Avira- taking care of the nefesh habehamis is a chiddush of the Baal Shem Tov (azov taazov imo- chamor =chomer haguf)
The way it was when the Besht came along was definitely breaking the guf. So I hear from you that’s mainstream now.
What I said about not taking it seriously- I meant its desires etc (at first glance.) but we take the refinement of the NFHB seriously, in fact that’s one of the reasons why we’re here anyway (The Neshama doesn’t need refinement.)