Kaya Sthiryam Practice – Body Stillness Practice

This practice focuses on concentrating on the steadiness of the body. In Sanskrit, 'Kaya' means 'body', and 'Sthiryam' means 'steadiness'. By achieving physical stillness, you can also calm and steady the mind due to the deep connection between the two.

Transcript

Welcome to this body stillness practice.

According to the yoga teachings of meditation,

The mind can only become and stay one-pointed if the physical body is still.

As soon as any part of the body moves,

The mind moves as well.

So in this session we're going to practice Gaya's theorem,

Which literally means body steadiness or body stillness.

Let's start the practice by chanting Aum three times.

Aum.

Aum.

Aum.

Find in a comfortable sitting position with your spine straight and the back of your neck long.

Let your hands rest on your thighs or your knees with your arms and shoulders relaxed.

Gently push your hips into the floor and reach with the top of your head towards the ceiling.

Keeping a gentle smile on your lips,

Become aware of a feeling of peace and goodness all around you.

Let me invite you to really ensure that you find that comfortable position so that you are able to stay still for the next 30 minutes.

And let me invite you to make a commitment to yourself to maintain complete physical stillness for the duration of this practice.

Decide now that even if you feel discomfort or itching or a scratch or any impulse to move that you will resist and remain still.

Tell yourself now I will not move any part of my body till the end of this practice because I can.

Visualize your body as if you are seeing it in front of a full-length mirror.

Starting at your feet,

Scan your body from the bottom up towards your head.

Observe every detail,

Shape and position.

Starting with your feet and now observe your legs,

Observe your hips,

Observe your spine,

Observe your belly as your breath inhales and exhales naturally.

Observe your chest and observe your heart in the mirror in front of you.

Look at the shape of your fingers,

Your hands,

Your arms,

The position of your shoulders.

See yourself in the full-length mirror in front of you and notice the shape of your lips,

Your nose,

Your ears,

Your eyes,

Your forehead,

Your complete face.

Now continue to visualize your whole body as a whole from the front and now visualize your whole body from the back.

Now visualize your whole body from the right side and now from the left side.

And finally visualize your whole body from the top.

Now let me invite you to bring your awareness to the sensations of your body.

Become aware of your posture and the various sensations you feel in your body.

Hot or cold,

Tension or relaxation,

Heaviness or lightness,

Pain or pleasure.

Observe your whole body for these sensations.

Now direct your awareness to your feet.

Become aware of your feet.

Feel any sensation in your feet.

The pressure against the floor,

The flow of the blood,

Any tingling and at the same time visualize the exact shape and position of your feet.

Observe the complete stillness of your feet.

Now shift your awareness to your lower legs.

Feel any sensations in your calves and shins and visualize them in detail.

Continue to be aware of their stillness.

Now direct your awareness to your knees and become aware of your knees.

Feel any sensation in your knees.

Tension,

Relaxation,

Hot,

Cold and at the same time visualize the exact shape and position of your knees.

Observe the complete stillness of your knees.

Shift your awareness now to your thighs.

Feel any sensation in your thighs and your upper leg and visualize them in detail.

Continue to be aware of the stillness in your whole legs.

Now direct your awareness to your pelvis and your abdomen.

Become aware of your pelvis and your abdomen.

Feel any sensations there.

Heaviness,

Lightness,

Pain,

Pleasure and at the same time visualize the exact shape and position of your pelvis and your abdomen and observe the complete stillness of these.

Now shift your awareness to your chest.

Feel any sensations in your chest and visualize them in detail.

Continue to be aware of the stillness of your chest and shift your awareness to your heart.

Feel the sensations in your heart.

Any pain,

Any pleasure,

Any heaviness,

Any lightness and continue to be aware of its stillness.

Now direct your awareness to the whole of the back.

Become aware of your whole back and feel any sensations here.

Hot,

Cold,

Tension,

Relaxation,

Tightness or heaviness and at the same time visualize the exact shape and position of the whole of your back and observe the complete stillness of your back.

Now shift your awareness to the arms and the hands and feel any sensations in your arms and hands and visualize them in detail and continue to be aware of their stillness.

And finally now direct your awareness to the neck.

Become aware of the neck.

Feel any sensations in the neck.

Heaviness,

Lightness,

Pressure,

Ease.

Observe the complete stillness of the neck.

Continue to be aware of the stillness from the bottom to the top.

Continue to be aware of the stillness of your whole body.

And just notice the sensations.

Become aware of your physical body sitting in its stillness,

In its sitting posture and nothing else.

As you sit here and breathe naturally your body is perfectly still and steady like a rock.

Become aware of how solid and compact your whole body is.

Rigid like a beautiful statue.

Feel the locked position of your body and even if you try you'll be unable to move any body part.

Because of the stillness that you continue to observe.

As the body becomes completely steady and still you start to lose physical awareness.

Your body becomes one.

At this time shift your attention now to your breath.

Become aware of your natural breathing without interfering or adjusting it in any way.

Simply notice the breath as it moves in and out of your beautiful body.

Watch its rhythmic flow with your complete awareness,

With your complete stillness.

Breathing in and breathing out effortlessly,

With energy,

With ease.

Now as we come to the end of this practice let me invite you to take three deep and conscious breaths here.

Inhale and exhale.

Inhale,

Exhale.

Deeply inhale and exhale.

Let it all go.

And gradually let the awareness of your physical body come back to you.

Feel the weight of your body against the floor.

Become aware of the sensations in your hands,

In your feet and take another deep nourishing breath here.

And let's close this practice by chanting Aum Shanti three times.

Aum Aum Aum Shanti,

Shanti,

Shanti.

And when you're ready let me invite you to come back to your beautiful space.

Wiggle your fingers,

Wiggle your toes,

Open your eyes,

Have a stretch in whatever way feels right for you.

Well done,

Beautiful soul.

Namaste

Reviews

At first it felt rather challenging to not move though that disappeared rather quickly.
It’s rather a paradox to being kept engaged into complete stillness though it worked a treat.
Thank you🌷