the more refined levels.”
These teachings are not simply meant to be learned in the intellectual sense of acquiring knowledge. Yes, you will acquire knowledge, but I find an important benefit of this study is pragmatic – it is the deepening, over time, of your own reflections and inquiries which result in your own experiences of these Bodies and which may ultimately be used for personal development and your own liberation from suffering.
The Nine Bodies are a Multidimensional Lens
Balyogi’s lens of understanding of the Nine Bodies is through the Yogic tradition. Phillip’s translation of Balyogi’s material is through the Vipassana Buddhist tradition. As a psychotherapist, my interest has been in the healing capacity of these bodies, and it has become the lens through which I teach.
Your experience of this material and the language you will use to describe it will be through your own lens of understanding. The kaleidoscope nature of the bodies is a result of the fact that they are universal dimensions of experience; they are innate human capacities. We use the language of “learn” and “study,” but, in fact, what we are really doing is clearing away the cobwebs that obscure our experience by learning how to focus and direct our attention toward each of the bodies. Nine Bodies teachers point in the direction of these bodies, but your experience, while archetypally similar to others, is uniquely your own.
To view upcoming Nine Bodies workshops, please visit my Upcoming Events page or contact me to be notified when classes and workshops have been scheduled.
Individual Sessions
The Nine Bodies as a Personal Growth Journey
Exploring one’s life and issues through the lens of the Nine Bodies is an excellent vehicle for personal growth. Having lived in the psychotherapeutic world for much of my working life, the Nine Bodies frequently offer a more pragmatic and direct approach to realizing genuine and sustaining change. While traditional psychology tends to focus on the past as a means of bringing more well-being into the present, the Nine Bodies approach to healing brings attention to the energy patterns in the Bodies here and now. Developing awareness, addressing imbalances, and strengthening capacity for access to these Nine realms of consciousness may offer profound healing in our minds, our bodies, and our hearts. Each of the Bodies is its own unique realm of understanding and can provide insight and direction as we navigate the challenges that are an inevitable part of life.
To inquire about individual Nine Bodies sessions, consultation, or trainings, please contact me.
Individual Sessions
The Nine Bodies as a Personal Growth Journey
Exploring one’s life and issues through the lens of the Nine Bodies is an excellent vehicle for personal growth. Having lived in the psychotherapeutic world for much of my working life, the Nine Bodies frequently offer a more pragmatic and direct approach to realizing genuine and sustaining change. While traditional psychology tends to focus on the past as a means of bringing more well-being into the present, the Nine Bodies approach to healing brings attention to the energy patterns in the Bodies here and now. Developing awareness, addressing imbalances, and strengthening capacity for access to these Nine realms of consciousness may offer profound healing in our minds, our bodies, and our hearts. Each of the Bodies is its own unique realm of understanding and can provide insight and direction as we navigate the challenges that are an inevitable part of life.
To inquire about individual Nine Bodies sessions, consultation, or trainings, please contact me.
The Nine Bodies For Clinicians
The Nine Bodies offer clinicians an innovative approach to support clients toward mental and emotional balance and regulation. They offer a profound understanding of the dimensions of human consciousness and early on, I recognized their psychological value. The energetic field of each body can be distilled into a practical and effective tool for supporting clients in their search for well-being. Through individual and group consultation as well as trainings, clinicians learn how to gain direct experience of each body and how to utilize each in a directed and personalized way with their clients.
To inquire about Nine Bodies sessions, consultation, or trainings for your organization, please contact me.
The Nine Bodies For Clinicians
The Nine Bodies offer clinicians an innovative approach to support clients toward mental and emotional balance and regulation. They offer a profound understanding of the dimensions of human consciousness and early on, I recognized their psychological value. The energetic field of each body can be distilled into a practical and effective tool for supporting clients in their search for well-being. Through individual and group consultation as well as trainings, clinicians learn how to gain direct experience of each body and how to utilize each in a directed and personalized way with their clients.
To inquire about Nine Bodies sessions, consultation, or trainings for your organization, please contact me.
My Story
I have been studying this material for over a decade.
From the very start, it captured my mind, heart, and soul. I find this work profoundly valuable, both personally and professionally. On a personal level, it has been deeply clarifying as I have always had easy access to altered states but no capacity or skill base for navigating them. The consequence was that often, I would end up feeling crazy or I had feelings of being an outsider. This work gave me an exquisitely detailed MAP of consciousness which allowed me to know where I am and to begin to balance the Nine Bodies, resulting in a more reliable experience of well-being. The exploration also provided the opportunity for me to cultivate dimensions of myself that I had not fully developed. I found myself very much at home in the bodies and in the experience of their universality; I experienced a profound sense of place which had, in part, always eluded me.
I have also found this work to be deeply healing. I have spent many decades of psychological work through traditional therapeutic modalities. I have also engaged in a variety of alternative healing modalities, and I have also attended a zillion personal growth experiences. (I do live in Berkeley, after all!) All of it has been very valuable, but none of it ever reached so deeply inside of me in such a profound and healing way.
On the professional level, my work with others has developed considerably. The Nine Body map helps me see people more dimensionally and enables me to work with more clarity around their mental, emotional, and physical states. My understanding of the Nine Bodies often sheds light on traditional psychological conditions. I can now see how the over-usage of one body, or the underdevelopment of another, may result in distress or limiting patterns and dynamics. Additionally, for people for whom spiritual inquiry is part of their psychotherapeutic journey, it provides ground, clarity, and direction in an otherwise mysterious realm.
For much of my life, I have seen myself as an eclectic. I have many identities. Externally, these include my psychotherapist self, my Change and Transition strategist self, my teacher self, my artist self, etc. In addition are the many aspects of my inner life: mother, student, woman, seeker, etc. These nine domains of consciousness have become the integrating factor, the tapestry into which all of these multicolored threads are interwoven. Now, no matter what I am doing – from working with someone to washing the dishes – I am all of these things and am able to draw from each in a more creative and spontaneous way.
All Nine Bodies Workshops
Alison Teal offers a wide range of Nine Bodies workshops and is available to teach both virtually and in person. Below, please find a full listing of each of the classes that she has developed for group instruction.
For booking inquiries, please contact us.
To view a full list of all upcoming workshops and events, please visit our Events page.
Please use the buttons below to quickly navigate to each class description.
Exploring the Emotional Body
Eight consecutive weeks
Conducted online over Zoom
This class is frequently offered twice per year. Please contact me to be notified when the next Exploring the Emotional Body class has been scheduled.
Class Description
Through guided meditation, experiential inquiry, and facilitated discussion, we will explore skillful means for navigating the inevitable suffering that is a part of being human. Periodically, we may become challenged by difficult emotions and/or limiting thoughts. These may emanate from or land in the Emotional Body. Much of the time, when these disquieting feelings and thoughts are minor, they are likely to resolve on their own. But when they are more intense and come from long-held emotional patterns and tendencies that were the result of challenging conditions, they may get fixated or stuck. They can skew our perceptions of ourselves, others, and the world around us. They may limit our experience of some of the other Bodies and our availability to them.
Our exploration will be pragmatic and tool-based. Students will gain direct experience in how to utilize each of the Manifest and Subtle Bodies to support emotional healing and balance. We will give special attention to developing a felt sense of the distinction between the phenomenon of specific emotions and the more expansive field of the emotional body.
Developing our capacity to work with our emotions has the potential to temper attachment, aversion, and the delusion of the ego’s limiting story. We have greater access to authenticity and well-being.
Prerequisites & Details
Minimum of one Nine Bodies retreat OR one Nine Body class series.
- Class size is limited to ensure individual attention.
- Class length 2 hours, online, over Zoom, 8 classes.
- Suggested Dana from $200 to $550. Your registration is not officially complete until your intake form and donation have been received.
- No one is turned away for lack of funds; please get in touch with me if finances are an issue.
- If you are unable to use Offering Tree for any reason, the deposit and tuition may be paid via PayPal or Venmo.
- Participants are asked to attend at least six of the eight sessions in order to maintain continuity of learning.
If you have any questions about this class or how it might fit you, please contact me.
Class Content
Class One: Introduction and Orientation to Emotions
The nature of emotional suffering. Skillful and unskillful means.
Class Two: Working With Emotions Through The Physical Body
Mindfulness of the physical body including the elements. The role of the
the physical body in supporting the navigation of emotions and tempering
story-making and reactivity.
Class Three: Working With Emotions Through The Vital Body
Cultivation of access of Vital Body energy and field. Moving beyond the story, triggering feelings or looping thoughts through experiencing each as energy fields.
Class Four: Working With Emotions Through The Emotional Body
Differentiating emotions from the emotional body; phenomenon vs. field.
Developing a more wholesome relationship with your Emotional Body.
Class Five: Working With Emotions Through the Etheric Body
Countering isolation and me-ism supported by spaciousness / archetypal / luminous elements of Etheric. Dissolving emotions into component source molecules.
Class Six: Working With Emotions Through the Astral Body
Inviting in Astral capacity for change/evolution. The imaginative possible and restoration of hope
Class Seven: Working With Emotions Through the Intuitive Body
Inviting in intuition for insight, clarity, and direction
Class Eight: Integration and Closure
Summary and reflections on the journey of developing a more wholesome
relationship to our heart and mind. Where to go from here.
Developing Confidence & Capacity in Nine Bodies Art
9:30 AM – 3:30 PM Pacific
Lunch one hour
Conducted online over Zoom
Please contact me to be notified when the next Nine Bodies Art class has been scheduled.
Class Description
When you open Phillip’s book, “Awakening Through the Nine Bodies,” and turn to the illustrations:
- Do you go blank or feel insufficient in some way?
- Do you imagine you are supposed to have a special experience?
- Perhaps, you don’t trust your experience.
- When you hear Phillip or Dana talk about the illustrations on retreat, you can follow them but don’t know how to get there on your own.
- Maybe you are curious about how to have a more meaningful relationship with the illustrations.
- Maybe you are seeking an increased level of confidence in adding the illustrations to your reflective practice.
Phillip, in his book, “Awakening Through the Nine Bodies,” offers two paths for exploring these nine domains of consciousness—text and illustrations. The purpose of this class is to deepen your relationship with Sri Swami Premvarni Balyogi’s illustrations. We will be inviting your own personal experience; we won’t be focusing on what is in the text or what Phillip and Dana teach.
We will explore 4 access points into the illustrations – Physical, Vital, Emotional and Etheric Bodies. Each of these bodies becomes its own unique lens of perception; each invites its own experience of the colors and forms you are viewing. The illustrations become a portal into your own internal experience; feelings, thoughts and memories may also be evoked. Art, at its best, is a relationship which has the capacity to become an evolution from ego to a more direct experience.
When a personal relationship is initiated, then, the meaning of the illustrations, as they were designed, have a more reliable place to land. Transmission and learning become more accessible and more dimensional.
Prerequisites & Details
- Minimum of one Nine Bodies Retreat or Class Series
- Class size is limited to 12 to ensure individual attention. If class is at capacity, please contact our tech coordinator, Alex Gilliam, at [email protected] to be placed on the waiting list.
- Donation: A sliding scale from $90 to $300. No one is turned away for lack of funds; please email Alison directly at [email protected] if finances are an issue.
- Participants are asked to attend the whole day.
All Nine Bodies Workshops
Alison Teal offers a wide range of Nine Bodies workshops and is available to teach both virtually and in person. Below, please find a full listing of each of the classes that she has developed for group instruction.
For booking inquiries, please contact us.
To view a full list of all upcoming workshops and events, please visit our Events page.
Please use the buttons below to quickly navigate to each class description.
Exploring the Emotional Body
Eight consecutive weeks
Conducted online over Zoom
This class is frequently offered twice per year. Please contact me to be notified when the next Exploring the Emotional Body class has been scheduled.
Class Description
Through guided meditation, experiential inquiry, and facilitated discussion, we will explore skillful means for navigating the inevitable suffering that is a part of being human. Periodically, we may become challenged by difficult emotions and/or limiting thoughts. These may emanate from or land in the Emotional Body. Much of the time, when these disquieting feelings and thoughts are minor, they are likely to resolve on their own. But when they are more intense and come from long held emotional patterns and tendencies that were the result of challenging conditions, they may get fixated or stuck. They can skew our perceptions of ourselves, others, and the world around us. They may limit our experience of some of the other Bodies and our availability to them.
Our exploration will be pragmatic and tool based. Students will gain direct experience in how to utilize each of the Manifest and Subtle Bodies to support emotional healing and balance. We will give special attention to developing a felt sense of the distinction between the phenomenon of specific emotions and the more expansive field of the emotional body.
Developing our capacity to work with our emotions has the potential to temper attachment, aversion, and the delusion of the ego’s limiting story. We have greater access to authenticity and well-being.
Prerequisites & Details
Minimum of one Nine Bodies retreat OR one Nine Body class series.
- Class size is limited to ensure individual attention.
- Class length 2 hours, online, over Zoom, 8 classes.
- Suggested Dana from $200 to $550. Your registration is not officially complete until your intake form and donation have been received.
- No one is turned away for lack of funds; please contact me if finances are an issue.
- If you are unable to use Offering Tree for any reason, the deposit and tuition may be paid via PayPal or Venmo.
- Participants are asked to attend at least six of the eight sessions in order to maintain continuity of learning.
If you have any questions about this class or how it might fit you, please contact me.
Class Content
Class One: Introduction and Orientation to Emotions
The nature of emotional suffering. Skillful and unskillful means.
Class Two: Working With Emotions Through The Physical Body
Mindfulness of the physical body including the elements. The role of the
the physical body in supporting navigation of emotions and tempering
story making and reactivity.
Class Three: Working With Emotions Through The Vital Body
Cultivation of access of Vital Body energy and field. Moving beyond the story, triggering feelings or looping thoughts through experiencing each as energy fields.
Class Four: Working With Emotions Through The Emotional Body
Differentiating emotions from the emotional body; phenomenon vs. field.
Developing a more wholesome relationship to your Emotional Body.
Class Five: Working With Emotions Through the Etheric Body
Countering isolation and me-ism supported by spaciousness / archetypal / luminous elements of Etheric. Dissolving emotions into component source molecules.
Class Six: Working With Emotions Through the Astral Body
Inviting in Astral capacity for change/evolution. The imaginative possible and restoration of hope
Class Seven: Working With Emotions Through the Intuitive Body
Inviting in intuition for insight, clarity, and direction
Class Eight: Integration and Closure
Summary and reflections on the journey of developing a more wholesome
relationship to our heart and mind. Where to go from here.
Developing Confidence & Capacity in Nine Bodies Art
9:30 AM – 3:30 PM Pacific
Lunch one hour
Conducted online over Zoom
Please contact me to be notified when the next Nine Bodies Art class has been scheduled.
Class Description
When you open Phillip’s book, “Awakening Through the Nine Bodies,” and turn to the illustrations:
- Do you go blank or feel insufficient in some way?
- Do you imagine you are supposed to have a special experience?
- Perhaps, you don’t trust your experience.
- When you hear Phillip or Dana talk about the illustrations on retreat, you can follow them but don’t know how to get there on your own.
- Maybe you are curious about how to have a more meaningful relationship with the illustrations.
- Maybe you are seeking an increased level of confidence in adding the illustrations to your reflective practice.
Phillip, in his book, “Awakening Through the Nine Bodies,” offers two paths for exploring these nine domains of consciousness—text and illustrations. The purpose of this class is to deepen your relationship with Sri Swami Premvarni Balyogi’s illustrations. We will be inviting your own personal experience; we won’t be focusing on what is in the text or what Phillip and Dana teach.
We will explore 4 access points into the illustrations – Physical, Vital, Emotional and Etheric Bodies. Each of these bodies becomes its own unique lens of perception; each invites its own experience of the colors and forms you are viewing. The illustrations become a portal into your own internal experience; feelings, thoughts and memories may also be evoked. Art, at its best, is a relationship which has the capacity to become an evolution from ego to a more direct experience.
When a personal relationship is initiated, then, the meaning of the illustrations, as they were designed, have a more reliable place to land. Transmission and learning become more accessible and more dimensional.
Prerequisites & Details
- Minimum of one Nine Bodies Retreat or Class Series
- Class size is limited to 12 to ensure individual attention. If class is at capacity, please contact our tech coordinator, Alex Gilliam, at [email protected] to be placed on the waiting list.
- Donation: A sliding scale from $90 to $300. No one is turned away for lack of funds; please email Alison directly at [email protected] if finances are an issue.
- Participants are asked to attend the whole day.