A YOGA NIDRA VISION

    To this day, I still can't explain a psychological/spiritual (where is the line between the two?) event that took place during one of the Yoga Nidra classes that we partook in each day. Yoga Nidra is essentially yoga for the subconscious mind. One uses the physical asana practice to release stress, emotions, and to keep the physical body healthy and limber - like bamboo. The same goes for Yoga Nidra, but for the mind. It typically involves listening to a guided meditation while lying down with the eyes closed. There are many variations as to the type of guided meditations that one can work with. It all depends on your desire and what you need in your life at the moment. Furthermore, usually it takes many sessions to make progress, like any other thing that we work towards. Although Yoga Nidra is the exact opposite of work. It's allowing. Simple as that. If we want to positively change our mind for the better, then we have to continually feed it the right food (thoughts) over a long period of time - that's what Yoga Nidra is. It's quite common for the body to fall asleep before the mind during a Yoga Nidra practice. This leaves the practitioner in a state that slowly shifts from the conscious to the subconscious, sometimes a back and forth dance between the two. This is also similar to the process of learning how to lucid dream, but that's a whole other topic. Anyways. Once one completely shifts over to the subconscious state of mind, wild things can occur: suppressed traumas, fears, disappointments that are still being held onto, a funny joke from years ago that you didn't know you still remembered, buried imagery, and even random things that appear to make no sense at all. 

    Over the course of many months of taking these Yoga Nidra classes, I witnessed some powerful happenings. Many times people would surge forward from lying on the ground and would suddenly run from the class, as if to escape. Either to burst into tears, or just to get some fresh air to take in whatever internal work was being done...or whatever memory/emotion was being released. One time I saw someone sprint out of the shala and begin throwing up immediately upon being outside. After the puking came uncontrollable sobs. I suppose that whatever that person had uncovered deep within themselves was revolting, so much that they had such a physical reaction. Or maybe that was their bodies defense response in trying to rid itself of something that needed to be cast out. Maybe this is an example of the physical body expressing what the emotional body wasn't able to. I don't know - it's not really my business to analyze their experience any further. Another time a classmate of mine awoke from her yogic sleep (another term for Yoga Nidra) in a fit of terror, screaming in fear. Obviously she too went into a dark uncomfortable cranny of her mind. But they weren't all "bad". People would also erupt into fits of laughter, or even began beaming with a smile that could hardly be contained on their face. Or upon finishing a session they'd have a new found piece of self understanding that gave them insight into their evolution, which brought them a sense of peace. The path to understanding has many ways. Some are fun, and some not so much...but in the end I guess what matters is that we get there. There were other wild happenings that occurred during these sessions, but I feel they might be too graphic...and I'm certain everyone reading would think I'm making them up...

    Although I too had my fair share of "shit" that arose during various Yoga Nidra sessions (like the understanding of where my literal and metaphorical Claustrophobia stems from, my father issues, or self love obstacles), I want to write on something that was more of a "vision" - if you will. A vision that would later come to be exactly as I saw it laying on the floor of the yoga shala that day.The vision was short and sweet. It lasted just a moment, but is still deeply ingrained in my minds eye today. In the vision I was floating on a surfboard, absolutely beaming with live. The camera angle/perspective that I was seeing myself from was very specific. It was me on a surfboard laying on my stomach with a particular background of beach behind me. The sky was dull. In truth, it looked like a terrible day to be surfing, but there I was trying to anyway. Up until this point in my life, I had never even tried surfing before, so this vision didn't really make any sense to me at the time. Soon after having it, it quickly became forgotten. I was so in the midst of my adventures that I didn't stop to think anything of it at the time.

    Ok, now we are going to jump a bit ahead in my world travels to tie the knot on this unexplainable vision that adds a bit of spice to this story. Fast forward many months. I found myself in a new country - Sri Lanka. I will write more about Sri Lanka once these blogs catch up to that point, but to keep it simple - I found myself taking surf lessons from a local. As we prepared to leave for the morning waves (which I would not be able to ride) the skies became grey and uninviting. I asked, "Are you sure it's a good day for a surf lesson?". My instructor responded, "Yes yes good day for surfing." Without hesitation he loaded the surfboard onto the tuktuk and off we were. After arriving to a beach that my instructor insisted was a hidden gem, he explained to me the basics on how to paddle out, stand up on the board, and some other stuff that I've long since forgotten. That day I was 100% unsuccessful in doing any surfing or furthermore any resemblance of it. Just falling and falling and exhausting myself, being sure to accidentally drink a bunch of sea water in the process. However, at one point during my follies, I had a "deja vu" moment. As I laid on my board exhausted, having the time of my life (because after all - I was taking surf lessons in Sri Lanka, something I never imagined I'd be doing!) my Yoga Nidra vision came back to me in an instantaneous flash. Everything was happening just as I'd saw it that day many months before while laying on the yoga shala floor. The dull sky, the smile on my face, the shorts I was wearing, the scenery of the beach - it was all the same.

    I can't explain any of this. Maybe this is all some sort of placebo of my mind, I'm certainly open to that. And I'm not oblivious to the fact that we humans have tendencies to imagine things, but I'm not writing any of this to convince anyone of anything. Just relating my experiences to you. In fact, in all of my writing, I have no agenda. I'm just a man with some stories. Maybe they touch you. Maybe they are long forgotten. In reality most of this stuff goes unread anyways (haha jokes on me!). I was a bit hesitant to share this story because it's quite strange and I'm not sure it even makes sense, but that's exactly how life is...so alas, I had to cough this up. I've been sitting on this blog for a while and I didn't want to be blocked any longer. Instead of revising and editing over and over, I'm just finishing and hitting publish. I need to keep moving, keep writing, keep going. 3...2...1..publish.