So I want you to really focus on letting go of any kind of effort.
Whatever that is for you,
Whatever the effort is involved in your life.
Particularly if you're finding a lot of pushback.
Like the example of my son and I.
Things have a way of resolving if we can just take our foot off the gas for a little while.
And find that sense of ease that this environment offers us.
Yoga Nidra of course is designed to bring us to our true being,
To our trueness.
And it's difficult to touch it,
But through this practice we get an opportunity to do precisely that.
Touching our essence.
So there is,
As you know,
Nothing to do.
And if you find yourself wanting to do something,
Well that's once again that subtly satira coming back into your life when it's not necessary.
That impulse to do,
To think,
To be,
To get on with things.
Listening to your thoughts.
Making plans.
Unnecessary.
And right now,
Sometimes it's necessary.
Okay,
So we're looking for that deep sense of ease.
But looking is probably the wrong word.
Allowing is probably a better way of putting it.
Okay,
So we're going to do this in a traditional manner tonight.
And start with our right thumb.
So take your awareness to the body parts that I mentioned.
Start with your right thumb.
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger.
Back of the head,
Palm of the hand,
Wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Armpit,
Rib cage,
Waist,
Hip,
Thigh,
Knee,
Shin,
Ankle,
Sole of the right foot,
Top of the foot,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Take your awareness to the left.
Left thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger.
Back of the hand,
Palm of the hand,
Wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Armpit,
Rib cage,
Waist,
Hip,
Thigh,
Knee,
Shin,
Ankle,
Sole of the left foot,
Top of the foot,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Taking the awareness to the back of the body.
Right heel,
Left heel.
Right buttocks,
Left buttocks.
Base of the spine,
Middle of the spine.
Right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade.
Back of the head,
Top of the head,
Shoulder,
Eyes,
Nose,
Mouth,
Chin,
Chest,
Hips,
Knees,
Feet,
Legs.
Hands,
Arms,
Torso,
Head,
Whole of the body.
Be aware of your body.
Lying in yoga nidra.
Feel the breath.
Be aware of it.
Just allowing it to do exactly as it wants to.
With no satira,
No effort.
Applied.
The only effort that's happening is what the body needs.
Nothing more,
Nothing less.
Precisely the amount of pressure to sustain the breath.
Exactly the right amount.
You don't have to do anything.
The body knows what to do.
Your job is to allow it to do that and then be aware of it.
Simply being aware of the breath moving in and out of the body.
Awareness of the breath.
Feel into the body and just imagine it feeling light,
Spacious,
Open.
No boundaries.
Open.
And now the opposite.
Imagine it being closed,
In the skin,
Heavy,
On the mat,
The weight between the mat and you.
Feel into that.
The heaviness of the body.
Feel the effort required to get the job done.
Feel into that.
The sense of effort and push and drive.
And now take the opposite.
Sukham.
A sense of ease after completion.
A sense of completion.
A feeling of relaxation and ease.
Easy does it.
Bring the awareness to your third eye.
That spot in your brow.
The all-seeing,
Internal eye.
The sea of your wisdom.
The sea of your intuition.
The seat of your awareness.
The seat of your humanity.
Just looking there and being aware of that that is.
Allow yourself to become expansive within that space.
No effort.
Ease.
Allowing.
Accepting who you are.
Feeling love.
From within.
Moving outward.
Rest in the place of love.
Unconditional.
No ties.
Just love for the self.
Be in love.
With you.
Generally recognize the body lying on the mat.
Feel the breath moving in and out once again.
And gently returning to this level of consciousness.
Feeling sensation on the mat.
Breathe the body now.
Start to breathe the body.
Take some movements.
Wiggle the toes and the fingers.
Stretch out a little bit.
And then just gently coming back to this environment.
Recognizing the room.
The people.
Coming back now.
Coming all the way back.
Sitting on a poster or on the floor.
Cross-legged pose.
Sukhasana.
All right.
So just bring yourselves back to the way it was.
And just see if you can recognize any differences with how you're approaching this shape or posture.
It is a posture.
It's asana.
And look for any kind of changes or differences within that realm.
And as you go through your week till I see you next,
Just play with the words that I've said.
It's not my concepts.
I'm just a messenger.
But they're open for you to experiment with and see.
And if it just causes a little bit more awareness,
Then it's done its job.
And so if it just,
For instance,
To stop you maybe pushing somebody or somebody pushing you,
Or maybe doing something that you don't want to do,
Or something like along those lines,
Then mission accomplished.
So sitting nice and tall,
We'll seal the practice as we do with our three-yawn mantra.
So if we bring our hands into namaskar,
Sit tall through the spine and then taking a deep breath in.
Keep the prayer with the heart center.
May we have love in our hearts.
Bring the prayer to the lips.
May we have truth in the speech.
Prayer to the forehead.
May we have gratitude in the mind.
Prayer back down to the heart center.
Bow the head.
Namaste.
