Namaste There was once a great king in ancient India named Yudhishthira.
In many of his conversations,
Yudhishthira revealed his deep understanding of Vedanta and its practical application.
He was once asked some questions.
One of them was,
What is the most wonderful thing?
Yudhishthira replied,
Hope.
This is the most wonderful thing.
Day and night we see people dying around us and yet we think we shall not die.
We never think that we shall die or that we shall suffer.
Each person thinks that success will be his.
Hoping against hope,
Against all odds,
Against all mathematical reasoning.
Nobody's ever really happy here.
If a man be wealthy and have plenty to eat,
His digestion is out of order and he cannot eat.
If a man's digestion be good and he have the digestive power of a cormorant,
He has nothing to put into his mouth.
If he be rich,
He has no children.
If he be hungry and poor,
He has a whole regiment of children and does not know what to do with them.
Why is it so?
Because happiness and misery are the avers and revers of the same coin.
He who takes happiness must take misery also.
We all have this foolish hope that one day we will have happiness without misery and it has taken possession of us and with this hope the samsara,
The world,
Goes on.
With this,
Let's prepare to sleep.
Now before we get started,
Just take a moment or two to get comfortable.
Lying in your bed,
Make sure you are under the covers.
If you do fall asleep during this practice.
Now gently close your eyes and start taking a few nice big deep breaths.
Breathing in and out through the nostrils on the top of your head.
Take a few deep breaths.
Now,
As you inhale,
Feel that your whole body is getting healed.
And with exhalation,
Feel that all the cares,
Tensions and worries from the day are flowing out.
Let go of the deep breaths now.
Releasing any tension from your entire body.
It is not necessary to deliberately release tension in each part of the body.
Just develop the feeling of total relaxation.
Just enjoy that feeling of letting go.
Body is relaxed.
Just sinking into the bed beneath you.
We are going to have a simple practice to wind down.
Just follow along with the voice and the instructions.
Try not to overanalyze or intellectualize the instructions.
Now,
We are going to relive the day.
In this,
Mentally you will go through the events of the day which you have lived from the time you woke up in the morning till the present moment,
Coming to bed.
Begin by thinking about the time when you woke up today.
Thinking about the time when you woke up today in the morning.
Just like a movie,
See yourself waking up in the morning.
Try to remember what was your first action,
First thought.
And then afterwards,
What did you do?
Relive every moment.
Did you speak to someone?
What did you speak about?
How was the interaction?
And how did it make you feel?
See everything.
Remember everything.
Tell breakfast.
Relive every moment.
Then you had your breakfast.
What did you eat in your breakfast?
Then what did you do next?
See that.
And then what did you do next?
What did you do next?
See that.
And then what did you do next?
See that.
And then what did you do next?
See that.
And then what did you do next?
Any activity,
Any work,
Anything that you might have done in sequence till lunchtime.
See the whole thing.
As though you're watching a video fast-forwarding.
Relive moments till lunchtime.
Then you had your lunch.
What did you have for lunch?
And then what did you do after lunch?
How was your mood?
Relive those moments.
Till dinner time.
Till dinner time.
Then dinner.
And after dinner.
How you spent the time till now?
Slowly coming back to the present moment.
As you see yourself getting ready for bed.
Getting into bed.
And starting with this program.
Take one deep breath in.
And as you exhale.
Begin to feel the body.
Just sinking into the bed.
Now.
We begin body scan.
I will name a body part.
You just become aware of that body part.
Feel it.
And then just move to the next body part which is named.
Become aware of the right hand.
Right hand thumb.
Fingers of right hand.
Whole right hand.
Whole right arm.
Right shoulder.
Right side of the chest.
Waist.
Hip.
Whole right leg.
Right foot.
The toes.
Now left hand.
Left hand thumb.
Fingers of the left hand.
Whole left hand.
Whole left arm.
Left shoulder.
Left side of the chest.
Waist.
Hip.
Whole left leg.
The left foot.
The toes.
Feel the both legs together.
The buttocks.
Stomach.
Chest.
Back.
Shoulder blades.
Arms.
The neck.
The head.
Forehead.
Eyes.
Nose.
Right cheek.
Left cheek.
Mouth.
Lips.
Chin.
The whole face.
The whole head.
The whole neck.
The whole back.
The whole body.
The whole body.
The whole body.
Again we will go through the whole body.
This time a little more slower and in detail.
Starting with the right hand thumb.
First finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Little finger.
Fingers and thumb together.
Palm of the hand.
Back of the hand.
Wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper part of the right arm.
Right shoulder.
Right armpit.
Right side of the torso.
Right side waist.
Hip.
Right thigh.
Kneecap.
Calf muscle.
Ankle.
Heel.
Sole of the foot.
Big toe.
Second toe.
Third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
The whole right side of the body.
From toes to the fingers.
Fingers to the toes.
The whole right side of the body.
Now go to the left hand.
Become aware of the left hand thumb.
First finger of left hand.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Little finger.
Fingers and thumb together.
Palm of the hand.
Back side of the hand.
Wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper part of the arm.
Left shoulder.
Left armpit.
Left side of the torso.
Left side waist.
Hip.
Thigh.
Kneecap.
Calf muscle.
Ankle.
Left foot heel.
Sole of the foot.
Big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth.
Whole left foot.
The whole left side of the body.
From toes to the fingers.
Fingers to the toes.
The whole left side of the body.
Now to the back.
Become aware of the lower back.
The right buttock.
And the left buttock.
Middle back.
Upper back.
Right shoulder blade.
Left shoulder blade.
Back of the neck.
Back of the head.
The whole back side together.
Now go to the top of the head.
The crown of the head.
Forehead.
Both sides of the head.
Right eyebrow.
Left eyebrow.
The space between two eyebrows.
Right eyelid.
Left eyelid.
Right eye.
Left eye.
Right ear.
Left ear.
Right side cheek.
Left side cheek.
Bridge of the nostrils.
Right nostril.
Left nostril.
Upper lip.
Upper jaw.
Lower jaw.
Lower lip.
Chin.
Throat.
Right collarbone.
Left collarbone.
Chest.
Right part of the chest.
Middle part of the chest.
Left part of the chest.
Upper part of the belly.
Middle part of the belly.
The navel area.
Lower part of the belly.
The whole of the right leg.
The whole of the left leg.
Both legs together.
The whole of the right arm.
The whole of the left arm.
Both arms together.
Both arms together.
The whole of the back.
Buttocks.
Spine.
Shoulder blades.
The whole of the front.
Abdomen.
Chest.
The whole of the back and front together.
The whole of the head.
The whole body.
The whole body.
The whole body.
Become aware of your breath now.
Just feel the flow of your breath.
In and out through the body.
Gently become aware of the belly and its movement along with the breath.
Notice as the breath comes in belly expands slightly and as the breath goes out it contracts slightly.
Continue to observe the movement of your belly along with your breath.
Now,
Keeping the awareness on the breath start mentally counting the breath.
The breath is a constant.
Counting down your breath from 54.
As the breath comes in count 54.
As it flows out,
54.
Breathe in 53.
Breathe out 53.
Like this,
Continue.
Continue to fall asleep.
Just counting down the breath.
And knowing that it really doesn't matter too much when the sleep comes.
As you lie there in this way both the body and the mind are getting all the rest that they need.
If you lose track of the countdown come back to 54 and start over.
