Yoga Nidra: Exploring Coalescence & Decoalescence

This is a recording of a live Yoga Nidra practice streamed on April 23, 2020. This practice explores the cyclical nature of Reality and the Self, following the coalescence that results in the formation of Self and the inevitable decoalescence. This Yoga Nidra incorporates practices from several different lineages.

Transcript

Welcome everyone.

Good to see you.

Thank you for joining us for our yoga nidra practice on Thursday night.

Go ahead and find Shlossana as we prepare for the practice of yoga nidra.

I'll give you a minute or so to arrange whatever props you might want or need.

And I've mentioned to you several times,

Probably every time we've done yoga nidra,

I've mentioned to you the fact that it's really nice to use a rolled up blanket below the knees.

That can be very,

Very therapeutic feeling.

It can be a really nice way of releasing the muscles in the low back.

Maybe you want to turn the lights down a little bit,

Close the doors and make whatever other preparations seem appropriate for you for yoga nidra.

Now let your body begin to rest gently on your mat or blanket or the floor,

Wherever you find yourself resting and bring awareness to the senses and rest in whatever sensations you are experiencing at this moment.

Please let your eyes close down.

Notice the sensations,

Whether sounds or smells or things you are feeling on your skin or even tastes,

But try not to evaluate the sensations.

Try not to judge them as good or bad,

Just pure experience of sensations.

Just notice whatever sensory experience you're having at this moment.

Now become aware of the room that you're in and without opening your eyes,

Visualize,

Imagine the four walls,

The ceiling,

The floor,

And your body lying on the floor.

Just bring to mind that scene in which you are situated.

See your body lying on your mat and bring total awareness lying in perfect stillness.

Now become aware of your breathing.

Notice your natural breath and keep listening to me knowing that you're breathing in and breathing out.

Now say to yourself,

I am going to practice yoga nidra.

I will not sleep.

Keep your awareness on your resting breath and notice how the breath is moving for you at this moment.

Recognize the movement of the breath may be different now than it was earlier in the day or at some time in the past.

So treat this moment just as it is,

As completely unique and tune into the breath as it exists at this unique moment.

Bring awareness now back to your body and become aware that your body consists of different parts that work together in harmony.

Heart,

Lungs,

Brain,

Liver,

Stomach,

All the internal organs,

The bones,

The muscles,

Your skin,

And all the fluids circulating in your body.

Take a moment just resting your awareness on all those constituent parts,

Recognizing how each is necessary and how they all work together.

Now we'll begin the portion of yoga nidra referred to as rotation of consciousness.

As I name parts of the body,

Visualize the part and repeat its name silently,

Letting your awareness move seamlessly from place to place.

Let's begin with the thumb on the right hand and the first finger on the right hand,

The second finger,

Third finger,

Little finger on the right hand,

Palm of the right hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Elbow,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Right hip,

Right knee,

Back of the knee,

Calf,

Ankle,

Top of the right foot,

Heel of the right foot,

Instep,

Ball of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Pinky toe on the right foot,

Thumb on the left hand,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Little finger on the left hand,

Palm,

Back of the hand,

Left wrist,

Elbow,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Left hip,

Knee,

Back of the knee,

The left calf,

Ankle,

Left knee,

Ankle,

Top of the left foot,

Heel,

Instep,

Ball of the left foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Pinky toe on the left foot,

Top of the head,

Left knee,

Left hip,

Forehead,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Feel the right eye under the eyelid,

Feel the left eye under the eyelid,

Temple on the right side,

Temple on the left side,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Bridge of the nose,

Tip of the nose,

Tip of the nose,

Right nostril,

Left nostril,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Chin,

Throat,

Neck,

Neck,

Neck,

Neck,

Head,

Heart,

Solar plexus,

Navel,

Pubic bone,

Tailbone,

Lower back,

Lower back,

Lower back,

Lower back,

Middle back,

The space between the shoulder blades,

Back of the neck,

The face of the skull,

Top of the head,

Right side of the body,

Left side of the body,

The whole right leg,

The whole left leg,

Now both legs together,

The right arm,

The left arm,

Now both arms together,

The lower body,

The upper body,

Now the whole body,

Develop a homogenous awareness of the whole body,

Feel the body resting on the floor,

Notice the places where the body meets the floor,

Feel those meeting points all at once,

Not distinguishing one from another,

Now bring your awareness to the natural breath,

Become aware that you're breathing quietly and slowly,

Become conscious of your breathing,

Nothing else,

Concentrate now on the flow of the breath in the whole body,

Imagine breath flowing in and flowing out for about three cycles,

Just follow the breath in,

Feel it circulate in the body and follow it as it flows out.

Now,

Begin to realize that the breath is a physical thing,

Become aware that the breath consists of molecules of different kinds,

Oxygen,

Nitrogen,

And other gases,

Become aware that these molecules consist of atoms and that the atoms consist of other little particles held together by subtle forces,

When you breathe in,

Some of the little particles of the air like oxygen are retained by your body,

The molecules are sent by your blood to every cell in your body,

Experience that flow,

Oxygen coming in,

Flowing to every cell in the body,

Now become aware that when you breathe out,

Other molecules are swept out of the body like carbon dioxide,

Become aware of the breath and notice its constant flow of little invisible particles in and out of the body,

Continue your breathing with total awareness of this miraculous process.

Now,

Release your awareness of the breath and begin to awaken a feeling of heaviness in your body,

Become aware of heaviness in every single part of the body,

Begin to feel so heavy that it's almost as if you were sinking into the floor,

Total awareness to heaviness,

Awaken now the feeling of lightness,

Begin to feel a sensation of lightness,

A sensation of lightness and weightlessness in all parts of the body,

Notice that your body feels so light that it seems to be floating away from the floor,

The sensation of lightness,

Now cultivate the experience of cold in the body,

Awaken the experience of bitter cold,

Imagining that you're walking on a cold floor in winter barefoot,

Your feet feel very,

Very cold,

You feel cold all over,

The awareness of coldness,

Cultivate the awareness of coldness,

Awaken now the sensation of heat,

The whole body is hot,

You feel hot all over,

Recall the feeling of heat in the summer when you're out in the sun with no shade,

Heat all over the body,

Heat all around the body,

Awareness of heat,

As you breathe in imagine all the little parts that form your body coming together,

Coalescing and as you breathe out,

Imagine the little parts loosening their hold on one another and decoalescing,

Inhale,

Coalescence,

Exhale,

Decoalescence,

Three more breaths like that,

Inhaling,

Feeling the coming together,

Exhale,

Feel the decoalescing.

Now imagine that you're in a park in the early morning,

Just visualize,

The sun hasn't risen and the park is deserted except for you,

The park is calm and peaceful,

Walk across the springy grass,

Listen to the birds whistle and call as they welcome the new day,

You see gardens of flowers,

Roses yellow pink and red within the park,

See the early morning dew drops on the petals of the flowers,

Nearby is a small pond with goldfish swimming among the water lilies,

As you continue walking through the park among tall stately trees,

You come to a clearing and within the clearing is a small temple with an aura of light around it,

Go to the door and enter,

It's cool and dim inside,

Sit on the stone floor and close your eyes and just become still,

Feel in this place an undeniable sense of peace and harmony.

As you rest in stillness,

Imagine a time before all the trillions of particles coalesced to become you.

Imagine an infinite ocean of particles calm and peaceful.

Now see all the incomprehensibly minute particles forming molecules and the molecules forming elements and the elements forming substances assembling into bones and muscles,

Organs,

Fluid and skin that are uniquely you.

Feel that coalescence,

The coming together.

Now see the spark of energy that ignites the you that is more than bones,

Muscle and skin.

See the whole you complete and resting in stillness.

Keep your awareness trained on the whole you.

That which has been formed by the coming together of all these infinitesimally small particles.

Now accept the release of the forces that hold together all that is you.

Watch serenely as the atoms that make up your body begin to drift apart,

Slowly at first and then with increasing speed.

Feel yourself decoalescing,

Coming apart,

Returning to the ocean of particles from which you were formed.

Watch as the process of decoalescence accelerates faster and faster and faster.

Eventually everything is back as it was before you arose.

Nothing is out of place.

Everything is exactly as it should be.

Bring your awareness now to eyebrow center,

The space between the eyebrows.

Just let your awareness rest there.

There's nothing to do.

Just observe.

Notice what arises with your awareness at eyebrow center.

Perhaps you'll see colors or shapes,

Perhaps images,

Thoughts,

Sensations,

Emotions.

Keep your awareness at eyebrow center,

Noticing what arises.

Bring your awareness now to your heartbeat and wherever in the body you feel the heartbeat,

Let your awareness rest there.

Notice the rhythm of the heartbeat.

Notice its speed.

Stay with the rhythm of the heartbeat.

Now let it go.

Relax all effort and become aware of your breathing.

Notice your natural breath.

There's no need to change the breath or shape it in any way.

The way you are breathing right now is perfect.

There is nothing to change.

Bring your awareness now to your whole body and feel your whole body lying totally relaxed on the floor.

Feel your whole body breathing quietly and slowly.

Now let your awareness drift from the top of your head all the way down to the tips of the toes and say to yourself,

Om.

Repeat that twice more.

Om.

And one more time.

Om.

Now become aware of the position of your body on the floor and aware of your surroundings.

Keep the eyes closed but begin to visualize the room.

Remember the four walls,

The ceiling and the floor.

Remember where your body was positioned.

Now allow your consciousness to return to that body.

Begin to imagine awakening from a very restful sleep.

If you like,

You can begin to stretch a little bit.

See the fingers and the toes and then the wrists and the ankles.

Reinhabit your whole body.

Now begin to bend your knees.

The eyes can stay closed down.

Bend the knees and then roll to your right side if you have space to do that.

And just pause on your side for a moment.

Breathing in the experience of being on your side with your knees bent.

As you're ready,

Bring yourself to a seat.

And once you're fully seated,

Bring your hands to heart center,

Pressing your palms together.

Now breathe in deeply and then a big open mouth exhale.

Do that again.

A big deep breath in and let it go.

Please join me as we offer loving kindness to all beings.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be well.

May all beings be safe.

May all beings be peaceful.

And may all beings be at ease.

Namaste.

This completes our practice of Yoga Nidra.

Thank you so much for being here and for practicing Yoga Nidra with us.

Reviews

Garry, with all my thanks and gratitude for another great nidra practice. This one went deep and I love it.

Thank you…so good and soothing

Really phenomenal practice, the pace is perfect and I slip easily into nidra but with an awareness that is held just so. Your voice is soft soothing and comforting, my deepest gratitude for such a lovely experience.