Time seems to be a scarce commodity for many families today. It can be hard to find time to simply be when there is so much to do. The yoga tradition teaches us that our experience of the world is made up of our beliefs and our perceptions. Fun! And scary. Yoga gives us a way to examine these beliefs and perceptions to allow for more ease and joy in our lives.
Richard Miller, PhD, has taken a traditional practice called yoga nidra (deep meditative inquiry) and modernized it for our needs today. This protocol is known as "iRest" or "Integrative Restoration." The letter "i" is intentionally lowercase. The Web site, irest.us , states:
"Research has shown that iRest Yoga Nidra effectively reduces PTSD, depression, anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain, and chemical dependency, as well as increases overall well-being. iRest Yoga Nidra is an evidence-based transformative practice of deep relaxation and meditative inquiry that releases negative emotions and thought patterns, calms the nervous system, and develops a deep capacity to meet any and all circumstances you may encounter in life. iRest Yoga Nidra essentially teaches you how to live a contented life, free of conflict, anxiety, and suffering by opening your mind and body to their inherent ground of health and wholeness."
Health and wholeness are our true nature. Any sense of lack we experience can be explored and released. Teaching children to be with what is, as it is, keeps erroneous beliefs from becoming entrenched and hardened. Sensations in the body are the field of play.
One aspect of yoga nidra, known as body sensing, can be effectively shared with kids throughout the day to help them feel into a true sense of who and how they are. This is also great for parents who are feeling "whelmed," as my mother likes to say. Try this for yourself and then share it with others in your life. You can do it anywhere, anytime.
Take a moment to sit back and relax. Settle into an awareness of the natural rise and fall of your breath. Do this for several moments. Feel your left hand. Rather than looking at it or thinking about it, feel into the radiant sensation that is your left hand. Now feel your right hand. Allow time for sensation in your hand to fully blossom in awareness. Now feel both hands at once.
As you sit, feeling into both hands, ask yourself (or the family member you are guiding though this):
"What time is it? Do you feel time bound or timeless?"
"How do you feel?"
"Is there anywhere else you need to be right now?"
"Is there anything else needed in this moment or anything you need to know? Or, would seeking something out just take you away from this feeling?"
One 11-year-old boy I shared this with said, "My hands are like those two-liter soda bottles, all shaken up and fizzy." Another boy said, "Whoa! My hands are as big as the room." These boys are residents of a facility providing treatment to c hildren with a history of violence and abuse. They had nearly come to blows in the yoga class because one had "dissed" the other. I sat them down to feel into sensation. This allowed their emotions to shift, and we were able to carry on with our practice. I later shared this practice of feeling into the hands with a group of four- to six-year-olds at a yoga studio. They went from feeling tired to energized and a bit giggly.
Play this "game" with your whole family often to begin to become familiar with timelessness. You can call it the "fuzzy hands game" or "big hands" or "whoa!" It simply facilitates a shift in perspective. Since our world is made up of our perceptions, it's nice to have some handy tools to help us discern "what is" from all the things we think about. Rather than trying to stop or change the mind, we simply reveal what is already there--previously covered up by all the busyness.
Bodily sensation is the only true present-moment experience we can have. It grounds us into our felt sense of now. We spend much of our day thinking (worrying, planning, regretting, fretting), all of it taking us out of the present moment. Feeling into sensation--the hands are a fun place to start--brings us back to now. It's a great way to develop our intuition as well. As we become more familiar with body sensations, we can tell when we are getting a "yes" or a "no" from our intuition. A "yes" feels comfortable, open, and clear. A "no" feels uncomfortable.
We can use the "fuzzy hands game" and other awareness techniques like it throughout our day to come back to our spacious true selves. The grip of time-bound perspective softens and we can relax.
As we get more familiar with the terrain of timelessness, we learn to step into the daily activities of life without getting caught up in the current. Then, step back and watch it all flow by.