Loving your ego may sound unspiritual since there is so much contrary instruction out there. I’m going to share my perspective and some tools to help you put it in the proper, and more importantly, more useful perspective in your life! According to Ayurveda, the oldest and still relevant healing system on the planet, we have 5 bodies. These are referred to as Koshas (sheaths) in sanskrit. We have our physical body – anamaya kosha, our energy body – pranamaya kosha, mental body – manomaya kosha, intuitive/wisdom body – vignanmaya kosha and anandamaya kosha – bliss/spirit body.

Balance means flowing freely and loving ALL of our bodies. Most people are aware of the physical and mind body most of the time. The mind body can really keep us stuck and constricted which is why we often are told that the ego is causing the trouble. While there is much truth in that, many are afraid of the ego or think it’s bad. The ego is in the manomaya kosha and is a very important part of our being. It gives us a sense of individuation and uniquely defines us. We get into trouble when, like a tyrannical dictator, it’s running the show! I like to think of the ego as a child we love that just needs help growing up. Shaming it or trying to push it away is actually being unkind to ourselves. The ego only knows the past and the familiar and needs to be refined over and over again in the process of maturing. When we are introducing a new practice such as meditation or healthier eating, we’re likely to feel an inner rebellion! This is because the ego doesn’t like change and is having a little tantrum. As long as you know this you can have an insight as to what’s going on and work with it. One way is to make small incremental changes so it doesn’t feel so overwhelmed. Daily practices are a way to help the ego learn the new habit. That repetition then becomes the “new familiar”. Having the awareness that change is triggering fear in our ego can help us be compassionate and gentle with ourselves just as we’d like to be with a child learning something new. Mastering this practice of being loving and compassionate with ourselves then naturally extends to others in our lives! Also, our ego learns to trust it will be treated with respect and the push back lessens over time!