Well,
Hello everyone and welcome to your session with yogi phoenix.
Today as we journey through the eight limbs of yoga,
We're landing on dhyana and dhyana is meditation.
The previous one was dharana.
Dharana,
These are very much connected.
Dharana is where the awareness flows effortlessly,
Not forced or directed,
But naturally resting within itself.
You don't need to control or fix anything.
This practice is an invitation to rest in that timeless stillness which is already there beneath every breath.
So let's just get directly into it,
The practice of dhyana or meditation.
Of course,
Yoga nidra lends itself very well to this.
So find yourself a comfortable space on the floor or yoga mat or on your bed in the position of shivasana.
Allow your body to settle,
Let the ground support you completely,
Close your eyes and take a slow,
Deep breath in and a long,
Easy exhale.
Again,
In and out,
In and out,
And each breath draw you deeper into stillness.
And as you know,
One of the powers of yoga nidra is the ability to manifest what we want through our sankalpa.
And a lot of people don't believe that this works,
But it does.
And without sounding ironic,
The reason that it doesn't work for them is that they don't believe it's going to.
So it's a vicious cycle.
This has been practiced for thousands of years with fabulous results.
And so don't dismiss this.
This is very powerful.
And so at the moment I would ask you just to allow yourself to set an intention.
For instance,
May I rest in effortless awareness.
May I be at peace and feel union.
Let this intention dissolve into your heart like ink and water,
Spreading quietly through your being,
No striving,
No grasping,
Just presence,
Pure awareness.
Firstly,
We travel to the anamaya kosha,
The physical sheath,
And all we simply have to do here is bring your attention to the body,
This living vessel that anchors awareness in the present moment.
Feel the back of the head resting on the ground,
The weight of the shoulders,
The gentle fall of the chest.
And now travel through the body as though awareness is a soft light.
Imagine a soft light at the crown of your head,
The forehead,
The eyes and the temples,
Unclench your jaw and allow relaxation through the jaw and through the face.
Softening the throat,
The right shoulder,
Arm and head,
The left shoulder,
Arm and head,
The chest,
The abdomen,
The hips,
Right leg and foot,
Left leg and foot,
The whole body resting.
The body,
Breathe,
You are the witness.
Feel your body,
Be aware of it,
No effort,
Just simply awareness of your body.
Now bring attention to the breath,
Not to change it but to feel it,
The quiet rhythm of prana flowing in and out,
Connecting you to everything,
Connecting you to this moment,
The presence and beauty of this moment which you are integrated into,
Part of,
One with everything.
Follow the breath in and out,
In and out.
Notice how each breath expands awareness a little further.
Inhale a wave rising,
Exhale a wave dissolving.
Imagine the breath as a wave,
Moving in and out with a gentle rhythm.
Imagine all of your own,
Sustaining life,
Feeding your body with prana.
Be acutely aware of the physical form being fed by life force energy,
Prana.
Let the breath breathe itself,
Effortless,
Continuous,
Simply watching the body breathing,
Watching the body breathing.
Imagine this flow of breath as a current,
A river carrying you deeper into stillness,
A flow carrying you deeper and deeper and deeper into pure stillness.
Now turn toward the mind,
The landscape of thoughts,
Feelings and impressions.
Watch them arise and fade like clouds drifting through an open sky.
You are not the thought,
You are the sky in which they appear,
Limitless,
Boundless and beautiful.
Limitless,
Boundless and beautiful.
Notice how even the busiest thought loses its grip when you simply watch it without judgment.
Between each thought there is a pause,
A still pause.
Rest there.
The mind becomes quiet when it's no longer pushed or pulled.
Stillness and peace in the mind.
Now let awareness,
Awareness become aware of itself,
No longer focused on the body,
Nor the breath,
Nor the thoughts.
Just awareness resting in itself,
In pure awareness.
You are the silent witness,
Unchanging,
Luminous,
Infinite.
There is no effort here,
Nothing to hold,
No boundary between you and the space around you.
Only presence.
This is dhyana,
The natural state of a quiet mind.
Resting here.
I'm with you in a little bit of quiet now.
No talking from me.
Much deeper now.
Pure awareness.
Feel the subtle joy that arises from that stillness,
From the awareness.
Not excitement,
Not pleasure,
But a deep contentment.
Rest in that deep contentment.
This is your natural state,
The anandamaya kosha,
The bliss sheath.
It's who you are.
Rest.
Rest in that awareness.
Feel the peace of mind,
A peace that asks for nothing.
You are resting in the quiet center of being.
Unmoved,
Yet alive within awareness.
Here all is well.
Here you are whole.
Pure bliss.
Begin to notice the breath again,
The gentle movement of air in and out.
Feel the body resting on the ground.
All the points of contact.
Become aware of the room around you.
The sounds,
The temperature,
The space.
Carry this quiet awareness with you as you move back into the flow of life.
Gently assured of the space within your being.
Knowing that dhyana is not a distant state.
It's in your own true nature.
Always waiting beneath the noise.
Like a light globe covered in sand or dirt.
As we gently remove the dirt,
The light shines.
It has always been on.
Always been on.
Start to take some deeper breaths into the body.
Deeper and deeper.
Gently waking yourself up now and coming back to this level of consciousness.
Moving the fingers and the toes.
Breathing in and out.
Becoming aware of the room.
Becoming aware of temperature.
Any noises around you.
Feelings,
Breath,
Hearing.
Coming all the way back now.
All the way back now.
The practice of yoga nidra is complete.
Coming all the way back.
Thank you for practicing with me.
If you're sitting up,
Bring your hands in prayer.
May we have love in the heart.
Truth in the speech.
And gratitude in the mind.
From my heart to yours.
Until we meet again.
Much love.
Yogi Phoenix.
