Nidra Works - Yoga Nidra | The Light Of Awareness

This practice has been inspired by the book AWARENESS by Anthony de Mello, a wonderful collection of learnings and teachings by the Indian priest and psychotherapist.

De Mello encourages us to cultivate a state of present-moment awareness, free from the constraints of the ego and attachment; rather, emphasizing the practice of observation and detachment as a path towards inner freedom and awakening, ultimately leading to a life of greater joy and fulfillment.

And the first step in the book is to wake up……really wake up.

And Yoga Nidra, as summed up so well by the teacher and author Rod Stryker, is “waking up to reality - with a capital R”

Yoga Nidra is a practice that effortlessly takes us to different states of awareness, and consciousness. It is the recognition of ourselves as pure awareness.

And it offers a precious invitation to wake up to what is real.

Yoga Nidra truly is awakened sleep.

Transcript

So prepare for the practice of yoga nidra.

Be comfortable for your practice,

Really comfortable and take time in creating this comfort for yourself.

And then when you are at your most comfortable,

Just close down the eyes.

Take a deep inhale through your nose and sigh it out through your mouth,

Signaling to your body that now it is time to rest.

Another long,

Deep inhale through your nose and let everything go as you sigh it out through your mouth.

Inviting release,

Inviting rest.

And continue with these breaths,

Inhaling deep into your body,

Deep into your belly.

And with every exhale,

Allow yourself to sink deeper into relaxation,

Deeper into rest.

Feel your body give way to the ground,

Yielding to the ground,

Releasing to the ground.

And really land into your body now,

Arriving into your practice in your body and your mind.

Entering into this present moment,

This moment with full focus and awareness.

Now,

If it's comfortable,

Seal your lips and breathe in and out of your nose naturally for the duration of practice.

And be still,

Only moving if necessary,

Aware that any desire to fidget or move in any way will,

Like most things,

Usually pass.

Yoga Nidra invites us to stillness in the practice,

Stillness and awareness.

Today's practice has been inspired by the book Awareness by Anthony DeMello,

A wonderful collection of learnings and teachings by the Indian priest and psychotherapist.

DeMello encourages us to cultivate a state of present moment awareness,

Free from the constraints of the ego and attachment.

Rather,

He emphasizes the practice of observation and detachment as a path towards inner freedom and awakening,

Ultimately leading to a life of greater joy and fulfillment.

And the first step in the book is to wake up,

Really wake up.

And Yoga Nidra,

As summed up so well by the teacher and author Rod Stryker,

Is waking up to reality with a capital R.

This is a practice which effortlessly takes us to different states of awareness,

Consciousness.

It is the recognition of ourselves as pure awareness.

And it presents the precious invitation to wake up to what is real.

Yoga Nidra truly is awakened sleep.

And remember,

In the practice,

You don't need to do a thing to get everything.

Trust the process.

Trust the practice.

Lying in Shavasana,

Legs straight out in front of you,

Feet falling open to the sides.

Align your spine to be straight from between your feet to the crown of your head.

Allow your throat to be open and neutral.

Arms by your sides a little away from your torso and your palms turned upwards.

Bring your attention to your breath.

Be aware of your breath without any effort or conscious change.

Simply watch it from within as it enters and leaves your body.

Nurture a sense of witnessing now,

Of witnessing yourself without judgment.

Simply stand back from yourself in your mind and witness any passing thought or feeling,

Allowing them to simply be.

Cultivating awareness invites us to let go of our attachments.

And how we see our life comes through our senses in what we see,

Hear,

Taste,

Scent and feel.

These are five main senses,

Inform our thoughts and how we perceive things to be.

In Yoga Nidra,

We enter the state of Pratyahara,

The fifth of Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga.

Pratyahara means the withdrawal of the senses.

And here we begin to gently withdraw our attention,

Directing each of these main senses inwards,

Away from the distractions of the outside world.

So begin to direct your attention to the sensation of touch.

Feel the support beneath your body and the sensation of this connection.

Sense how your whole body is held and supported here.

Then allow yourself to melt onto it.

Your shoulders sinking down away from your neck,

Softening onto the ground.

Your hips letting go.

Your bones heavy.

Your muscles softening and releasing.

Your eyes softening.

Your face softening.

Everything softening.

Turn your awareness inwards.

Now be aware of any lingering flavor or taste there may be in your mouth.

And then let that go.

Let your jaw become loose.

Your tongue lying in the base of your mouth.

Let all the tension go.

Turn inwards.

Now notice if perhaps there's a scent in the air.

Be acutely aware of any fragrance or smells you can sense in the air.

And then release.

Turning your attention inwards to the aroma of your own breath.

Moving smoothly,

With ease,

In and out of your body.

Turn your awareness inwards.

And allow the welcome darkness behind your closed eyes to take your awareness deeper inwards.

Deeper to stillness.

Deeper to rest.

Let your eyeballs soften in their sockets.

The muscles behind your eyes.

Your eyelids.

Your eyelashes.

Everything softening here.

And letting go.

Open your ears now.

Wide and open like the sky.

And receive sounds from near and far.

From the sky to the earth.

Let them be receptors for every sound you can hear outside and inside.

And then release all these sounds.

Let them dissolve away.

Keeping only the loosest connection,

Like a ribbon in the breeze,

To the sound of my voice.

All your senses now,

Like waves lapping onto the external land,

Slowly drawing back with the tide.

Drawing back,

Bit by bit,

To the great body of water.

Back to the great consciousness within.

And witness as all your senses gently quieten now.

Quieten and soften.

And then watch in your mind's eye as they dissolve away.

Like drops of water merging into the sea.

And into the silence.

The silence and the stillness within.

Prepare for sankalpa.

San,

A concept or an idea formed in the heart.

A vow to yourself.

Kalpa,

The rule to be observed above or before any other.

Repeated at the beginning and at the end of practice,

Sankalpa is a call to awakening.

Sankalpa differs to the intentions we often make and more often than not break.

As with those,

We tend to focus on the outcome,

Thinking we can only be complete,

Whole,

Made right,

Once we have attained whatever goal we have set.

With sankalpa,

We enter a commitment to ourselves to serve the greatest purpose of our lives,

Our dharma.

And we encompass this in our thoughts,

Words and deeds.

Knowing we are already whole.

We are already complete.

We only need bring our desire forth and live it in the here and now with the complete determination that it will be fulfilled.

The shakti,

The energy of sankalpa is powerful.

So take time creating yours,

Asking what is it that your heart yearns for in order to be truly fulfilled.

And how would that feel to you?

And then create a short positive statement starting with the words I am to affirm it in the present,

In the here and now.

And once you have your sankalpa clear,

Prepare to repeat it silently three times in the space that will soon follow.

Be specific.

Be certain.

Be sure.

We are now going to rotate your consciousness,

Your awareness around your body.

Bring to mind each body part as you hear it named and perhaps repeat it to yourself silently.

Following the Satyananda tradition,

We start at the right hand and the right hand thumb.

Take your awareness to the very tip of your right hand thumb and fully focus here.

Shine a light onto the very tip of your right hand thumb,

Feeling the sensation as the light shines like a beam from the lighthouse in your mind.

Your light of awareness.

Then move the beam of light to the tip of your first finger,

Second finger,

Third finger and little finger.

Let the light shine now on the tips of your thumb and fingers together.

And now the space between your fingers,

The palm of your hand and the back of your hand,

Your right wrist,

Lower arm and your elbow.

Upper arm.

To your shoulder.

All along the right side of your chest.

To your hip.

And then your thigh.

Your knee.

And your shin.

Your ankle.

And the top of your foot.

Landing on the very tip of your right big toe.

Moving this beam of light to the tip of your second toe.

And your third.

Your fourth toe and little toe.

All the tips of your toes together.

And now move your awareness and attention to your left hand and your left hand thumb.

See the beam of light from your mind's lighthouse land now onto the tip of your left hand thumb.

The tip of your first finger,

Second finger,

Third finger and little finger.

Your thumb and fingers together.

And then the spaces between your fingers.

The palm of your hand and the back of your hand.

Your wrist.

Lower arm.

And your elbow.

Your upper arm.

To your shoulder.

All along the left side of your chest.

To your hip.

To your thigh.

And your knee.

Your shin.

And ankle.

And the top of your foot.

Landing on the tip of your left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe and little toe.

All the tips of your toes together.

Now bring your attention to the soles of your feet and shine the light of your full awareness here.

Feel the sensations on the soles of both your feet as the light beams onto them from the lighthouse in your mind.

Using your full focus and awareness move this beam of light to your heels.

Your calves.

The little space in the shadows behind your knees.

Your thighs and your glutes.

Trace the beam of light to move from the base of your spine over each and every vertebra as you move all the way up your spine to the nape of your neck.

Now shine your light onto your head.

Your whole head.

And let your whole head soften in the beam of this light.

And now over to your forehead.

Softening in the light of your awareness.

And then in the middle of your eyebrows watch from your mind's eye as the beaming light of your awareness shines here.

Along your right eyebrow and your left.

Your right eye and your left.

Your right temple and your left.

All along your right cheek and then along your left cheek.

Your right ear and your left ear.

Inner and outer.

See the beam of light shine all along the bridge of your nose to the very tip of your nose.

Your top lip.

Your bottom lip.

And your teeth.

Top and bottom.

Your tongue lying in the base of your mouth.

Your jaw.

And your throat.

Direct that beam of light now to land in the space at the bottom of your throat.

Between your collarbones.

And let it shine here.

And watch as the beam travels on now along your right collarbone and left collarbone.

All along the right side of your chest.

And the left side of your chest.

Your whole chest.

Your belly and your pelvis.

The whole of your right leg now lit up by the light of your awareness.

And the whole of your left leg illuminous with this light.

The whole of your right arm and the whole of your left arm.

Radiant with sensation.

The whole of the right side of your body.

The whole of the left side of your body.

Your whole body.

From the top to the bottom.

The front to the back.

The right to the left.

The inside out.

Your whole body.

Shining.

Sparkling.

Full of sensation and light.

Your whole body alive with the light of your awareness.

Staying with this feeling of radiance.

This glorious light filling up your body.

Allow a feeling of clarity to arise from this luminosity.

A feeling of clarity and of peace.

And abide here in this light.

In this peace.

Now give way to an absence of light.

An inviting darkness within.

Like a warm embrace.

Be welcomed into this darkness.

Into these,

The shadows of the light.

Feel enveloped here.

Enveloped and held.

Wrapped in a cocoon of comfort.

Feel the beam of light begin to permeate your whole body once again.

The lighthouse of your mind's eye.

Beginning to fill the space of the shadows.

Replacing darkness with light.

A bright,

Brilliant light.

And feel the sensation of this light up your whole body from head to toe.

And then return once again to an absence of light.

Be still in these shadows.

Feel the welcoming darkness wash like a gentle wave over you.

Welcoming and inviting you to go deeper still.

Move between these two states now.

Move between the light and the dark.

The dark and the light.

Experience the sensations of both.

The flow in and out of both.

Invite an image of a clear blue sky to your mind.

That crystal light blue of a perfect,

Open,

Clear sky.

Notice its vastness,

Its expanse and openness.

See a dense fog now begin to roll in like fret coming in over the sea.

Watch how it obscures your vision,

Dulling the crystal light of the sky.

Cut through the fog now with the light of your mind's eye.

The beam of light coming from the lighthouse of your awareness.

Clearing a pathway in the fog to open back up to the wide expanse of the never-ending crystal clear sky.

Think of a time when you had that same clarity over something in your life.

A decision you had to take perhaps.

A choice that had to be made.

Or an understanding that needed to be reached.

But a time when you knew.

When you had that assured feeling.

That clarity.

That knowing.

And feel this sensation in your whole body.

And now bring to mind a time when you felt confused.

Uncertain.

Anxious perhaps or nervous.

Unsure.

Like you were in your own fog,

Unclear on what to do.

And feel this sensation in your whole body.

Switch back to that feeling of clarity.

Of assuredness.

Knowing your direction is clear.

Then back to the confusion.

The uncertainty.

The fog.

Again,

Move between these states.

Recalling.

Remembering the sensations of both in every fiber of your being.

And now let go.

Go beyond.

Knowing everything is just an experience.

That beyond the opposites.

The duality.

Lies the single,

Indivisible reality.

Of consciousness.

Of being.

Of awareness.

Rest here.

Knowing the light of awareness will always guide you home.

See that sky now behind your closed eyes.

The wide open,

Cloudless expanse of that perfect blue.

Your inner sky.

Chidakash.

Wait and watch what comes here in this space.

Be aware of images,

Sensations and colors that may or may not come today.

Just observe.

Witness.

Remembering the words of Satyananda,

The mind itself is the Chidakash.

The infinite space of consciousness.

Trust the process.

Trust the practice.

Trust the infinite spaciousness of your own inner sky.

Now invite to your mind's eye images of the following.

Imagine an open book.

The thread that binds.

A seedling pushing up through the earth.

A sky lantern being released into the night.

A kaleidoscope of color.

Fork lightning in a storm.

An open window.

The gentle current that flows.

Walking on a beach at low tide.

The pathway through a dense forest.

An empty mirror.

The bridge between.

The flame of a single candle.

The anchor that grounds.

Standing at the crossroads.

An old oak tree.

The sunrise on a winter's morning.

A compass pointing due north.

The open sea.

Your lighthouse guiding you home.

Your lighthouse guiding you home.

Your lighthouse guiding you home.

The true message of awareness is seeing the light we are to ourselves and to others.

Surrender to this light.

This,

The vast,

Boundless,

Endless consciousness.

The one true reality.

Here in pure awareness.

Here you can just let go.

Remember in this state of rest,

Of grace,

Of peace.

Remember the importance of living in the present moment.

There is no other.

Remember true happiness and peace can only be found in the now.

Let go of the illusion of your ego.

Your constructed identity.

You are more.

Much,

Much more.

Let go of your attachments.

Attachments to things,

People,

Thoughts and beliefs about the world and about yourself.

These binds create limitation and prevent us from experiencing the glorious reality of the now.

Cultivate the witness within and observe all thoughts without judgment.

Rise above the old ways,

The old patterns and conditioning.

Come into the now.

Be aware.

Question it all.

Seek your own truth beyond the limitations of your mind.

Go into the stillness within.

And embrace simplicity.

Embrace the essence of simply being that lies beyond the mind and ego.

In the words of the poet Khalil Gibran,

For in the dew of little things,

The heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Be present in this moment.

In the here and now.

And remember the joy and fulfillment there is in this very moment.

Let go of all attachment.

Let go into the stillness of your truth within.

And dissolve into simply being.

Returning to Sankalpa,

Prepare to repeat your intention to yourself in the space that will soon follow.

Knowing you already have the energy and the will inside to realize it.

Your Sankalpa informs the action to take into the world the change you wish to see in your thoughts,

Words and deeds.

Silently and wholeheartedly state your Sankalpa three times now.

Begin to welcome back your senses now as you feel your body once again lying in this space.

Observe the sounds around you as they start to come back to your ears and your mind.

Your smell and your taste buds awaken,

Ready to savor the treats in store as you return to this space,

To your world.

Start to move your fingers and toes,

Feeling your body coming back now.

Maybe place one hand on your heart and one on your belly as you take a few deeper breaths now.

Returning to this space.

Returning to your world.

And gently,

Ever so gently,

Allow the light to come back into your eyes as you open their doors to the world,

Taking everything in.

Be aware of everything.

Keeping all the benefits of this practice,

Return fully now.

Remembering to take your own precious and luminous light of awareness out to the world in all you do and to all you meet.

May the peace which passes all understanding keep your heart and mind in the knowledge and presence of love.

This practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.

Thank you so much for taking the time to practice with me today.

Reviews

Just magically beautiful. So relaxing I drifted off so I will definitely be back to take in the whole healing process. So very grateful. Love & blessings.💙🙏

I found it difficult to attain the levels of awareness suggested by the teacher in this practice yet attained a higher awareness and bliss for some time. I am aware of progress Thank you.