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Basic Overview of the Physical Consciousness · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The body has an incredible number of functions it carries
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  out without the conscious control or input of the mental
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  consciousness. The operation and interaction of
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  the organ systems, the working of the immune system, the entire
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  mechanism of development, birth, growth, and repair of injuries,
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  all take place through the action of what Tria Robindo
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  describes as the physical consciousness.
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  When the mind actually tries to intervene in any of these
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  functions, such as, for instance, trying to override or
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  micromanage the food intake, the breath, or other functions, it
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  more often than not creates more issues than it solves.
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  Western psychology does not formally recognize this as a
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  separate form of consciousness as it fixates on the operation
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  of the mind, but it has begun to recognize that the state of
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  health and Wellness of the body can affect emotions and mental
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  responses and capacities. Additionally, Western psychology
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  is also recognizing that the body is responsible for sending
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  signals to the brain to activate certain voluntary actions to
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  support the body's needs. For instance, hunger signals
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  sent to the brain by the body activate a search for food.
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  The physical consciousness necessarily functions under some
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  very strict fixed rules. For instance, blood chemistry
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  needs to stay balanced within a very narrow pH range or the
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  individual will go into some type of potential life and death
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  struggle. The physical consciousness is
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  therefore the least malleable, most rigid of the three primary
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  states of consciousness that together make up the majority of
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  what we recognize as the external being.
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  There are also sub conscient and super conscient aspects that
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  impact the external being, but they are treated elsewhere in
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  our review. Those who are more closely
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  wedded to the physical consciousness tend to adopt the
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  basic characteristics associated with the physical and therefore
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  tend to be more resistant to change and slow to adopt new
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  things. Generally, this provides a
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  certain amount of stability and equilibrium to our human
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  existence and must be valued for helping us avoid fatal errors of
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  over enthusiastic vital response or incomplete assessments by the
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  mental being Doctor de Lal observes Quote.
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  The outer being is made-up of three parts, each with its own
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  distinct type of consciousness, distinguishable by its
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  characteristic traits or qualities which are reflected in
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  the attitudes pertaining to it. A description of these parts of
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  the being is given below using Sri Aurobindo's terminology.
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  The physical Being Though people generally attribute
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  consciousness and intelligence only to the mind and look upon
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  the body of something mechanical, the psychology of
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  yoga reveals that the body is endowed with its own
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  characteristic consciousness and intelligence.
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  It is the consciousness in the body which regulates the complex
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  workings of the different bodily organs and physiological
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  systems. Though the mind exhibits a
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  higher form of consciousness and intelligence than that of the
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  body, it cannot but marvel at the wisdom of the body expressed
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  in the various processes which maintain the body in health and
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  heal it in illness or accident. However, physical consciousness,
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  as compared to mental consciousness, is seen to be
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  relatively inert, obscure, narrow or limited, and automatic
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  or mechanical in its functionings.
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  Thus, attitudes which are characterized by rigidity,
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  narrowness, conservatism or slowness to change, indifference
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  or boredom, and habitual or routine modes of action and
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  reaction are related to the physical part of our being.
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  End Quote. Reference.
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  Srioro Bindu and the Mother. Looking from within.
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  Introduction by Doctor de la Pages, Romans, six to seven.