Now prepare yourself for the practice of yoga nidra.
Lay down in shavasana,
The dead man's pose.
Make yourself as comfortable as possible.
Keep your feet apart and let them flop a little sideways.
Your arms slightly away from the body with your palms of your hands facing upward.
Adjust your blanket and clothes and position so that you can practice yoga nidra without moving and with no physical discomfort.
Please close your eyes and keep them closed.
The practice of yoga nidra is the act of hearing and the act of feeling.
These are the only important factors.
In yoga nidra you function on the levels of awareness plus the levels of eliciting.
In dreams you have no control.
In yoga nidra you are the creator of the dream.
Now say to yourself mentally,
I will not fall asleep.
I shall only listen to the voice.
Repeat to yourself,
I will not fall asleep.
Give yourself some time to become calm and steady.
Now take a deep breath in and as you breathe in,
Feel calmness spreading throughout your body and as you breathe out,
Say to yourself mentally,
Relax.
Now become aware of sounds in the distance.
Become aware of the most distant sounds that you can hear.
Let your sense of hearing operate like a radar beam.
You're searching out for distant sounds and following them for a few seconds.
Move your attention from sound to sound without attempting to identify the source.
Gradually bring your attention closer to the sounds.
To sounds outside this building,
To the sounds inside this building or wherever you are.
Now develop your awareness in the room or your location without opening your eyes.
Open as the four walls and the ceiling and the floor or the environment that you're in.
The floor or the ground that your body is lying on.
And see your body lying on the ground.
Become aware of the existence of your physical body lying on the ground.
Total awareness of your body lying in perfect stillness.
Your body is lying on the ground or floor.
Develop your awareness of all the physical meeting points where your body hits the ground or floor.
Become aware of the natural breath.
Become aware of the deep,
Natural,
Spontaneous breath.
Do not concentrate for this will interfere with the natural process.
And keep on listening to me and know that you're breathing.
The practice of yoga nidra begins now.
Say mentally to yourself,
I am going to practice yoga nidra.
I will not sleep.
I'm going to practice yoga nidra.
And now this is the time to make your resolve.
A simple resolve.
A simple resolve.
Please state your resolve clearly with feelings and awareness three times.
Now rotate your consciousness through the different senses of the body.
As quickly as possible,
The awareness has to jump from point to point.
And please repeat mentally the name of each part after me.
Simultaneously become aware of that part.
The practice always begins with the right hand.
Now bringing your awareness to the right side of the body.
Your right hand thumb.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
And fifth finger.
And palm of the hand and the back of the hand.
Your wrist.
Lower arm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Shoulder.
Arm pit.
Waist.
Hip.
Your right thigh.
Your knee.
Your calf muscle.
Your ankle.
Your heel.
Your sole.
The top of the foot.
Your right big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
And fifth toe.
Now move to the left side of the body.
With your left hand thumb.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
And fifth finger.
And palm of the hand and the back of the hand.
Your wrist.
Lower arm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Shoulder.
Arm pit.
Waist.
Hip.
Your left thigh.
Your knee.
Calf muscle.
Ankle.
Your heel.
Your sole.
Top of the foot.
Your left big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
And fifth toe.
Your right shoulder.
Left shoulder.
Your right shoulder blade and your left shoulder blade.
Your right buttock and your left buttock.
The spine and the whole of the back together.
The top of the head and the forehead.
Your right eyebrow and your left eyebrow.
The eyebrow center.
Your right eyelid and your left eyelid.
Your right eye and your left eye.
Your right ear and your left ear.
Your right cheek and your left cheek.
Your nose and the tip of your nose.
Your right nostril and your left nostril.
Your upper lip.
Lower lip.
Your chin.
Jaw and throat.
Your right collarbone and your left collarbone.
Your right chest.
Left chest.
Center of the chest.
Your belly button.
Abdomen.
Lower abdomen.
The whole of the right leg.
The whole of the left leg.
Both legs together.
The whole of the right arm.
The whole of the left arm.
Both arms together.
The whole of the back and the whole of the front.
The whole of the head.
And together,
The legs,
Arms,
And back.
The front,
The head,
Together.
The whole of the body together.
The whole of the body together.
The whole of the body together.
Now develop homogenous awareness of the whole body.
Become aware of the space occupied by the body.
Become aware of the body.
The space that's occupied by your body.
Body in space.
Become aware of your whole body in the floor.
The whole body in relation to the floor.
And at the same time become aware of the meeting points of the body in the floor.
These are very subtle physical points between the body and the floor.
Feel the meeting points between the back of your head and the floor.
Your shoulder blades in the floor.
And the elbows in the floor.
The back of the hands in the floor.
The buttocks in the floor.
The calves in the floor.
And the heels in the floor.
Awareness of all the meeting points between the body and the floor.
The sensation of all the points simultaneously and evenly.
Go on feeling these points clearly and distinctly.
Please don't sleep but continue.
Now switch your attention to your eyelids.
Feel the narrow line of meeting between the upper and lower eyelids.
Feel the sharp points where they meet.
Intensify your awareness between the eyelid.
Now the lips.
And center your attention on the line between the lips.
The space between the lips.
Now from the lips we go to the breath.
Draw your attention to the natural ingoing and outgoing breath.
Feel the breath moving along the passage between the navel and the throat.
On the inhalation it rises from the navel to the throat.
On the exhalation it descends from the throat to the navel.
Be completely aware of the respiration from the navel to the throat.
And the throat to the navel.
Do not try to force the breath,
Just awareness.
Now maintain your awareness at the same time and starting your breath backwards as followed.
I am breathing in fifty-four.
I am breathing out fifty-four.
I am breathing in fifty-three.
I am breathing out fifty-three.
I am breathing in fifty-two.
And I am breathing out fifty-two.
And so on from fifty-four to one.
Or from twenty-seven to one.
Count yourself mentally as you follow the rise and fall of your breath from the navel to the throat and back again.
Feel awareness of breathing and counting.
The breathing is slow and relaxed.
But please continue counting in your own time.
If you get lost just start again.
And now we'll move on to our awareness of sensations.
Waken the feeling of heaviness in the body.
The feeling of heaviness.
Become aware of the heaviness in every single part of your body.
You're feeling so heavy that you're sinking into the floor.
Awareness of heaviness and awareness of this deep sinking heaviness.
Now awaken the feeling of lightness.
And this feeling of lightness.
A sensation of lightness and weightlessness in all parts of the body.
Your body feels so light that it seems to float from the floor into the sky.
Awareness of this lightness.
And now experience cold.
Imagine the experience of bitter cold in the body.
Imagine you're walking on a cold floor in winter.
Your feet feel very cold and you feel cold all over.
Awareness of coldness and awareness of deep bitter coldness.
Now awaken sensations of heat.
Awaken the experience of heat.
The whole body is hot.
The whole body is hot.
You feel hot all over.
Recollect the feeling of heat in summer when you're out in the sun with no shade.
Heat all over the body and heat all around the body.
Awareness of the heat.
And now experience pain.
Recall it and try to remember the experience of pain.
Any pain that you've experienced in your life,
Mental or physical,
Recollect this feeling of pain.
Now recollect the feeling of pleasure.
Any kind of pleasure,
Physical or mental.
Recollect this feeling and relive it.
You get vivid and awaken the feeling of pleasure.
Now check that you're awake.
You drowsy or sleepy.
Make sure that you're not sleeping and say to yourself that I am awake.
That I am staying in this deep inner experience.
Now withdraw your mind and concentrate on the space in front of your closed eyes.
The space we can all just focus on.
Imagine before.
In front of you is a transparent screen which you can see this infinite space.
A space that extends as far as the eyes can see.
Concentrate on this dark space and become aware of anything that manifests within.
Whatever you see is the state of your mind.
Continue awareness of this space but do not become involved.
Practice detached awareness only.
Now imagine yourself in a park in the early morning.
That sun has not risen yet and the park is deserted except for yourself.
It's a beautiful park,
It's calm and peaceful.
You walk across the spring grass.
You listen to the birds whistle and call as they welcome the new day.
There are gardens of flowers,
Roses,
Of yellow,
Pink,
Red and purple.
Smell their fragrance and see the early morning dew drops on the petals.
Nearby the rose garden is a fish pond.
Goldfish swim and amongst the water lilies see their graceful movements.
You walk between the trees,
These beautiful trees.
The bare trees and trees with leaves.
There's widespread trees and tall stately trees.
There's a clearing between the trees.
Between the clearing is a small temple with the aura of light around it.
Go to the door.
It is cool and dim inside.
Inside on the walls there's pictures of great saints.
You sit down on the floor and close your eyes and become very still.
Our sense of deep peace and harmony envelops you as the sounds outside fade into the distance.
Continue your awareness of meditation inside this temple and stay there for some time until peace and harmony pervade.
Now bring your awareness back to your body and mind.
Bring your awareness to the dark space that you see in front of your closed eyes.
Obviously this space can also be visualized in front of your forehead.
If you want to explore it a little further you can shift your gaze slightly upwards but do not strain.
Watch the darkness that you see before you very carefully with detachment.
Do not become involved.
Interest your mind in this warm and friendly darkness.
If there's any subtle phenomena manifests,
For example colors or patterns,
Simply just take note of these and continue with your awareness.
If thoughts occur let them come and go but continue watching this dark space.
Continue this with detached awareness.
And now remember your resolve,
Your sankalpa.
Repeat the same resolve you made at the beginning of the practice and the same words with the same attitude.
Repeat your resolve now three times clearly with feeling and emphasis.
Now become aware of your breathing.
Become aware of your natural breathing.
Awareness of breathing and of awareness and relaxation.
Develop awareness of your physical existence.
Become aware of your arms and legs and your body lying stretched out on the floor.
Become aware of the meeting points between your body and the floor.
Develop awareness of the room,
The walls,
The ceiling or the environment that you're in.
Noises inside and outside.
Take your mind out and become completely external.
Lie quietly for a few moments and keep your eyes closed.
Start moving your body and stretching yourself but please take your time and do not hurry.
And only when you're ready and you're sure that you're wide awake sit up slowly and open your eyes.
The practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.
