Yoga Nidra By Shivam Rath

A live 2020 Yoga Nidra practice by Musician and Yoga Teacher Shivam Rath, sharing the Japanese flute known as the Shakuhachi within the guided meditation, particularly during the stage of sound and natural breath awareness.

Transcript

Preparing for the practice of yoga nidra using this time to ensure that the body is completely comfortable check the symmetry of the arms and legs in relation to the midline of the spine hands facing upwards fingers allowed to naturally curl feet and ankles loose feet tilting outwards the body temperature will drop if laying down in shavasana over a period of time so you may wish to have a blanket to ensure that you're completely comfortable throughout the practice use this time to simply scan the body from head to toe checking for any areas of tightness or tension any accessories hair bands,

Watches,

Glasses anything that would distract the body from the practice you may wish to remove these or adjust in any way now keep the awareness scanning throughout the body for any areas of tension,

Tightness and consciously expelling these areas through the breath drawing deep inhalation and relaxing with the exhalation feel the physical body surrendering deeper and deeper with each outgoing breath completely letting go consciously expanding the breath with three deep inhalations and equally long exhalations releasing all physical effort all mental effort and any emotional consciously relaxing the body become aware of the sound of your breath as it enters and exits increasing your sense of sounds move your awareness like a radar from sound to sound without pausing or identifying any particular sound simply scan all the sounds that surround you in this room and further beyond scanning from sound to sound returning to the sound of the breath and the body scanning from sound to sound returning to the sound of the breath and the body in the subtle beat of the heart and in this space of the heart call forth the sun kalapa positive intention,

Resolve,

Affirmation that you wish to see fulfilled in your life and repeat the sun kalpa up to three times knowing that it is through this conscious intent that it will come to be having repeated your sun kalpa up to three times allow it to draw back into the subconscious and unconscious mind where as a seed that is buried beneath the soil it continues to grow prepare the mind now for body rotation bring your awareness to the right hand thumb feel,

Visualize and repeat the instructions that follow right hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Right shoulder armpit,

Right side of the waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Kneecap,

Shin,

Ankle,

Top of right foot,

Sole of right foot right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

The five toes together feel the whole right side of the body flood your awareness in the whole right side of the body shifting hemispheres to the left hand thumb,

Awareness to the left hand thumb index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Left shoulder armpit,

Left side of the waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Kneecap,

Shin,

Ankle,

Top of left foot,

Sole of left foot left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

Feeling the five toes together of the left side and flooding your awareness throughout the whole left side of the body whole left side of the body bringing the awareness to the back,

Right heel,

Left heel,

Back of right kneecap,

Back of left kneecap right buttock,

Left buttock,

Tailbone,

Lower back,

Middle back,

Upper back spinal column from tailbone to neck,

Back of the head,

Crown of the head,

Hair,

Forehead,

Right temple,

Left temple right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

The eyebrow center,

Eyebrow center,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Right nostril,

Left nostril air moving through both nostrils together,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Whole mouth,

Chin,

Jaw right cheek,

Left cheek,

Throat,

Neck,

Right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

Upper chest,

Abdomen,

Groin awareness into whole body parts,

The whole right leg,

Whole right leg,

Whole left leg,

Whole left leg,

Right arm,

Left arm right leg and left arm together,

Feel the left leg and right arm together front of the body,

Back of the body,

Both legs,

Both arms together front and back of the body together,

Neck,

Head,

Face and flood your awareness from the head to the toes,

Whole body awareness,

Feeling the whole body as one keeping your awareness on the natural breathing process moving through the body without trying to change,

Control or over analyze the breath in any way,

Simply become the witness to its natural process as it enters and exits the body as the mind wanders from the practice,

Simply bring it back to the natural breathing process you may like to introduce a count for example from 21 to 0,

I am breathing in 21,

I am breathing out 21,

I am breathing in 20,

I am breathing out 20 the purpose not being to reach zero,

The purpose simply to keep mind and breath interconnected the purpose not being to reach zero,

The purpose simply to keep mind and breath interconnected the purpose not being to reach zero,

The purpose simply to keep mind and breath interconnected the purpose not being to reach zero,

The purpose simply to keep mind and breath interconnected the purpose not being to reach zero,

The purpose simply to keep mind and breath interconnected the purpose not being to reach zero,

The purpose simply to keep mind and breath interconnected removing the awareness from the natural breath to feel or imagine that the body has become heavy,

Doubled its weight,

Tripled its weight create that the image and sensation the body is heavy,

Feel the body is heavy shifting to the opposite sensation,

The body has become light,

Weightless as if suspended in the air,

Feel the body has become light shifting from this sensation to feel the body has become cold,

Feel or imagine that the body has become cold moving now to the opposite sensation of hot,

Feel that the body has become hot drawing forth on the experience of having been hot,

Apply this sensation to the present state of the body now the body is hot allow now the body to resume its neutral state of temperature bringing the awareness to Chidakas,

The space of the mind,

The mind's eye to see or imagine a large tree,

A large tree,

A flowing river,

Flowing river dancing butterflies,

Dancing butterflies a steady fire,

Steady fire a cozy cottage,

A cozy cottage a double rainbow,

Double rainbow cascading waterfall,

Cascading waterfall mountain peaks,

Mountain peaks the cityscape at night time,

The cityscape at night a starry sky,

Starry sky the planet earth,

Planet earth deep ocean,

Deep ocean a sea breeze,

Sea breeze busy market,

Busy market rising sun,

Rising sun buried treasure,

Buried treasure keep your awareness on this image as you discover for yourself what may be inside this treasure discovering a material value or a different kind of value and if the image is unclear,

Contemplate on that which is important and a treasure in your life recall now the sun kalpa and place this image within your treasure box cultivating this image,

This dream,

This intention,

Repeating again your sun kalpa up to three times visualizing,

Feeling and drawing forth on the reality of what it may be like to have it with you Allowing the sankalpa to once again recede back into the mind,

Out of the conscious eye,

Yet ever present,

Ever growing.

Returning to the sensation of the natural breath,

The sound of the breath.

Follow its passage into the abdomen,

The lungs.

Feel the cool air that comes in,

And the warmer air as it is released.

Expand your sense of hearing from the breath to the sounds around you,

Once again scanning the sounds,

Moving from sound to sound,

Acknowledging them,

And sending your awareness further and further to the most distant sounds audible.

The sounds of the room,

The sounds of your breath and body.

Connect with the sounds now in reference to the location,

Time of day,

And environment in which you are in,

Recalling that you have been practicing yoga nidra,

And the practice is coming to its conclusion.

Begin to slowly expand the breath,

Using the breath to reconnect mind and body back together.

Feel the body returning to life with the oxygen and energy flowing through the breath.

When you are ready,

You can begin to introduce movement to the fingers,

Toes,

Ankles,

Hands,

And then expand this into the arms,

Legs,

Moving in any way,

Stretching to do what feels right and comfortable in order to wake the body in preparation to slowly come back into a seated posture,

Facing this direction,

Taking a moment to recalibrate the new posture,

The new position,

Reintegrating anything you may have received from the practice.

From the point between sleep and wakefulness,

Reflecting it in this moment,

As we prepare to chant the mantra Om three times,

Followed by Om Shanti.

Please breathe in deeply,

And breathe out fully,

Breathing in for Om Shanti.

Om Om Om Shanti,

Shanti,

Shanti,

Adiyom

Reviews

This was wonderful. Thank you. Anymore similar to this that you might recommend? Gail

Great 👍🏻 thanks for this Shivam ... really enjoyed the format and flute too.