Practical Yoga Nidra: A 10-Step Method to Reduce Stress, Improve Sleep, and Restore Your Spirit by Moore Scott

Author:Moore, Scott [Moore, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Rockridge Press
Published: 2020-08-03T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

STEP 6: WITNESS THOUGHTS

How to Observe Your Mind

The French philosopher René Descartes proclaimed, “I think, therefore I am.” Thanks, René, for creating the textbook definition of identifying with thoughts, that one’s proof of existence lies within the ability to think. Descartes is not alone in this philosophy. At a fundamental level, most people believe that they are a thinking mind. Not so in Yoga Nidra, where thoughts are something to witness (and not be)—a philosophy that predates Descartes by thousands of years.

One’s existence doesn’t start and stop with the mind. Knowing your True Self isn’t a philosophical or intellectual exercise. It’s a felt experience. Yoga Nidra is the perfect practice to help you experience your True Self by training you to witness your thoughts, the product of the thinking mind. To witness thoughts, you must first be able to see your thoughts as separate from your observer self, your Awareness. That might sound like thinking about thinking. But with a little practice, you’ll soon begin to feel yourself as the observer who happens to be witnessing thoughts the same way you can witness emotions, body, and sensations. This perspective comes relatively quickly once you welcome your thoughts and observe them rather than trying to control them.

Many people who try to practice meditation complain that it’s too difficult, that their mind is simply too active. But in Yoga Nidra, the goal isn’t to control thoughts but to simply watch them. They’re just another interesting facet of your humanity that give you an avenue to practice Awareness.

You’ve probably heard the saying “What you resist, persists.” Well, that’s certainly true with thoughts. As often as you attempt to control your thoughts, they seem to want to pester you even more. For example, the more you try to resist thinking about the Brooklyn Blackout Cake at your favorite bakery, the more those tempting thoughts find themselves in your head. To witness thoughts, you must simply allow them free passage to come and go. I explain this process to my new meditation students through an analogy I call the Thought Factory.

You’ve just been hired as a supervisor to oversee thoughts at the Thought Factory. Your only job is to watch the conveyor belt. You’re not trying to fix anything, not trying to change anything, and certainly not supposed to touch anything. Your boss puts you in front of a conveyer belt, and you must simply watch as it moves. Your gaze is fixed forward. Pretty soon, a thought comes along the conveyor belt. Though it might look tantalizing, your job is just to allow it to come and go. If you pick it up, you’ll hold up production. Here’s the thing: If you stop picking up the thoughts, the production gets done quicker, until there are fewer and fewer thoughts being sent your way. And when they do come, you’re skilled at just watching them come and go.

What This Practice Does for You

The practice of witnessing your thoughts untangles your identity from your thinking mind.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.