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Understanding the Consciousness of the Body · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  If we reflect on how many actions or operations of the
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  physical body take place without our mental intervention, it
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  becomes clear that the body has its own highly developed and
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  essential form of consciousness that operates independently of
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  the mind. One common example is widely
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  experienced and individuals walking across ice or some other
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  slippery surface. And suddenly starts to lose his
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  balance. Before the mind can react, the
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  body sets in motion a balancing routine and in many cases can
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  prevent an outright fall to the ground.
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  Other examples get into the entire complex mechanism of how
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  the body's organs and internal functions occur.
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  When placed under some kind of threat, the body reacts with a
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  fight or flight response. Secreting adrenaline to activate
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  the sense organs and the organs of action to prepare for some
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  kind of emergency response. Cellular energy production, the
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  functioning of the digestive system, the detoxifying system
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  of the kidneys, the blood sugar regulating action of the
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  pancreas, The multiple actions of the liver.
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  The metabolism regulating action of the thyroid, the responses of
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  the body's immune systems, the master control of various glands
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  through the pituitary, the chemistry underlying the need
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  for sleep, the call of hunger and thirst, The method for
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  carrying sense impressions across nervous pathways and the
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  function of neurotransmitters. All represent bodily
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  functionality that is not controlled or driven by the
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  mental awareness directly. When something malfunctions at
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  the level of the body consciousness, the mind
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  frequently has no idea of the underlying cause or how to
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  address the issue. This has led to the development
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  of an enormous proliferation of specialized doctors.
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  Medical researchers and extensive and highly detailed
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  tests to try to figure out what is not working as expected in
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  the automatic bodily metabolic systems and thereby to try to
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  intervene to help restore the balance if possible.
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  While it is true that the mind and the vital can have impact on
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  these bodily functions, it remains an indirect influence.
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  That does not entirely override or control the native function
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  of the body to the extent also that the bodily has undergone
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  changes through a disease process.
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  The support or pressure applied by the mind or the vital is not
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  immediate but must work through the body and its functions in a
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  process that takes time. The body's consciousness is
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  based on developments that have evolved through millennia.
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  And which may have their roots in the original stirrings of
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  life in matter. For that to occur, changes in
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  the physical substance of matter were required that developed
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  into a physical consciousness that could support the movement
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  of the life energy in matter. The relationships between
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  systems, organs, functions have been replicated and refined.
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  As life forms became more complex and eventually began to
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  adapt to the evolution of the mental consciousness and the
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  additional needs that were recognized to create these
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  support structures for life and mind in matter, Sriorobindo
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  writes Quote The body has its own consciousness and acts from
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  it even without any mental will of our own.
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  Or even against that will. And our surface mind knows very
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  little about this body consciousness, feels it only in
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  an imperfect way, sees only its results, and has the greatest
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  difficulty in finding out their causes.
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  It is part of the yoga to become aware of this separate
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  consciousness of the body, to see and feel its movements.
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  And the forces that act upon it from inside or outside, and to
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  learn how to control and direct it, even in its most hidden and
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  to us subconscient processes. But the body consciousness
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  itself is only part of the individualized physical
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  consciousness in us which we gather and build out of the
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  secretly conscious forces of universal physical nature.
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  End Quote Reference Triorobindo and the Mother Our Many Selves.
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  Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 2, Planes and Parts of
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  the Being, pages 20 to 21.