Lying-down meditation for nondual, self-inquiry...really???

Q.  i am really unable to sit for long periods of meditation and wondered what my alternatives were.  i saw your post on "nondual, self-inquiry meditation while walking" and wondered if i could meditate lying down.  i know it sounds crazy, but is it possible?

G.  Yes, there is an effective, lying-down meditation called "yoga nidra", which translates as "yoga sleep".  However, it isn't really sleep, but a deep state in which one maintains conscious awareness.  It is explained by Swami Satyananda as the state "between wakefulness and sleep that opens deep phases of the mind."  Osho describes it as "conscious deep sleep".

This "between" approach was described by my main teacher, Ramana Maharshi, as "the pure 'I' of the transitional stage (between sleep and awake) must be held for the experience of full knowledge of Brahman".  he also said that "Samadhi means sleep in the waking state.  Bliss is overpowering and the experience is very clear, whereas it is different in sleep".

In previous posts, i described the "catching" of this transitional Stillness by being fully present in the morning as you are waking up and are not yet fully engaged "in the world".  If you remind yourself the night before to watch for this, you will learn how to "catch" it.   (Actually, it's always there.)  It also works when you're falling asleep, but most folk are too tired.

Richard Miller, Ph.D.
psychologist yogi

EEG studies on yoga nidra were done at the Menninger Institute on Swami Rama, the "controversial" yogi from whom i received my second teachers' training; he was the first yogi scientifically evaluated in the West.  

IME, the best yoga nidra practices for contemporary Westerners were developed by a long-time friend and fellow traveler, Richard Miller, w/his iRest Yoga Nidra program and teachers' training courses.

iRest has been used successfully with returning soldiers with PTSD at Walter Reed Medical Center, in homeless shelters, prisons, senior facilities, universities, chemical dependency clinics, MS and cancer clinics and in many yoga and meditation studios.  Richard also co-founded the International Association of Yoga Therapists.  

Richard's "Yoga Nidra, The Meditative Heart of Yoga" (2005) by Sounds True (w/CD) is highly recommended; Richard has much excellent media available on yoga nidra. 

The koshas

Richard's approach is organized around the koshas, five "sheaths", or "bodies", of increasing subtlety covering the Atman/Self like layers of an onion.  Richard adds a sheath to get a non-dual awakening approach.  There are some good philosophical reasons to do this. 



The stages/focus of these sheaths in order of increasing subtlety are:

               1)  Physical - Sensations
             
               2)  Energy - Breath and energy

               3)  Emotional - Feelings and emotions

               4)  Intellect - Thoughts, beliefs and images

               5)  Joy/Bliss - Desire, pleasure and joy

               6)   Ego - I - Witness or ego/I

               7)  Natural state - Changeless Being

A "full" yoga nidra session has extensive work in each of these successive stages which is detailed in Richard's books.  A summary of what worked for me:

       First, lie down in comfortable clothing in a quiet room, free of distractions, on a soft surface (not your bed) with your eyes closed, w/something like a blanket or pillow under your knees to take the strain off your back.  Your bed can work, but as you are conditioned to fall asleep there, you probably will.  However, if you wake up in bed, you can lie there and do this practice.  

Then, in order:

       1)  Physical - Systematically move your attention through the sensations of the physical body in order as the brain has arranged them neurophysiologically.  This is fascinatingly represented by the cortical homunculus (little man) concept which incorporates the sensory cortex order as well as how much cortex is dedicated to each area.

Sensory cortex

At the left, the sensory cortex is shown in the brain, beside the sequential arrangement of the areas and their different cortical allocation depending on "importance".  This is graphically displayed by the cartoon of the homunculus w/tongue, lips, hands and feet receiving disproportionate sensory cortical allocations.

Homunculus
sensory man

Starting at the "top", move your awareness to the tongue and mouth, then to the ears, eyes, then down the neck to the right arm, hand and fingers and then the left arm, hand and fingers, then down the trunk into the hips and pelvis and on to the right leg, foot and toes and then the left leg, foot and toes.  Be as detailed as you have time and are inclined.   As you visit each area, you will generally find that tension will release, but if not, abide until it does, or even feel/say "let go" (See - "Surrendering the 'I', letting go of suffering").

      2)  Breath and Energy - Become aware of your breath - follow it and sense its movement.  Then move on to breath counting, sequentially counting your exhales up to 10, or from 10 down to 1.  If you lose your place, just go back to the beginning and start again.

Watch where the exhales dissolve into, or inhales arise from.  Watch for the "turn" in the cycles.  What is there?

A very useful practice that Richard describes is to focus your breathing on the left nostril and feel only the sensations on the left side of the body, then shift to the right nostril and feel only the right side of the body.  Go back and forth several times.  Then try to feel the sensations on both right and left sides, separately, but simultaneously.   What happens w/your thoughts, and the "doer" when you do this?  Is there something that doesn't change?

     3)  Feeling and emotion - Drawing upon the "feeling both sides at once" exercise, move into feeling "both sides" of emotions, like "warm - cool", "light - heavy", "calm - agitated", "angry - peaceful", etc.  If you have a particularly problematic feeling or emotion, work w/it and its opposite.  As you move back and forth, feel the sensations that arise throughout the body.  Is there a space that is untouched by this dance of emotions and feelings.  What changes?  What stays the same?  Which are "you"?

Byron Katie

    4)  Thoughts, beliefs and images -  Again, use the "feeling both sides" approach.  This is similar to the Byron Katie investigations of core beliefs w/her "turnaround" to the polar opposite (Surrendering the 'I', letting go of suffering").  What is a core belief, or a current problematic story line?  What is the complete opposite of this story line?   

Turnaround "(S)he doesn't love me" to "(S)he loves me", or "I'm a failure" to "I'm a success".  Feel both sides, moving back and forth.  See if you can hold both of the opposites simultaneously.  What is "in between" these two "polarized" beliefs?  What happens as you work w/them and "let go" of them?

     5)  Joy/Bliss - This naturally arises from the earlier steps.  As you move back and forth, or rise and fall, compare the poles to what is "in the middle" and is always there, whether it is bodily sensations, breath/energy, emotions/feelings or thoughts/beliefs.  you may find yourself in/as Presence and Stillness.

     6)  Ego/I - This is the home of our self-inquiry, "Who am I?".  After having investigated, or even revisiting briefly, all of the above stages ask "What am I?", "Where am I?", "To whom do these emotions, beliefs, thoughts, and sensations arise?"

        Use a statement like, "I'm Fred, I'm from NYC and I have big problems relating to people." (w/your equivalent).  Then shorten it segment by segment to "I'm Fred and I'm from NYC", then "I'm Fred", then "I am".  Then drop even "I am"...Feel the change in your body/mind as this occurs.  Move back and forth or up and down the statement.  What is changing?  What is there after the "I am" falls away?  Which of these is the "real" you?

      And let go, let go, let go...  (See "How do 'I' surrender?  What will 'I' get in return?", and "What is the 'Direct Path' to nondual awakening?  What is 'self-inquiry'?")

     7)  Changeless Being - This is what manifests, naturally, at the end of the process.  As the famous Bhagavad Gita verse (XIII, 27) goes; "Everyone has the Self within them.  Those who see the changeless in the midst of the changing, truly see."

Ramana Maharshi

         Or the quote which Richard uses from Ramana Maharshi, "You speak as if you are here and the Self is elsewhere.  The Self is here, now.  You are always It."

There are many youTube videos and offerings on yoga nidra, including one from the teacher for my first yoga teachers' training, the controversial Amrit Desai; Richard's work is deservedly the most popular and widely-cited.  

IME, the only drawback to yoga nidra is that in our sleep-deprived lifestyles, folk tend to fall asleep.  As i was sleep-deprived for decades, yoga nidra was difficult for "me", so i focused on sitting,  walking, and yoga flow meditations.  But yoga nidra does work for many folk as evidenced by Richard's success.  And, as we saw in "DIY nondual awakening w/big job, family, 3 yrs on/off practice...", lying-down, self-inquiry works for "regular folk".