Unfolding Lotus Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra is an ancient meditation technique that penetrates deeper and deeper layers of consciousness, creating fertile ground for healing to take place. It's a journey that guides you through the layers of our being known as the Koshas that includes physical relaxation, breath regulation, and specific techniques to work through our emotional and mental barriers so that we can access our true nature, that of peace, love, and well-being. Accompanied by music from Matthew Tomayko, tuned to 432 hz.
Transcript
Welcome to the practice of Yoga Nidra.
The practice of Yoga Nidra involves an unlayering of the body-mind so that we may touch upon our true essence,
That of peace.
We'll move through a variety of guided awareness,
Relaxation,
And meditation exercises so that we can shed the layers of stress,
Tension,
Resistance,
And the patterns that we hold in the body-mind.
These layers,
Or sheaths,
Of being are known as the five koshas.
The koshas provide a kind of a map for navigating an inner journey towards the core of who we are,
Embodied spirit,
Pure essence,
Peace.
Yoga Nidra,
Amongst other yoga practices like asana and pranayama,
The commonly known exercises of yoga,
Help to bring the various aspects of being into harmony.
When we practice Yoga Nidra meditation,
We begin with the physical body,
The anamaya kosha.
Becoming aware of the body sensations from head to toe,
Learning to relax and let go of physical tensions we hold.
The next three layers of the self are considered to be the subtle body.
They're less tangible,
Although they can be sensed.
Yoga Nidra helps us to connect to these subtle layers of our being,
First with breath awareness and then simple breathing exercises,
Which bring the pranamaya kosha,
Or the energy body,
To life.
The third sheath,
The manomaya kosha,
Corresponds with our nervous system.
It's about our thoughts and emotions.
Our modern culture can be wildly overstimulating.
As human beings interacting with our environment and others,
We tend to become a bit habitual in our thoughts and reactions.
When we practice Yoga Nidra,
We use specific techniques aimed to free the mind of the habits that limit our capacity to be at peace.
Going deeper into the self,
The next layer we navigate is called the vyanamaya kosha,
Or the wisdom body,
The intellect.
We practice simple exercises to enable our inner wisdom to unburden itself of our tendencies to formulate patterns of thought and rationalizations that are limiting.
When we work with the vyanamaya kosha in Yoga Nidra,
We awaken our inner witness,
The compassionate,
All-seeing,
Welcoming witness that resides fully open in the present moment.
When we can reside in the moment at hand,
In the absence of evaluation and judgment,
The anandamaya kosha begins to shine through,
The anandamaya kosha called the bliss body,
Or our pure essence.
Yoga Nidra is uniquely effective in creating a pathway to ananda,
Our essence,
Lasting peace.
Let's begin by getting settled in.
It's important to be comfortable as you practice Yoga Nidra,
So you might want to gather some props so you can recline comfortably.
A yoga mat,
A pillow or a bolster that you can place underneath your knees,
A thin pillow or folded blanket under your head,
An eye pillow,
Perhaps a blanket for covering.
It's important that you be able to be still,
Warm and comfortable,
Reclining on the floor or perhaps your bed.
Take the time to reconfigure your props and adjust the limbs and the trunk so that you can find that comfortable place of stillness where you'll remain for the duration of the practice.
Yoga Nidra is a rather lengthy guided meditation.
You may find as you begin practicing this meditation that you fade in and out of conscious awareness.
Not to worry,
That's all part of the process.
And it's said that even if you're not consciously aware of the guided meditations and exercises,
That the body receives the benefits anyway.
It is important to commit to the idea of being fully present and open to this process,
Giving it your full and undivided attention,
And should the attention drift away,
To gently bring yourself back.
The practice of Sankalpa or intention meditation is an important piece to Yoga Nidra.
So once you're comfortably settled in,
Let's just take a couple deep breaths,
Allow the body to settle,
Connect to your heart's energy,
And then allow the mind to formulate an intention of some sort,
Body,
Mind or spirit,
Perhaps about a relationship,
Some sort of intention that furthers you on your path towards wholeness.
Allow that intention to arise through the field of all your senses.
Visualize that intention as if it's already manifest,
In great detail all the colors and characters of this intention.
Perhaps a word,
A phrase or a simple mantra arises in your mind that captures the essence of this intention.
Begin breathing deeply and opening your physical body to receive the sensations of this intention on a visceral level,
In your belly and especially around your heart.
For the next minute,
We'll absorb our senses in this intention.
See it clearly.
Breathe deeply and quietly recitate that simple phrase or word.
Open your heart to the feeling sensation of your intention.
Give it all of your attention.
We can set aside our intention as we move into the layers of being,
Beginning with the Anamaya Kosha,
Your physical body,
Skin and bones,
Muscles,
Connective tissues,
Organs and fluids,
These tangible elements of our being that we can touch and sense the world through.
Although our bodies are comprised of these different structures,
We're not limited by them.
We're also vibrational,
Multidimensional and there's a wide variety of sensation that's available to us.
So let's begin by just sensing the body,
Noticing the shape of your body,
The weight of your body,
The physical sensations of being here now,
An embodied being.
Notice the way your body connects to the floor or your props.
You'll notice that there are planes of contact where body meets the different textures underneath you.
The plane of contact at the heels,
Back of your calves,
Thighs and pelvis.
Notice the sensation along the back of the ribcage and across the back of the shoulders where your body meets the ground.
Follow the sensation of the length and the weight of your arms.
Notice the way the hands connect to the floor.
Notice the way the back of your skull connects to a prop or the ground.
Scanning the back body once again,
Notice the places where the body doesn't connect to props.
Those natural curves along the underside of the body,
Back of the ankles,
Knees,
Lower back,
Neck,
The underside of your wrists.
Just sense the textural difference between the planes of contact that meet the ground or prop and those that don't.
Allow your body to be received by gravity.
Know that you can be held by the ground,
Held by your props.
And you can let go of any tension,
Any sense of holding yourself up.
Let's draw attention now to the heels.
Noticing the way the feet connect to the floor.
Sensing the shape of your feet.
Heels,
The underside of the arches,
The balls of your feet,
The base of each toe,
The length and shape of the toes themselves.
Sensing the top of the arch of the foot and the hinge of the ankles.
Can you relax the ankles and allow the weight of the feet to surrender?
Following sensation next along the legs.
Notice the spread of the calves as they relax and connect to floor or prop.
Sense the shinbone and notice the sensation of the calf muscles relaxing.
Relaxing off the bone.
Sense the shape of the knees next.
The hinge at the back of the knee,
The kneecap floating on top of the knee.
Following sensation next along the thigh.
Sensing the shape of the thighs,
Front thigh,
Back,
Inner and outer.
Sensing the long bone of the thigh,
The longest bone in your body,
From the top of the knee to the hip joint.
Relaxing your thighs.
Imagine that long femur bone sinking back and then the muscles and flesh that encase that bone becoming very soft,
Dripping off the bone.
Relaxed.
Bringing your awareness next to your pelvis.
First sensing the plane of contact along the buttocks and the floor or prop.
Relaxing the muscles of the buttocks and beginning to sense the weight of your pelvis.
It's actually quite heavy.
You have the large bones of the pelvis,
The organs and fluids of the pelvis.
Muscles,
Connective tissue.
As you exhale,
Sense the weight of your pelvis releasing,
Relaxing.
Follow the sensation of the weight of the organs and the softening of the abdominal wall as you exhale.
Allow all the sensations of the pelvis pelvic floor,
The pelvic bowl,
The contents of your pelvis to come into your field of awareness.
Directing your awareness next to your soft center,
Your navel area,
Waistline,
The flanks at the back of the waistline.
Follow the movement of the breath through your belly.
Exhaling,
Allowing the muscle wall of the abdomen again to soften and relax.
Allowing the contents of the belly to spill back towards the back body.
Releasing those lumbar vertebrae and relaxing through the flanks at either side of the spine.
You might even imagine that you can exhale right through the waistline into the floor.
Soft belly.
Drawing your awareness next to the rib cage.
First,
Noticing the planes of contact along the back ribs to the floor.
Connecting to the sternum,
Where the front ribs attach.
And then along the back body,
The thoracic spine,
Where all the ribs attach.
Follow the movement of the rib cage as you breathe,
Noticing as you inhale that the ribs open up and the rib cage expands in all directions.
Sternum rises and the thoracic spine gently undulates.
And as you exhale,
There's a sense of condensing with the rib cage,
Sinking of the sternum.
A grounding through the back of the rib cage.
Moving your awareness inward,
Follow the inner sensation of the rib cage expanding and condensing.
Perhaps you can sense the expansion of your lungs along the inner walls of the rib cage.
The rising and the dropping of the diaphragm muscle that lifts to open the lungs and relaxes and drops as you empty.
Notice the sensations of the heart just left of center.
The muscle of the heart and its steady rhythmic beating.
Shifting your awareness next to the shoulders,
Notice how the shoulder blades meet the floor.
Following sensation through the shoulder joint and along the collarbones.
Can you notice the movement of the shoulder girdle as you breathe?
The top of the lungs come right up underneath those collarbones.
Follow the rise and the sinking of the collarbones.
The surrender of the shoulder blades allowing the shoulder girdle to relax.
Imagine you can unhinge at the shoulder joints allowing the length and the weight of each arm to soften and surrender.
Notice the hinge of your elbows,
Hinge of the wrists,
The length of the upper arm bone and all the muscles that encase that bone.
Soften,
Relax,
Let go.
Following sensation along the forearms,
The two bones of each forearm,
The flesh and muscles and skin that encase those bones.
Relaxing the hinge of your wrists,
Notice the weight of your hands.
Sense the shape of your hands.
The soft well of the inner palm,
The plane of contact with the hands along the floor,
The base knuckles of each finger and thumbs,
The hinges of each finger allowing the hands to relax,
The fingers to gently curl.
Noticing next your neck,
The outer shape of your neck with a natural curve along the back,
Sensing the front and sides and back of the neck,
Those ropey muscles that attach the head to the trunk and the seven cervical vertebra at the back of the neck that give it structure.
And now imagine the length of your spine,
This long serpentine-like shape from the tip of the tailbone along the sacrum,
Through the lower back,
Along the ribcage and the neck to the tip of the spine,
The atlas where the head resides.
Following the sensations of the spine,
Noting that the spine acts sort of like a central circuit board for our body,
An intricate network of nerves branching from the spine that animate our entire body.
Next,
Bring your attention to the way the head rests on your pillow or floor,
Feeling that point of contact once again and sensing the shape of your skull,
Imagining that layer of fluid between skull and the brain.
Imagine the brain can just rest.
And bring your attention to your face,
Beginning with the furrow of your brow,
That space between the brow line often knits and tenses when we're deep in thought or angst.
Consciously relax the knit of your brow and follow the sensation across your forehead as the skin lengthens,
Melts back into the temples and scalp.
Begin to sense the eyes,
First the eye sockets.
There's a thin place of contact between the upper and lower lids.
Relax there and let the corners of your eyes lengthen and sensing deeper into the eyes the shape of each eyeball and smooth texture of the eyes.
Allow the muscles and the nerves that surround the eyes to relax.
Imagine the eyes just sinking deeply into the sockets,
Resting back.
Notice the sensations next at your nostrils just following the cool sweep of the in-breath along the inside of the nostrils and as you exhale the sensation of warmth with the out-breath.
Sensing the sinuses below the eyes,
Above the eyes Bring your awareness next to your cheeks Unhinging your jaw,
Relax the muscles of the face,
Allowing all expression to leave your face.
Notice the points of contact the upper and lower lips and imagine that the corners of the mouth can just lengthen as those muscles of the face relax.
Bring your awareness to the inside of the mouth next,
Just sensing the inner walls of your cheek the teeth and gum lines the upper palate the shape and the texture of your tongue Allow your throat to relax you may wish to swallow or perhaps yawn,
Stretch the tongue Notice the release of the throat and the subsequent softening of your belly It's deep in the lower part of the pelvis lower pelvic belly that we can access the sensation of inner flow The breath has a natural wave-like movement to it The energy of the breath prana rides this wave-like motion of the breath Take a moment allow yourself to connect to that inner flow We'll begin next with the pranamaya kosha The pranamaya kosha is our energy body our vital energy prana riding on the breath We'll begin just by being with the breath as it is noticing the sensations of the breath without any kind of interference an unmanipulated natural breath following the sensations of the body as you breathe that sense of expanding and condensing filling and emptying a spontaneous rising of the inhale subsiding with the exhale Just allow the breath to be what it is and notice open your field of awareness to take in all the sensations of the body breathing the breath itself the energetic sensations of the breath following the expansion of the bones of the body as you breathe there's a natural undulation of the spine an oscillation of the pelvis and the shoulder girdle as we breathe naturally it may be subtle if you feel very stiff but notice any subtle movements of the skeletal system as you breathe notice the inner wave-like movement of the breath the subtle experience of the breath your unique pattern of your natural breath the rhythm of the breath has distinct energetic qualities and the breath the energy of prana rides the inhalation and its natural pattern is upward spreading in all directions it's expansive in nature light and buoyant the energy of the exhale or apana is grounding has a yielding quality to it a downward pattern the rise of prana corresponding with the inhale is associated with the upper body navel and above are higher energy centers and the energy of apana corresponds navel and below navel,
Pelvis and lower extremities grounding in nature continue to breathe relaxing into the natural breath rhythm allowing it to reveal itself in yoga we have many thousands and thousands of what's called pranic nadis and these are the little channels that the energy of the breath flows through we'll concern ourselves with three major ones here the idya,
The pingala and the sushumna the idya corresponds with the left nostril it's often called our moon channel very yin,
Feminine in nature it carries the energy of apana that downward,
Cooling and grounding energy the pingala corresponds with the right nostril often called the sun channel it's masculine and young in nature carries the energy of prana with that upward,
Rising,
Spreading pattern it's warming the sushumna is the central channel of our body from root to crown our central vessel the root chakra the muladhara chakra is the meeting place of these three main nadis the base of the pelvic floor near the tailbone we'll begin a pranayama exercise by sensing the movement of the breath along the inside of your right nostril follow the sensation of the breath rising along the right channel of your body pay particular attention to the sensations of the inhalation as you breathe the sun channel all your attention on this right channel now shift your attention and awareness to the inside of your left nostril follow the inner sensation of the breath along the left channel of your body our moon channel pay particular attention to the sensations of the exhalations allowing the breath to flow freely through this left channel all your attention the left channel moon channel when you feel ready begin following the sensations along the sun channel starting with the right nostril notice the sensation of energy rising upward and expanding outward then shift your awareness to the left nostril as you exhale noticing the sensation of energy descending and grounding along the moon channel your left side you continue inhaling shifting your attention to the right nostril following the sun channel and then exhale through the left nostril the left channel continuing to explore the breath sensations right side inhaling energy rising left side exhaling energy descending once you feel comfortably relaxed into a steady,
Even rhythm of sun and moon channel breathing allow for the two to intertwine the inhale rises from the base of the exhale the exhale spills down from the inhale in a continuous flow of energy almost a circular pattern as the in-breath passes through the out-breath and vice versa and now bring your awareness back to the central channel the Sushumna from the base of the pelvic floor and tail to the crown allow for the continued smooth flow of breath and energy inhale and fill the Sushumna from the root through the central vessel exhale exhale and empty down the central channel back to the root a nice steady,
Easeful flow of breath and energy noticing the pattern of prana rising apana grounding imagine filling and emptying this vessel that resides in the center of your trunk allow all the sensations of the flow of breath to come into your field of awareness next we'll begin to explore the Manomayakosha our emotional body in order to do this we'll explore the law of opposites in order to discover a sense of equanimity where we're neither attached to either end of that spectrum we'll do a couple of exercises here beginning first,
Sensing the heaviness of your body so all the associate sensations of heaviness this feeling of dropping down of becoming one with the earth sinking heavy,
Grounded surrendering all the sensations of heaviness being weighted dropping in and now shift your awareness and invite in all the sensations of light feeling buoyant,
Growing weightless perhaps an image of the sensation of floating expansive and buoyant all the sensations of light and now return to heavy notice the sensations of the weight of your body its connection to the ground imagine sinking deeply becoming one with the earth again dropping down very heavy,
Very grounded once again return to the sensations of being light and weightless expansive buoyant floating and now allow both of those sensations both heavy and light to coexist to co-mingle,
To become one try not to overthink just allow all the sensations of heavy and light to come together now I invite you to recall the sensations,
The memories,
The images the feeling sensations around your heart associated with peace and joy and unconditional love you may have memories arise images of people or events allow all the sensations in the body to open to peace and joy and love open your heart to the sensations of peace and joy and love let it all in immerse yourself in those sensations in those memories and feelings and now shift your attention and allow yourself to experience fear,
Anxiety sadness as sensations in your body as memories or images that arise in your mind as feeling sensations around your heart try to let them all in without denying anything let them be be completely with these sensations of fear anxiety without judgment without labeling just let it be be completely with it fear and anxiety tension and sadness and now return to joy to peace,
To love and open your body,
Your mind and your heart to receive all those associate sensations memories and images all the qualities of body and mind and spirit peace,
Joy love shifting back once again fear and anxiety tension sad sensations experiencing the sensations in your body fully allowing any memories,
Images to arise opening your heart to receive these sensations without any kind of interference denying nothing opening fully to fear,
Anxiety tension,
Sadness and without thinking this through allow peace,
Joy,
Love fear,
Anxiety,
Tension,
Sadness all to coexist completely opening to this vast array of sensation and memory and feeling in the body,
In the mind,
In the heart peace,
Joy,
Love along with fear,
Anxiety,
Tension sadness experiencing them as one delving next into the Vyanamaya Kosha our intellect I'll guide you through a series of images that I invite you to call up in your mind's eye think of them like cells of a moving picture a pink and purple hued sunrise a sunny,
Cloudless periwinkle blue sky tall snow-capped mountains the distant horizon on the ocean's edge a tall waterfall in a lush rainforest the wave-like patterns along an expansive sandy desert the full moon on a clear night fierce wind and rain bending trees floating on a large puffy white cloud the intricate bloom of your favorite flower a bird soaring high in the sky a slithering snake a golden,
Orange,
And yellow sunset a vast,
Velvety,
Starlit sky a mossy glen in a deep,
Green forest a large field of purple flowers gently moving in the breeze diving into a deep ocean floating down a calm river moving quickly through a dark tunnel the full moon on a crystal clear night the distant horizon on the ocean's edge tall,
Snow-capped mountains pink and purple hued sunrise fierce wind and rain bending trees a mossy glen in a deep,
Green forest diving into a deep ocean moving quickly through a dark tunnel a vast,
Expansive,
Velvety,
Starlit sky complete darkness allowing yourself to remain attentive and still begin to quietly recitate to yourself the phrase,
I am followed by your name slow and steady over and over again I am followed by your name and now simply the phrase I am steady,
Rhythmic over and over again I am and now simply I and now allow yourself the experience of dynamic stillness of simple being lingering in the experience of your true nature pure peace remaining still and relaxed and present let's recall our sankalpa your intention and once again,
Allow that intention to come alive through all your senses visualize,
In great detail and color a present manifestation of that intention begin to breathe deeply and open your heart and your body to experience the spirit of that intention as a visceral sensation quietly repeat that phrase or word that embodies this intention allow all of your senses to be absorbed with this intention and relinquishing your sankalpa your intention once again let's begin to come back gradually first by just simply sensing your body the physical sensations of your body as they rest over your props and into the floor and then reconnect to the movement of the breath and gradually begin to deepen your breath to help reanimate your body take your time and when you feel ready you can stir the body taking time to rest onto your side and open your eyes and once again welcome in the room and when you're ready to to bring yourself upright observe the sensations of the body-mind for just a moment or two before moving on with your day Namaste
