Deep Rest Is Radical

Hi Yogis. Thanks for coming back. I'm so happy to see you here on Yoga Anytime. My name is Miles Barrero. Today we are going to dive into the art of deep rest. Deep rest is radical and oftentimes we get so used to just getting caught on the hamster wheel that we forget to really take good care of ourselves. This practice that we'll be doing today is called Awakened Sleep, Yoga Nidra. The idea is that it takes us out, it takes our autonomic nervous system, which is the nervous system that balances out our bodies from being in sort of stimulated mode in alpha and beta waves, brain waves, into theta brain waves, which our theta is when your body can really release and drop down and your mind can really release and drop down and it's the most restorative sleep. But there will be a sense of the mind being wakeful throughout it, being alert, even as the body is in really deep rest. If you fall asleep, that's totally fine. If you feel like you might fall asleep, we're going to be reclined most of the time. You can keep your elbow on the ground but just raise an arm and just keep your hand in the air. That will keep you in a little bit of a wakeful state so you don't drop completely asleep. But if you do fall asleep, it just means that you need more sleep and that's totally fine because our sleep bank is something that needs to be replenished. So if you cheat it on one end, if you're not sleeping well, then it's going to come back and ask you, you know, it's going to come back a knock-in at some point. All right. So for this practice, you might want to lay a blanket on your mat so that it's nice and cushy. And if it's cold where you are or if you feel like you might get cold, the body always lowers temperature when we're resting, you want to slide something over you. Another trick that you might use is if you have a long pair of clean socks, you can lay the sock over your eyes like an eye pillow or even better, if you have an eye pillow, boom, that's a great, now is a great time to use it. Another thing, if you have a bolster laying around and you'd like to slide it underneath your knees, you can do that. Or you can roll up a blanket and slide it underneath your knees. So go ahead, take your supine reclined situation, set yourself up really well. Close your eyes and give yourself a moment to land.

And take a deep inhale through the nose. Exhale fully through the mouth. Inhale through the nose. Exhale fully through the mouth. One more, inhale through the nose. Close. Exhale fully through the mouth. Inhale for four, three, two, one. Exhale six, five, four, three, two, one.

Inhale four, three, two, one. Exhale six, five, four, three, two, one. Inhale four, three, two, one. Exhale six, five, four, three, two, one. Inhale four, three, two, one. exhale six, five, four, three, two, one. Take any last-minute movements that you might need and then let the body settle. sahana bhavatu sahana bhuna ktud sahaviryam karavavayu tejasvi nambadhi tamastu mavirvishavade shanti shanti shanti shanti The body will be still, the body will be still, the body will be still and we will move the consciousness around the body. Bring your mind's eye to the space right behind your eyebrows, the chitakash, the mind space, the space of awareness and imagine a white light. Let the white light start to grow into a little sphere of white light and allow it to soften and melt everything that it touches in its path. Let it soften the space between the two temples, let it soften the space between the top of the skull and the bottom of the skull, let it soften the space between the back of the skull and the front of the skull, soften your face mask, soften your eyeballs and their sockets, your sinuses, soften the brain, let the brain release back into its sac, the dura, soften your inner ears, let the whole head soften. Then bring your mind's eye to the center of your right palm and imagine a spot of white light right there at the center of the right palm, let the right palm soften, let the white light spread from palm to the thumb all the way through the thumb, the right thumb softens, let the white light spread to the right index finger, the right index finger softens, let the white light spread to the right middle finger, the middle finger softens. Let the white light spread to the ring finger, the ring finger softens and let the white light spread to the right pinky finger, the pinky finger softens, the whole right hand softens. Let the right, the white light spread all the way up through the wrist through the forearm all the way to the elbow, the bottom of the arm and the hand soften. Let the white light spread through the top of the right arm right into the armpit. The whole right arm softens from fingertips to wrist to elbow to armpit. The whole arm softens. Let that white light soften the front of the shoulder, the side of the shoulder, the back of the shoulder, and then start to spread that white light down your right side waist, down the ribs all the way to the hip. The whole right side waist softens. Let the white light come into the hip, soften the outer hip, your buttock, and also the front of the hip. That whole right side of the pelvis softens. The white light continues spreading all through the femur, all the way down to the knee. It softens the front of the knee and the back of the knee, the whole top of the right thigh, softens. Spread that light down, down, down through the shin all the way to the ankle. The calves soften, the shin softens, the whole right leg softens. Move it through the ankle all the way to the heel. The ankle softens, the heel of the right foot softens. It permeates through the arch of the right foot. The right arch softens into the right big toe. The right big toe softens. White light into the second toe. The second toe softens. Soften your third toe. The white light reaches the third toe. Reach the white light into your fourth toe. The fourth toe softens. Bring the white light into your pinky toe, the right pinky toe softens. The whole right side of you is soft. The whole right side of you is soft. The whole right side of you is soft. Bring your awareness into the center of your left palm. Imagine that spot of white light in the center of the left palm. Let it spread and permeate through the palm. The left palm softens. Let it spread into the left thumb. The left thumb softens and all the way into the left index finger. The left index finger softens, the white light spreads into the middle finger. The middle finger softens, the white light spreads into the ring finger, the ring finger softens and all the way into the pinky finger your left pinky finger softens. The whole left hand is soft.

Let the white light come up the wrist and soften the wrist all the way through the forearm all the way to the left elbow. The bottom of the left arm softens. Keep permeating that light all the way through the upper arm all the way into the armpit. The whole top of the left arm softens. The white light spreads through the back of the shoulder, the side of the shoulder, the front of the chest.

Everything softens. The whole left arm softens. That white light continues spreading down the ribs all the way to the left hip. Your whole left side of your torso softens. The white light spreads to the glutes, the outer hip, and the front of the hip.

That whole left hip softens. The white light spreads to the top of the left femur all the way to the knee. The left front of the knee softens. The left back of the knee softens. The whole top of the left thigh softens.

Keep spreading the light all the way down through the shin. The shins soften. The calves soften all the way down to the left ankle. The left ankle softens. The whole left leg is soft.

Let the white light spread from the ankle all the way through the heel of the left foot all the way down the arch to the ball of the foot to the left big toe. The left big toe softens. The light spreads to your second left toe. The left toe softens. The light spreads to your third left toe.

The third left toe softens. The light spreads to the fourth left toe. The fourth left toe softens. and the light spreads all the way into the left pinky toe. The pinky toe softens. Your whole left side is soft.

Now can you hold the left arm and your right leg in your mind's eye simultaneously? And then let that go. So can you hold the opposite diagonal in your mind's eye simultaneously? And let that go. And then can you hold the right leg, the left leg, your trunk, the left arm, and the right arm, and your head all in your mind's eye simultaneously? And then let that go. The whole body is soft. The whole body is soft. The whole body is soft.

Now imagine that the body is laying in the snow and you start to feel the cold of the snow on your skin. The body starts to get very, very cold. Can you feel the cold take over? And then it's as if the snow was traded out for warm sand and your body starts to get warm with the sand as it sinks into the sand until it gets to just the right temperature. In fact, you're so cozy that you might feel so light that the body starts to lift off of your mat, perhaps an inch or two, almost as if you're so light that you could float away. And then let the body get heavy, so heavy as if the limbs, the torso, and the head had lead inside of them, so heavy that you melt down into the ground. The body is still. The body is still. The body is still.

On the next inhale, you'll count the number 27. And the next exhale will be the number 27. We're counting down all the way to the number one. The next inhale will be the number 26. And the next exhale will be the number 26. The next inhale will be the number 25. And so on until you get to the number one. If you get distracted or lose your place or feel confused or fall asleep, start back at the number 27 and count all the way down to the number one.

The next exhale will be the number 27. When you get to the number 28, the next exhale will be the number 28. You The body is relaxed, the body is relaxed, the body is relaxed. The body is relaxed, the body is relaxed. Namaste.

nithyur mamritaam galyaum shanti, shanti, shanti yum nithyur mamritaam galyaum nithyur mamritaam galyaum nithyur mamritaam galyaum nithyur mamritaam nithyur mamritaam galyaum shanti, shanti, shanti yum sometimes the road gets windy sometimes the wind gets rough sometimes you lose your meaning that's the way i say hallelujah sometimes the road gets windy sometimes the wind gets rough sometimes you lose your meaning that's when i say hallelujah hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah sometimes the road gets windy sometimes the wind gets rough sometimes you lose your meaning that's when i say hallelujah hallelujah, hallelujah sometimes the road gets windy sometimes the wind gets rough sometimes you lose your meaning that's when i say hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah hallelujah, hallelujah sometimes the road gets windy sometimes the wind gets rough sometimes you lose your meaning that's when i say hallelujah hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah hallelujah, hallelujah hallelujah, hallelujah lengthen your inhales make small movements with your fingers and your toes maybe you tip your nose a little bit side to side if you want to stay down please feel free to do so you can rest your hands somewhere on your body or keep your hands where they are if you'd like to come up to sit take about a minute to come up it's a nice long time there's no rush you can bring the soles of the feet onto the floor roll over onto one side take a breath or two there and then push through your hands the head is the last thing to come up see how you feel and really allow yourself to have the experience try not to second guess it it is happening it's the truth of the moment notice your thoughts the space inside the body the space outside the body meeting the body palms together at the heart deep inhale loving life to all beings everywhere namaste thanks so much yogis