I define empowerment like this; It is the capability to contain energy and our ability to channel it consciously. All the energy we accumulate, we tend to waste it on things that are not really that meaningful to us. How can we find where we want to direct our energy, and how do we channel it in that direction instead of wasting it? These are essential things we need to understand and master if we want to craft the life we want. Our goals may be materialistic, physical, emotional, mental or spiritual, but either way, our level of empowerment equals our success. This is essential knowledge for anyone who wants to change or completely transform their lives.
Yoga Nidra is an extremely effective method of relaxing. Most of us live with chronic tensions that are the cause of all the agony we experience in modern life. Yogic philosophy, along with modern psychology, refers to three basic types of tensions. These are physical, emotional and mental tensions. Even in deep sleep, we carry these tensions.
The physical tensions are related to the body itself, the nervous system and endocrine imbalances. With Yoga Nidra, these tensions are easy to remove.
The emotional tensions come from various dualities such as love / hate, win / loss, success / defeat, happy / unhappy and so on, and these are more difficult to remove. This is because we are not able to express our feelings freely and openly. We sometimes refuse to acknowledge them, and rather suppress them. As a result, tensions take deeper and deeper roots and become more difficult to release. Even in sleep, it is not possible to relax these tensions. With Yoga Nidra, on the other hand, it is possible to numb our entire emotional structure and release these tensions.
Mental tension is the result of excessive mental activity. Our mind is a soup of fantasies, confusions and fluctuations. Throughout our lives, experiences are registered by our consciousness and accumulated in our mental body. Sometimes we can experience that these tensions explode and we experience anger, sadness, irritation, etc., and it is directed at completely insignificant and superficial things. This is then a result of our accumulated tensions on the mental level. Yoga Nidra is the science of relaxation that enables us to dive into the depths of the subconscious mind and free ourselves from accumulated tensions.
In this way, with Yoga Nidra we can create harmony in all levels of our being.
Yoga Nidra describes the state we’re in more than the practice itself. Yoga Nidra means ‘Sleep Yoga’, but it describes a different type of sleep than what we think of as sleep. In this case, we maintain an awareness while stepping into sleep. With an instructor as a guide, you are guided into deep relaxation while anchoring your consciousness firmly in the voice of the instructor. In this way we can systematically go in and make ‘sleep’ much more efficient. 1 hour in yoga nidra is therefor the same as 4 hours of normal sleep.
What are the benefits?
Yoga Nidra has a wide range of benefits. Through Yoga Nidra we can release traumas and memories that hang over us and affect our lives. We can let go of destructive or unwanted habits and addictions. We can reduce the amount of sleep we need, and therefore get more out of our lives. As we let go of the tensions we carry, we will also experience more energy and vitality. In Yoga Nidra we are also extremely receptive and can therefore reconstruct our personality and manifest the lives we want.
How does it work?
Yoga Nidra has a very scientific and systematic progress. There are several ways to practice depending on how much time you have and what you want to achieve with the practice. We can do a 10 minute practice that works great as a transition from a stressful day at work to time at home with the family. We can also use a similar practice that will quickly make you fall asleep. The more classic practice lasts approx. 60 minutes, but can be reduced to approx. 20 if we do not have more time.
Part 1) Remove distractions The first thing to do is turn off the TV, radio, telephone or other things that can be distracting. Draw for curtains and make sure the room is dark but not completely dark.
Part 2) Yogasanas Pain, stiffness and physical tension are major obstacles in yoga nidra practice. Therefore, it is ideal to practice Yoga Nidra after yoga asanas (the physical postures).
Part 3) Preparation One lies down in the correct position, and mentally prepares to calm down the mind and body.
Part 4) Sankalpa Sankalpa is Sanskrit, and ‘san’ means ‘to become one’ and ‘kalpa’ means ‘time’, and ‘subconscious mind’. Sankalpa is intention, and is used in advance of Yoga Nidra. This is like a kind of seed that we plant in the subconscious
Part 5) Rotation of consciousness This part consists of moving our focus throughout the body, up to several times. Each body part is connected to a completely separate point in the brain. Some body parts, such as lips, nose, hands and fingers, have a much larger area in the brain, compared to their size. Together, these parts have almost as large a part in the brain as the rest of the body combined. They are therefore important aspects when we move our attention through the body. The specific position of the body parts in our brain is the reason for the systematic approach with specific order when we move our attention throughout the body. Once we have started with this sequence, it must not be changed as it induces a flow of energy / prana in the neuron circuit of the motor homunculus. This flow carries with it an experience of relaxation as a spontaneous dissociation of consciousness from the sensory and motor occurs. With regular practice, this flow becomes more efficient and happens faster and goes deeper.
Part 6) Breath After the rotation of consciousness in the body, continues and complete physical relaxation with attention to the breath.
Part 7) Senses Now we move on to the plane of feelings and emotions. Feelings that are physically or emotionally intense are evoked, experienced fully and completely, and then removed. This is usually done by using contrasts such as heavy / light, cold / hot, pain / pleasure, etc. When these emotions are paired, we harmonize the halves of the brain and create balance in our basic driving forces that normally lie in the subconscious.
Part 8) Visualization In the last step of Yoga Nidra, work is being done on visualizing various images and symbols. This creates relaxation on the mental level. Because the images and symbols used often have universally important and powerful associations, they bring hidden content from the deep subconscious into the conscious mind. In this practice, the mind is cleansed of disturbing and painful material. Furthermore, this mind leads to dharana (concentration) and dhyana (meditation), and potentially even Samadhi.
Part 9) Sankalpa After completing the practice, the intention is repeated
Part 10) Closing After repeated sankalpa, we slowly return our attention to the body and space, and begin to move gently small muscle groups first before we finally open our eyes again.
Dry brushing is just what it sounds like- brushing your skin with a dry brush on dry skin. By doing this you scrape the dead skin cells off the top layer of your skin. This is done before you shower. The practice promotes detoxification and stimulates your lymphatic system.
Did you know that your skin is your larges organ? One third of our body’s toxins are excreted through the skin, so it is important to take good care of it. If your skin is covered with dead follicles, it can’t breath and detoxify which will cause inflammation and toxicity in the body. With daily dry brushing you can increase blood flow, boost circulation, reduce appearance of cellulite, remove dead skin cells and help your remaining cells and your body remove waste.
The lymphatic system is like a sewer system which collects, transports and eliminates the waste from our cells. It’s job is very important and dry brushing is extremely cleansing for the system which makes it function a lot better and preventing toxic accumulation.
Dry brushing should be practiced daily before shower, both as a preventative measure to keep your lymphatic system in good health, and as a treatment for when you feel like your toxins have already accumulated. It only takes about five minutes to do, and the benefits are many!
How to dry brush
1 Begin with your arms, with gentle strokes upward towards your heart in long and slow motions.
2 Move to your chest and stomach, again moving towards the heart.
3 Move towards your back. Many people accumulate dead skin cells on their lower back, so this might be an area to focus on. Always brushing towards your heart.
4 Finish your brushing from your feet and up.
Once you’re done, take a bath or a shower and then follow up with Abhyanga practice
You can also dry brush your face, but then by using a separate softer brush, so you avoid bringing toxins from your body to your face.
Wash your brush once a week in a cup of warm water with 3 drops of tea tree oil, then lay the brush bristles down on a towel to dry.
Jeg, sammen med massasjeterapeut og coach, Monica Abrahamsen inviterer til et unikt mini-retreat i naturskjønne Ryfylket. Vi møtes på en hytte på Randøy med utsikt mot soloppgangen over Fisterfjorden. Her skal vi senke skuldrene, gjøre yoga, meditasjon, pusteøvelser, få massasjebehandlinger og spise god og sunn mat i godt selskap. Søndag 22. august er det fullmåne, og vi benytter muligheten til å arrangere en fullmåne seremoni! Her blir det blant annet en trommereise, kroppslig bevegelse, mantrasang og meditasjon. Vi blir en liten gruppe på maks 7 stykk totalt.
Dato: 20.-23. Aug. Pris: kun 2.800,- Alt er inkludert. 3 netter, all mat og drikke, daglig yoga, minst 1 massasjebehandling og fullmåneseremoni.
Hvorfor fullmåneseremoni? Det er kjent kunnskap at tidevannet styres av månens gravitasjon. Selv om det begynner å bli kjent, er det langt fra like kjent at også mennesker blir påvirket av månens gravitasjon. Når vannet i sjøen stiger betraktelig etter hvor nær månen er, er det ikke vanskelig å tro at det også påvirker mennesker, som tross alt består av 60-70% vann. For noen kjennes det veldig tydelig, mens andre er ikke like reseptive. Uansett om man merker det eller ikke, så skjer det en naturlig opptur av energier i kroppen når det er fullmåne(og nymåne). På grunn av denne oppturen av energier i kroppen, er disse periodene blitt brukt av yogier i tusenvis av år, ettersom praksisen blir mye mer kraftfull.
Praktisk info:
Reise: Vi møtes på hytta på fredags kveld i 18-tiden. Man kan kjøre dit med bil, eller ta hurtigbåten og bli hentet av oss på kaien. Vi hjelper til med å organisere hvis noen har plass i bil osv. Det er ca. 1,5 time å kjøre fra Stavanger sentrum. Avreise skjer på mandag litt utpå dagen i 15-16 tiden.
Pakking: Klær etter forholdene. Vi kommer til å være litt ute og gå tur. Det er også fantastiske bademuligheter, så ta gjerne med badetøy. Vi skal være på hyttetur og ingenting her vil være høytidelig, så her er det fult lov å gå i joggebukse fra morgen til kveld.
Romfordeling: Soverommene består av køysenger, så du vil bli nødt for å dele rom med noen.
Obs! Du vil få betalingsinformasjon etter at du har sendt inn skjemaet. Bookingen er fullført når betalingen er gjennomført. Betalingen er bindene, og beløpet vil kun returneres dersom arrangementet blir avlyst.
The first two limbs of the ‘8 Limbs of Yoga’ are Yama and Niyama. They are both five guidelines to how to live well. Once you learn them you’ll realise that in many ways you already practice Yoga. The Yamas and Niyamas are the first of the 8 limbs because it will be foundation of your practice. The more you are able to commit to these guidelines, the easier the rest of your practice become. I’ve never met anyone who disagree with these guidelines, because its essentially all about coming back to our true nature.
First the Yamas: Ahimsa – Non-violence or non-harming Satya – Truthfulness Asteya – Non-Stealing Brahmacharya – Right use of Energy Aparigraha – Non-Greed or non-hoarding
Although it seems pretty straight forward when you look at it like this, it goes much deeper than you might think. For example, when you look at Ahimsa – non-violence or non-harming, most people will think about the direct action of being violent or harm someone. What about the way you think, eat, drink, say and how you move your own body. There is the direct harm we cause, and there is the indirect harm. For instance, how was the clothes you last bought produced? Or how was the food you last ate produced? Did it cause harm to the planet or workers?
Don’t worry, we’re not perfect, and these guidelines are not here to put us to shame or fill us with guilt. In fact, if we let that happen, we put harm to ourselves(!) So, relax and use these guidelines to enhance your awareness and change your behaviour towards wellness.
You may wonder why this is important for a yogic practice. So, yoga means union and it means breaking the illusion of separation between subject and object. Experiencing life as one. Albert Einstein understood what yogis have known for millennia’s. All energy is the same energy, yet we experience life in the dimensions of inner and outer world. Yoga is about not only seeing, but experiencing the outer and inner world as one and the same. The behaviour that the yamas are guiding us away from are behaviour that enhance the experience of separation. For instance, had we experienced everyone as the same as us we would not harm them in any way. We wouldn’t lie, we wouldn’t steal, hoard or spend our energy trying to fill a void(as we would already feel complete). So by practicing the yamas, we are synchronising our lives with the truth.
As the yamas are more directed at how we interact with the outer world, the niyamas are more focused on the self. You may also notice the yamas are about what not to do and the niyamas are more what to do.
As you practice these more, you’ll notice how the rest of your yoga practice will enhance greatly. In hatha yoga we strive to become balanced, and by practicing the yamas and niyamas we live a life that do not cause inner conflicts, delusion and attachments, so your life become more harmonious and balanced.
Darsh Yoga 