YOGA NIDRA:

It has been great help for me when I started doing Yoga Nidra after my delivery.  I have a 6-month-old baby and a 6-year-old son.  Both of them need my attention always.  It had been sleepless nights and still it is continuing, some times I feel like depressed because all of my thoughts, activities revolves only around them.  No recreation, no rest, and no relaxation.  Quite long back, before my second pregnancy, I learnt yoga, pranayama and Kriyas. I learnt from a yoga practitioner who is teaching yoga for more than 3 decades.   You will not reap the benefit, until you start doing.  After started practicing yoga nidra for 10 days more, I felt a real calmness in my mind and my subsequent thoughts.

     It is very common to see at a home, when a 6-year-old getting ready for school, the mother takes most of the responsibility to make him ready, arranging his books in bag, getting things packed in tiffin box; at that time, when you notice a missing lid from a water bottle; you will get annoyed easily.  This is the most common situation at my home.

   During these situations like this, most of the time, I could take control on my anger and activities.  Yoga nidra helps me to deal with that kind of situation.  It is not only for mothers, but also for fathers as well.


HOW TO INITIATE YOGA NIDRA:

Environment:  The environment has to be in calm state.  First lie down on a flat surface.  Relax yourself by comforting your body like stretching, flexing and extending.  Then lie on a straight line and relax your arms and legs.  Keep your palms open to the ceiling.

Close your eyes.  Take sankalp or prayer only for few minutes ( a minute or two).  Start from your head, where the surface of your head is lying on the floor mat.  The one who is practicing have to start seeing from conscience;

1.  Starting from crown of the head
2.  tuft of hair
3.  forehead
4.  Left eyebrow
5.  Right eyebrow
6.  Left eye
7.  Right eye
8.  Nose
9.  Left ear
10.  Right ear.
11.  Right cheek
12.  Left cheek
13.  upper lip
14.  lower lip
15.  tongue
16.  chin

You should not fall asleep.  Remind yourself   "Im not sleeping, Im awake."

 Then again started seeing from your conscience and say only to your ears about
1.  Neck
2.  Back of the neck
3.  Left shoulder
4.  Right shoulder
5.  Left side of the chest
6.  Right side of the chest
7.  Full belly area
8.  upper back
9.  Lower back
10.  Belly button
11.  Hip area as a whole
12.  Left upper thigh
13.  Right upper thigh
14.  Left mid thigh
15.  Right mid thigh
16.  Left knee
17.  Right knee

Remind yourself "Im not sleeping, Im still awake."

Then start saying only to your ears,

1.  Left calf muscle
2.  Right calf muscle
3.  Left ankle
4.  Right ankle
5.  Left foot
6.  Right foot
7.  Starting from toes on the left side, small toe, fourth toe, third toe, second toe and big toe.  Repeat the same for right side.

Thus we have completed one cycle from head to toes.  Likewise, continue from toes to head as second cycle.


Then starting with chakras.  One have to start looking from mooladhara to sahasara

1.  Mooladhara - which lies between your two sacral joints or where hip bones meet.
2.  Swadhishtana - which lies (for female - around the cervix otherwise the opening in the vagina)
3.  Manipooraka - which lies in the solax plexus or navel area
4.  Anahata - which lies around the area of heart, upper chest and upper back
5.  Visutha - which lies in throat
6.  Aghja - which lies between eyebrows
7.  Sahasara - which lies crown of the head



By start seeing from your conscience:  Start saying only to your ears like, here is my Mooladhara remains.  The other follows as such.  From Mooladhara to Sahasara and again Sahasara to Mooladhara completes one cycle.  You can complete 2 more cycles also if time permits you to do.


Keep telling yourself that "Im not sleeping, Im awake."

Before finishing yoga nidra you have to complete by doing these two things:

1.  Remain closing your eyes, just visualize your body the way it has been laId on the floor mat.  Try to capture the scene for few seconds and start visualizing as though you are looking at your laid body as a different person.  You can see mirror image of your body clearly after many days' practice.  This practice will help you to heal your body and it is the first step for advanced siddha yogas.
2.  Repeat your sankalps/prayer once again.

Open your eyes slowly and always get up from your left side.