Welcome.
Thank you for meditating with me.
This meditation is focused on exploring a sense of identity and interconnectedness.
It is inspired by my own personal exploration of my cultural background.
I am Filipino-Chinese American.
In the Philippines,
There is a concept of a shared identity,
A kinship,
An interconnectedness.
This concept is spiritual and it's called Kapwa.
As a long-time meditator,
I became curious about how the practice of Yoga Nidra could help me feel into what Kapwa means semantically.
I have begun to invite this inquiry with others through small workshops.
Here is the 26-minute Yoga Nidra meditation exploring a connection of Kapwa and interconnectedness.
This is for anyone to practice.
It's also for those who have practiced with me in these workshops and want to continue to practice Yoga Nidra on their own.
Just to orient us,
In this meditation I'll begin with grounding,
Intentions,
And a heartfelt desire.
Then we journey through the sheaths of human experience,
Or what is known in Yoga philosophy as the Koshas.
Then we finish with integration and coming back to waking life.
I invite you to get comfortable sitting,
Standing,
Or maybe even gentle walking.
If you are stationary,
Your eyes can be open or closed.
Or if you're newer to meditation,
I recommend sitting with eyes closed in a location where you won't be disturbed and welcome the experience of Yoga Nidra for the next 25 minutes.
And let's begin.
As you settle,
Welcome the environment and the sounds around you,
The touch of air on your skin,
Sensations where your body touches the surface that's supporting it,
Your entire body and mind settling in into a feeling at rest and at ease.
And reflect on your intention for today's practice.
Perhaps it's to feel into your experience of Kapwa or interconnectedness.
Or maybe it's something else.
Maybe it's to remain awake and alert or to inquire into an emotion or belief.
Or maybe it's to experience joy,
A felt sense of pure being.
Whatever feels right for you in this moment.
Affirm and welcome your intention for today's practice with your entire body and experience your heart's deepest desire or longing.
The feeling of life living through you.
What is it that life has been calling you to do from the heart into intentions,
Actions that feel right,
That are informed by a spontaneous desire that wishes to manifest more than anything else during your lifetime.
It gives your life a sense of purpose and meaning.
Affirm and experience this felt sense of your heartfelt desire as true in this moment.
And now bring attention to an inner resource,
Your inner resource.
A safe haven felt within your body that helps you feel secure and at ease,
At peace or a simple okayness.
If it's helpful,
Bring in people.
Invite images or places that nourish feelings of being secure,
Peaceful and at ease throughout your body.
Know that you can return to your inner resource at any time in this practice or at any time in your life.
Bring attention to and welcome sensations in your jaw and mouth,
Both ears at the same time as sensation.
Skin of the face and nose,
Both eyes at the same time as sensation.
Welcoming sensations throughout the forehead,
Head,
Scalp,
Back of the head and neck,
Left shoulder,
Arm,
Palm and fingers,
Right shoulder,
Right arm,
Arms and shoulders at the same time as sensation.
Sensation of the chest and upper back,
The entire torso as sensation.
Without thinking,
Simply experiencing sensation just as it is.
Alert and awake to sensation in the pelvis,
Left thigh,
Foot and toes,
Both legs at the same time as radiant sensation.
Welcoming now the entire body,
A field of vibrant sensation If it feels helpful,
Welcome your felt sense of your inner resource of being and well-being.
Feelings of being secure and at ease.
Be aware of the body breathing.
Noticing the inhalation,
Air moving in through the nose and into the chest and abdomen.
Notice the exhale,
Air moves out and the lowering of the chest and abdomen.
Inhaling life sustaining air and exhaling feeling air moving out,
Sweeping through the nose and into the space in front of you.
Continue breathing at your own pace and cadence.
Feeling the air moving in through the nose on the inhalation and exhaling,
Feeling the air sweeping out through the nose into the space in front of you.
As you inhale maybe notice an inner throb the sensations inside of you and on the exhale feel the release of air and the sweeping of your cells and tissues.
Inhaling the return movement of breath,
Sustaining life.
The exhalation moving out,
Sweeping,
Purifying life.
Breathing in this awareness,
Noticing the movement of breath in your body.
Welcome all that's present in your awareness and welcome yourself as the unchanging awareness in which all of these sensations are unfolding.
Now see if there's an emotion that might be present in your body.
Welcome it.
Where and how in your body do you feel this emotion?
Are there images or thoughts present with this emotion?
Welcome your experience just as it is.
When it feels right,
Locate an opposite emotion in your body and try moving back and forth between these opposites at your own rhythm sensing how each impacts the body and mind.
Then allow yourself to feel both opposites at the same time without analyzing or judging.
Sensing how this acts on your entire body and mind.
If helpful,
Welcome your inner resource of being.
Welcoming feelings of being secure and at ease.
Now sense an image,
A thought or a belief that you'd like to spend time with.
Kapva perhaps or interconnectedness.
Where and how do you feel in your body as you feel into this image,
Thought or belief?
Welcoming your experience just as it is.
Notice and welcome that's now present.
Experiencing yourself as unchanging.
Where all these changing thoughts,
Emotions,
Perceptions are coming and going,
Changing.
Feel into yourself as unchanging.
Unchanging awareness.
Sense the entire body as a field of radiant sensation while bringing attention to sensations of well-being,
Joy.
A felt sense of interconnectedness that is present.
Feel an inner smile radiating from your heart.
Your lips gently smiling.
Sensations of joy,
Well-being and bliss expanding throughout the entire body.
Every cell radiantly alive with the feeling of joy and well-being.
If it's helpful,
Recall an image of someone you love or who loves you.
Or a circumstance from your life that evokes feelings of joy and well-being into your entire body.
Then give up images and become completely absorbed in the feeling of pure joy and interconnectedness throughout the entire body.
Interweaving your inner resource of unchanging being into your experience of joy and interconnectedness.
Perceive how every perception is arising in your awareness and feel back into awareness itself.
Sensing yourself as spacious and unchanging connected in which all of these changing perceptions are arising.
All of these changing perceptions reveal an unchanging awareness and feel back beyond what you are perceiving and experience yourself as vast spacious and unchanging and how everything arises within awareness and reveals awareness as the very spaciousness in which it is unfolding.
Sense how awareness touches and pervades each moment that arises.
Sensing your way dissolving into being awareness itself.
Ask as awareness where is my center?
Where are my edges?
You can't think your way into this inquiry.
Instead feel your way into it.
Allowing everything to be just as it is without trying to understand anything.
Simply being just as you are and everything just as it is while being spacious and unchanging even as changing experiences come and go.
Everything just as it is.
Awareness aware of itself.
Reflect on the journey you've just taken.
Welcome qualities that are or have been present feelings,
Emotions sensations and unchanging awareness in which everything is arising unfolding and passing and be aware of your deepest heartfelt desire.
Welcoming it as an affirmation of your present reality while noting an intention that supports living this heartfelt longing in your everyday life.
Imagine yourself going about your day while feeling your inner resource of unchanging being and well-being and yourself as unchanging interconnected awareness in which all the activities of your life are unfolding emotions,
Thoughts sensations,
Your personality and this indescribable sense of interconnected unchanging awareness sensing the paradox of being both spacious and vast without border or boundary all the while being this personality that has location center and periphery your body and mind and personality free to be just as they are sensing and affirming how in each moment you always know the exact and perfect response to each situation you encounter in life Take your time now as you transition into waking life when it feels right,
Open and close your eyes several times while feeling your inner resource of being and well-being returning to your eyes open a state of waking consciousness grateful for taking this time for yourself in the practice of yoga nidra exploring your internal felt sense of kapha and interconnectedness and coming fully back to your eyes open wide awake and alert to a state of consciousness and being
