Three Circles Philosophy in Life Coaching

Posted on July 05, 2022 by Anuj Chadha, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

The Three Circles represent the 3 levels of our existence and interaction in our world. The First and Innermost Circle represents the space for the Self, including our body, mind & soul;
The Second Circle is where we engage with people including our friends, family, and co-workers, and The Third and Outermost Circle represents our interaction with the larger world, community and our environment. There is a lot that one can talk about the three circles, but it all boils down to the balance within the innermost circle, the Self, that impacts the way we engage with people and the larger universe.

As the famous saying goes, Wherever you go, There You Are! We carry our Body, Mind and Soul with us everywhere we go, so if the source of misery or suffering is in the inner circle then there is very little benefit of making changes in our second and third circles – we will continue to suffer. This is a clear pointer to where we need to focus – the Innermost Circle.

As we begin to peel the onion one layer deeper, we start to recognize that even this inner circle is made up of 3 layers which are quite distinct from each other. The Body forms the outer most layer, next comes the mind, and finally the spirit soul (or what we call our true nature).
We all understand the Body quite clearly. And we know that if the body is suffering like a fractured bone from a physical injury, we need to treat it directly with bandage and suitable support and give it time to heal.

It gets more subtle as we go one layer deeper into the subtle body including the Mind. The subtle body is made up of our Pranas (Breath, Blood Circulation, Digestive system, Nervous System, etc.), Mana including emotions, thoughts, feelings (such as happiness, sadness, excitement, dullness, etc.), Buddhi (or Intellect) that brings the discernment power to decide and separate right from wrong, light from dark, hot from cold, etc.), the Chitta (or Memory Function) which is a storehouse of all past experiences and knowledge, and finally the Ahamkara (or the “I sense” or the Ego,) which appropriates all the functions of the mind and body and calls it "I"… It appropriates the hunger pangs in the stomach and says “I am hungry”. It appropriates the emotions in the mind and says “I am feeling happy or sad”. It appropriates the pain sensation in the mind and says “I am in pain”, and so on.

For simplicity, we call these 2 layers of the Inner Circle as the Body-Mind complex. And usually when someone asks us who am I, we refer to this Body-Mind complex.

At this stage, if we go one layer deeper, we are faced with a blankness … this blankness like the blank screen behind the movie is the pointer to the consciousness, awareness or our true nature. This consciousness, awareness is the same, unchanging witness irrespective of what is going on in the body and mind. And hence, it remains unaffected, just like the screen in the movie is unaffected irrespective of whether the character in the movie is playing a comedy or a tragedy role. This consciousness awareness is the real you. It is Existence, Consciousness, Bliss… or Sat Chit Ananda. – It is not existing as an object exists, but it is existence itself. It is not Conscious of objects, it is Consciousness itself. It is not blissful as an experience, but it is bliss itself.

Once we get an intuitive feeling or understanding of this witness consciousness, we start to recognize that all our miseries and sufferings belong to the body and mind, and not to the real “I” which we mistakenly understand to be the “person”. The “Real You” is ever-free from all the misery and pain and hence, is always at peace … “Shantam”.

The Three Circles journey is to first understand that we need to focus on the Innermost Circle consisting of the Body, Mind, Soul. In a way, when you go to the Innermost Circle, you go Home, to your Real Home. When the Body, Mind & Soul is aligned and at Peace (more on that in the next Blog!), then we can begin the outward journey of interacting with the Second Circle and the Third or Outermost Circle with ease, without disturbing or losing the deep peace, that is always accessible…because it is none other than You!

If this is making intuitive sense to us, then we are at the door of understanding our True Nature and on Mastery of Life!
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Inspired by various talks and texts on Vedanta.