Night Ritual to Rest

Rest as sacred restoration (37 min class)

Earlier in the month we practiced a ritual to rise, and today instead of awakening the body, we work with rituals to help us turn our focus from the external world to our inner landscape. Most of us find it difficult to find moments of rest throughout our days, and some may even be super restless even when nighttime arrives. Today is more than a class, it’s a ritual that will help you to unwind before rest, a preparation for sleep if you like. And when I say rest, I don’t mean sleep, I mean a state of deep relaxation that we tap into so that when we need a moment of rest the most, we’re able to access this state effortlessly (with practice of course).

Just as Lord Vishnu reclines and rests upon Ananta or Shesha (his snake) whilst appearing to be asleep, we will also try to keep our minds between being conscious and unconscious. In yoga, we refer to this state as Yoga Nidra in which we cultivate a state between rest and creation. In this state, Lord Vishnu is said to be going through Ananthasayanam (Cosmic hibernation) where he rests in consciousness between cycles of creation. Nighttime is your small version of that cosmic pause.

Today, we bring elements of yoga nidra into our practice by trying to find tiny pockets of rest between each breath or asana, where we’re not shutting down, but journeying towards ananda or a state of bliss in pure consciousness.