Yoga Nidra For Activating Chakra Awareness

This advanced level Yoga Nidra incorporates chakra visualisation as well as the symbols for the psychic centres. When your concentrated consciousness touches the right spot of a particular chakra, then the appropriate symbol or vision will flower within your awareness.

In order to gain maximum benefits, it is important to maintain a consistent 'Sanlakpa' or resolve for each practice across a 6-month to 1-year period. Doing so, enables the resolve to sink deeper into the fertile soil of your unconscious mind. Your resolve should be short, profound and a personal area which you would like to work upon. For example "I am forgiving", "I will achieve total health", "I will be more aware". Do not share your resolve with others. There will be a moment in your life when you notice the resolve has been realised, then you can move on to another.

Guided in line with the Swami Satyananda Saraswati/Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati tradition.

Please lie down, relax, dive deep, and enjoy.

Transcript

Please get ready for yoga nidra.

Lie down in shavasana with the body stretched out.

Feet apart,

Arms beside the body with the palms of the hands turned upwards and the eyes closed.

Head in a straight line with the body.

Completely relax each and every part of the body.

Make all the necessary adjustments so that you are as comfortable as possible and once you have adjusted the posture of the body there must be no movement.

No physical movement either consciously or unconsciously.

Remember you are about to practice yoga nidra.

Yoga nidra means psychic sleep.

It is a state of mind in which the body and mind relax completely and consciousness remains active.

You only need to maintain awareness of hearing and feeling.

The body sleeps,

The mind is at rest and consciousness is active.

You must remain alert so you do not sleep.

Say to yourself mentally,

I will not sleep.

I will remain awake.

Take a deep breath and as you breathe in feel the coolness and calmness spreading throughout the body.

As you breathe out feel the cares and worries flowing out of you.

Become aware of the body and relax completely.

Make yourself physically calm and steady.

Feel that you are relaxed.

Feel that the body is relaxed.

Develop awareness of the physical body from the top of the head to the tip of the toes.

Complete awareness of the whole body.

Relax your whole body mentally.

Relax yourself mentally.

Relax yourself by breathing normally and becoming aware of the breath as it moves between the navel and the throat.

Awareness of the natural breath.

Do not force the breath.

Do not try to breathe long and deep.

You simply have to observe the natural flow of breath.

The normal breath between the navel and the throat.

Continue with this awareness and feel yourself becoming more relaxed,

Calmer and at peace with yourself.

Remember that you are going to practice Yoga Nidra.

Now is the time to make your resolve,

Your sankalpa.

The resolve which you have made previously.

Repeat the same resolve three times mentally.

Be consistent.

Plant the resolve at one place and do not change it.

Certainly the resolve will come true if the soil is perfect.

Replete the resolve with feeling and awareness.

Now we are going to rotate the awareness from one part of the body to the next.

Consciousness moves around the body.

Follow the instructions mentally.

There should be no physical movement.

If I say right hand thumb,

Then mentally repeat right hand thumb.

Visualize the right hand thumb and feel the right hand thumb by becoming aware.

In this way we shall go through each and every part of the body systematically.

And as consciousness moves around the body it changes into prana,

The vital energy in the form of an energy current.

You do not have to concentrate deeply on any specific part.

Simply let your mind move freely from one part to the next according to the speed of the instructions.

Do not sleep.

Right hand thumb,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Four fingers and thumb together,

Palm,

Back of the hand,

Right wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Right shoulder,

Armpits,

Side ribs,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Calf muscle,

Shin,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

Five toes together,

The whole right side,

The whole right side,

The whole right side.

Now bring your awareness to the left side of the body.

Left hand thumb,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Four fingers and thumb together,

Palm,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Left shoulder,

Armpits,

Left side ribs,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Calf muscle,

Shin,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

Five toes together,

The whole left side,

The whole left side,

The whole left side.

Now bring your awareness to the back of the body.

Right buttock,

Left buttock,

Right lower back,

Left lower back,

Right mid back,

Left mid back,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

The neck,

The spinal cord,

Back of the head,

Top of the head,

The whole back,

The whole back,

The whole back.

Now rotate your awareness to the front.

The forehead,

The forehead,

The forehead,

Right temple,

Left temple,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

The eyebrow center,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Bridge of the nose,

Right nostril,

Left nostril,

Tip of the nose,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Chin,

Throat,

Right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

Right side of the chest,

Left side of the chest,

Depression of the chest,

Navel,

Abdomen,

The whole front,

The whole front,

The whole front,

The whole of the right leg,

The whole of the left leg,

Both legs together,

The whole of the right arm,

Whole of the left arm,

Both arms together,

Whole of the back,

Whole of the front,

Whole of the head,

The whole body,

The whole body,

The whole body.

Visualize the whole body.

Intensify the awareness and visualize the whole body,

The whole body in one glance,

The whole body.

Become aware of the meeting points between the body and the floor,

The meeting points body and floor.

Feel the floor holding you to its bosom like a baby in arms.

Now concentrate on your body as if seeing it from the outside.

Look at your body as an object from outside.

See your body as an object,

A reflection in an imaginary mirror.

You are looking at your own reflection in the mirror and you see yourself lying on the floor.

Your feet,

Legs,

Abdomen,

Chest,

Arms,

Hands,

Clothing,

Face,

Hair,

Everything reflected in that mirror.

Awareness of the whole body as an object.

Do not sleep.

Do not sleep.

Now think of an ocean.

Think of a dark blue ocean and become aware of the waves.

The ocean lies within the inner space,

The Chidakash and the rolling waves represent sleep,

The manifesting unconscious state of your mind.

Become aware of sleep and try to visualize this state of consciousness within you like waves on an ocean.

Above is a beautiful blue sky and below is the vast ocean with infinite waves,

The manifesting process of unconsciousness.

Imagine a well.

Imagine a well and you are looking into it.

The well is dark and deep,

A cylindrical tunnel into the depths of the earth.

There is a bucket on a chain.

You lower it into the well.

It moves into the darkness of the well.

You can feel the bucket on the chain in the depths but you cannot see it.

Now pull the bucket up,

Up out of the darkness,

Into the light.

Ask yourself,

What am I thinking?

Do not think but become aware of the thinking process.

Become a witness.

Do not suppress any thought.

Witness your thoughts and ask again and again,

What am I thinking?

At the same time,

Maintain total awareness of any thought that is passing through the visible frame of the consciousness.

Bring your attention to the natural breath.

Bring your attention to the natural,

Quiet breath.

Become aware of the breath through the nostrils.

The natural breath flows through both nostrils and meets at the top of the nose to form a triangle.

The spontaneous breath enters through the nostril openings,

Moves upwards and draws together to form a triangle with its apex in the eyebrow center.

Be aware of the breath passing.

Be aware of the breath passing through both nostrils.

Become aware of both breaths,

Separately and simultaneously.

Think of the breaths as starting separately from a distance,

Drawing near and uniting in the eyebrow center.

Now,

Concentrate on each breath and try to determine its temperature.

Move back and forth and compare temperatures.

In yoga,

We say the left nostril breath is Ida,

Moon,

And the right is Pingala,

Sun.

Ida,

The left breath,

Is cooler.

Pingala,

The right breath,

Is warmer.

Continue your awareness of breathing,

But imagine you are now breathing through alternative,

Alternate nostrils.

In through one nostril and out through the other.

Up and down the sides of the triangle and back again.

Maintain your awareness and start counting each breath with full attention.

Inhale,

Left,

54.

Exhale,

Right,

54.

Inhale,

Right,

53.

Exhale,

Left,

53.

And so on.

Continue counting and breathing down to zero.

Total awareness of counting and breathing.

If you make a mistake or reach zero,

Start again from 54.

Stop your counting and remain aware of the breath only.

Inhaling evenly through both nostrils with total awareness.

Do not sleep.

Do not sleep.

Now you are going to travel into the past.

In the same way that you have traveled from the past into the present,

Retracing the steps of your memory and consciousness backwards from this time.

The past is part of time and time is part of your mind.

Normally,

You walk forward in time.

This time,

Try and walk backwards by remembering your past.

You're going into the deeper recesses of your consciousness.

Try to remember what happened from the present time to the time you got up this morning.

You have to go back in time as if you were watching a film running in reverse.

Remember back to the start of the yoga nidra practice.

Then recall what were you doing in the half hour before that.

Remember the important objects,

Events and feelings at that time.

Then keep on proceeding half hour or one hour stages to the time you woke up this morning.

Stage by stage with full awareness.

Visualize and recall what you were doing,

Thinking,

Feeling.

Do not dwell upon a particular moment.

Do not dwell upon a particular event.

Just like a film rewinding,

Take your consciousness back in time to the time you woke up this morning.

Bring your awareness to the present and make sure you are not distracted.

Not sleeping.

Do not sleep.

Visualization of chakras in the physical body.

Starting from the bottom and progressing upwards.

First,

There is muladhara chakra,

Situated in the perineum in men,

Between the anus and the genitals,

And at the cervix in women.

Concentrate on the muladhara psychic center.

The second chakra is called svadhisthana and is located at the bottom of the spinal cord in the coccyx.

Concentrate on the svadhisthana.

The third chakra is manipura,

Located in the spinal cord behind the navel.

Concentrate on the manipura directly or indirectly,

Breathing back and forth in a straight line from the navel.

Anahata chakra is the fourth,

Situated in the spinal cord directly behind the heart and sternum.

Concentrate on the anahata directly or indirectly by breathing back and forth in a straight line from the heart.

Vishuddhi is the fifth chakra and is located in the neck.

Concentrate on vishuddhi.

The sixth chakra is ajna,

Situated behind the brain at the top of the spinal cord in the same place as the pineal gland.

Concentrate on the ajna directly or indirectly by breathing back and forth in a straight line from the eyebrow center.

Bindu is the seventh and is located at the top and back of the head.

Concentrate on the bindu.

Last is the sahasrara chakra,

Located on the crown of the head.

Concentrate on the sahasrara.

Now a second rotation,

Faster this time.

As each chakra is named,

Repeat it mentally and imagine touching the physical point with your thumb.

Muladhara,

Perineum cervix.

Svadhisthana,

Coccyx.

Manipura,

Behind the navel.

Anahata,

Behind the heart.

Vishuddhi,

At the neck.

Ajna,

Behind the eyebrow center.

Bindu,

Top back of the head.

Sahasrara,

Crown of the head.

Once again,

Muladhara,

Svadhisthana,

Manipura,

Anahata,

Vishuddhi,

Ajna.

Bindu,

Sahasrara.

Sahasrara,

Bindu,

Ajna,

Vishuddhi,

Anahata,

Manipura,

Svadhisthana,

Muladhara.

Visualization of the chakra symbols,

The symbols of the psychic centers.

When your concentrated consciousness touches the right part of the particular chakra,

Then the appropriate symbol or vision will flower within your awareness.

The psychic symbol for Muladhara is a red inverted triangle.

Concentrate on the Muladhara and imagine a red inverted triangle.

Svadhisthana represents unconsciousness.

Concentrate on Svadhisthana and visualize the unconscious in the form of waves on a vast ocean at night.

A bright yellow sunflower is the symbol for Manipura.

Concentrate on Manipura and visualize the sunflower.

Concentrate on Anahata.

See a tiny flame of light in a small lamp burning in the absolute darkness of a very big room.

The whole universe is filled with a dark atmosphere and in a corner a tiny oil lamp burns with a golden flame.

The psychic symbol for Vishuddhi is cold drops of nectar.

Concentrate on cold drops of nectar.

Agnya is the seat of intuition.

Concentrate on Agnya.

Visualize a crescent moon at night.

That is Bindu.

And lastly,

Sahasrara is visualized as the fireplace where the rituals are performed,

Initiations are given and worship is carried out.

The fireplace with the burning fire,

Big tongues of flame.

Resolve.

Remember your resolve with maximum feeling and awareness and repeat it three times mentally.

Now relax all efforts and bring your attention to the natural breath.

The natural breath flowing in and out of the nostrils.

The natural breath flowing in and out of the nostrils.

Maintain your awareness of the breath and at the same time develop the awareness of physical relaxation.

Awareness of relaxation and awareness of physical existence.

Become aware of physical existence of the body and visualize the body lying on the floor.

Visualize the body on the floor and experience the body on the floor.

Externalize the mind through the body.

You are practicing yoga nidra.

Be still and quiet until the attention is completely externalized.

Slowly move the toes,

The fingers,

The legs,

The arms,

The head from side to side.

Move your body and stretch yourself.

Take your time.

There is no hurry.

And when you are sure that you are awake,

Then gently sit up and very slowly open your eyes.

The practice of yoga nidra is complete.

Haryom tatsat.