Yoga Nidra To Reset The Senses

A deep restful yoga nidra journey with live drumming to consciously connect, withdraw and re-store our sensory awareness and perception. Turn inwards to release and relax as we strengthen our inner sensual experience, like intuition, as well as our outer presence

Transcript

So,

For this practice,

I would love to invite you to grab something that you could easily smell or taste or touch or look at that has a sensory response.

So not like a sip of water that doesn't have a taste or like touching your clothes,

But if you have like a fuzzy sweater or blanket or an animal nearby,

A candle you could gaze at,

A piece of fruit or chocolate if you still have Halloween candy laying around.

And then just for a moment before we come into the practice,

I really want you to engage with that sense.

So whatever sense you chose,

If you picked taste,

Then close your eyes and focus all your energy on what you're putting in your mouth.

If it's smell,

Close your eyes,

Focus all your energy on what you're smelling.

If you are looking at a candle or gazing at something,

If you are petting your cat or massaging your sweater,

Again,

Let all of your attention go into that,

Into that sense.

And our dark moon practice this month aligns with the yogic limb of pratyahara.

Pratyahara is withdrawing the senses and that is actually a step in yoga nidra.

We always engage pratyahara because we have to withdraw the senses to move into the inner world.

And today we engage that a little bit more consciously.

So really letting all of your attention,

All of your energy go to this outer sense.

And notice what happens when you really engage with that.

And our senses are beautiful,

Wonderful things and yet as we know,

When we are overly stimulated in the world,

Overly sensitized in the world,

It can start to create some issues.

It can affect our sleep,

Our health.

If we are eating too much,

Drinking too much,

If we are spending too much time on the screens or in that outer attention,

It begins to create a problem.

It begins to create harm.

Yoga is a practice of reducing harm.

And so when we move into the inner worlds of meditation and yoga nidra,

We have to withdraw from the outer world like a turtle hugging into its shell,

Returning to itself so then we can reset and consciously choose to go back into the world and then our attention will be that much more rich.

And then we can again have that healthy relationship with those senses rather than getting caught up in those addictive spirals where we can't stop smelling,

Tasting,

Touching,

Hearing.

And so take a few more really conscious breaths and really just let yourself be with this sense,

All the things about it.

And in the lunar cycle,

The dark moon,

The waning moon where we withdraw from the light,

The moon hides her face is a necessary part.

We have to have the balance,

The ebb and flow,

The wax and wane.

Think about your breath.

We have an inhale and an exhale and they are both important.

They are both vital.

They are both necessary.

And in a world of so much polarity,

We want to find that relationship of ebb and flow.

So take another really big breath.

And then as you exhale,

Slowly withdraw whatever item you were using,

Move it out of your way.

And then I want you to come into your yoga nidra shape with as little sensory sort of stimulation as possible.

Cover your eyes,

Cover your body,

Make sure you are supported enough that you can really tune in.

So moving from that conscious outer stimulation to an intentional inner journey,

Cover up,

Cover your eyes and begin to tune into the inner world.

And so this is actually a very common time in yoga nidra where we will cue things like notice the sounds in the room,

Notice the temperature,

Swallow.

We use the senses to start to bring us into relaxation.

So as we start to withdraw the senses,

Again,

First acknowledge them.

Whatever sense you were just really indulging,

Notice what that's like now with that smell or taste sort of out of your being.

How do you start to turn in?

Again the sounds around you,

You start to move towards the sound of my voice.

And for this practice,

That is the invitation is to just follow the sound of my voice.

Let all the other sounds merge with the sound of my voice.

You can feel the temperature,

Make sure the body is wrapped and warm,

The eyes are covered.

And the dark moon is this cauldron of transformation that energetically we in the Northern Hemisphere are at right now too,

Just into the entry point,

The midpoint between equinox and solstice.

And so we gather into this warm dark space to reset,

To restructure our relationship to senses.

And so as you let yourself gather in,

Letting go of outer smells,

Taste,

Sight,

Sound,

Sensation.

And when we move from those outer senses into the inner,

We awaken new senses,

Sense of intuition,

Of wisdom,

Of bliss,

Of sensation and emotion from within,

Felt senses.

So gather yourself into this dark warm cocoon under this dark almost new moon here in the middle of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere.

Take a big,

Big breath in and then open mouth,

Everything out,

Everything out,

Everything out,

Hold out the exhale as long as you can when you can't hold it out anymore.

Come back to a natural breath in and out of the nose.

As the practice of yoga nidra for pratyahara begins now.

Bring the attention to the space between your eyebrows,

Warm,

Dark,

Pulsing space between your eyebrows.

Let your attention rest here,

Letting everything else turn inward,

Seeing yourself like the turtle hugging into the shell or a snail or any of the other intelligent creatures that have learned how to turn into themselves to feel protected and safe as they reset.

This is a protected and safe place to reset,

To withdraw,

To downgrade the systems of over stimulation.

And the dark moon is the most vital time of the month for this.

It is the bottom of the exhalation.

So nestle into this space between your eyebrows and set an intention for the practice,

The sun kalpa,

The longing.

And it might simply be,

I am aware.

I am present.

I allow the darkness.

I welcome transformation.

And if there is an intention you're already working with,

Then state it three times inwardly,

Short,

Positive,

Present,

Beginning with I.

I embody stillness.

Repeat it three times and then allow that to release into the warm,

Dark depths of the chittakach,

The space between the eyebrows.

And as we move through the body,

Feel that body part with all of your attention.

And as you feel it,

Allow its attention to turn inward even more,

Everything drawing more inward like you were slowly,

One body part at a time,

Pulling into your shell.

Feel the right thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

The palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

The whole right hand felt and curling into your shell,

Right wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

The upper arm,

Shoulder,

Feeling the whole right arm and letting it draw inward,

Right side of the chest,

Right underarm,

Right ribs,

Right waist,

Right hip,

Your right thigh,

Knee,

Shin,

Ankle,

Top of the right foot,

Sole of the right foot,

The big right toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Pinky toe,

The whole right foot felt and turning inward,

The right leg felt turning inward,

The whole right side scanned with awareness and then curling into the shell,

The whole right side,

Feeling the left thumb index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

The whole left hand,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

The whole left arm felt and turning in,

Left side of the chest,

Left underarm,

Left ribs,

Left waist,

Left hip,

The left thigh,

Knee,

Shin,

Top of the foot,

Sole of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Pinky toe,

The whole left foot felt and turning in,

The whole left leg felt and turning in,

Your whole left side sensed and then turning inward towards the shell,

The whole left side,

Moving to the crown of your head,

Feel the whole crown and forehead and your right temple and left temple,

Right ear and left ear,

Feel the right eye,

Left eye,

Your nose,

The right facial cheek,

Left facial cheek,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

The inside of the mouth,

Feel the inside of the mouth as it turns inward,

Feel your chin and jaw,

Feel your whole face,

Feel your whole skull as it pulls into the shell,

Feel your neck and your throat,

Right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

The center of the chest felt and curling in,

The right rib and left rib and both ribs together felt and curling in,

Solar plexus and the organs that live here,

The low belly and the organs that live here,

Feeling the whole pelvis,

Sensing the whole pelvis as it curls in,

As you feel along the pelvis,

You feel the back of your glutes,

Your tailbone,

Sacrum and the whole spine,

Sense your whole spine,

Feel to the right of the spine including right shoulder blade,

To the left of the spine including left shoulder blade,

Feel the whole back of your body felt as it pulls in,

The front of the body felt as it pulls in,

Feel the whole right side of your body from the toes to the fingertips to the temple as it curls in,

Feel the left side,

The toes,

The fingertips,

The temple as it curls in,

Feel the whole back of the body,

The skull,

The neck,

The arms,

The spine,

The buttocks,

The legs,

The heels and then pull it in,

Feel the front of the body,

The face and throat and chest and belly and draw in your whole body felt and curling in to receive these dark moon rests,

The whole body resting in this warm dark sacred space,

The whole body and feel the breath,

Feel the breath in your body as you curl in,

Watch the breath rise and fall and count it back starting with 13,

Count back your breath inhaling 13,

Exhaling 13,

Inhaling 12,

Exhaling 12,

Count back your breath from 13 to 0,

If you finish come back to 13,

If you get lost come back to 13,

No need to force the breath or create anything with the breath other than just counting it back and with every breath you drop deeper and deeper into this cocoon counting back your breath from 13,

Every breath gently counting back,

Curling into your shell even more counting back every breath stay with it,

If you get to zero come back to 13,

If you get lost come back to 13,

Every breath bringing you deeper and then let go of the count,

Feel the breath just organically without counting bringing you deeper and deeper in and we'll experience opposites I'll call out opposite pairs of opposites and you'll feel them to the best of the ability and then let them go no need to attach a story to them just feel and release story to them just feel and release you are safe and warm and curled in and feel into that quality of darkness what happens when you really allow yourself to be dark in the dark when you are wrapped in darkness what comes up what is the felt sense of darkness and then feel the opposite light what is the felt sense when suddenly from the darkness there is light and then the light is brighter and brighter and you are wrapped in light dazzling light what is it like the felt sense of light and then let it go come back to this dark space and feel into warmth feel into that warmth and heat warm heat through the whole body you are wrapped in warmth and heat as though you are wrapped in a sauna wrapped and warmth wrapped in heat what is it like when heat is coming in through every cell and then you feel the opposite like someone opened the door to the sauna and there's an icy cold breeze that flows in or you move from the sauna out into the snow out into the rain suddenly every cell is cold icy cold and then you come back to warmth wrapped in this dark warm space letting go of anything outside of this dark warm space and as we curl in even deeper bring your attention back to the space between the eyebrows as we move into the wise intuitive space and i'm gonna invite you to experience different visualizations and again feel them with as much awareness as you can and let them go you see yourself sitting at a table lit by candle and someone brings in your favorite drink it can be anything in the world but it's your favorite drink and you allow yourself to take a sip you allow that to wash over you your favorite drink what happens in your body when you take this drink and then you reach to take another sip but it's become your least favorite drink what is something that you have taken a drink of before that was like poison in your mouth what is it like to get suddenly feel that feel it in your whole body see your favorite drink transform into your least favorite feel the body respond and you push the drink away from you and you allow yourself to pause and take it in the attachment and the aversion your favorite drink and as you feel yourself coming back to balance again suddenly your favorite food is presented on the table your favorite food in the entire world it doesn't matter if there's only one person who can make it and they maybe aren't even here anymore they have made you this dish it is your favorite food in the world even if it's something you never allow yourself to eat but right here and now it is there and you get to take a bite of your favorite food you get to feel it go down your throat go into your stomach feel everything about it the smell the taste the texture and then just as before it turns into your least favorite food something that you practically have to spit out of your mouth almost makes you gag and you see the texture the color you see a change to this food that you just hate that makes you sick and you spit it out you push it away and you pause and again you feel these opposites move through you feel this aversion this attachment move through your senses become still the food is removed the drink is removed you sit in this room at this table and then the door opens and you see your favorite person in the world living or dead real or imagined your favorite person comes and sits on one side of you and you get to feast your eyes on them you get to listen to their voice you get to put your hands on them all of your senses so so happy because here you are in the presence of your favorite person the way they look the way they speak the way they smell and you get to just enjoy being with them and you're so immersed with your favorite person that you don't notice the door opening and someone else coming in and it is your least favorite person in the world real imagined someone you've met or never met this is the person you would dare to say you hated or the closest thing to that they come and they sit on the other side of you and the sight of them the smell of them the sound of their voice your skin crawls and you want to just throw them out of the room they sit down and they look at you and they start talking and here you are now sitting between your favorite person and your least favorite person and it's almost too much and so you push yourself back from the table and you get up and you walk out the door and you walk out this door and it's dark and it's cold and there's a tiny tiny tiny sliver of the dark moon the new moon and you allow yourself to be wrapped in the cold and the dark as you let all of this wash over you the inundation of all of your favorite things and your least favorite things and a voice says turn inward and you sit on the earth and you breathe into your body and you turn back into yourself and you realize that favorite not favorite light dark again they're all part of the same coin and it is up to us to choose to withdraw and then engage with intention to choose the middle way in these times of darkness and light and polarity and for many of us the increasing darkness right now it's so easy to choose our attachment to fight and refuse to face our aversion and you gather yourself into your heart with deep love and acceptance for yourself for the world and understanding how important it is for you to withdraw from time to time to reset and you look up at that tiny sliver of the crescent moon tiny tiny sliver and you feel that imprint on your third eye this tiny sliver of the moon imprints on your third eye helping you to always find the balance the light of the dark and you move back into the space and again there at the table your favorite drink and food and person your least favorite drink food and person and you're able to sit there in the middle and choose how to engage and you allow yourself to spend a couple of moments here consciously intentionally engaging knowing that you can handle any situation as we move forward into this season especially as you continue to take this time to rest and withdraw when you need to and with so much gratitude you think the space and you close your eyes and all the images swirl and dissolve back into the warm dark space between your eyebrows where that tiny tiny sliver of the seals in the practice as you state your sun kalpa three more times the statement from the beginning of class you stayed at three more times with gratitude appreciation and the practice of yoga nidra is now complete and as you feel the body on the earth feel the heaviness of the back body and the softness of the front body notice the sounds in the room sounds in the body sounds outside notice the temperature of the body sensation of the blanket sensation of the air on your face let yourself swallow observing the taste in the mouth take a breath noticing the smell in your nostrils and as you start to deepen your breath and bring yourself back wiggling stretching and i'd like to invite you to keep the eyes closed as long as you can and we'll come out of the practice the same way we came in when you're ready to roll to one side or come up if you can again reach for that sensory item and it's okay if it's not available anymore you can still find something to gaze at smell taste or even just to consciously put your hands on and let yourself re-engage with the sensory world maybe noticing any difference after the practice notice if any your sense is more heightened more present more present so and then take a big big breath in hold it at the top exhale everything out everything out everything out when you can't hold it out anymore you can inhale bring your hands to your heart or place your hands on the body offering gratitude for our dark moon practice of pratyahara if you'd like to tone the sound of om to come back in this space you can join me or just listen oh oh howdy ohm tat sat thank you for practicing