Sanctuary Tracks: Technical Descriptions

The following are technical descriptions of what is contained within the longer tracks in Experience.

Looking for specific tracks from The Four Desires CD Set? Here is where they live on the app:
Breath: Breath Awareness, in Peace
Vairagya: Let Go, in Heal
Healing the Heart: Nurturance, in Heal
Shakti: Shakti, in Empower
Bliss: Bliss, in Empower
Relax Into Greatness, Relax Into Greatness 3, in Empower

Here are the locations for the tracks from the Meditations for Life and Meditations for Inner & Outer Peace CDs:

Flame of Self-Healing: Self-Healing, in Heal
Breath Meditations: Breath, in Spirit
Still Lake of the Mind: Still Lake, in Peace
Mantra: Mantra, in Empower
Unconditional Healing: Unconditional Healing, in Heal

Peace: Enlightened Sleep

Essentials (L1)  Awareness of sound; breath awareness; abdominal breathing; letting go; witnessing.

Essentials 2.0 (L1/2)
A journey through body parts relaxes you into a healing presence. Abdominal breathing is gentle and restive. Awareness remains calmly aware.

Tranquil Nurturance (L1/2)
Breath awareness; witnessing; 31 Points (blue=peace). Mental alternate nostril breathing: moonlight through the right nostril, sunlight through left nostril. blue healing light fills the body to close the practice.

31 Points (L1)
31 Points leads to aborption in healing blue light.

Infinite Joy (L1/2)
Breath awareness centered at the abdomen leads to a grounding journey around the body to relax more deeply. To drop in even more, cultivate awareness of the heart center’s connection to specific areas of the right and left sides of the body. An unconditional joy ensues. To come out, walk back through your day in 30-minute increments.

Body, Mind, Spirit (L2)
Tune into sounds, tap into witness; shape the breath; journey around the body. The practice culminates with the 80 breaths technique.

Joy & Awareness (L1/2)
Shape the breath, tap into witness. Mental alternate nostril breathing builds a presence in the mid-brain, this begins the 31 Points technique. Then, awareness at the heart: sensing the channels that connect the heart to various points of the body, and the innate joy that rests in the heart. To come out, reflect on the practice and each of its steps.

Float Into Infinity (L1/2)
Abdominal breathing calms the nervous system and creates awareness of patterns of imbalance. Journey around the body, feeling the space between various points of the body and the floor and cultivating a feeling of floating. Feel, see, or sense your body floating through clouds in the sky. You become expansive and limitless.

Pure Awareness (L1/2)
Breath awareness; resting in a memory of you completely at ease. Shaping the breath with awareness in the nostrils/naso-pharynx. Journey around the body, shifting into counting mental alternate nostril breathing backwards from 50 to 1. Then, witness consciousness unfolds on the screen of the mind (chidakasha).

Heal: Enlightened Sleep

Balance & Beyond (L1)
Awareness of and balancing left and right sides of the body, then balancing breath in left and right nostrils. The balance that is created allows left and right to dissolve into oneness; the breath rises and falls from that oneness, like an ocean wave.

Active Stillness (L2)
Breath awareness into 80 Breaths (Shitali Karana).

General Healing (L1/2)
Breath awareness; 61 Points with a bluish point of light, repeating Om Som or Healing Nurturance (blue=peace). Rest in spaciousness; end practice enveloped in a rose-colored cloud (rose=healing).

Specific Healing (L1/2)
Breath awareness; body getting heavier. Awareness of the pain you wish to transform; continued observation reveals an image associated with the pain or dis-ease. 31 Points; inner healing capacity growing. Return to sustained awareness of symbol/image of healing.

Clear Perception (L1/2) 
31 Points, then awareness of the pathways between various points in the body and the heart. Travel back in time in 30-minute increments. Awareness of your body sleeping. Then breath flows in and out of the heart center, throat center, and brain center.

Cognition (L1/2)
Breath awareness; 61 Points with golden starlight (gold=inspiration). Travel back through the day in 30-minute increments; mental alternate nostril breathing; witnessing the unfolding on the screen of the mind.

Cognition 2 (L1/2)
The latest version of the Cognition Practice, recorded live in Seattle, 2019. Relaxation leads you beyond the states of waking, dreaming, and sleeping. Mind decompresses to unlock insight, clarity, and intuition.

Clear Mind. Rest in the Heart. (L1/2)
Consciously relax, shaping the breath. Rest in awareness of body breathing. 31 Points leads to a resting in the expanded state of the heart. Travel back through the day in 30-minute increments to return to the waking state.

Deep Healing (L1/2)
Awareness of breath leads to awareness of sound as you begin to relax, then awareness of awareness itself. Remember a time when you felt true joy. Think of a word or feeling that captures the essence of that joy, and lasting joy and peace in general. Your body starts to let go of all traces of contraction. Back to breath awareness, and into 61 Points with a healing blue point of light. Feel spacious. End the session enveloped in a rose-colored cloud of healing and nurturance.

Purify Into Deepest Rest (L2)
Abdominal breathing, tapping into witness. 31 Points technique leads into 80 Breaths. Picture the full moon at the throat center, reflecting on the dreaming state; end with awareness in the heart center, reflecting on deep sleep for 6 minutes then consciously bring yourself out and back to the breath.

Effortless Joy (L1)
Breath awareness melts away tension, leading to witness consciousness. The 31 Points technique leads to resting in the innate joy of the heart center.

Pure Awareness (L1/2)
Breath awareness; resting in a memory of you completely at ease. Shaping the breath with awareness in the nostrils/naso-pharynx. Journey around the body, shifting into counting mental alternate nostril breathing backward from 50 to 1. Then, witness consciousness unfolds on the screen of the mind (chidakasha).

Empower: Enlightened Sleep

Destiny (L1)
Sankalpa Practice. Breath awareness leads to awareness of the connection between the midbrain and heart, between the heart and other parts of the right side of the body, then the left. Awareness of the dream state leads to the Golden Egg, the infinite field of possibility for manifesting your desire/sankalpa.

Relax Into Greatness (L1/2)
An updated version of the original short practice from the Relax Into Greatness CD. Rotation of consciousness; pairs of opposites; screen of the mind; sankalpa.

Relax Into Greatness 2 (L2)
An updated version of the original long practice from the Relax Into Greatness CD. Rotation of consciousness; pairs of opposites; screen of the mind; forest/river visualization; sankalpa repetition.

Relax Into Greatness 3 (L1/2)
An updated version of the Relax Into Greatness from The Four Desires CD Set. Sankalpa, 31 Points, pairs of opposites, chidakasha. Mental alternate breath while counting backward from 54. End surrounded by Golden Egg, repeating Sankalpa.

Resolution/Sankalpa (L1/2)
Starlight at the 61 Points; awareness of breath, two streams of breath ascending through nostrils, intersecting at the midbrain then descending through nostrils (Prana Shuddhi). Pathway between midbrain and heart; letting go of anything that darkens the heart. Golden aura in the shape of an egg; the body is absorbed in a golden egg, the space in which resolution is fulfilled. Repeat resolve/sankalpa 3 times.

Resolution/Sankalpa 2 (L1/2)
Recorded live in Seattle, 2019. Effortlessness leads to complete oneness. Then, “seed” intention in a state of doubtlessness – the fertile soil for fully empowered resolution.  

Resolution/Sankalpa 3 (L1/2)
An updated version of Resolution 2 which includes more silence.

Deep Awakening (L1/2)
Breath awareness leads to 61 Points + 80 Breaths.

Spirit: Enlightened Sleep

No Holding (L1)
Simple relaxation of different parts of the body leads to breath awareness; dropping tension and pressure with each exhale.

Nidra At the Heart (L2)
Waves of life force lead to 61 Points, then, settle into the heart center.

The Complete Practice (L3)
Breath awareness leads to starlight point of light at the 61 Points. 80 Breaths. Roll to the left side and fill the right side with awareness of moonlight; repeat, filling the left side with awareness of sunlight. Roll onto your back; awareness of dream state; awareness of sleep state in the abode of the heart for 6 minutes. Then roll to the right side and be aware of the transition to sleep state, allowing yourself to sleep for the last 15 minutes.

Infinite Joy (L1/2)
Breath awareness centered at the abdomen leads to a grounding journey around the body to relax more deeply. To drop in even more, cultivate awareness of the heart center’s connection to specific areas of the right and left sides of the body. An unconditional joy ensues. To come out, walk back through your day in 30-minute increments.

Body, Mind, Spirit (L2)
Tune into sounds, tap into witness; shape the breath; journey around the body. The practice culminates with the 80 breaths technique.

Purify Into Deepest Rest (L2)
Abdominal breathing, tapping into witness. 31 Points technique leads into 80 Breaths. Picture the full moon at the throat center, reflecting on the dreaming state; end with awareness in the heart center, reflecting on deep sleep for 6 minutes then consciously bring yourself out and back to the breath.

ParaYoga Nidra: Joy & Awareness (L1/2)
Shape the breath, tap into witness. Mental alternate nostril breathing builds a presence in the mid-brain, this begins the 31 Points technique. Then, awareness at the heart: sensing the channels that connect the heart to various points of the body, and the innate joy that rests in the heart. To come out, reflect on the practice and each of its steps.

Effortless Joy (L1)
Breath awareness melts away tension, leading to witness consciousness. The 31 Points technique leads to resting in the innate joy of the heart center.

Float Into Infinity (L1/2)
Abdominal breathing calms the nervous system and creates awareness of patterns of imbalance. Journey around the body, feeling the space between various points of the body and the floor and cultivating a feeling of floating. Feel, see, or sense your body floating through clouds in the sky. You become expansive and limitless.

Peace: Meditation

Vital Ease (L1)
Breathe in a wave of healing strength, breathe out a wave that releases tension.

Peaceful Flow (L1)
Distinct streams of breath flow through the nostrils, meeting at the 3rd eye (prana shuddhi); mental alternate nostril breathing. Calm, luminous presence collects at the midbrain (prana dharana). Light floods the brain; mind dissolves into a deep calm.

Follow Breath (L1)
Breathe in vitality, breathe out, and let go. Aware of breath at the abdomen (nishta dharana). Resting in pause after exhale.

Clear Heart & Mind (L1)
On inhale, spine grows vertically, on exhale stability grows around the low back. Then, on inhale, a wave of joy and ease moves from the heart downward, on exhale it returns to the heart. End by simply resting in the heart.

Gratitude (L1)
Expressing gratitude for body, mind, emotions, this moment, nature, challenges, this day + something you come up with on your own.

Clear Awareness (L1/2)
Moving from the exterior to the interior through different objects of awareness (antahkarana). Moving from sounds to sensations to thoughts, and finally to the awareness of awareness itself.

Dissolve Resentment (L2)
Bring someone to mind with whom you struggle and reflect on your feelings about and judgment of them: let the feeling of resentment rise to the surface. Put it into the larger context: the pain they cause others is born from their own pain. A wave of acceptance moves through you: non-judgment and compassion spontaneously flow from your heart. Rest in the feeling of peace and loving wisdom.

Breathe Into Awareness (L1/2)
Rotation of awareness through the body then hold awareness into the abdomen. Rest in the pause after the exhale.

Heart Centered (L1/2)
Focus on breathing in the nostrils then mental alternate nostril breathing, cultivating light in the midbrain (prana shuddhi). On inhale, light moves from outside of the brain inward through the 3rd eye, on exhale it descends into the heart. End by feeling “I am” or the Sanskrit, “So Hum” reverberating in the heart center.

Still Lake of the Mind (L1/2)
Balance breath in the nostrils. See/feel/sense a still lake in the mind, with the full moon at the back of the head. Then, cooling moonlight beams down on the lake and reflects off the lake and out through the 3rd eye. End with an awareness of a 5-pointed star.

Holding Grace (L2) (Also located in Empower and Spirit sections)
Awareness of body, mind, and breath leads to a simple breath technique. A growing awareness of grace from the space outside of the body is then drawn in toward the spine on inhale, and fills the body and mind on exhale.

Still Point 2023 (L2/3)
Following breath awareness around the sinuses and throat, upon inhale begin to feel slow descent of awareness from the heart down to the pelvic floor. On exhale, sense the breath rising from the pelvic floor back to the heart center. An inherent joy begins to descend and ascend with the breath. Stage 2: the inhale remains the same: bliss descends from heart to pelvic floor. As you exhale, the breath rises beyond the heart to the crown of the head, filling the space between brain and skull. Stage 3: Each inhale, continue to return to the heart and descend from there. Now on exhale, the wave ascends: when it reaches the heart, see/feel/sense a line of light between physical heart and crown of the head, as the exhale moves up toward the crown, the line reveals itself clearly culminating in the space between the brain and the skull. Finally, golden presence collects in the space between brain and skull: it becomes a storehouse of light.

Heal: Meditation

Abode of Peace (L1)
Awareness at the midbrain center, right shoulder, navel, left shoulder, 3rd eye, throat, right chest, solar plexus, left chest. Then, awareness of the lines that connect these points, then rest awareness in the center, a deep well of peace.

Heart Mind Balance (L1/2)
Place right hand over chest, left index and middle fingers on the space between the eyebrows. Which space – mind or heart – is dominant? Then let awareness rest in the less dominant location in order to balance these two guiding forces.

Vital Restore (L1/2)
Breathe in through the gateway of the 5 senses, toward the brain. Pause after inhale, vitalizing presence felt at midbrain.

Self-Compassion (L1/2)
Acknowledge that you have been hurt and need healing, then acknowledge that you haven’t always expressed love and compassion for yourself. Offer love and healing to that part of you that needs it now. Love yourself the way the Divine would want you to be loved. Sense that you are a living expression of compassion.

Self-Compassion 2.0 (L1/2)
Same practice as above, with less of an introduction and more spaciousness.

Ground & Release (L1/2)
Apana Vayu practice. Appreciate your physical form. Acknowledge the weight you carry that you’d like to release. On inhale, let all the negative, toxic stuff descend from top of head to base of spine. Pause after inhale, let it all collect at the base of spine. On exhale, let it go, sending it down to the core of the planet. Sense this descending force becoming more potent, like flashes of lightning, as it descends down into the earth.

Patience/Nurturance (L1/2)
And updated version of Healing the Heart Meditation from The Four Desires CD Set. Equal ratio breathing (sama vritti), then pause after inhale, holding presence of breath at the heart center. Sense that beyond the body is an ocean of light and love that nurtures. Invite it to enter the body through the top of the head then descending down into body. Curl tongue to touch the back of the roof of the mouth to facilitate this descent of nurturing presence. As it descends, notice where there is resistance; this is a barometer of your openness, on any given day, to being nurtured.

Let Go (L1/2)
And updated version of the Meditation to Increase Dispassion (Vairagya) from The Four Desires CD Set. Mental alternate nostril breathing then awareness of breath at the abdomen. Acknowledge negativity (negative feelings, sensations, thoughts) at the abdomen. On inhale, draw them up to the heart in order to transform them. Pause after inhale, see the color violet transform the negativity into positivity, ease and stillness. Exhale the color violet from the heart to the crown of the head. Finally, hold awareness of the color violet at the top of the head.

Purify the Heart (L1/2)
Presence in the brain, eyes, roof of mouth. Reflect on your link to the sacred; place the presence of the sacred at the heart in the form of a pearl of light that expands on inhale and retracts on exhale. Then, repeat “I am That” with the breath: “I am” on inhale, “That” on exhale.

Self-Healing (L1/2)
An updated version of the Flame of Self-Healing from the Meditations for Life CD. Pause after inhale, squeeze all muscles simultaneously, then relax. Awareness of warmth at the thumbs, then the rest of the fingers. See/feel/sense a golden flame at the base of the spine, rising and melting resistance, stopping at the midbrain. Then, a golden ball of light moves side to side in the head, down the body, then back up. Finally, you are surrounded by a golden aura; repeat a word or a mantra you associate with healing.

Unconditional Healing (L1/2)
Feel a smile, the essential life force behind a smile. Place the feeling in the heart, the lungs, between the shoulder blades, the abdomen, low back, pelvis, both legs, then the whole body embodies a radiant smile. Evolve the smile into rose light, flooding body and mind. Then, awareness behind the navel, in the spine: on inhale, “A-U” rises up to the midbrain, on exhale “M” rises above the brain. Meditate on the Infinite and the sound of “AUM” at the top of the head. Awareness behind the navel again: inhale “SHAN” up the spine to the throat; exhale “TI” as life force floods the throat center and purifies intention. Meditate on “SHANTI” or universal peace, blossoming in the throat. Finally, on inhale feel “AUM” rise up the spine to the 3rd eye, and on exhale project consciousness and “SHANTI” from your 3rd eye to a situation or into the heart of a person of your choosing.

Self-Compassion & Heart Kriya (L2)
Acknowledge whatever is causing you to suffer, and how you have withheld love from yourself. Offer it now, and see your capacity to love yourself as the Divine loves you. Sense a point of light or other luminous image in the heart center, an essence that expands and contracts with each breath. You can link this experience with the pulse of a mantra if you like. Then, simple absorption in the light of the heart, expanding to fill the mind.

Empower: Meditation

Restore (L1)
Sense the space around the body as an endless sea of healing. Inhale, life force moves from the outside of the body toward the spine. Exhale, this life force spreads out into the body, all of the cells, and beyond. Then, rest in the presence of this life force.

Art of Mantra (L1/2)
Equal ratio breathing (sama vritti). Awareness dawns behind the mind, most concentrated at the midbrain (prana dharana). Relax to feel this awareness as vibration or silent sound – the source of all mantras. Allow your mantra to unfold from that vibration. Keep awareness of the mantra at the midbrain (to build stillness, calm, peace) or place the mantra in either the heart center (inner joy, self love, emotional balance) or navel center (power, capacity, healing).

Centered (L1/2)
A meditation that focuses on the fingers as representative of the chakras. Awareness of thumbs: feel them become warm, vibrant, heavy with life force. Move this awareness through the fingers to help access the same presence at the midbrain.

Empowered Positivity (L1/2)
Equal ratio breathing (sama vritti). Awareness of the feeling of a smile, the buoyant, light, joyful essence of a smile. Place it in the heart, lungs, then wherever you experience discomfort/difficulty. No trying: let go and understand that this lightness is your natural state. Then, the whole body and beyond it dissolves into a dark, fiery red color, awakening willpower, potency and positivity.

Power & Balance (L1/2)
Samana Vayu Meditation. Place breath at abdomen to stabilize. Reflect on the sun and stars; on inhale, the vital force of the stars descends through the top of the head to the abdomen; pause after the inhale, feeling this force turn into a vibrant flame at the navel; exhale and it spreads through the body. Then, rest awareness on the flame behind the navel; a multi-colopiral of light.

Inner Guidance (L1/2)
Smooth out the breath and then shift into mental alternate nostril breathing, sensing the breath meeting at the apex in the midbrain. Pause after inhale, allow light to collect at the midbrain; sense light pouring into the brain from all angles. The light of intuition/your inner teacher brightens and thoughts/distractions are subsumed in this light.

Bliss (L1/2)
An update to the original Bliss Meditation from The Four Desires CD Set. Count back on breath from 10 to 1 to destress. Sense presence at the space between the eyebrows, then movement on inhale from that space inward to the midbrain, movement on exhale from midbrain to space between the eyebrows. Sense effortless pulse at the 3rd eye, no longer following the breath; joy and contentment unfold from that place. You are the source of this joy and contentment. Let go of the technique and rest in the feeling of pure bliss. You are complete. “Nothing and no one can make you more than you already are.”

Golden Refuge (L2)
Acknowledge how you feel mentally and emotionally. What burdens are you bringing to this moment? Repeat to yourself, “I am present and I seek nothing. My mind is absorbed in equanimity.” Mental alternate nostril breathing; light in midbrain expands into a golden egg shape that surrounds the body. Rest in this space that is beyond doubt; remember your sankalpa/resolve.

Shakti (L2/3)
An updated version of the Shakti Meditation from The Four Desires CD. Breath rising and falling through nostrils, expanding into the brain as light (prana shuddhi). Light descends from brain down the spine, ending and expanding at the navel center. Repeat this contemplation to yourself, “In me there is a light that lights the whole world. It radiates truth, boundless will, action and knowledge.”

Spirit: Meditation

Pause (L1)
Mind settles into the breath which moves back and forth where the sinuses and the back of the throat meet, building present moment awareness. “Peace, healing, everything we look for in life is available in this moment.” Rest in the pause after exhale, the pause between thoughts, the window to the Infinite and lasting peace.

Beyond Limits (L1)
Release layers of thought, tension. Count back the breath from 10 to 1. Repeat to yourself, “My mind is empty, my body is like the vast expanse of sky.” Begin to embody this contemplation. When the mind wanders, return to the essence of this statement.

Awake to Oneness (L2)
Let go of thoughts, feelings, emotions. Become aware of an object you are looking at; let the object fills your awareness; exclude everything on the periphery. As if you become the object. Then, become aware of the space between subject (you) and object. Notice the spaciousness between the two. The eyes see nothing, but awareness abounds in that space, it has presence, expansiveness, lightness. Relax into this oneness.

Life is a Gift (L1/2)
Equal ratio breathing (sama vritti, inhale for 5 and exhale for 5). Pause after inhale. Repeat to yourself, “life is a gift.” Reflect on this contemplation as you repeat it. Become an embodiment of it.

Freedom (L1/2)
Pause after inhale and let the mind rest in the heart. Reflect on a time that was joyful. Where do you experience that joy in your body? Wherever you feel it, move it to the heart. In the heart, sense an inner joy that is like the clear blue sky. Rest in the expansive joy that resides in the heart.

Rest in Spirit (L1/2)
Sense the presence of breath in the abdomen. Begin to gently sway the spine. Stop when your mind becomes absorbed in the spine/higher intelligence. When thoughts enter the mind, begin to sway the spine again. Rest in your own essence, “I-am-ness.”

Mantra at the Heart (2/3)
Breath ascending, descending through the nostrils, then breathing an 1/8th of your capacity, followed by mental alternate nostril breathing, collecting presence at midbrain (prana dharana). An awareness of power builds at the navel center, moves up to the crown and back down again: follow this spontaneous flow, silently repeating HUM before the inhale and SA before the exhale. This mantra eventually comes to rest in the heart.

Still Point (L2/3)
Following breath awareness around the sinuses and throat, upon inhale begin to feel slow descent of awareness from the heart down to the pelvic floor. On exhale, sense the breath rising from the pelvic floor back to the heart center. An inherent joy begins to descend and ascend with the breath. Stage 2: the inhale remains the same: bliss descends from heart to pelvic floor. As you exhale, the breath rises beyond the heart to the crown of the head, filling the space between brain and skull. Stage 3: Each inhale, continue to return to the heart and descend from there. Now on exhale, the wave ascends: when it reaches the heart, see/feel/sense a line of light between physical heart and crown of the head, as the exhale moves up toward the crown, the line reveals itself clearly culminating in the space between the brain and the skull. Finally, golden presence collects in the space between brain and skull: it becomes a storehouse of light.

Breath (L1/2)
An updated version of the Breath Meditation from the Meditations for Life CD. Smooth out the breath as you listen to sounds around you; then, feel your skin. Moving inward (antahkarana), watching the waves of thoughts move in and out of mind. Finally be aware of that which was watching your thoughts: the observer. From the vantage point of the observer, return to the flow of breath. Option to count the breath or focus on the silent “SO” on inhale and “HUM” on exhale. Rest in the pause after exhale. Duality dissolves; you access clarity, intelligence and inspiration.

Third Eye Awakening (L3)
Recorded Live. Kapalabhati leads to breath retention after inhale, holding awareness at the base of the spine. Chant AUM 9 times, lifting the vibration from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. Feel an awareness of deep presence. Alternate nostril breathing with 1:2:2:0 ratio breathing. Presence rises on inhale toward midbrain. Curl tongue toward the back of the roof of the mouth, index finger on crown of the head; tune into the midpoint between the two areas, then lower hand; sense you’ve entered a deep well of stillness. Then, on inhale, a relaxed presence moves from the space between eyebrows toward midbrain, then on exhale, it moves in reverse. Then unlink the movement from the breath so it becomes more of a pulse, and finally, waves of beauty and bliss.

Chakra Meditation (L3)
Contemplate “Life is Beautiful.” Then, “Life is a Gift,” “I am Part of the Divine.” Equal ratio breathing (sama vritti). Pause after exhale, lifting the navel (advanced option to practice uddiyana bandha). Inhale and feel descending awareness move from heart to base of spine, on exhale feel ascending awareness up to the heart. Then, 27 rounds of kapalabhati (advanced option to feel consciousness rise up the spine). Then, bend right elbow, block right nostril and inhale through left. Retain inhale, block both nostrils, lowering chin; attention directed down to abdominal center. Exhale out through right; inhale right; block both nostrils as you pause after inhale, more presence building at the navel center. Repeat the sequence twice more. Adjust. See breath rising and falling through nostrils, the two lines of life force intersecting at the midbrain (prana shuddhi). Sense a channel from the midbrain to the base of the spine, like a silver thread. On inhale, awareness descends, on exhale, awareness pierces the muladhara chakra; sense a smokeless flame/a very concentrated source of light. At svadhisthana chakra, see a flame there, then rising to manipura, concentrated light filling the entire abdomen. Flame rises up the silver thread/sushumna nadi to settle into the heart, anahata; the throat, vishuddhi. Now see the flame rise to in the midbrain, ajna. Then sense flame between the brain and the crown of the head. Now the space around you is illuminated. Attention pierces the flame at the crown of the head; move beyond all forms of thoughts, and enter into timelessness. 

3-Part AUM Kriya (L3)
As you smooth out the breath, the spine becomes more awake and aligned: building presence in the central channel. 3 rounds: Kapalabhati then block right nostril breathe in through the left nostril, hold, lifting collarbones, chin lowering. Silent pulsation of Om at the root center. Exhale right, inhale right, hold, then exhale left. Next, gently sway the spine from side to side to bring more awareness to the central channel. Stop moving, your mind absorbed in its source, this sacred stream, a fully expanded awareness. If the mind becomes distracted, begin to sway again. Chant AUM 12 times: A=awareness from the base of the spine to the navel; U=awareness from navel to throat; M=awareness from throat to the crown of the head. It silently reverberates up the spine; all sounds are subsumed into one sound: OM, concentrated in the brain. The transition from AUM to OM. Sense the vibration of OM all around you. End by chanting Jaya Jaya Devi Mata Namaha: invoking that aspect of the divine that is a constant source of nurturance.

Self-Compassion & Heart Kriya (L2)
Acknowledge whatever is causing you to suffer, and how you have withheld love from yourself. Offer it now, and see your capacity to love yourself as the Divine loves you. Sense a point of light or other luminous image in the heart center, an essence that expands and contracts with each breath. You can link this experience with the pulse of a mantra if you like. Then, simple absorption in the light of the heart, expanding to fill the mind.

Deep Sleep

Elixir of Sleep (L1)
Body becomes warm and relaxed, heavy. Chin turns slowly from shoulder to shoulder, relaxing face, jaw, neck, throat. A wave of warmth, “a healing ambrosia” descends through the body. Letting go on each exhale, then counting backwards on breath from 50-0 to enter the “golden rest of deep sleep.”

Into Deep Sleep (L1)
Slow diaphragmatic abdominal breathing, 6:6 then 6:8, mentally counting on the flow of the breath. Next inhale 4:2:8:0, then 4:4:8:0. Body become heavy and relaxed. Become aware of the center of the brain as a gateway through which flows a healing elixir of warmth and healing, slowly descending through the body.

ParaYoga Nidra: Prepare for Sleep (L1)
Breath awareness with 1:2 ratio breathing (lengthening exhale) into waves of awareness moving through the body. Right side breathing with blue moonlight (blue=peace), left side breathing with golden sunlight (gold=inspiration). Letting go of all worries and concerns.

Breathe to Sleep (L1)
Prepare for sleep. As you relax, practice equal ratio breathing (sama vritti) to become more present. Stage 2: extend the exhale slightly. Stage 3: inhale for 4, pause for 2, exhale for 8. Stage 4: inhale for 4, pause for 4, exhale for 8. An inner silence dawns; body softens; mind empties.