Welcome to this practice of yoga nidra.
Welcome home to yourself.
Allowing the eyes to be gently closed.
So as you settle in,
And you can still take your time,
I'll offer you a poem by Rumi,
Which you may have well come across before,
But it very much speaks to what can inform our yoga nidra practice,
And certainly the one that we'll enter into today.
It's called The Guest House.
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival,
A joy,
A depression,
A meanness.
Some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all,
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows.
Violently sweep your house empty of its furniture.
Still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought,
The shame,
The malice,
Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes,
Because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
So allowing yourself to settle.
Settling into this practice of yoga nidra.
Make this your practice.
Settling into the most comfortable position.
Allow your body to feel completely supported so that you can enter a deep state of self-inquiry.
Just allow the back of your head to be supported so that your chin remains below the level of the forehead.
This will assist the thinking mind to unwind.
Now allow your senses to be wide open,
Tasting,
Hearing,
Smelling,
Seeing,
Tactile sensation.
The feeling of the space within and around the body.
Sense the earth beneath you that is embracing the weight of your body.
Allowing each perception to come to you.
Feeling yourself as an openness of receptivity.
Without thinking how to do this,
Simply allowing perceptions to arise naturally just as they are.
Yoga nidra is a time you can learn to recognize when you have become identified with a thought,
An emotion,
A memory.
And all of a sudden you recognize that you are daydreaming,
Even sleeping.
Identified with whatever is arising.
And recognize how awareness is here the entire time.
The background in which everything that you are experiencing is arising.
Awareness as an ever-present background of spacious presence in which every thought,
Emotion,
Feeling,
Even a daydream is unfolding,
Arising,
Moving and passing through.
So during yoga nidra,
Feel yourself in each moment being solicited to feel back into your spacious presence.
Into awareness.
Moving your way into this spacious ground of presence that is not something you are doing,
But it is doing itself.
It is being itself.
During your yoga nidra,
You may come across feelings of comfort or discomfort.
When you encounter a comfort or a discomfort,
Understand that you are learning how to meet it.
How to meet it and greet it at the door of your guesthouse.
Welcoming it in.
And while your first impulse may be to refuse its entry and to try to change it or make it different,
As you deepen into yoga nidra,
You are learning how to welcome it in as a messenger sent from beyond.
It's here to bring you a message,
To reveal your very presence,
An underlying peace or equanimity that is always here during even your most difficult moments.
So learn to welcome each sensation,
Each perception you experience during your yoga nidra as a messenger that is here to teach you,
To bring you back home to your authentic being,
To your true nature.
Now we will focus on our sankalpa,
This way of being born of the heart.
Feel into your heartfelt desire.
This is the heart's deepest purpose or code of values that guides you from within,
That lives inside you for health,
Healing or awakening,
Allowing your heart's deepest longing to emerge first as a tactile feeling.
Perhaps it just remains as a feeling,
A deeper trust in your inner knowing.
Then perhaps there are words to represent it.
Speak it to yourself silently in the present tense.
Your heartfelt desire as an expression of present reality,
An accomplished statement of fact.
Then repeat it to yourself several times and affirm deeply while feeling it in your body.
And then let it go and revisit it again when we come to the end of the practice.
Welcome into your awareness your inner sanctuary.
Allow for a feeling of well-being in your body,
Of ease,
Calmness,
And welcome with all your senses to help evoke this inner sanctuary,
A place you picture,
Perhaps a special place in nature.
It's alive with sounds and smells and tastes,
Colors,
Textures.
Maybe other beings are present,
A power animal or a beloved pet or a wise person.
Maybe sacred objects that bestow blessings upon you.
Anything that evokes a feeling of peace and well-being.
This is a place where you are safe and protected.
And know that this is a place that you can return to any time there is any kind of disturbance outer or inner.
Any distressing event or experience,
You know you can come here and be safe.
And knowing that you can then return to and meet and greet and welcome any distressing event while feeling your inner sanctuary of well-being.
We will now explore Anamaya Kosha through rotating through the body.
So bring your full attention to your mouth and sensing into your mouth,
Dropping thinking about the mouth and really sensing your mouth,
Lips,
Teeth,
Gums,
Ceiling of the mouth,
Floor,
Walls,
Left and right,
Back of the throat,
Tongue,
Jaw.
The entire mouth and jaw is an orb of radiant sensation.
Sense all your attention to sensing and give up being involved with thinking.
So there's this shift from thinking and doing to feeling and being.
Feeling sensation just as it is.
Sensation now in the left ear,
Right ear.
Welcoming both ears simultaneously as radiant sensation.
Left nostril,
Right nostril.
The flow of air and sensation inside both nostrils.
Left eye,
Eyebrow,
Temple,
Cheekbone,
Eye socket.
The entire left eye is an orb of radiant sensation.
Both eyes.
Both eyes is a field of radiant sensation.
Without analyzing,
Sensing your way,
Mouth,
Ears,
Nose,
Eyes,
Forehead,
Scalp,
Back of the head,
Neck,
Inside the throat,
Left shoulder,
Left upper arm,
Elbow,
Forearm,
Wrist,
Elbow,
Wrist,
Left hand and fingers.
The entire left arm as radiant sensation.
Right shoulder,
Right upper arm,
Elbow,
Forearm,
Wrist,
Right hand and fingers.
The entire right arm as radiant sensation.
Give up analyzing.
Welcoming both arms as radiant sensation.
Upper chest,
Middle chest,
Abdomen and belly,
Upper back,
Middle back,
Lower back.
The entire back of the torso and front of the torso.
Sensing only.
Letting go of thinking.
The entire torso inside and outside.
The entire torso as a field of radiant sensation.
Pelvis,
Sacrum.
The pelvis and sacrum as radiant sensation.
Left buttock,
Left hip,
Left thigh,
Left knee,
Left lower leg,
Ankle,
Left foot and toes.
The entire left leg as radiant sensation.
Alert,
Attentive,
Sensing the right buttock,
Right hip,
Right thigh,
Right knee,
Right lower leg,
Ankle,
Right foot and toes.
The entire right leg as radiant sensation.
Sensing both legs simultaneously as radiant sensation.
Sensing the front of the body,
Back of the body,
Left side of the body,
Right side,
Inside the body.
Sensing the entire body.
The entire body as radiant sensation.
Welcoming all sensations,
Your full experience that are now present in awareness.
Coming back into awareness and feel yourself dissolving into being awareness in which all of these changing sensations are unfolding.
Now sense your body breathing itself and the natural flow of sensation as air enters and leaves your nostrils.
The gentle rise and fall of the chest and abdomen.
Now bring attention into the left nostril while being aware of the entire left side of your body.
Sensation in the left side of the body from head to toes,
Front and back,
Inside and out.
Sensing and exploring the left side of the body and nostril.
Now shift attention into the right nostril while being aware of the entire right side of the body.
Sensation on the right side of the body from head to toes,
Front and back,
Inside and out.
Sensing and exploring the right side of the body and nostril.
Begin alternating attention from one side of the body to the opposite side.
At the top of each inhalation while gently retaining the breath,
Shift sensation across the midline into the opposite side of the body and nostril.
Exhaling sense this nostril inside of the body.
Going back and forth at your own breathing speed,
Allow eyes to remain soft and at ease.
Give up thinking,
Simply noting sensation first in one nostril inside of the body,
Then the other nostril inside of the body.
When distracted by a thought,
Bring attention back to the body breathing itself.
Alert and attentive to the breath alternating from one side of the body to the other.
Give time during retention for sensation to transfer across the midline of the body,
Saturating the side of the body with sensation before exhalation.
Now shift attention into both nostrils while sensing the entire body breathing itself naturally and easily.
Sense the whole body as radiant sensation.
Note the feelings that are present in the body.
Find the feeling of heaviness in the body,
The feeling of the body heavy,
Sinking into the ground.
The floor supporting the weight of the body,
The weight of the head,
Torso,
Arms and legs.
Take notice of tension that might be keeping the body up off the floor.
Just note tension.
Treat it as pure sensation without trying to eliminate it.
Can you welcome tension and heaviness into awareness just as it is?
Feelings of heaviness,
Weight or density.
And now find the sensation of lightness somewhere in the body,
The opposite feeling,
Lightness,
The feeling of lightness,
Even floating as if the body is floating on a cloud,
A sense of lightness.
Now go from one to the other.
Be absorbed by the feeling of heaviness,
Density and mass,
The weight of the body into the ground,
And then the feeling of lightness.
And allow both to be present simultaneously.
Feelings of heaviness and lightness simultaneously.
See how this being present to both feelings acts on your body and mind.
Without thinking,
Simply experience lightness and heaviness and the movement of the breath and the flow of sensation in the body.
The movement or flow of sensation and energy in the body.
Not inventing or pretending,
Not trying to make anything happen.
Simply sensing the flow of sensation just as if you were experiencing a flow of blood through the arteries and veins,
The flow of sensation through the nerves and nervous system,
The flow of breath and energy that bring aliveness to the physical body and mind.
And notice the movement of emotion in the body.
Emotion that you have been experiencing or experiencing now.
Perhaps take a moment to review your day and the different emotions you may have had so far today.
Aliveness,
Boredom,
Happiness,
Joy,
A momentary flitting of sadness.
Whatever is present in awareness,
Simply note emotions that are present in this moment and see if you can let go of the concept of thinking about them and just meet and greet them as movements of pure sensation that are present before your mind names it.
See if there is a particular emotion that is present and be aware of it.
Dive into it as pure sensation.
Where is the center of it in the body?
Where is its periphery?
Without thinking,
Without engaging the narrative,
Be interested in the sensation itself.
Simply sensing emotion as pure sensation and see how this acts on your body and mind.
And if an emotion is present,
Perhaps there is an opposite and feel into the opposite of that emotion.
Dive into it as pure sensation.
Simply being with what is present.
Perhaps at your own pace,
Move between the two emotions if two emotions are present and feel back into awareness that is able to hold both emotions.
And notice how your attention is naturally focused on the objects,
The sensations,
The perceptions that are arising and present within your body and mind.
Not on welcoming a sensation or an image or an emotion or thought.
Meeting,
Greeting,
Welcoming each sensation,
Perception as it arrives in your awareness.
But take this moment also to shift your attention from being aware of these objects,
These perceptions,
To being attentive to the feeling of awareness itself.
Emphasizing being awareness.
Here you orient to awareness in which the objects of perception are arising.
As welcoming presence,
This awareness is immeasurable.
An openness ungraspable to the mind.
Vast,
Open,
Unchanging and ever-present spaciousness in which everything is arising,
Unfolding,
Dissolving,
And welcoming of everything just as it is.
Experience yourself as this vast,
Open,
Spacious awareness that contains all the sensations,
Feelings,
Emotions,
Thoughts,
And images.
This spaciousness touches,
Caresses,
And supports each of these movements.
Feeling your way.
Being this openness.
You are the openness itself.
Experiencing yourself as awareness itself.
Note how awareness touches and caresses everything,
Pervades everything.
Being spacious presence.
Now take a moment and walk back through the journey you have just taken.
Sensing the different qualities that are and have been present.
A feeling in the body.
An emotion that may be present.
Thoughts coming and going.
A sense of the room around you.
And the feeling of beginning to move back into the world.
Going about your evening.
And can you,
As you imagine moving into your everyday life,
Feel into that vast openness in which all these activities,
Your entire life,
Is unfolding?
Feeling each emotion,
Each thought,
Each body sensation.
Feeling your personality that seems to have a center and periphery,
A location,
A quality of density about it,
Of mass and space.
And yet,
There is equally this quality here of openness that has neither a center nor a periphery.
Sense this interesting paradox of being both the feeling of spacious and empty awareness without center or periphery,
And the feeling of being a personality with location and center.
And set your personality free to be just as it is.
Observing how in each moment there is an exact and perfect response to each situation that you encounter in life.
Watch how the mind may come in with its analysis and judgment to this understanding.
Sense the body's native responsiveness in each moment.
Sense both the body's inherent responsiveness and the mind's tendency to judge.
And let them both be free to be here,
Each as it is.
And feel yourself equally as the space in which all of this is unfolding,
So that you're both totally involved in,
And as this personality,
And as the body's inherent responsiveness,
Yet in the same moment free as spacious openness,
Your inherent ground of spacious being.
As you're ready,
While feeling your whole self and affirming once again your sankalpa,
The way of being born of your heart,
The felt sense of life living you with meaning,
Purpose,
And value,
State it to yourself once or simply trust in your deeper knowing.
And as you ease your way back into eyes open state of consciousness,
Take a few moments and welcome in the feeling of gratitude for taking this time to practice and experience your innate connectedness to life,
Allowing it to flow through you as you,
For taking this time to practice yoga nidja.
Affirm to yourself as you begin moving and returning to your daily activities the felt sense of your underlying interconnectedness with yourself,
The world around you,
And life itself.
Sense yourself as an exquisite and unique expression of life,
Of consciousness,
But in fact not separate from the whole of life.
Taking your time,
When you're ready,
Reorienting back to your surroundings,
Allow your body to slowly roll off to one side.
When you're ready,
Slowly making your way back up to your seat,
Keeping your eyes closed as you ease into your upright seat,
Inviting your attention to come back into an eyes open state of consciousness,
Coming back alert,
Rested.
This concludes your practice of yoga nidja.
Namaste.
