Resting Awake

What to expect

Some days the body is tired long before the mind agrees to stop. This is a yoga nidra, a guided practice of deep rest, lying down. You find a place of ease to come back to, and choose a short intention to say to yourself. The voice names parts of your body one after another, and your attention follows. You count breaths backwards, feel heaviness and lightness, warmth and coolness, and let a few simple pictures come and go. Then you rest, say your intention again, and come back to the room.

You’ll stay aware for most of it. If you fall asleep, that’s all right. The voice brings you back at the end.

Under it, a low warm pad holds one chord, with slow ocean waves far off.

How to listen:

• Lying on your back, with a pillow under your knees and a blanket over you. Never while driving.
• Choose your intention before you start, if you like. Keep it short, such as “I am at ease”.
• In the day if you want to stay awake. At bedtime, sleep may come, and that’s fine.
• You can move whenever you need to.

About

Safety and aftercare. You can stop at any point. Open your eyes, move, and notice the room. If a picture is unwelcome, let it go and come back to your place of ease, or to what is holding you. If deep stillness brings up more than you want, stop. If you’ve been through trauma, a teacher trained to work with it can help you adapt the practice. Afterwards, sit up slowly, and take a minute before you stand. Lie somewhere you can rest safely.

Credits. It follows the stages of yoga nidra that Swami Satyananda Saraswati set out in his book Yoga Nidra (Bihar School of Yoga, 1976). The place of ease is adapted from Richard Miller’s iRest.

Written by Lee and Lucas + Twins. Voice: Jenna.

Transcript

Opening

Some days the body is tired long before the mind agrees to stop.

Even lying down, part of us is still on its feet.

For the next twenty minutes, there’s nowhere else to be.

This is a yoga nidra.

A practice of resting deeply while you stay aware.

Lie down on your back, or any way that’s comfortable.

Let your arms rest a little away from your sides.

Let your feet fall open.

Make any adjustment you need, now or at any time.

Then let the body settle.

Let your eyes close.

If sleep comes, let it.

The voice will bring you back.

Part One: Settling

Hear the sounds around you.

The farthest sound you can hear.

Sounds closer by.

The sounds in this room.

Now feel the body lying here.

Its weight on the floor, or the bed.

The places where it touches.

Feel the breath, coming and going by itself.

Part Two: A place of ease

Now find a place where you feel at ease.

A place you know, a memory, or simply what’s holding you now.

Notice what it’s like to be there.

You can come back to it at any time.

Part Three: Your intention

Now choose an intention.

A short sentence, as if it’s already true.

I am at ease.

Or one of your own.

Say it to yourself, three times.

Slowly, as if you mean it.

Then let it go, for now.

Part Four: Around the body

Now your attention moves around the body.

I’ll name each part.

Let your attention go there, and move on.

There’s nothing to do with any of it.

Right hand thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

The palm of the hand.

The back of the hand.

The wrist.

The forearm.

The elbow.

The upper arm.

The shoulder.

The armpit.

The right side of the waist.

The right hip.

The thigh.

The knee.

The calf.

The ankle.

The heel.

The sole of the foot.

The top of the foot.

Big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Little toe.

Left hand thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

The palm of the hand.

The back of the hand.

The wrist.

The forearm.

The elbow.

The upper arm.

The shoulder.

The armpit.

The left side of the waist.

The left hip.

The thigh.

The knee.

The calf.

The ankle.

The heel.

The sole of the foot.

The top of the foot.

Big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Little toe.

The back of the body.

The right shoulder blade.

The left shoulder blade.

The right buttock.

The left buttock.

The spine, from bottom to top.

The whole back.

The top of the head.

The forehead.

The right eyebrow.

The left eyebrow.

The space between the eyebrows.

The right eye.

The left eye.

The right ear.

The left ear.

The right cheek.

The left cheek.

The nose.

The tip of the nose.

The upper lip.

The lower lip.

The chin.

The throat.

The right side of the chest.

The left side of the chest.

The middle of the chest.

The navel.

The belly.

The whole right leg.

The whole left leg.

Both legs together.

The whole right arm.

The whole left arm.

Both arms together.

The whole back.

The whole front of the body.

The whole head.

The whole body.

The whole body, together.

Part Five: Counting the breath

Now feel the breath.

Feel it in the belly, rising and falling.

Count the breaths backwards, from twenty.

Breathing in, twenty. Breathing out, twenty.

Breathing in, nineteen. Breathing out, nineteen.

Carry on, down to one, in your own time.

If you lose count, begin again at twenty.

I’ll be quiet while you count.

Now let the counting go.

Just the breath, and the body lying here.

Part Six: Opposites

Now, a sensation, and then its opposite.

Feel heaviness.

The body heavy, resting into what holds it.

Now feel lightness.

The body light, as if it weighs almost nothing.

Now feel warmth.

As if you’re lying in the summer sun.

Now feel coolness.

As if cool air is passing over you.

Now the whole body, just as it is.

Part Seven: Images

Now I’ll name some pictures.

Let each one appear, in whatever way it does.

If one doesn’t come, that’s fine. Wait for the next.

If one isn’t welcome, let it pass, and come back to your place of ease, or to what’s holding you.

A candle flame.

A full moon over the sea.

A sky full of stars.

A lake at dawn.

A snowy mountain.

A garden after rain.

A bird gliding high up.

An old stone bridge.

A field of sunflowers.

A lit window at night.

Clouds drifting across a blue sky.

A path through tall trees.

Rain on a roof.

The sun rising.

Part Eight: Rest

Now let the pictures go.

Notice the space behind your closed eyes, or the sounds around you.

Rest there, watching.

I’ll be quiet for a minute or two.

Part Nine: Your intention again

Now remember your intention.

The same words as before.

Say them to yourself, three times.

Part Ten: Coming back

Now feel the breath again.

Feel the body lying here.

Its weight. The places where it touches.

Hear the sounds around you.

The room. Beyond the room.

Remember where you are.

The time of day.

Begin to move your fingers and toes.

Stretch, any way your body wants.

When you’re ready, roll onto your side.

Rest there a moment.

Then open your eyes.

The practice of yoga nidra is complete.