Yoga Nidra Practice: 61 Point

Allow Birgitte to lead you through a beautiful 61 Point Meditation, a Yoga Nidra practice. It is a systematic relaxation exercise where you allow your awareness and attention to travel to different points in the body (Shavayatra: travelling through the body). This is a deeply centering and relaxing meditation designed to bring to the fore, inner warmth and energy, and rid the body of toxicity or stress. This session will conclude with a rejuvinating breath awareness practice.

Transcript

Thank you so much for joining me for this practice of Yoga Nidra.

This is one of my favorite practices.

It's called the 61-Point Meditation.

It's of the Himalayan tradition,

And I was taught this particular meditation from Rolf Sivvic,

Who is a yogic scholar at the Himalayan Institute in Pennsylvania.

Please take a moment to make yourself comfortable.

You can place a pillow or fold a blanket under your head and neck,

And perhaps also a bolster or a cushion under your knees.

Now keep in mind that your body likely will cool down,

So consider covering yourself with a blanket.

In this particular practice,

As we travel through the body,

We'll focus on specific points.

This is called the 61-Point Meditation.

After the completion,

I'll also add a breath awareness exercise.

So let's get started.

As you get comfortable on your back,

Start to sense the touch points of your body on the floor.

Bring your attention to your legs,

Your feet,

Your pelvis.

Become aware of your shoulders,

Your arms,

And your hands.

Especially spend a little bit more time in the palms of your hands.

If you stay there long enough,

You might start to feel a sense of thickness,

Warmth,

Energy.

In yoga,

We call that prana,

Life force.

Bring your attention to your torso,

Front and back,

The inside of your torso as well.

Bring your attention to the back of your head,

The crown of your head,

Your face,

Your forehead,

Your eyes,

Your cheeks,

Your nose,

Your mouth,

Jaw.

Now sensing your whole body from the crown of your head all the way down to your toes.

And as you're breathing in,

Feel the air flowing in through your nose.

Sense the gentle touch of air in your nostrils.

Sense the rising and falling of your belly so that you start to cultivate a felt sense of your breath.

Notice how your body is breathing.

Bring your attention to sounds.

Allow your ears to open to sounds.

Notice the more obvious sounds,

Maybe sounds coming from the outside.

And then eventually the more subtle sounds.

And again,

Sensing your whole body breathing in and your whole body breathing out.

Feeling a sense of relaxation.

Maybe your body is starting to feel heavy,

Perhaps spacious at the same time.

Let's start the 61-point meditation.

Bring your attention to the space between your eyebrows,

The eyebrow center.

Now you can either visualize a point of light,

A white star perhaps,

Or just sense a point of energy.

Sometimes it's helpful to imagine that you can breathe in and out through the space between your eyebrows or to whichever point I direct you to.

On your next exhalation,

Bring your attention to your throat center.

Bring your attention to your right shoulder,

The core of your shoulder.

Your right elbow.

Right wrist.

The tip of your right thumb.

The tip of your right index finger.

The tip of the middle finger.

The tip of the ring finger.

And the tip of the little finger.

Right wrist.

Right elbow.

And right shoulder.

Back to the center of your throat.

Left shoulder,

The core of your left shoulder.

Left elbow joint.

Left wrist.

Tip of your left thumb.

Tip of your left index finger.

Tip of your middle finger.

Tip of your ring finger.

And tip of the little finger.

Left wrist.

Left elbow.

Left shoulder.

And the center of your throat.

On your next exhalation,

Bring your attention to your heart center,

The center of your chest.

Again,

Perhaps visualize a point of light or sense a point of energy or breathing in and out through the center of your chest.

Right side of your chest.

Center of your chest.

Left side of your chest.

And heart center.

On your next exhalation,

Bring your attention to your navel center.

On your next exhalation,

Bring your attention to your pelvic center.

The space right in front of your sacrum.

Core of your right hip.

Right knee.

Right ankle joint.

Tip of your right big toe.

Tip of your second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

And tip of the little toe.

Right ankle joint.

Right knee.

And right hip.

Back to the center of your pelvis.

Left hip.

Core of your left hip.

Left knee.

Left ankle joint.

Tip of the left big toe.

Tip of the second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

And tip of the little toe.

Ankle joint.

Knee.

And left hip.

Center of your pelvis.

Navel center.

Heart center.

Throat center.

Eyebrow center.

Pause here for a moment.

Instead of being right at the space between your eyebrows,

See if you can go a little bit deeper inside.

So that you're more centered right at the top of your head.

Bring your attention to the crown of your head.

And as you exhale,

Exhale from the crown of your head all the way to your toes.

And as you inhale from your toes,

Breathing all the way up through your body to the crown of your head.

And exhaling from the crown of your head to your toes as a wave that's moving out.

And as you inhale,

Imagine the wave moving in all the way up to the crown of your head.

So continue this kind of breathing.

Exhaling from the crown of your head to your toes.

Inhaling,

Breathing from your toes up to the crown of your head.

And continue this way another four or five rounds.

Next time you exhale from the crown of your head,

Exhale down to your ankles.

And as you inhale from your ankles,

Breathing up your body to the crown of your head.

And continue this another four or five times.

As you exhale,

The wave is receding.

And as you inhale,

The wave is coming to the shore.

And next time you exhale from the crown of your head,

Exhale down to your knees.

And from your knees,

Breathing up to the crown of your head,

Continue that another four or five times.

And next time you exhale from the crown of your head,

Exhale down to the base of your pelvis.

And from your pelvis,

Breathing up to the crown of your head.

And continue this another four or five times.

And next time you exhale from the crown of your head,

Down to your navel center.

And from your navel center,

Breathing up to the crown of your head.

And continue that another four or five times.

And sensing the waves of the breath.

And with your next exhalation,

Exhale down to your heart center.

And inhaling from your heart center to the crown of your head.

And continue that on your own.

And on your next exhalation,

Exhale down to your throat center,

Inhaling from your throat center to the crown of your head.

And next time you exhale from the crown of your head to the eyebrow center.

And inhaling from the eyebrow center to the crown of your head.

Continue this on your own.

On your next exhalation,

Exhale to the base of your nose.

And as you're breathing in,

Breathe up to the eyebrow center.

Exhaling to the base of your nose.

Inhaling up to the eyebrow center.

And from the eyebrow center,

Exhale to the base of your nose.

Continue this on your own.

And eventually from the base of your nose,

Breathe up to the crown of your head.

And exhale back to the eyebrow center.

Inhaling from the eyebrow center to the crown of your head.

And exhale again to the eyebrow center.

Inhaling to the crown of your head.

And exhale now to the throat center.

Inhaling from your throat center to the crown of your head.

And exhale again to the throat center.

Inhale to the crown of your head.

And now exhale to your heart center.

And breathe from your heart center to the crown of your head.

And exhaling to the heart center.

Inhaling to the crown of your head.

And exhaling to your navel center.

Inhaling from your navel center to the crown of your head.

And exhale to the navel center.

Inhaling to the crown of your head.

And exhaling to the pelvic center.

Inhaling from the center of your pelvis to the crown of your head.

And exhale all the way to your knees.

Inhaling from your knees to the crown of your head.

And exhale all the way to your ankles.

Inhaling from your ankles all the way to the crown of your head.

And exhale to your toes.

Inhale from your toes all the way up to the crown of your head.

Beyond the crown of your head into infinity.

Breathing into the right side of your body as if you can breathe beyond the borders of your body.

And do that another four or five rounds.

And when you're ready bring your attention to the left side of your body.

Imagine that you can breathe beyond the borders of your body to the left.

So there's a sense of expansion to the left as you're breathing in.

And do that a few more times on your own.

And bring your attention to the back of your body.

And imagine that you can breathe the back of your body into the floor,

Through the floor.

So again in a sense of raising the physical borders of the back of your body.

And bring your attention to the front of your body.

And imagine as you're breathing in that you're breathing through the front of your body into the space above your body.

And bring your attention to the soles of your feet.

And imagine as you're exhaling,

You're exhaling beyond the soles of your feet into space.

And as you're breathing in you're breathing up your whole body to the crown of your head,

Beyond the crown of your head into space.

And allow your body to expand in all directions,

Side to side,

Front and back,

From the feet,

From the crown of your head.

And as you're breathing in imagine that your whole body is expanding in all those directions.

So that you start to feel more open,

Expansive,

Spacious.

And bring your mind's eye to the center of this wide open space.

And allow that center to be right in the center of your chest.

And finding your own inner seat of absolute stillness.

The last few moments here,

Notice how you feel.

Perhaps you sense feeling content,

Relaxed,

Peaceful.

A quiet,

Uncaused joy that you might feel joyful by simply experiencing your own inner self.

And as you're feeling this place of stillness,

Perhaps you also feel a sense of connectedness to the world around you.

You can either stay here for a little bit longer,

Or as you get ready to come out of this practice,

Take your time,

Allow your breathing to gradually deepen,

So that you start to transition from the inside to the outside.

Perhaps place your hands on your belly or chest.

I can feel very grounding,

Centering,

Connecting.

And then eventually you can roll over onto either side.

And take your time to get out of this position.

Find your way perhaps into a comfortable seat.

And bring your hands together in front of your chest in Anjali Mudra.

And lift your chest and bow your head.

Take a moment in gratitude,

Perhaps appreciating yourself,

Someone or something in your life,

Or maybe as simple as appreciating the time to practice,

Or perhaps appreciating your breath,

Appreciating your practice.

I thank you for joining me for this Yoga Nidra practice.

Namaste.

Reviews

Thank you much, this is amazing and relaxing. Namaste

Such an artfullly delivered nidra you offer. I found That breathing technique magical.
Thank you 🙏

Wonderful, feeling the place of nothingness... Thank you!!

This practice was very calming. I was nearly asleep by the end. The pace is perfect. Thank you so much.

I fell asleep and don’t remember. Just what I needed.

Well done. A great combination of body scan using yoga nidra and a breathing exercise. I did it first thing in the morning. After I felt calm, aware, and confident. Great way to start my day. Namaste!

I love this meditation!
I feel grounded and sleep soundly when I practice this one daily.
Thank you Birgitte ❤️

This is the first time I practiced on the floor with one of your files. Saturday morning allows me the space and time to practice more mindfully. I love this particular practice as it keeps my conscious mind grounded. I was joined by my dog Siena and my kitten Chloe gave me some kisses as well. All of that made it more special to still feel that pleasant galaxy of emptiness inside towards the end. The balancing exercise are wonderful techniques I can practice in traffic or during a stressful encounter—albeit in a smaller way of course. I hear the birds outside between my stillness even as write this. Thank you! Namaste. :)

Amazing practise, thank you!🙏🏻

A well-paced yoga nidra that I've used many times. Great voice and lengthy enough that I seldom hear the breath awareness exercises

Very lovely, brought me back to center. Namaste. 🌸

Lovely! Thank you

Lovely. Deeply refreshing— thank you.🙏

This was a lovely practice. Thank you for the thoughtful selection of these powerfully peaceful Yoga Nidra techniques. Your voice is soothing, kind and confident; your pace was even and easy and not rushed. Blessings.

Thank you for sharing this yoga nidra practice. It is simple and powerful.
Namaste

Very peaceful. Thank you.

Very calming and pleasant. Nice voice, not singsongy

I really enjoyed washing the breath from different points throughout the body. Very lovely practice. Thank you 🙏🏼

Imagine finding one of my favourite teachers here! Listening to your lovely voice again brought back very nice memories of Santa Monica and slow living by the big ocean. Thank you so much from the north of Sweden!

A beautiful practice. I felt so relaxed and peaceful after, that I felt right asleep-which is rare for me. Thank you so very much and truly appreciate this.