Yoga Nidra - A Kosha Journey Of Listening Within

Explore the five koshas, the layered sheaths of being described in yoga philosophy, through gentle, embodied awareness. This yoga nidra guides you from the physical body into breath and energy, through the movements of the mind, into the quieter layer of intuition and wisdom, and finally into the spacious stillness of bliss. Rather than thinking about each layer, you feel your way through them, using sensation, breath and felt sense as doorways inward. Ideal for deep relaxation, nervous system rest, and anyone curious about yoga philosophy as a lived experience.

Transcript

Welcome to this Connecting to the Koshas practice. For today's practice, You can find a comfortable seat or a comfortable lying down position. We won't be going into a very deep yoga nidra state today. We'll be working somewhere between waking and dreaming. So finding a bit more softness in the body, Allowing the body to speak to our awareness. But having enough awareness so that we can notice what is happening. And to notice that very consciously. As we work through the different koshas, I will invite you to reflect on each of them and then give you some pause to do so. And rather than trying to attribute words, See if you can approach it with full receptivity and full openness to just feeling the raw experience in the body, From the physical to the more subtle. So rather than trying to name it in the moment, Just experience it for what it is right now, And then afterwards in the reflection you can bring words to what you experienced. So now getting ready for the practice, Making yourself very comfortable, Adjusting anything you need to with your clothes or pillows or blankets or more. And then taking a nice, Deep, Full breath in through the nose. And then a nice, Loud sighing out. Again, A deep, Full breath in. And is sighing out. Become aware of your heels, Your legs, Your hips, Your spine, Your shoulders, Your arms, Your hands, The back of your head. And on your next exhalation, Feel yourself sinking deeper into all these points of contact. Consciously inviting the body to rest. Take a deep, Slow breath in here. And with your exhale again, Sinking a little deeper. I invite you now to become aware of your ears. So becoming aware of the ears and noticing the most distant sounds around you, Moving your awareness around and around. And whatever is there, Notice it and then move to the next sound, To the next. Just becoming aware of everything that's happening around you. From here, You can draw the awareness a little closer. And then noticing the sound in the room where you are. Maybe there are less sounds, Maybe it is quiet, But notice the spaces, The sounds. Letting your ears build up a feeling or a sense of where you are and what surrounds you. And then one last time, Drawing your awareness in even closer, Bringing awareness in towards the nose. Listening to the sound of your own breath for a moment. Not changing the breath, But just letting your sense of hearing become more refined. To notice the very soft, Subtle sounds of your breath. From here, We'll bring our awareness into the whole of the body. So bringing the awareness to Anamaya Kosha, The physical sheath. Anamaya Kosha, The physical body, The food body. And I invite you to feel its shape, To feel its weight, To feel its warmth. Letting your awareness gently move through the whole of the body, Head to toe, Touching on all the parts all together or bit by bit. Becoming aware of your skin as the boundary, The outer boundary of this sheath. And then feeling into this physical body, Notice where the body feels at ease. And notice where in some ways it might have unease or tightness or fatigue. And then from here, Taking a moment, Deep full breath in, Exhale, Asking, What does my body need? And then quietly listening to whatever comes up in terms of sensations, Images or more. Taking a nice deep full breath in now. Long, Slow exhale. Now becoming aware first of the physical breath. Seeing if you can feel the aliveness in the breath. A sense of energy flowing in and out through the nose. And then more than just physical air, Feeling into the more subtle energetic currents that inhalation and exhalation bring into the whole of your body. Notice whether the sense of energy reaches everywhere in the body. Notice whether there's a tingling, Whether the flows feel smooth. Are there areas that feel less? Are there areas that feel more? Is there perhaps a pulsing to the sensation through the body? And then whether it is one cohesive experience or different parts feeling different things. Taking a moment to ask yourself, How is my energy today? And again resting back in silence to receive an answer. Again, Taking a deep, Full breath in through your nose. And exhale. Again, Awareness now shifts to manomaya kosha, The mind and the emotions. A more subtle layer, Less tangible sensation, But more impression. Noticing any thoughts, Any feelings, Any images, And just allowing them to come and go. Noticing if they have a specific location where they feel like they're arising from. Maybe different impressions and different locations. Just observing with curiosity what is moving through, Like clouds in the sky. Notice if there is a sense of lightness to it. Or heaviness. Maybe busyness or a sense of quiet. And then taking a moment to ask yourself, What am I carrying? And then moving into stillness to receive. Again, Taking a deep, Full breath in and a long, Slow exhale. Now moving into vijnanamaya akosha or the wisdom body. Become aware of the awareness that has been noticing the body, The breath, And the mind. Rather than trying to visualize it, Just feel into what it feels like. Resting as the one who observes for a moment. Then asking yourself here, What do I know to be true for myself right now? And then resting back into silence for a while to receive. Again, Taking a deep full breath in through your nose. Exhale, Release slowly. Now feeling into Anandamaya Kosha, The bliss body, The bliss of just being. A point where we can begin to drop the mind. So letting the sense of watching and observing soften. Seeing if you can find stillness somewhere in the body, Somewhere in the mind or the experience of being. And then resting your awareness there on that sense of stillness. And letting it expand into the rest of your being. If you can't find it, Notice the reaching. Take a deep breath, Exhale, And again just find any spot in your awareness, In your being, Where the stillness might reside. And just rest on it with ease, Letting it gently ripple through and expand into the rest of you. Until that all remains is just the sense of being. Here, Gently ask yourself, What brings me joy? What brings me deep sense of bliss and connection. What is it that brings me to this place? To this experience and then sinking back into the silence of the moment. Allowing yourself to receive. Slowly taking a full breath in through your nose. And exhaling out. Becoming aware of the different layers one by one. Becoming aware of the observer, The mind, The breath, The body. And then feeling your whole body resting here. Feel the body waking up. First, Letting the breath deepen and then moving your fingers and your toes. When you're ready, You can open your eyes, Stretch out through the whole body. Rest here for a few moments, Letting the experience just settle into the body for a moment and staying with it. And then when you're ready, You can move on to your reflection sheet and jot down all the insights and impressions that you received during the practice. Hare Om.