This is a practice devoted to an awareness and appreciation of the body,
And more specifically,
That which animates it,
The nervous system.
Among the many things our nervous systems are responsible for,
I want to zoom in on one integral aspect,
The part of our nervous system that is automated.
We each have two sides to the automated nervous system.
There is the accelerant side.
This is the side that I nudge up against each time I take an inhalation.
This is the side that gives me the surge of strength and focus one might require when doing a very active workout.
We get a boost when our body needs to respond to stress,
And I welcome this side of me.
The flip side of the accelerant are the brakes.
This is the part of me that slows down in breath and in heart rate.
Perhaps it's how you might feel when you slip into a warm bath,
Or the sense of calm that precedes a big sigh.
I connect to this side with each exhalation.
When this side of the nervous system is engaged,
My body amps up its healing and regeneration and shifts towards energy preservation rather than spending.
I welcome this side of me.
I hope through these examples you can see how we need both.
Unfortunately,
In much of our day to day life,
The stress and its associated response can feel incessant,
And we may have lost the ability to shift towards slowing down effectively.
Yoga Nidra can create the conditions whereby we can slide into that warm bath,
Or outside of that metaphor,
Into a place of real rest and recuperation.
I want to reference Herbert Benson here,
Who in the 70s came up with some key pieces that can encourage a relaxation response.
I list them here so that you can implement them in your setup for this Nidra practice.
Find a comfortable position and set yourself up in a pleasant,
Calm atmosphere.
Tradition suggests that you find Nidra from lying down on your back,
But I say you know best how to set your body up for rest.
In finding your setup,
Please locate,
And take note of two locations,
The occiput,
Which is the ridge just at the back of your skull,
And your sacrum bone,
Which is at the base of your spine,
And it makes up the back of your pelvis.
I list these two locations because they host most of the nerve endings responsible for communicating relax to the rest of your body.
So how could you support them more?
Bring awareness and breath there.
Have a pillow to support the skull and a soft place for the pelvis to rest.
From there,
Can you adopt an attitude of ease,
Perhaps almost indifference to how the rest of this session is going to go?
No one has ever achieved relaxation by trying hard at it.
So let this Nidra practice play out.
You may just fall asleep,
You may zone in and out,
But either way,
Don't worry about clinging to my words too intensely.
And last,
Benson suggests that you use a mental device to anchor your awareness.
And that's what my voice and my words are here to do.
I'll provide you with some simple words and tasks for your busy mind to wrap itself around,
Almost like giving the needle of a record player a groove to sink into.
So let this be a practice that establishes trust and wonder back into the body.
Trust that your body and nervous system will access just what it needs here.
And rest in the wonder,
The simplicity of all of this.
Here you are,
Just resting.
That's all you need to be doing.
So let's begin.
Lying down in the watchfulness of you,
Resting in the watchfulness of you.
That even though there are facets of you that are moving and impacting you,
There's still a part that's untouched,
That's reserved just for watching.
See how you're landing.
If you are here to receive rest and nurturance,
Pay particular attention to your skull,
Specifically the back of the skull.
Notice where and how it's in connection to the ground or bed or couch.
And fly down the spine and do the same with the sacrum bone,
That flat bone down at the back of your pelvis and the base of your spine.
How is this part of you in contact and connection to the surface upon which you rest?
Pay particular attention to your exhalations,
Knowing that these are your body's constant way of soothing and stilling,
Even as your activity is staccatoed by your inhalations.
Notice your thoughts and your perceptions of those thoughts.
Are these thoughts really you?
Or are they simply echoing the innate desire to keep this vessel of yours well and protected?
Last can you slide into some place of presence?
Because you know the restoration your body mind can access here isn't something you need to ask for.
Here you are,
Simply making the conditions for rest to spontaneously arise.
All you need to do is rest and listen just a little.
As your awareness moves across the physical you through a body scan,
Decide if you want to bring a quality along with it.
Maybe the message you bring is rest,
Peace,
Still or pause.
You decide.
Start at the back of the skull.
Even if you're not lying on your back,
Land your awareness there.
Back of the skull round and heavy.
From there wrap around to notice the right ear,
Right eye,
Right cheekbone,
Right nostril.
Back of the skull.
Left eye.
Left cheekbone.
Left nostril.
Both lips together.
The upper and lower set of teeth.
The jaws.
The contents of the mouth.
Back of the skull.
Back of neck.
Center and back of the heart.
Right shoulder blade.
Right shoulder.
Right upper arm.
Right lower arm.
Right hand.
The whole right hand.
Back of the heart.
Left shoulder blade.
Left shoulder.
Left upper arm.
Left lower arm.
Left hand.
The whole left hand.
Back of the heart.
Back of the navel center.
Right side of torso.
Left side of torso.
Sacrum bone.
Right side hip.
Right thigh.
Right lower leg.
Right foot.
The whole right foot.
Sacrum bone.
Left side hip.
Left thigh.
Left lower leg.
Left foot.
The whole left foot.
Sacrum bone.
Tailbone.
Sacrum bone.
Back of the navel center.
Back of the heart.
Back of the throat.
Back of the skull.
Top of the skull.
Space between the eyes.
And now down the front,
The throat center.
Heart center.
Navel center.
Sacrum.
Tailbone.
See the whole body.
The central axis of the whole body.
And the limbs emanating from it.
Return back to the ridge of the skull,
The occiput.
And put your nostrils here,
Temporarily.
Breathe in here.
And let that breath sail down the channel of your nervous system all the way down the spine.
The exhales will fall from the sacrum.
Inhale through the occiput.
Exhale all the way down.
Exhale from the sacrum.
In the same way fluid moves up and down the structure of the spine,
Can you breathe and chart the currents even more?
I'm going to give you a bit of time just to imagine that pathway.
Inhale occiput.
Exhale sacrum.
Inhale sacrum.
And that's good.
Can you be perfectly fine if you've noticed the mind has wandered away from that task?
Holding all of these things so lightly.
Watch the sway of your breath once more.
At this time,
Rather than a location,
Can you imagine the qualities that each inhale and each exhale bring with them?
So start first with the inhale.
Embody the inhale for a bit.
The inhale revs up your energy.
It brings activity and passion.
So imagine in a moment here all the sensations that the inhale may draw forward.
No wrong answer here.
Just tell yourself,
I am the essence of an inhale and see how that feels.
Take a time to do that.
And now rest in the exhalation.
The exhale that soothes,
Pacifies,
Puts on the brakes.
What would your body feel like if it were only in the realm of the exhales?
Is there a sense of quiet and ease to be perceived here?
Or everything that comes up so that now you're taking this time to just exist in the exhalation?
It is your innate ability to sway between the two.
Try it here.
With an inhale,
You are vibrant again,
Awake and alert.
With an exhale,
You are receptive,
Still and quiet.
You can sway between the two.
Keep pulsing until the two sides become difficult to discern.
You can hold both at once as if they are one.
This is your own one unique nervous system.
Hold it in its entirety.
Be here now.
Can you imbibe the simple fact that everything that needs to happen right now is happening?
There is no beckoning,
No yearning.
There is only presence.
Map your presence in the space behind the eyelids as though you were gazing out upon a perfectly clear and open night sky.
When it's in this sky where you might see the full sun,
The full moon,
Cheetah sprinting,
Sloth lounging,
Red light,
Green light,
Tree with large roots,
Spinal column,
Occiput and sacrum,
Your body in a place of deep rest.
Take a bit more time.
I'll give you some silence for you to just be here now.
That still keeps you sound.
This practice has always been yours,
Yours to receive what you need from it.
And that means you get to decide if in this moment it's worthwhile to stay right here,
To keep resting and watching,
Perhaps to slide into sleep.
But if you know it's time to return,
You can follow along.
To facilitate the return journey,
Use what you know.
You know that your inhalation is connected to that wake up side of the nervous system.
That with each inhalation,
Your heartbeat just slightly increases its rate.
Use that.
Tread lightly here,
But see if for the next few rounds you offer some more focus to the inhales.
Perhaps they become steadier or deeper.
And of course with a deeper inhalation,
There follows an even deeper exhalation or a sigh.
So make sound here if it works for you.
Notice what naturally comes next.
Perhaps the eyes have already opened.
Perhaps some of those peripheral limbs are waking up.
Fingers,
Toes,
Wrists,
Ankles.
Give yourself a big stretch,
Sweeping the arms up,
Reaching from fingertips to toe tips.
And if you're not already there,
Just roll yourself off to one side.
And I'm going to leave you in that shape,
Just curled up,
Chin towards chest,
Knees towards torso,
This very rounded spine.
This is actually the shape that your nervous system,
Your spinal column developed in.
Be here,
Rest here as long as you need to.
And it's my hope that when you do come back to seated,
When you do take that next step in your day or your evening,
That you leave this practice feeling refreshed.
Thank you.
