Yoga Nidra Foundations

Learn the Foundations of Yoga Nidra. Learning how to activate embodied awarness with the practice of parts and wholes and the 61 points.

Transcript

In this practice,

We'll learn a simple technique for the basics of a yoga nidra practice.

The practices that we'll learn are scanning for parts and the whole of the body,

As well as the 61 point exercise.

The main goal of these practices is to learn how to move your attention to different locations in the body.

And gaining familiarity with what it's like to place your attention in different places in the body,

And notice the sensations that are present there.

Fostering a sense of relaxation and fostering a sense of full embodiment.

And so to begin,

Find a comfortable position laying down on the floor.

You should be laying down on something that is comfortable,

But not too comfortable.

Allowing your arms to be along sides with the palms facing up,

Or if you'd like you can place your palms down on your lower belly.

Letting the sides of your toes fall out to the corners of the room.

As you settle into the floor,

Allow your breathing to be calm and natural.

Feel the place where your body makes contact with the floor.

Notice a sense of being supported by the earth,

Where gravity and your weight pushes down into the ground.

Then there's a force that pushes you back,

Almost as if the earth is holding you.

Feel that thin layer of contact between your body and the earth.

Feel that whole plane of contact.

As you notice your body becoming heavy,

Sinking into the earth,

Being held by the earth.

As you're noticing this sense of being supported,

You notice that you don't have to hold on anymore.

You can let go of tension in your muscles,

You can let go of effort,

And simply just be supported.

Now as I mention each part of your body,

Simply bring your attention to the very center of that region.

Allow yourself to feel the entire space around that part of your body.

When you bring your attention there,

You might notice physical sensations,

Emotional sensations,

Energetic and flowing sensations.

Or you might notice no sensation at all,

A sense of relaxation or an absence of feeling,

Which is still something that you can feel in that region.

So even if nothing is present,

Just notice that you're not feeling anything in that part of the body.

Anything is fine.

So begin by bringing your attention to the top of your head,

The sides of your eyes,

The back of the head,

The jaw,

The center of the head,

The right shoulder,

The left shoulder,

The right upper arm,

The left upper arm,

The right lower arm,

The left lower arm,

The right hand,

The left hand,

The whole right arm,

The whole left arm,

Both arms together,

The upper chest,

The upper back,

The space in between,

The mid-chest and the mid-back,

And the space in between,

The lower belly and the lower back,

And the space in between.

Feel the whole torso,

The right hip,

The left hip,

The right thigh,

The left thigh,

The right calf,

The left calf,

The right foot,

The left foot,

The whole right leg,

The whole left leg,

Both legs together,

Both arms together,

The whole torso together,

The whole head,

The whole head.

Feel the whole right side of the body,

Feel the whole left side of the body,

Feel the whole body.

Allow your awareness to zoom out and cover the whole body,

Noticing the space inside the body,

Feeling the space outside the body,

And noticing that thin barrier of awareness in between this inner space and the outer space.

Notice that that boundary or that barrier of the inside and outside is not so stable,

Is not so clear,

And that it pulses with your breath as if your whole body expands as you breathe in,

And your whole body contracts as you breathe out,

Noticing this very subtle pulse,

Feeling the whole body expand and contract with your breath.

Now moving on to a similar but slightly different exercise.

Well,

We'll touch certain points in the body,

Moving pretty quickly,

Simply just bringing your awareness to those points,

Touching that point with your attention,

Noticing whatever sensations you feel in that area,

And then moving on to the next point,

Allowing your attention to flow and travel through the body in a consistent and continuous way.

The more you do this practice and the more that you memorize this sequence,

The easier it'll be for your attention to naturally move through the body.

Over time,

It will become more and more automatic.

The center of the eyebrows,

The throat center,

The right shoulder,

The right elbow,

The right wrist,

The tip of the right thumb,

The tip of the second finger,

The tip of the third finger,

The tip of the fourth finger,

The tip of the fifth finger,

The right wrist,

The right elbow,

The right shoulder,

The throat center,

The left shoulder,

The left elbow,

The left wrist,

The tip of the right thumb,

The tip of the second finger,

The tip of the third finger,

The tip of the fourth finger,

The tip of the fifth finger,

The left wrist,

The left elbow,

The left shoulder,

The left hip,

The tip of the tailbone,

The navel center,

The heart center,

The throat center,

The eyebrow center.

Once again,

Feel the whole body.

Feel the whole body.

Feel the whole body.

Feel the whole body.

Feel each one of these points scattered throughout the body as it gives you a reference to let your awareness spread out and cover the whole body.

Feeling each one of these points sparkle and pulse with life.

Feeling your attention and your awareness being grounded and alive in your body.

Noticing how still your body is.

Lying on the ground,

Heavy,

Relaxing,

Supported by the earth.

The breath is natural and fluid.

And allow yourself to continue to explore these practices.

Either moving and feeling whole parts of the body as you move back and forth between right and left side.

Eventually feeling the whole body.

Or moving through these main energetic points throughout the body.

Giving yourself these reference points flowing through in this order.

Then eventually feeling the whole body.

Allowing the mind to quiet.

Allowing the body to rest.

Keeping the light of your awareness awake as you stay present in the felt sense of the body.

Deeply relaxing more and more.

Finding that boundary between sleeping and waking.

When the body begins to fall asleep,

But you give your awareness just a little something to hold on to.

Consciously moving throughout the body.

Consciously feeling the sensations that are present in the body.

Reviews

He deepened my understanding and experience of yoga nidra- parts and whole, energy centers

I thoroughly enjoyed and really needed that. Thank you for your guidance and you’re teaching. Namaste

Wonderful! Thank you✨

This is wonderfully soothing, I will be back, thank you!

Good beginner start

Nice 15 of body recognition.

What an enlivening experience
Thanks