Yoga Nidra At The Full Moon

This is a live Yoga Nidra practice streamed on May 7, 2020, on the occasion of a big and beautiful full moon. This Nidra is based on the teachings of Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the Bihar School. It is a complete and full-length practice, touching on all five Koshas.

Transcript

Let's begin our practice.

Let your eyes close down.

And prepare now for yoga nidra.

Let your body be stretched out and your feet apart.

Remember to flip the palms so that the palms face up.

Now go ahead and make any necessary adjustments so that you're as comfortable as possible at this moment.

What we work towards in yoga nidra is no physical movement at all.

So find a really comfortable spot,

A place on your mat where you feel like you could remain there almost indefinitely.

Now make final adjustments.

And remember that you're about to practice yoga nidra called psychic sleep.

And remember all you need to do is maintain awareness of my voice and just feel whatever it is I say.

Let your body sleep,

But your mind will remain awake,

Alert so that there's no sleeping.

Now say to yourself,

I will not sleep.

I will remain awake.

Take a deep breath.

As you breathe in,

Feel coolness and calmness spreading throughout the body.

And as you breathe out,

Feel your cares and worries flowing out with the exhale,

Completely dropping away.

Again,

Breathing in,

Feel coolness and calmness.

Feel it spreading throughout the whole body.

As you breathe out,

Feel all your cares and worries dropping away.

Now become aware of your body and relax completely.

Let yourself become physically calm and steady.

Feel that your legs are relaxed in your trunk,

Your head and the arms and your hands.

Develop an awareness of your physical body from the top of your head to the tips of the toes.

And say in your mind,

AUM.

Complete awareness of the whole body and say to yourself again,

AUM.

Now relax your whole body mentally.

Relax yourself mentally.

Relax yourself by breathing normally and becoming aware of the breath as it moves between the navel and the throat.

Maintain awareness of your natural breath.

Try not to force it.

Notice the navel to throat breathing.

Stay with that awareness and slowly feel yourself becoming more and more and more relaxed.

Now let go of your breathing and become aware that you're going to practice yoga nidra.

Yoga nidra begins now.

If you have an intention for this practice,

We call it a sankalpa in Sanskrit.

Now is the time to bring up that intention.

Now slowly repeat your intention to yourself with feeling and awareness three times.

And if you have no intention for this practice,

That's fine too.

Now we'll bring awareness to parts of the body.

Allow your consciousness to move around the body and as it moves,

It will change into prana,

Vital energy.

Don't concentrate on any one part,

But let your mind jump freely from part to part as I name it.

We'll begin with the right hand thumb.

Second finger on the right hand.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth finger.

Palm.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Lower arm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Arm pit.

Waist.

Hip.

Right thigh.

Knee cap.

Calf.

Ankle.

Heel.

Sole.

Top of the right foot.

The toes.

Big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

The little toe.

Now the thumb on the left hand.

Second finger.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth finger.

Palm of the left hand.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Lower arm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Wrist.

Arm pit.

Waist.

Hip.

Left thigh.

Knee cap.

Calf.

Ankle.

Sole.

Top of the left foot.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Little toe.

Now go to the toes on the right foot.

Start from the bottom.

Right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth.

Fifth.

Top of the foot.

Bottom of the foot.

Heel.

Ankle.

Calf.

Knee cap.

Thigh.

Hip.

Waist.

Arm pit.

Shoulder.

Upper arm.

Elbow.

Lower arm.

Wrist.

Back of the hand.

Thumb.

Thumb on the right hand.

Second finger.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth finger.

Now go to the toes on the left foot.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth.

Top of the left foot.

Sole.

Heel.

Ankle.

Heel.

Knee cap.

Thigh.

Hip.

Waist.

Arm pit.

Shoulder.

Upper arm.

Heel.

Elbow.

Lower.

Wrist.

Back of the left hand.

Palm.

Thumb.

Second finger.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth.

Now go to the back of the body.

Back of the head.

Feel where it touches the floor.

Right shoulder blade.

Left shoulder blade.

The whole spine.

Right hip.

Left hip.

Right buttock.

Left buttock.

Back of the right thigh.

Back of the left thigh.

Go to the back of the right knee.

Then the back of the left knee.

Right calf.

Left calf.

Right ankle.

Left ankle.

Right heel.

Left heel.

Right ankle.

Left ankle.

Right calf.

Left calf.

Back of the right knee.

Back of the left knee.

Back of the right thigh.

Back of the left thigh.

Right buttock.

Left buttock.

Right hip.

Left hip.

The whole spine.

Right shoulder blade.

Left shoulder blade.

Back of the head.

Now go to the front of the body.

Start at the top of the head.

Now the forehead.

Right eyebrow.

Left eyebrow.

The space between the eyebrows.

Right eyelid.

Left eyelid.

Right eye.

Left eye.

Left eye.

Right ear.

Left ear.

Right nostril.

Left nostril.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Left cheek.

The upper lip.

Lower lip.

Chin.

Jaw.

Throat.

Right collarbone.

Left collarbone.

Middle of the chest.

Naval.

Upper abdomen.

Lower abdomen.

Right thigh.

Left thigh.

Right knee.

Left knee.

Toes on the right foot.

Toes on the left foot.

Right knee.

Left knee.

Right thigh.

Left thigh.

Right thigh.

Left thigh.

Lower abdomen.

Upper abdomen.

Naval.

Middle of the chest.

Right collarbone.

Left collarbone.

Throat.

Jaw.

Chin.

Lower lip.

Upper lip.

Upper lip.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Right nostril.

Left nostril.

Right ear.

Left ear.

Right eye.

Left eye.

Right eyelid.

Right eyelid.

Left eyelid.

Right eyebrow.

Left eyebrow.

Eyebrow center.

Forehead.

Head.

Top of the head.

Stay alert.

No sleeping.

Now the major parts of the body.

The whole right leg.

The whole left leg.

The whole right leg.

Both legs together.

The right arm.

Left arm.

Both arms together.

The whole back.

The whole front.

The whole head.

Now bring your awareness to the whole body.

Visualize the whole body.

The whole body.

Awareness to the whole body.

Now intensify your awareness of the whole body.

The whole body.

The whole body.

Become aware now of the meeting points between your body and the floor.

Feel the meeting points between the body and the floor.

Feel the floor holding you to its bosom like a baby in arms.

Now concentrate on the body as if you're seeing it from the outside.

Look on your body as an object.

See your head.

Your clothes.

Your whole body from top to bottom.

Lying in cevasana.

Now see your body as an object.

A reflection in an imaginary mirror.

You are looking at your own reflection in the mirror.

And you see yourself lying on the floor.

Your feet.

Your legs.

Your abdomen.

Chest.

Arms.

Hands.

Closed eyes.

Forehead.

Hair.

Everything reflected perfectly in that mirror.

Awareness of your body as an object.

Now check in and make sure you're not sleeping.

Now bring your attention to the natural quiet breath.

Become aware of the breath through the nostrils.

Notice how the natural breath flows through both nostrils.

And meets at the top of the nose to form a triangle.

The breath enters through the nostril openings.

Moves upwards and draws together to form a triangle with its apex at eyebrow center.

Be aware of the breath passing through both nostrils.

Think of the breath as starting separately from a distance and drawing near.

And uniting from the left side and the right side at eyebrow center.

Now become aware of each breath and try and determine its temperature.

Move back and forth between the left and the right nostrils.

Comparing the temperatures of the breath.

Continue your awareness of breathing.

But now imagine you're breathing through alternate nostrils.

In through one nostril and out through the other.

Up and down the sides of the triangle and back again.

Continue breathing from side to side.

Keeping your full awareness on the breath.

Now release awareness of the breath.

And awaken the experience of heaviness in the whole body.

Become aware of heaviness in each part of the body as its name.

Toes.

Heels.

Ankles.

Calves.

Knees.

Thighs.

Buttocks.

Back.

Abdomen.

Chest.

Shoulders.

Arms.

Palms.

Head.

Eyelids.

Now the whole body.

Heavy.

The whole body.

Heavy.

Experience the feeling of heaviness in the whole body.

Now begin to manifest the experience of lightness in the body.

Move from the top of the head.

Shoulders.

Palms.

Back.

Chest.

Abdomen.

Thighs.

Knees.

Calves.

Heels.

Soles.

Toes.

Become aware of the experience of lightness in the whole body.

From the top of the head to the tips of the toes.

The lightness of the body can be developed by feeling the meeting points between the body and the floor.

Point by point or as a whole.

Concentrate on this area of meeting and gradually experience lightness.

Perhaps begin to feel yourself floating up from the floor.

You are so light that you're floating to the ceiling.

Drifting back and forth.

Experiencing lightness in the body.

Now let go of the experience of lightness.

Begin to think of an ocean.

Think of a dark blue ocean and become aware of the waves in the ocean.

This ocean lies within inner space.

In Sanskrit we call it Chidikasha.

The rolling waves represent sleep.

The manifesting unconscious state of your mind.

Become aware of sleep and try and visualize this state of unconsciousness within you.

Like waves on an ocean.

Above there is a beautiful blue sky.

And below is the vast ocean with infinite waves.

The manifestation of unconsciousness.

Now let go of the visualization of the ocean and imagine instead a well.

Imagine a well that you're looking into.

The well is dark and deep.

A tunnel into the depths of the earth.

Notice now that there's a bucket on a chain over the well.

Allow yourself to lower the bucket into the well.

And notice as the bucket moves into deep darkness.

You can still feel it on the chain in the depths.

But you can't see it.

Now pull the bucket up.

Bring it up out of the darkness and into the light.

Now let's lower the bucket again.

But this time if you wish you can climb into the bucket and I will lower you down.

And then pull you up again.

Perfectly safely.

Now you're in the bucket and winding the chain down.

You're descending slowly through the light and moving into darkness.

Unknown.

All pervading darkness.

Complete darkness and emptiness all around.

It's so dark you can't see yourself.

But you know and feel that you are.

You descend a little further with complete awareness that you are.

And now I'm winding you up.

Up through the darkness.

Into the dim light.

And from the dim light into the daylight.

And out of the well.

Now you have to concentrate on yourself.

As if you were practicing yoga poses.

Try and visualize yourself from the outside doing the poses.

Just with mental awareness only.

Do not move your body.

Begin in a standing posture.

Now reach your arms up and overhead.

Bring the palms together then lift your chin into a little backbend.

As you exhale bring the chin to your chest and fold forward bringing the hands down to the mat.

Bring your hands to the mat and step back with your left foot.

And now step the right foot back to meet the left foot.

Finding plank pose.

Bring your knees to the mat.

Let your chest and chin follow.

Now move into cobra pose lifting your chest up off the mat.

As you exhale tuck your toes and lift your hips.

Finding downward facing dog.

In downward dog feel as you press your hands into the mat and reach your tailbone towards the top of the wall behind you lengthening the spine.

Now bend your knees.

Bend them even a little bit more deeply.

Now take a beautiful hop forward.

So the feet end up between the hands.

Bring your arms out to a T reaching the hands apart from one another.

Press into the front of the feet and with a long spine rise all the way up.

Once you're standing reach your arms up and overhead.

And as you exhale bring your hands to heart center pressing the palms together.

Now you're going to travel into the past.

In the same way you've traveled from the past to the present retracing the steps of your memory and consciousness backwards from this time.

The past is a part of time and time is part of your mind.

Normally you walk forward in time but now we'll try and walk backwards.

Try to remember what happened from the present time to the time you got up this morning.

You have to go back in time as if you were watching a film running in reverse.

Remember back to the start of yoga nidra.

Then recall what you were doing in the half hour before that.

Remember the important objects and feelings in that time.

And then keep on moving in half hour stages to when you awaken this morning.

Try.

Stage by stage with full awareness visualize and recall what you were doing.

What you were thinking and what you were feeling.

Moving backwards a half hour at a time.

When you've finished bring your mind directly back to the present moment.

Now check in and make sure you're not sleeping.

I'm going to name a few objects and you should try and visualize each object as I name it.

A flickering candle.

A weeping willow tree.

A car moving on a road.

A starlit night.

A full moon.

A pond with clear water.

Chimney smoke rising from an old house.

A cold winter.

Dawn of the day.

Now intensify your awareness and go to an infinite ocean calm and quiet.

And try to discover a sound there.

There is a sound in infinite ocean.

Dark green jungle on the shore.

From the shore path leads to a lonely cottage in the jungle.

The yogi is sitting outside.

In a cross legged position.

There is a fire and a smell of incense.

The fragrance of flowers and an atmosphere of tranquility.

All around can be heard the sound of OM.

The chanting of OM over the infinite ocean.

If you had an intention for this practice,

Recall that intention now.

Remember your sankalpa and repeat it three times.

Now relax all effort and bring your attention to your natural breath.

Feel the breath flowing in and out through both nostrils.

Keep your awareness on your breath but at the same time develop an awareness of physical relaxation.

Awareness of relaxation and awareness of your physical existence.

Become aware of the physical existence of your body.

Now visualize your body lying on the floor.

Now begin to visualize the room around you but keeping your eyes closed.

Let your mind become completely external.

You are practicing yoga nidra.

Become aware of this fact.

Now lie quietly until your attention is completely externalized.

When you're ready begin to move your body as if you were waking from a long and restful sleep.

When you're ready slowly bring yourself to a seat.

Keep your eyes still gently closed as you come to a seat and a cross-legged position.

Now bring your palms together at heart center and then begin rubbing the palms together.

As you do that more and more vigorously begin to feel a heat building up in the palms.

Once you feel that heat open the palms towards the sky and bring the palms to your closed eyes.

Now slowly open your eyes to the warmed palms and then release your hands down to your lap.

And this completes our practice of yoga nidra.

I offer you loving kindness.

May you be happy and well and may you be safe.

May you be peaceful and may you always be at ease.

Namaste.

Reviews

A full and thorough practice - I can't stop smiling! Thank you! Namaste 🙏😊❤️

Garry, incredibly wonderful nidra practice. I love the long body rotation. Thank you so very much for touching the Full Moon.