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I find Yoga Nidra (or Yogic sleep) to be such a beautiful and restorative practice. It focuses on your physical body, as well as your subtle and energy bodies. These are all known as koshas, or sheaths, and nurtured within the practice. The practice is not focusing on asana or sleep in and of itself, but laying down and setting an intention, tuning into points of your body, your breath, energy, and mind, and allowing your full being a space to rest while you are settling into a calming and soothing awareness.
Not sure if this is the best explanation but I did my best and hope that it inspires a quest to learn more and that you may enjoy this practice!
May 9, 2025
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Start with doing yoga as a moving meditation. Yin Yoga or Yoga Nidra might be a very soft introduction to bring your mind & body into a meditative state. Lie down at the end, take your time and start appreciating Shavasana.
Start feeling every body part at once by simply putting all your mental energy & thoughts into a specific area of your body. Start with your feet, move on to your knees, your stomach, chest, arms, fingers. End with your head. Start to feel thoughts as clouds passing by. After some tries you find your mind empty, released & at ease.
Every time is different. Some times it will feel very easy, on some days you wonât feel it working at all - But still you stopped 5 minutes from doing whatsoever, switched off your brain for a bit. It will help you feel calm on the long run đ
Mar 20, 2024
I know itâs a good meditation or yoga practice when my eyes spontaneously water and I feel a strong sense of relief, letting go of tension. I had the strangest realization that Iâve done yoga for my root, sacral, solar plexus, and heart chakras countless times, but despite knowing that one should run through each chakra from bottom to top like a ladder, Iâve only done yoga for the throat, third eye, and crown a handful of times, if that. Fell asleep AGAIN during this practice (third night in a row!) but during shavasana like a normal person.
Feb 25, 2025
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This is (I think?) a form of meditation, but it's what I use to calm my mind, especially when I've woken up in the night and need to get back to sleep. I learned it from my favorite dance teacher who starts every class with this exercise. What you do is just tell yourself things, in sentence form, that are true about wherever you are right now. Majority of them should be sensory things. Like, "I feel my sweat pants on my leg." "I feel the heater blowing my hair." "I hear a car passing outside." "I see a gray sky." "I taste the apple pie I had for dessert." Just statements about what is true right now -- and this is the important part: WITHOUT COMMENTARY. Of course, because you have a human brain and this is what it is hard-wired to do, your will start supplying commentary anyway. So when that happens you just notice it, and absolutely don't judge it or anything, it's just another "fact of the moment" -- "that was commentary." You acknowledge the commentary and then go back to stating other (non-commentary) facts until the next bout of commentary, which you then acknowledge and move on from -- or until you fall asleep, which happens shockingly fast for me once I notice and move on from my first bout of commentary. Eventually you might feel like you've run out of facts so you can start saying the sentences over to yourself, with more space in them to take up more time, and somewhere in there, a sense of peace develops? A place where, just for a moment, thoughts get lulled into taking a break? I find that as soon as I notice that I'm in that peace, huge thoughts come FLOODING IN, and then I have to calmly and gently be like, "this is commentary. back to the facts." It's refreshing and it takes a very passive form of discipline, like, you should be as relaxed as possible -- lying on the floor or on a couch, not holding a single part of your body up, maybe eyes closed, total release, but not *total* because the thoughts do need to be guided -- not controlled, not judged, not even stopped. Just guided, like re-routing a little rivulet of water that's rolling down a hill.
Feb 11, 2024
Top Recs from @relaxing
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When your cat comes to cuddle you and youâre like âwow, this bud really loves meâŠâ then you look at the clock and notice that itâs almost feeding time.
Mar 5, 2024
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Itâs nice to let the afternoon sun come in while you relax in a soothing salt bath, maybe some essential oils, a lil masque. A little diffuse sunlight makes it nice.
Apr 24, 2024
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The other night I fell asleep on the couch around 10:00 pm watching Joseph Campbellâs Mythos I. I woke up around 4:30 am, washed my face and brushed my teeth.
This invigorated me to the point that I basically wasnât falling back asleep, so I ended up looking up different brands of finishing salts for two hours in bed.
Fleur De Sel and Maldon Sea Salts are not salts that you want to cook with, but that you want to sprinkle atop things as âfinishing saltsâ.
In my research I discovered that GuĂ©rande or Camargue fleur de sels are top brands to use. And with Maldon, the brand just called Maldon. I have Maldon sea salts and also Sal de Ibiza fleur de sel which is really good. It comes in a ceramic pot with a little spoon. I recommend both and you donât need a lot, a little goes a long way.
From Wikipedia:
âFleur de sel ("flower of salt" in French; French pronunciation: [flĆÊ dÉ sÉl]) or flor de sal (also "flower of salt" in Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan) is a salt that forms as a thin, delicate crust on the surface of seawater as it evaporates. Fleur de sel has been collected since ancient times (it was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his book Natural History), and was traditionally used as a purgative and salve. It is now used as a finishing salt to flavor and garnish food.â
From Maldon Salt website:
âWhat is special about Maldon Salt?
Maldon Saltâs irregular and distinctive pyramid shape is what makes it so special. In addition to the unique tactile texture, our pyramid salt flakes release saltiness with sweet precision, bringing a clean and delicate flavour.â
Some uses:
Vegetables.
Pastas.
Meats if you do that.
Watermelon or mango.
A chocolate chip cookie, fresh from the oven, topped with Maldon sea salt. I linked Alison Romanâs recipe above for Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies above. Warning: these cookies may horn you for life, and cause you to eat many. If you give them to people theyâll keep asking you to make them over and over again. Perfect trifecta of sweet but not too sweet, savory, and salty.
A little toast with mashed avocado, sliced tomate, Maldon sea salt or fleur de sel on top. Can also serve with scrambled egg on the side with some Green Pepper Cholula on top (green flame emoji).
A warm blueberry muffin, or toasted croissant (I pronounce this with an audible ârâ) cut in half, some vegan (Miyokoâs, Earth Balance Soy Free) or whatever other (Kerrygold) butter melted in the middle, and a little fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt.
Do you use finishing salts? What do you use them on? How do you love them?
I try to watch my sodium but Iâm a little bit of a salt guy in moderation. Donât call me âsalt baeâ. Iâm only bae to one woman and one woman only, and thatâs my wife, the most beautiful woman in the world.
May 5, 2024