Yoga Nidra For Deep Understanding & Awareness

All right.

Well,

Welcome,

Everyone.

Let's see if we can get started.

How's everybody doing today?

You can't really answer me or you can answer,

But I can't hear you.

But I do wish everyone well and hope that you are making the best of your semi confinement confining yourselves to home as much as possible.

In the email I sent out,

I told you we would begin with some gentle movement and then move into the yoga nidra laying down on our backs when we do that.

But I thought I would add something just because I felt it was appropriate and also because it's something that I've been doing pretty much on a daily basis.

And that's a very quick but effective loving kindness meditation.

And many of you have done this before.

Many of you have done this particular meditation with me in loving kindness or Metta M E T T A meditation.

We offer loving kindness to ourselves.

Then we offer loving kindness to a loved one.

Then we offer loving kindness to someone about whom we have a neutral relationship or with whom we have a neutral relationship.

Then we offer loving kindness to someone with whom we have a challenging relationship.

And finally,

We end by offering loving kindness to all beings everywhere.

And given the way things are in the world right now,

I don't think we can overdo spreading loving kindness to all beings everywhere.

So if you'd like to join me with that,

We'll begin there.

Just find a seated position.

Only be here three or four minutes.

Then let your eyes close down.

Once your eyes are closed,

Just begin to become aware of your breath.

And follow the flow of the breath in and out just to begin to center and become present in this moment.

Now we're going to begin the loving kindness meditation by offering loving kindness to ourselves.

And we're going to do that with particular words and the words are going to be,

May I be happy,

May I be well,

May I be safe,

May I be peaceful,

And may I be at ease.

And each of those conditions,

Those aspirations,

Has taken on a little bit of a new meaning since the world has changed so much over the last few weeks,

Or at least our relationship to the world has changed.

So think of those words as we begin.

You can repeat silently or you can repeat out loud if you like.

Take a deep breath in and then exhale and let the breath go.

Now repeat after me.

May I be happy.

May I be safe.

May I be well.

May I be peaceful.

And may I be at ease.

Take a deep breath in and release the breath.

Just let it go.

Feel a little sense of relaxation coming to your body and your mind.

Now bring to mind and visualize in front of you with your eyes still closed someone with whom you have a deep,

Warm,

And loving relationship.

Perhaps a spouse or a partner,

Another family member,

A dear friend.

Now picture that person.

Imagine them sitting right in front of you with their eyes open.

And now look into their eyes and say to them,

May you be happy.

May you be well.

May you be safe.

May you be peaceful.

May you be at ease.

Now breathe in and let the breath go.

Now bring to mind someone with whom you have what we'll call a neutral relationship,

Somebody you don't know very well,

Maybe just an acquaintance,

Maybe the checker at the grocery store or a neighbor who you don't know well,

Just someone you say hi to.

Bring that person to mind and visualize them sitting in front of you.

Now look into their eyes and see them as you repeat after me,

May you be happy.

May you be well.

May you be safe.

May you be peaceful.

And may you be at ease.

Draw a deep breath in.

Keep breathing in and then let it go.

Now bring to mind someone with whom you have a difficult relationship,

A relationship that's challenging.

Picture that person sitting in front of you and look into their eyes in the same way you looked into the eyes of the others to whom we've sent loving kindness.

And with sincerity,

Say to them,

May you be happy.

May you be well.

May you be safe.

May you be peaceful and may you be at ease.

Now take a deep breath in and then let it go.

Finally,

Let's offer loving kindness to all beings everywhere.

Visualize everyone,

All the souls in the world if you can,

Arrayed in front of you.

Look into their collective eyes and repeat after me.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be safe.

May all beings be well.

May all beings be peaceful.

And may all beings be at ease.

Take a deep breath in now.

And then exhale,

Let the breath go.

You can open your eyes now when you want.

Loving kindness,

Metta meditation,

Very,

Very powerful.

Let's move a little bit just to shake off the cobwebs.

Reach your arms up and overhead,

Stretch up high.

And as you exhale,

Bring your arms to a T.

Now take a twist to your right and bring your left hand to your right knee.

Now twist and look over your right shoulder,

Just a gentle twist.

Now draw your navel in a bit.

Press the sitting bones down and let your spine lengthen.

Now see if you can pull that right shoulder back just a little bit more and draw the navel in a bit more.

Take a deep breath now.

Then as you exhale,

Unwind.

Let's fall right over to the other side,

Bringing the right hand to the left knee.

The left hand is down behind you with the fingers pointing off to the right if you can.

Breathe in deeply.

Let the breath lengthen your spine and then exhale and twist,

Looking over your left shoulder.

Look towards the back of the space you're in.

Breathe in deeply again.

Now draw the navel in and exhale and see if you can twist just a little bit.

One more breath and let it go.

Slowly come back to center.

Reach the arms high.

Exhale the hands to heart center,

Pressing the palms together on an inhale.

Reach back up.

Now interlace the fingers,

Bring the hands to the back of the head and reach your elbows apart from one another.

Stretch the elbows apart and then bring them back a little bit so that you're opening up this space,

The heart space a bit.

Keep your spine long and at the same time draw your navel in so you're not arching the low back too much.

Keep drawing the navel in and drop the right elbow down.

Reach the left elbow up and feel the little stretch on the left side body.

So you can pull that left elbow up a little bit higher,

Deepening the stretch and inhale.

Engage the core as you come up and bring the left elbow down.

The right elbow reaches.

Stretch it up and feel that nice stretch on the right side of the body.

Engage the core again as you rise and release the hands.

Bring them down to the knees.

Relax the shoulders.

Now just look off to your right.

Keep your chin level and bring your gaze back to center and over to the left.

Gaze still nice and level.

And off to the right one more time.

And to the left last time.

Bring your gaze back to center now.

On an inhale,

Lift your chin as high as you can.

Press the chest up towards the sky and breathe.

See if you can bring your shoulder blades a little bit together on the back.

Slowly level the chin.

Bring your chin to your chest.

Rounding the back,

Bring your forehead down towards the mat.

Switching the forehead to the mat if you can.

Now press the palms into the knees as you rise.

Keep drawing the navel in so you continue to round the back.

All the way back up.

Bring the arms out to a T.

Drop the left hand down.

Reach the right hand over stretching.

Another nice stretch to that right side body.

Stay anchored in that right sitting bone.

So try not to lift the right sitting bone off the mat.

And inhale,

Rise back up.

Exhale,

Right hand comes down.

Reach with the left hand,

Stretching it out.

Anchor the left sitting bone this time so the left sitting bone is not lifting up above the mat.

Rise all the way back up.

Reach your arms up and overhead.

As you exhale,

Bring your hands behind you now.

We're going to find another back bend as you press your palms into the mat.

The thumbs are pointing away from one another and the fingers are pointing towards the back of your space.

Now press the palms into the mat.

Lift your chin as high as you can.

At the same time,

Try and press your tailbone towards the back of the space you're in and create a nice deep back bend.

Nice stretch in the shoulders as well.

Two more breaths here.

As you breathe in,

Press your chest up towards the sky a little more.

And one more big deep breath.

Now exhale,

Lean forward so the weight comes off your hands.

As that happens,

The arms are going to want to reach up and overhead.

Let that happen,

Then bring the palms together,

Interlace the fingers,

Stretch the palms towards the sky,

Press the sitting bones down.

Try and pull the lowest ribs down towards your pubic bone.

Draw your navel in at the same time and stretch up even higher.

Get really tall.

One more breath.

And that's it.

Release the hands.

And bring them down.

That's it for our little gentle stretching.

So now let's prepare for yoga nidra.

Find your spot,

Which I hope you've already prepared.

Find a spot where you can lay down on your back.

If you want,

You can lay on a yoga mat or a blanket.

Hopefully you're getting to be an old pro at this by now.

Now lie down in savasana.

Bring your feet apart a little bit,

A little bit more than hip width.

Let your arms be straight and the hands out from the side a little bit.

My recommendation is the palms should face up.

So flip the palms so they face up.

The reason we do that is to avoid tactile engagement in the fingertips,

Which tends to hijack the brain.

Now,

If your eyes aren't already closed,

Let them close now.

As your eyes close,

Allow yourself to become motionless.

Now notice what it feels like.

Just a rest,

Motionless.

Now feel into your body a little bit.

And then let your body tell you if you need to make any adjustments to the body so that you're comfortable and you're not going to need to move at all for the whole duration of our yoga nidra practice.

Now after you've made the adjustments that your body may be calling for,

Just let everything go.

See if you can let all of your cares fade away just for a little bit.

Forget all your cares.

Now take a long,

Deep breath.

And then as you exhale,

Feel yourself letting go.

Feel yourself letting go of the need to do anything.

Just let yourself soften into this posture,

Laying on your back with absolutely nothing to do but listen to my voice.

Now begin to focus on the sounds around you.

Start with the distant sounds,

The ones outside your house or your apartment.

Maybe you can hear people walking by,

Maybe cars on the street.

Notice any distant sounds.

Let your sense of hearing range into the far distance.

Pretty amazing what you can hear when you really direct your attention to it.

Things you never knew were there.

Stay for another moment with the sort of long range,

Distant hearing.

Now gradually withdraw your sense of hearing back into the room and develop your awareness of this room,

Your awareness of yourself lying on the floor.

Become aware of your body as your body rests on the floor.

Become aware of your breathing and just be conscious that you are breathing.

You don't need to change the breath.

You don't need to shape it or alter it in any way.

Just notice the fact that you are breathing.

Stay with awareness of the breath and awareness of the body.

Now say to yourself,

I am going to practice yoga nidra.

I will remain awake.

I will not sleep.

Now bring to mind a resolve,

An intention for this practice.

Perhaps you have one that you're already working with.

Maybe it's one word or a short phrase.

Or perhaps an intention for this practice occurs to you spontaneously.

A resolve is a statement in the present tense about what you wish to manifest for yourself.

An example of a resolve or an intention might be,

I show kindness in every action.

Or I accept things just as they are.

Or perhaps I remain motionless and awake throughout this practice.

Or maybe no intention comes to you at all.

If so,

Don't worry about it.

Don't let the lack of an intention,

The lack of a resolve cause anxiety.

Just let it go.

Now if you do have an intention,

Repeat it silently three times now.

Now we begin what's called a rotation of consciousness.

In this phase of yoga nidra,

I'll name parts of the body and just let your attention move from part to part as I name it.

It's not necessary and you probably shouldn't.

Just let it be a mental exercise.

Just moving your attention through the body with my cues.

Let's begin on the right side with the thumb on the right hand.

Just become aware of the thumb on your right hand.

Now bring the awareness to the first finger on the right hand.

And the second finger.

The third finger.

And the pinky finger on the right hand.

Palm of the right hand.

Back of the hand.

The right wrist.

Elbow.

Shoulder.

Arm pit.

Let your awareness move down your right side to your right hip.

Now down the leg to the right knee.

Back of the knee.

Down the right leg to the ankle.

Top of the right foot.

Heel.

In step.

The ball of the right foot.

Now the right big toe.

The second toe.

The third toe.

The fourth toe.

And the little toe on the right foot.

Now the left side.

Bring your awareness to the thumb on the left hand.

And the first finger on the left hand.

And the second finger.

Third finger.

And the pinky finger on the left hand.

Palm.

Back of the hand.

The left wrist.

Elbow.

Shoulder.

Arm pit.

Right hand.

The awareness traveling down the left side to the left hip.

Down the left leg to the knee.

Around to the back of the left knee.

Down the left leg to the left ankle.

Top of the left foot.

Heel.

In step.

Ball of the left foot.

The left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Little toe on the left foot.

Bring your awareness now to the top of your head.

Now the forehead.

Now eyebrow center.

The space between the eyebrows.

The right eyebrow.

The left eyebrow.

The right eye.

The left eye.

The right temple.

The left temple.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Right ear.

Left ear.

Now the tip of the nose.

The right eye.

The right nostril.

Left nostril.

The whole nose.

Upper lip.

Inside the mouth.

The upper palate.

The tongue.

Back of the throat.

The teeth.

Now the whole mouth.

Lower lip.

Chin.

Throat.

Heart.

Solar plexus.

Navel.

The left side.

The left side.

The right side.

The left side.

Pubic bone.

Now the whole right side of the body.

The whole left side of the body.

The whole right leg.

The whole left leg.

Now both legs together.

The whole right arm.

The whole left arm.

Both arms together.

Bring your awareness now to the back of your neck.

Then down the spine to the space between the shoulder blades.

Down the spine further to the low back.

And to the tailbone.

And to the pubic bone.

Bring awareness now to eyebrow center.

Become aware now of all of the skin on the body.

Now focus your awareness down to the soles of the feet.

Feel the skin on the soles of your feet.

Just visualize it.

Feeling it from within.

No movement.

No physical movement.

No masks.

Now feel from the heels to the tips of the toes.

Just the skin.

Now bring your awareness to the palms of both hands.

Feel the skin on the palms of your hands and your fingers.

Feel the skin and become aware of the lines on your palms and your fingers.

Concentrate intensely with full awareness.

Now bring your awareness to your face.

Become aware of the skin on the face.

Open and develop your awareness of the skin on your face.

Become aware of the skin on your forehead,

On your cheeks,

And your chin.

Become aware of the lines on your face.

Without judgment.

Just awareness.

Bring awareness to the eyelids now and feel the meeting points between the eyelids.

Awareness now to the lips.

Feel the meeting place between the upper and the lower lips.

Bring your attention now to the natural breath and become aware that you're breathing quietly and slowly.

Become conscious of your breathing.

Nothing else.

Now concentrate on the flow of the breath between the navel and the throat.

Feel the breath moving along that passage.

As you inhale the air,

Feel it rise from the navel to the throat and when you exhale,

Feel the breath fall from the throat to the navel.

Become aware of the movement of the breath.

Continue following it as it rises from the navel to the throat on the inhale and from the throat to the navel on the exhale.

The breath rising and falling.

Now become aware of the breath through the nostrils.

The natural breath flowing through both nostrils and meeting at the top to form a triangle.

Think of the breaths as starting separately from a distance,

Drawing near and uniting at the eyebrow center.

Now begin to practice mental alternate nostril breathing.

Begin by breathing in from the left nostril and breathe out to the right.

Breathe in from the right.

Breathe out to the left and say one.

That's one cycle.

On the next one,

Breathe in from the left.

Breathe out to the right.

Breathe in and out to the left.

That's two.

Work your way up to 27 and if you lose count,

It's okay.

Just begin again.

Maintain full awareness of the alternate nostril breathing and of the counting.

No mistakes.

No sleeping.

Continue breathing and counting with total and complete awareness.

Continue with alternate nostril breathing and counting.

Feeling the breath flowing.

Stay totally focused.

Totally aware.

Now,

Let go of the counting.

It doesn't matter how many you've done.

Bring your awareness to both nostrils and feel the breath flowing in and out through both.

Feel the coolness at the base of the nose as you breathe in and the warmth as you breathe out.

Now,

Let go of the breath.

Bring your awareness now to the inner space behind your forehead.

We call this space Chidikasha.

Develop your awareness of Chidikasha,

Of this space.

Experience it as an infinite space that extends as far as you can see,

As low and as high and as wide as you can see.

Become aware of this space.

Become totally aware but not involved.

Observe the space as if you were watching a movie.

Now,

Notice what you see in this space.

If you see patterns,

This is simply the way your mind is manifesting.

Perhaps you see colors or images or perhaps sensations.

Whatever you see is a projection of your subconscious.

Remain in this inner space,

Just seeing what there is to experience in Chidikasha.

If your awareness wavers,

If it wanders somewhere else,

Just gently nudge it back,

Remaining in this vast space behind your forehead.

Release the awareness of inner space and bring your attention to eyebrow center.

Focus your attention there.

With your eyes still closed,

You can even focus your eyes on eyebrow center,

Looking slightly up and in.

Keep your awareness at eyebrow center and begin to imagine that you're sitting in a cross-legged posture.

And imagine now that you're chanting the mantra OM in synchronization with your breath.

As you sit in a cross-legged posture,

Stay aware that you are sitting and keep your attention focused on eyebrow center,

Chanting OM in time with the breath.

Now visualize circles of the sound OM,

Growing from eyebrow center as you continue the practice.

See the circles flow out from eyebrow center every time you silently say the word OM.

The circles of the sound OM may look like smoke,

Getting larger and larger circles and flowing out from eyebrow center.

Follow the sound.

Follow the visualization of the sound.

Stay with your breath.

Stay with the mantra.

Now let your awareness come back to eyebrow center only.

Just leave your awareness there for a moment.

Now let the awareness move behind eyebrow center,

Back again to that inner space,

The space you see behind your forehead.

Watch this space carefully,

Noticing any colors or patterns that emerge.

Use no effort,

Just remain aware and watching.

Keep your total awareness on watching without becoming involved in whatever arises.

Continue watching the space and become aware of any images or even any spontaneous thoughts or feelings that arise.

Try to become aware of these.

Stay aware of this inner space.

Watch for colors,

Explore.

Watch for patterns or shapes.

Now deepen your awareness.

Let yourself dissolve into this inner space,

Observing,

Watching.

Now release your awareness from the inner space.

Come back to your intention for this practice,

Your resolve.

You made at the beginning of this practice if you did.

Remember your resolve.

Remember your intention if you had one.

And now repeat it silently three times with feeling and emphasis.

Now become aware of your breathing,

Your natural breath.

Feel the rhythm of the breath.

Feel the breath in the nostrils.

Begin to develop total awareness of the nostril breath and continue breathing in and breathing out.

Now begin alternate nostril breathing,

Breathing in from the left and out to the right and in from the right and out to the left.

You let the breath be slow and steady.

There is no need to rush.

Take your time.

Now let go of the alternate nostril breathing and begin to extend the breath to all parts of the body.

As you inhale,

Feel the life-giving force of the breath permeate your whole body.

Continue sending the inhales to the whole body.

Feel the whole body suffused with breath.

Now take a long,

Slow breath and become aware of your body,

Aware of your physical existence,

Your physical presence.

Now begin to remember your surroundings,

The floor,

The room.

Remember your body resting on the floor.

Begin now to externalize your attention and invite small movements to the fingers and the toes and,

If you like,

To the wrists and the ankles.

You've already been to your knees.

When these are bent,

Roll to your side.

Once on your side,

You can cradle your head and your arm.

And now just pause for a moment,

Noticing the experience of resting on your side with your knees bent and your head cradled in your arm.

With your eyes still gently closed,

Slowly bring yourself to a seat.

Once you're seated,

Bring your hands to heart center and press your palms gently together.

Now take a deep breath in,

Feeling the spine lengthen as you breathe in,

And then exhale and let the breath go.

Let's do that one more time.

A deep breath in.

This time as you exhale,

Let your eyes gently open.

Yoga nidra is now complete.

I offer you,

As I always do with our yoga practices,

Loving kindness.

May you be happy and well and may you be safe.

May you be peaceful and may you be at ease.

Namaste.