Kundalini Shakti and the Heart Chakra

Kundalini Shakti appears as a beautiful Goddess when she is representing in the paintings of the heart chakra. She sits in lotus position within an upward pointing triangle (symbolizing the rising of Kundalini).

Like Kakini Shakti, she a personification of spiritual devotion. She sits absorbed in meditation attempting to achieve union with Source.

At the level of the heart chakra, Kundalini Shakti is no longer the serpentine force of the first chakra

When one's sensory and intellectual mind is completely absorbed in her, divine love pervades the body of the aspirant.

Kakini Shakti

Kakini Shakti is the doorkeeper of Anahata Chakra. She moves like air to provide energy to the entire body. She symbolizes self-generating and self-emanating energy

She is all about devotion and bhakti: devotional music, devotional poetry and devotional art. She brings calmness to the mind and peace to the ego. She helps us connect our heart beat with the rhythm of the universe.

Her sword represents cutting through obstacles. Her shield represents protection from worldly conditions.  The Skull  she carries represents detachment from the body.  Her trident represents balance of preservation, creation and destruction

She has 4 faces and energy flows the her four heads in to the four aspects of individual self: physical self, rational self, sensual self and the emotional self.

She is auspicious, joyful and the benefactress of all. Art, music and poetry created under the influence of Kakini bring calmness to the mind and peace to the ego and intellect. The creativity endeavors made under her auspices can become so absorbing that one’s sense of I-consciousness dissolves away

Questions

1) Do you have devotional activities or Bhakti in your life?

2) How can you sync of your heartbeat with the rhythm of the universe?

3) What obstacles do you need to cut through with a sword?  Is this different from the obstacles you need to cut through with an ax?

4) What world conditions do you need to be shielded from.

5) What can of detachment would help you? This is subolized in Dakini's Skull?

6) What aspects of your life would you like to bring more balance to? - symbolized in the trident?

Chakra Series - Yin Yoga - Heart Chakra

This practice consists of a lot of back bends and arm and shoulder work

SAVASANA HANDS ON THE HEART

The Fourth Chakra is sometimes called the Heart Chakra. It is located along your spine right in the center of your chest next to your physical heart. It deals with issues of love, compassion and belonging and is weakened by all forms of grief, clinging and loneliness. Physically, it supports your heart, lungs, upper torso, shoulders, arms and hands. Green is the color of the heart chakra.

Visualization: Visualize a strong, clear green light filling up your heart center—located in the center of your sternum and below your shoulder blades.

Breathwork: Silent Breath

SUPINE BUTTERFLY

Sanskrit name is Anahata which means unstruck. Anahata is associated with air. If you’ve worked with the other chakras, you can integrate all of the elements to support this work. The first chakra is earth, steady and grounded; the second chakra, water, brings a fertile creativity; the third chakra is the “fire in the belly” required to transform that grounded creativity into positive action. And now you have air dispersing and integrating spiritual understanding of love, compassion, and connection to everything you encounter. Air, like love, is within and all around.

Benefits: Opens the hips and groin, creates flexibility in the knees, strengthens the inner thighs, stimulates the digestive system and assists with elimination

Contraindications: Groin or knee injury: Only perform this pose with blanket supports under the outer thighs

Symbolism:The butterfly unquestioningly embraces the chances of her environment and her body.

Breathwork: Left Nostril Breathing .

FISH 
The Fourth Chakra lies directly in the middle position of the seven-chakra ladder with three below and three above. The three lower chakras are sometimes called the body chakras, and the three upper chakras are sometimes called the mind chakras. The heart chakra is what links body and mind together. It facilitates the balance of emotion with logic and the real with the ideal

Benefits:A traditional text that Matsyasana is the “destroyer of all diseases.Stretches the deep hip flexors (psoas) and the muscles (intercostals) between the ribs. Stretches and stimulates the muscles of the belly and front of the neck. Stretches and stimulates the organs of the belly and throat. Strengthens the muscles of the upper back and back of the neck. Improves posture.  

Contra-indications: High or low blood pressure. Migraine. Insomnia. Serious lower-back or neck injury

Symbolism: Fertility. Eternity. Happiness. Knowledge. Transformation

Breathwork: Breathe green. With each inhale imagine your heart center—and possibly the rest of your body—filling up with a soft, green light and with every exhale feel your heart center purge pent-up negativity. Don’t be too forceful on your exhalations. Rather, focus more energy on your positive, “green” inhalation

CHILD POSE'S (baby yourself, take care of yourself)

The heart chakra is located in the center of the chest at the heart. Physically, the Heart chakra controls the heart, thymus,  lungs, circulatory system, arms, hands. The ruling goddess is Kakini Shakti, who synchronizes our heartbeat with the universe and the ruling god is Isvara, who assists us in bonding with the world.  The ruling planet is Venus.

Modifications: If you have difficulty sitting on your heels in this pose, place a thickly folded blanket between your back thighs and calves.Gently stretches the hips, thighs, and ankles

Benefits: Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and fatigue. Relieves back and neck pain when done with head and torso supported

Contra-indications: Diarrhea. Pregnancy. Knee injury: Avoid Balasana unless you have the supervision of an experienced teacher.

MELTING HEART (about being open to love)

The sanskrit name for the chakra is Anahata which means “unbeaten” or “unbroken”. At this chakra is a non-physical sound which continues without beginning or end.  The symbol of the heart chakra is a twelve petalled lotus with two intersecting triangles inside the create a six-pointed star.  Written inside the mandala is the seed sound YAM.  The antelope is the associated animal and carrier of the bija mantra. The antelope represents the passion and joy of being alive

Benefits: A nice backbend for the upper and middle back. Will also open shoulders. Softens the heart.

Contra-indications:
If you have a bad neck, this could strain it. Be aware of any tingling in the hands or fingers! This is often a sign that a nerve is being compressed, and if we continue to compress it we may permanently damage it. If you feel tingling, adjust the arm and hand positions, or skip the pose entirely.

Symbolism: Giving in.  Letting Go.  Being Open

Breathwork:  Inhale and Exhale YAM

CAT COW - as a transition pose

THREAD THE NEEDLE ON KNEES/REVOLVED CHILD'S POSE - TWIST

Benefits: Gently compresses the muscles of your upper chest. Opens the upper and outer muscles of your shoulder.. Detoxifies and calms your body with the slight twist. Sends fresh blood to your upper extremities.

Contraindications: Avoid if you have any serious shoulder or neck injuries. Anyone with back or hip conditions should take care not to overdo the twist

Symbolism: Turning to the archetypal meaning of the thread, it symbolizes the agent that links all states of being to one another. Threading a needle is the symbol of passing through the center, the target, the gateway.  Also mending something as opposed to throwing it out 

WOOD ELEMENT SHOULDER

Metaphorically, the fourth is the center of our deepest bonds with other beings, our sense of caring and kindness and respect, which begin with feelings of self-love, and branches out to altruism, generosity, and compassion.

Breathwork; Ujjayi

Twisted Roots Arms

An integrating and unifying chakra - bringing our inner world to wholeness, as well as connecting us to the outer world - the Heart chakra is the source of our healing abilities. Indeed, most spiritual traditions recognize love as the ultimate healing force.

YIN PORTION OF CLASS
there is a dot of Yang in Yin and a drop of Yin in Yang

Plank (possibility to go to your knees)

The energy of the Heart Chakra allows us to recognize that we are a part of something greater than ourselves.  The shadow of this chakra is often depression, loneliness and grief, which all indicate dis-ease in the heart.

Forearm Plank (option to go to your knees)

This is where peace and harmony are born.  When people feel at peace around us, free from judgment, we experience the world as a kinder, more gentle place. When our hearts are open and energy is flowing freely, we not only express love to others, we are also loving ourselves.

Side Plank
The Heart Chakra is the point of balance between the mind, body, and spirit and thus symbolically between Heaven and Earth.

SPHINX (keeping your strength)
In Anahata one makes decisions ("follows one's heart") based on one's higher self, not the unfulfilled emotions and desires of lower nature. As such, it is known as the heart chakra. It is also associated with love and compassion, charity to others and psychic healing. Meditation on this chakra is said to bring about the following siddhis: he becomes a lord of speech; he is dear to women; his presence controls the senses of others, and he can leave and enter the body at will.

Interestingly, the message of this chakra is often one of paradoxes: through humility, we find our power; through discipline, we find liberation; by cleansing the physical body, we become more mentally clear and attuned.

SEAL 

Benefits:  Deep compression and stimulation of sacral lumbar arch. Stimulates the door of lide. Tones the spine. In Seal stomache gets a great stretch.

Contra-indications: Bad back or tight sacrum problems. Pregnant use bolsters and don't put belly on floor

Breathwork: Ujjayi


Symbolism:Sphinx - Power, Watching Over. Seal - Being Comfortable in your own skin

1/2 CRESCENT VARIATIONS

A) Arms over head to Backbend

A) arms behind the back fingers interlaced to humble warrior

B) twist

C)bind or half bind
Element of the chakra is Air so reminder to breath when working this chakra

CAMEL  (being prepared and ready for love)

Backbends help to balance Anahata by physically creating more openness in the heart. An integrating and unifying chakra - bringing our inner world to wholeness, as well as connecting us to the outer world - the Heart chakra is the source of our healing abilities. Indeed, most spiritual traditions recognize love as the ultimate healing force.

Benefits: Deeply arches the sacral/lumbar spine and opens the top of the things.  Opens the ankles.  Stretches hip flexors and opens the shoulders.  Great for dropping shoulder or hunched backs

Contra-indications:  Those with weak backs should do gentle variation.  If you have neck issues don't drop the head back keep chin to chest.

Symbolism:Endurance.Transport. Protection. Survival. Conservation. Journeying. Stamina.


SWAN or EYE OF THE NEEDLE


A healthy Heart chakra means living with loving kindness and compassion towards others. When we live with a heart that is open to others and inspire kindness and compassion in others, others can feel our love and warmth. They feel loved and accepted unconditionally.

SLEEPING SWAN
The Heart Chakra is the home of emotional processing. In a sense, the Heart Chakra is all about agape (selfless love) and compassion. The heart processes our emotions for us. We grieve and mourn and equally celebrate and laugh uproariously, from the heart. We say, “It feels good to get that off of my chest.” Get it?

Benefits:A vigorous way to open the hips, allowing gravity to do the work. Strong external rotation of front hip (especially in the image shown ). Provides the quadriceps and hip flexors a nice stretch for the side that has the leg back. A moderate to strong backbend, compressing the lower back. Can control sexual desires due to lots of blood flowing through the pubic region 

Contra-indications: If you have bad knees (especially any problems with the inner meniscus), watch the pressure. If hips are too tight, that is where the pressure will go. If this happens, bring the front foot back, more toward or under that hip.

Alternatives & Options (Swan): To protect the front knee, keep the foot flexed before coming forward. Keep the weight back into the hips as you lower yourself. Stay on the hands with the arms straight, or come on to the elbows.You could lie on a bolster placed lengthwise under the chest.If you're really flexible, try to bring the front foot forward, pull the bent knee more to the side, and lay your chest on top of the shin. Other alternatives include Eye-of-the-Needle (can be done lying down, while sitting, or with one leg against the wall), Shoelace, or Square Pose.

SPLIT - 1/2 MONKEY KING
Signs Your Fourth Chakra is Weak:

You are often guarded and closed and never or rarely allow yourself to open up to others and be authentic for fear of being hurt or rejected.

You are unable to let a situation rest because it didn’t go your way, until you have assigned fault to all you see as responsible. You assign negative motive to everyone whose actions impact you, judging their actions as intentional.

Benefits: Stretches the thighs, hamstrings, groins. Stimulates the abdominal organs.

Contraindications: Groin or hamstring injuries

CROSS LEGGED FROG WITH COW FACE ARMS 
Your relationships are characterized by your tendency to be clingy and needy, anxious that your partner doesn’t need you as much as you need them.

Benefits: Hip opening and decompression for the lower spine when folding forward

Contra-indications: If you have sciatica, elevate the hips by sitting on a prop until the knees are below them. People with lower back disorders which do not allow flexion of the spine should not allow the spine to round: keep the back as straight as you can. Pregnant women should not fold forward after the first trimester.

Alternatives & Options: If hips are tight, sit on a bolster to tilt them forward.
If the bottom knee complains, do the pose with the bottom leg straight. If the top knee complains, place a bolster or blanket under that knee. If this is still too hard, sit cross-legged and fold forward.Support the chest with bolster. Other alternatives include Eye-of-the-Needle Pose, Square Pose, or Swan.

BUTTERFLY WITH FORWARD FOLD
Your expressions of love for another person are conditioned upon them conforming to your expectations of how they should be. As long as they do, all is well. As soon as they don’t, you get upset or offended and react with aggressive or passive aggressive moves to try to manipulate them back into behaving conforming to your expectations. You see a need to try to fix other people and often try to do so.

Benefits: A good stretch for the inner thighs, groins and knees, improving flexibility in the groin and hip region. Helps in intestine and bowel movement
Removes fatigue from long hours of standing and walking. Offers relief from menstrual discomfort and menopause symptoms. Helps in smooth delivery if practiced regularly until late pregnancy

Contraindications: If you are suffering from groin or knee injury, make sure you keep a blanket under the outer thighs for support. Do not perform this pose without blanket support. Also, sciatica patients should either completely avoid the pose or sit on a cushion to raise the hips. If you have any lower-back disorders, do the posture only while keeping the spine erect. Avoid rounding up the spine by bending forward.

Breathwork: Surya Bhendi

½ GENIE/ GENIE  or 2nd SPHINX (too difficult then sphinx pose) - 3 to 5 minutes
You experience any of the following physical symptoms on a frequent or chronic basis:  heart disorders, chest pain, asthma, allergies, pneumonia, bronchitis, emphysema, breast lumps/cysts, circulation problems, tension/pain between the shoulder blades, shoulder, arm or hand problems or carpal tunnel.

Affirmation:

Symbolism: Magic, power of wish fufillment

Benefits:A deep opening in the sacral-lumbar arch. Stretches hips flexors and quadriceps

Contra-indications:If you have a bad back or tight sacroiliac (SI) joints

Knees can be tested too much here. Ankles can protest. Any sharp or burning pain here, you must come out!

Alternatives & Options: Sphinx pose. 1/2  Half Saddle. If you can only go as far back as your elbows, rest on a bolster to relax here.  Arms overhead can open the shoulders and intensify the stretch in the hip flexors.Lift the hips even higher by placing a block between the feet and under the buttocks.A blanket or rolled up towel under the ankles can relieve pressure there.

Play with sitting on the heels and between the heels; the first emphasizes the lumbar more, and the second works the quads and hip flexors more.

HALF LORD OF THE FISHES or MARICHI ASANA - 2 to 5 minutes each side

Ways to begin to open your heart.

Be green. Get out in nature. Let the varying greens surround you—and begin to heal you.

Be love. Being a martyr is a sign of imbalance for this chakra. Allow yourself to be loved—including, and most especially, by yourself.

Opening the heart chakra after a period of grief or personal struggle is not easy. Be patient and kind to yourself during the process. Letting go of what we don’t need to carry allows us to make room for new and better life opportunities, and learning to embrace and love yourself—for better or for worse—is a great place to begin

Benefits: Stimulates the liver and kidneys. Stretches the shoulders, hips, and neck. Energizes the spine.Stimulates the digestive fire in the belly. Relieves menstrual discomfort, fatigue, sciatica, and backache. Therapeutic for asthma and infertility. Traditional texts say that Ardha Matsyendrasana increases appetite, destroys most deadly diseases, and awakens kundalini.

Contra-indications: Back or Spine Injury

Breathwork: Ujjayi

Symbolism: Being a great student and a great listener

FINAL SAVASANA

Give love. One of the best and easiest ways to cleanse and balance this chakra is by loving others unconditionally and unselfishly.

Realize the grass isn’t always greener. It’s often human nature to naysay. Resist the urge to find fault in everything. Be thankful for what you already have.

Practice yoga.

Forgive. A lot of blockages in this chakra are fostered by not letting go of past hurts, anger, grief, regret, etc. Let go. Take care of yourself and try to also remember that when each door closes a new one opens.

Chakra Series - Yoga Nidra for Self-Esteem - Solar Plexus Chakra - Manipura

INTERNALIZATION

Prepare for the practice of yoga nidra by lying on your back in Savasana.  If Savasana is not appropriate . . .

Close your eyes and take a deep breath in and on the exhale think mentally CONFIDENCE

Place your hands on your solar plexus and feel the warmth radiating from your center.

Say to yourself mentally “I am practicing Yoga Nidra”

Say to yourself mentally “I will stay awake for Yoga Nidra

From below, sense the stillness of the earth at the base of your spine, and the movement and fluidity of the water in your abdomen. The earth and water energy coalesce, rising up, turning into a warming fire in your solar plexus.

Your solar plexus is glowing and expanding with its vibrant, yellow light.

This fire keeps you warm, helps you burn food, and gives you energy.

Visualize a mid day sun.  Imagine its rays shining on you giving you visions, ideas, and confidence

The 3rd Chakra is your center, the seat of your personal power.

It is here that you become your own person – an individual ready to leave your own unique impression on the world.

It is here where you integrate your feelings, ideas, thoughts and intelligence, where you exercise your willpower and take actions, where you turn challenges into opportunities, and turn your visions and dreams into reality.

In the past, you may have turned your power over to someone else so you could be accepted and loved.

Or perhaps you sought out power over others in order to feel respected and admired.

Right now you are in touch with your true power.

Honor and respect yourself and your power

Take complete responsibility for your words and actions.

No longer need approval from others.

No longer need to have power over others.

Know that true power doesn’t  shout or cry.

True power is quiet, firm, steady, and effortless.

Know who you are, why you are here, and what you are here to do.

Being yourself is a powerful act

Do what feels necessary

Do what feels right.

Stand up for yourself.

Act with confidence and inner conviction.

Create things that are beautiful and meaningful

Make the world a better place

Summon you inner fire that dwells in the abdomen.

Use your personal power to give you courage, discipline, strength, patience and perseverance to walk confidently in the direction of your dreams

Perhaps taking baby steps, one at a time, to fulfill your purpose in life.  Perhaps walking at whatever speed feels appropriate

Feel the warm fire radiating from your solar plexus, penetrating into every cell of your being.

Watch the fire burning away any doubt, shame, guilt, insecurities and jealousies that were lodged there.

Watch the fire leaving behind strength, confidence and belief in yourself.

Slowly, the fire is winding down. But its warmth stays at your center.

Feel it every time you put your hands on your solar plexus.

Ignite it anytime you need to

Come back to the breath

Notice the rise and fall of the breath at the abdomen

Listen in all directions for sounds

Listen for sounds  (continue as normal . . .)


SANKALPA
(Do normal introduction to Sankalpa)

I am confident and courageous

BODY ROTATION
(Do normal body rotation but with Yellow Healing Sun Light touching each part of the body)

BREATH AWARENESS
(use normal dialogue)
Breath at the Abdomen/Solar Plexus
Counting from 18 to 0

MANTRA WORK
Work with the mantra RAM

OPPOSITES
Remember a time in you life when you felt CONFIDENT

Recollect an experience of confidence. It can be physical or mental confidence.  Everyone has had a moment where the feel confidence.  Remember the feeling of confidence. Feel the confidence. Make it as clear as possible.. Deep your awareness to the feeling of confidence,  Continue to concentrate on the feeling of confidence

Remember a time in your life that you felt INSECURE.  Try to experience the feeling of insecurity.

Concentrate and remember feeling insecure.  Recall that insecurity and try to develop it . . .

Go back to Confidence

Go back to Insecurity

Now feel both confident and insecure at the same time

Let go of confidence and let go of insecurity and come back to the breath

VISUALIZATION

Self-esteem is how people value themselves. Low self-esteem can hold people back from being the best they can be. In consistently reaffirming yourself to be worthy, capable, and competent over time, you gradually build positive self-esteem.

Bring your awareness to the chiddakasha, the mind space in front of the closed eyes.  Notice in colors, patterns or imagery there.

Now you are going to travel into your past.  Retraving the steps of your memory and consciousness backwards from this time.  The past is part of time and time is part of your mind.  By remembering your past you are going into the deeper recesses of your consciousness.

Think of a time you were really, really confident. Imagine every detail, as if you were looking through your own eyes. See, hear and feel those great feelings.

Think of a specific situation in relation to your confidence. For example, if you’d like more confidence in a social situation, imagine yourself there. See it as if it was a movie, seeing yourself laughing and talking easily and effortlessly with others.

Think of someone you know who is really confident. Vividly imagine how their posture looks, how they carry themselves, how they walk and talk, how loud they speak, how they sit, how they greet people. Imagine  yourself into consciously training your body to act in the same way.
Imagine yourself standing with confidence, walking with confidence, speaking confidently.

2nd Visualization

Visualize a bright yellow chakra spinning between the navel and the base of the sternum, like a radiant internal sun

Imagine this internal sun nourishing your digestive organs by soaking them with yellow, energizing light just like the external sun nourishes all life on earth.

Connect the two outside suns with your internal sun at the Solar Plexus.

Connect the two suns energies through the crown of your head

Visualize the energy transfer between the two making your chakra spin faster.

Meditate on this 'exchange of fire' and feel a sense of benevolent power and confidence

Let go of the visualization practice

Like go on the chiddakasha

And come back to the breath

Feel the warmth of the breath

SANKALPA

In the breath hear the Sankalpa

The same one you used in the beginning of practice

Or come back to the statement “I am confident and courageous”
. . .
EXTERNALIZATION

Come back to the solar plexus

Place the hands on the solar plexus on top of the navel

Feel the warmth radiating from your center.

From below, sense the stillness of the earth at the base of your spine, and the movement and fluidity of the water in your abdomen.

Feel the earth and water energy coalesce, rising up, turning into a warming fire in your solar plexus.

Listen for the sound Ram

Listen for the sound of the heart beat

Listen for the sound of the breath

Listen for sounds in the room , . . .

Listen for sounds outside of the room

Listen for the farthest sound that you can hear

Come back to the breath

Take deep belly breaths with awareness of the solar plexus

Inhaling deeply and exhaling fully

Say to yourself “the practice of yoga nidra is now complete”

(Close as normal)

NAMASTE

FIRE ELEMENT MEDITATION

I saw this on the internet and loved it

Set up for meditation by lying on your back on the floor in savasana, sitting in a chair, sitting cross legged or in hero pose, or sitting with your back against the wall.

Try to get as aligned and symmetrical as possible.

Take a deep breath in and on the exhale say to yourself mentally "letting go."

Imagine that you have gathered a little stack of sticks.

On each stick, write a word or phrase representing something in your life that is no longer serving you, something that you are in the process of letting go of, or need to be.

Remember that some things must be let go of hundreds of times before we are free from them, maybe thousands.

Forgive yourself this process, for letting go is one of the hardest things to engage with…
Now, place each stick into your flame.

Watch it catch fire. And burn. And as each stick is completely burned, imagine that a gust of wind travels into your hands and carries the ash away from you, far far away.

Ask yourself: Do you have the energy to do the things you want to do?

Do you have the confidence to do the things you want to do?

What gets in the way?

Oftentimes our energy is drained in one area of our life, and we are left lifeless before the mountain of wonderful, enriching experience that could have been.

Inhale Deeply and on the exhale say again "Letting Go"

Feel all the points out contact between the body and the floor.

Come back to the breath

Notice the rise and fall of the breath from the stomach where we keep our inner fire.

Inhale deeply and exhale fully

Start to remember your surrounding

Remember your place in the room.

Remember the walls  . . . the ceilings . . . the floor

Come back to the breath

Gently blink the eyes open

Meditation on the Color Yellow - Solar Plexus Chakra

Begin by making yourself as comfortable as possible by sitting in a chair, cross legged on the floor, in hero pose, or with your back against the wall.  

You can also lie down in savasana.

Notice how the body feels at this very moment. Pay attention to the state of the body right now.

Do not try to change anything, simple notice how the body feels.

Begin to Relax the body.

Relax the feet, relax the legs, relax the abdomen, let the shoulders drop and relax, relax the hands, relax the jaw, relax the face, re;ax the eyelids and let them become heavy, relax the mind

Take a deep breath in . . . Hold it . . . And then slowly breathe out

Become aware of the breath. Notice the breathing. Deliberately try to slow it down.

Create a picture in your mind of the color yellow

Picture the color yellow . . . Imagine the infinite shades of yellow

Visualize yellow objects like flowers, lemons, the sun

Enjoy the color yellow

Now picture whatever calming color your wish.  Do you have a favorite color?  Or is there a color that suits your mood right now.  Imagine whatever color you like.  Allow your find to be relaxed, focused and calm

Enjoy the feeling of relaxation you are experiencing

Now come back again to the breath and come back to the color yellow

Become more alert with each breath you take

Become aware of your surroundings

Gently open your eyes.

Yoga Nidra for the Water Element

Prepare for the practice of Yoga Nidra by laying on your back in Savasana

Say to yourself mentally “I am practicing Yoga Nidra”

Get as aligned and symmetrical as possible . . . (usual wording)

We will start with a Tense and Release exercise : Tense each body part like it is frozen and made of ice an and release has been warmed and easily flows with any blockages or obstructions: Tense feet like each – release and relax like a warm gentle stream, calves, knees, thighs, abdomen, chest, back, arms, hands, face

If yoga nidra it is best in the body remains still. But if you become uncomfortable  ….

Say to yourself mentally “I will stay still for Yoga Nidra”

Now relax and imagine you mat is a raft and you are floating on calm body of water, a gentle lake

Feel all the points of contact between the body and your raft

Feel supported by the raft. Feel your head supported, shoulders

Imagine yourself floating easily and securely on the raft.  Gentle floating without any care or worry
Your body is nearly 70% water. Become aware of all the types of water in the body.

Sense the blood flowing through your veins, feel your heart beating, pumping life round your body.Feel saliva in the mouth, mucus in the nose, any sweat, the feeling of moisture in the outbreath
Recognize that all of the Water within the body, which we think of as “us,” and “ours,” as “ourselves,” is in reality simply borrowed for a while from the outside world, that it’s quite literally flowing through us, and that we don’t own it.

There is only one Water element — there’s no “my” Water and there’s no “other” Water.

Repeat mentally:

“This is not me. This is not mine. I am not this.”
Scan in all directions listen for sounds . . outside the room…inside the room…body sounds… breath… heart beat

In the heart beat hear the sankalpa

SANKALPA
(Sankalpa dialogue)

BODY ROTATION (same as always but with gentle summer rain touching each body part)

Imagine a gently drop of summer rain touching each body part.Feel the cool and pure water droplets against your skin.Let them gently wet you and cleanse your aura, your body, your mind and your soul.A body part will be named and imagine a warm raindrop gently touching he body part. Cleansing and anointing you.

Begin the rotation of conscious through the body imaging a gentle drop of rain touching each body part beginning with the right hand thumb. Right hand thumb, index finger . . .

BREATH AWARENESS
Feel the rising and falling of the abdomen as you breathe and visualize seashore at night with the waves breaking on the shore.  There is a connection with your breath and belly, and what you see.  As you breathe out the waves break and the abdomen expands and as you breathe in the abdomen contracts and the sea withdraws.

Counting the abdominal waves backwards from 18 to 0 with awareness of the breath at the abdomen
The abdomen expands 18
The abdomen contracts 18

(continue as usual)


OPPOSITES (see dialogue as usual)

WARM – Imagine the body in a warm bath etc. . .

COOL – Imagine the body under a cool waterfall

VISUALIZATION

Bring awareness to the chidakasha the mind space in front of the closed eyes

Think of a calm lake

A calm blue lake with a Golden beach

A golden beach on the shore of an infinite lake of peace and bliss

On the water is a large white lotus flower is rocked gently by the waves

On the flower there is a baby lying safe and protected, and that baby is you

Feel yourself as that baby, rocking gently in the waters of the infinite lake

Continue your experience of you as baby rocking gently on the water

Feel a soft breeze blowing against your new born skin

See the blue sky above you

The quality of feeling is fresh and expectant as if the air is full of the possibilities of new beginnings

You feel excitement and wonder at all the newness around you

A sudden little shower of raindrops falls, and the water kisses your face with a gently, sweet
tenderness

More tiny droplets of rain now fall on the lake and golden beach

Imagined yourself renewed by the droplets of rain

Now let go of your baby self and come back into your adult form

See the infinite lake

See the golden beach

See the gentle rain

Now let go of the visualizations

And come back to the chiddakasha, the mind space in front of the closed eyes

SANKALPA

(same as always)

EXTERNALIZATION

Listen for sounds (heart beat, breath,   )
Feel water in the body:  blood flowing through your veins, feel your heart beating, pumping life round your body. Feel saliva in the mouth, mucus in the nose, any sweat, the feeling of moisture in the outbreath
Now remember the room,  ….
Feel all the points of contact between the body and the mat raft . . .
Come back to breath
Extend awareness from head to fingertips.
Extend awareness from head to toes,
.  . . etc... (close as usual)