Yoga Nidra Sensation Dials

This variation on a traditional yoga nidra practice is ideal for those who struggle with stillness. Utilize the visualization of the dials to refine your experience of sensation, and turn down the volume on discomfort. Ideal for those settling for sleep or for a mid-day practice.

Transcript

Welcome to this Yoga Nidra practice.

In this practice,

We'll consider using all five layers of being in service of the process of healing and focusing our attention and awareness away from the sensation of pain.

At the end of this practice,

I will announce that it has finished,

But there will be no chime and no change in music,

And so if you desire to be awake at the end of this practice,

Please take a moment to set an alarm now.

Choose a space where you will not be disturbed.

Find a position for your body where you feel most at ease and supported.

You might choose to lay down,

To sit,

Or to gently move and sway the body in a way that offers comfort and ease.

Traditionally,

In the practice of Yoga Nidra,

We endeavor towards stillness.

If stillness doesn't feel like the appropriate opportunity for you in this moment,

Consider rubbing your index finger and thumb against one another,

Or alternately touching index,

Middle,

Ring,

And pinky finger with your thumb.

Allow your awareness to expand the entire space in which you occupy.

Notice your physical surroundings,

And if you'd like,

You're welcome to close or soften your eyes,

Or even place a light cover over them.

Regardless of your choice with your eyes,

Draw your awareness of the space around you closer in,

Allowing the focus of your awareness to be in the confines of your body.

Become aware of the sounds that surround you.

There's no need to name or label the sounds,

Just notice and allow them to become the background music for your practice.

If at any point you notice yourself focusing on a sound outside of yourself,

See if you can invite it to join the background music and return your awareness to your own body.

To begin the practice of yoga nidra,

I invite you to call to mind a sankalpa,

An intention that you've set not only for this practice,

But for this season of practice.

Allow it to be positive,

And allow it to be positive,

And allow it to be positive,

But for this season of practice,

Allow it to be positive,

Present,

And possible.

Perhaps for this practice,

I notice sensations in the body that feel like healing.

Whatever your sankalpa is,

Repeat it in your own mind a few times.

In the practice of yoga nidra,

We move systematically through five layers of being.

We begin with the physical body,

And rather than making our way through the physical body and rather than making our way through the physical body in a systematic way,

I'd like to call to mind the image of a soundboard.

If you've ever looked backstage at a musical performance,

You might notice the sound technician has a special board with hundreds of knobs in rows and columns.

Each column refers to a particular microphone or instrument.

There's one for the guitar,

The vocal,

The piano,

Etc.

And the purpose of the sound mixing board is to create the right balance of sound from each balance of sound from each of these channels to make the kind of music that is desired.

For this practice,

Imagine that you have a column of dials for each aspect of the body.

As we explore that region of the body,

You might notice that you'd like to turn up the volume,

Turn down the volume,

Or change the focus the same way you might change the distance between a microphone and a guitar or the microphone and the person who's singing.

As you consider the sensations you experience in the body,

Notice if you are experiencing the level that you most desire,

Or if you'd like to change or adapt the level,

Turning down the sensation of pain,

Turning up the sensation of healing,

Etc.

If at any moment we move through a part of the body that feels difficult to access,

Or challenging,

Imagine instead that you're looking at a diagram of someone else's body and adjust the knobs relative to what you see or imagine there.

Bring your awareness to your feet.

Start with the big toes,

Then move to the second.

Third,

Fourth,

And fifth toes.

And then allow your awareness to move up the sole of the foot,

The top of the foot,

To encompass the ankle and the heel.

Allow yourself to become aware of sensation in the feet.

And inside that row of dials on the imaginary mixing board,

Allow yourself to adjust up and down the various sensations you experience.

Maybe you notice heat or coolness,

Sensation of movement or stillness,

Perhaps you notice discomfort or ease.

You might notice sensations that don't have a word,

They can still have a dial.

Spend a moment here,

Adjusting the dials in the column of your feet.

Shift your awareness now to the lower legs.

Perhaps you imagine sensation moving from the ankle up over the shin bone and calf muscle all the way to the knee,

As though you were dangling your lower legs into a pool of water.

Start to become aware of sensations in the lower legs.

And adjust the dials up and down,

Achieving the perfect balance of awareness and sensation.

Begin to move your awareness up over the knees into the upper legs,

Feeling the fronts and backs of the upper legs,

The inner and outer thighs as though you were standing in a pool of water.

Focus your awareness in on the sensations you experience in the upper legs,

Observing if there are sensations in which you would like to experience more or less,

Noticing any new or different sensations that exist in this part of the body.

Allow the awareness,

Move up over the lower torso,

All the way up to your belly button,

As though you were standing in a pool of water that came up all the way to your midsection.

Notice the front,

Back,

Left,

And right.

Sensations deep within the body and on the surface.

And adjust the dials here,

Emphasizing sensations of calm,

Settled,

Ease,

And dialing down sensations of discomfort or tension.

Allow the awareness to move up the body over the abdomen and ribcage.

Observe all the way around the front of the body,

The back,

The sides,

The gentle movement of the diaphragm with each breath.

Notice if there are sensations that you'd like to change the intensity,

Dialing up or down or adjusting the levels between them.

Then bring your awareness up into the shoulders,

Down the arms,

Over both elbows,

All the way to the fingertips.

Scan through this whole region of the body,

Coming aware of every sensation you notice.

Begin to adjust the dials up and down,

Moving in the direction of peace.

Move your awareness up the neck,

Face,

Over the top of the head,

Noticing sensations in the jaw,

The ears,

The mouth,

And the throat,

All the way up into the forehead and the mind.

Adjust up or down any sensations you notice here that aren't already at the perfect level.

In the reverse order,

Move from the top of the head all the way back to the feet,

Paying attention to the energetic body,

The animate force.

For you,

Perhaps you'd like to imagine the chakra system,

Or maybe you like to imagine electrons and cells moving through the body.

Whatever paradigm works for you,

Notice the sense of movement that occurs even when the body is at rest.

Beginning above the top of your head with the color violet,

Start to scan down as the warmth through the top of your head makes its way down to the third eye,

The level of the brows,

And subtly changes to the color indigo as you get to the throat center.

As you move down the body,

Color changes to green in the shoulders and arms,

Through the torso,

Coming yellow at the navel,

Orange at the low torso,

And red all the way down the legs to the feet.

Allow the awareness to travel anywhere inside the physical or energetic bodies,

But use additional fine-tuning.

If you currently experience pain or discomfort,

Maybe encourage your awareness to lie in a place where you feel calm,

Peace,

Or ease.

Return your awareness to the sensation of your breath,

And begin to count the breaths backwards from the number 27 back to zero,

Like this.

Breathing in,

27,

Breathing in,

27,

Breathing out,

27,

Breathing in,

26,

Breathing out,

26.

If at any point you lose track of the count or get all the way down to zero,

Return your count to 27 and begin again.

From wherever you've drifted,

Start to let the practice of counting the breaths fade.

Call to mind,

Is there a memory or a vision of what healing means to you?

Perhaps you call to mind a story,

A movie,

A life experience,

Something that reminds you of the practice of healing.

Maybe what comes to you is the image of a person or people who practice or create a sense of healing and nurturing.

You don't need to name or fixate on anything in particular.

Just allow your mind to wander through the categories of wisdom it already holds.

If something arises in your mind,

Allow it to be clear and then fade away as though you're watching a movie in a theater that slowly fades to black.

Allow an opportunity for another image to surface.

Allow it to fade.

Repeat this process a few times,

Encouraging yourself to call on the deep sense of wisdom,

The lessons and teachings that you have received,

The vocabulary of tools already within you.

As this image fades onto the screen,

Allow yourself to notice that sensation of pause that you may have experienced in a concert hall or theater.

That quiet,

Still space between the beginning and the start of the show or after the end,

Before the lights turn on.

Call to mind the perfect moment of stillness that exists,

That is shared between everyone in the venue,

That is both bigger and smaller than each person.

Turn your awareness to your sankopa.

Repeat it a few times in your mind.

And if you're relaxed and prepared for sleep,

Allow yourself to continue in that direction.

Continue in that direction.

If instead you choose to wake,

Take three more breaths here.

This concludes the practice of yoga nidra.