by Karen Brody
Become aware of how relaxed the body feels. Take a few final moments to move through your seven power centers,
starting at the base of your spine, seeing a red sparkle of light,
then moving to your sacrum, and a deep orange sparkle,
on to your abdomen, a yellow sparkle,
moving into the heart, seeing a green sparkle,
now the throat, and a blue sparkle,
moving into the space between the eyebrows, seeing an indigo sparkle,
and now at top of the head, seeing a white sparkle.
If there are any areas of the body that need healing, send white light to those areas now.
(Pause for 5 seconds.)
As you begin to transition out of yoga nidra, repeat your intention again to yourself.
(Pause for 5 seconds.)
Feel yourself shifting into alignment with your intention.
(Pause for 5 seconds.)
Do nothing. Trust in your intention—that it’s just right and will serve you well.
Notice what part of your body has the desire to move. Follow this desire and move that body part.
Then notice what body part wants to move next, and move from that place. Micro-movements.
If you’re drifting off to sleep, let your body adjust for sleep.
If you are waking up, open your eyes slowly. Begin to notice the room around you—sounds, smells, your breath, your body, your intuition, your worthiness, your enoughness.
Feel all of this inside of your body, outside of your body.
Feel down to Mother Earth and up to Father Sky. Unite the two. Feel them come together.
Feel your true nature. And know you are a well-rested woman.
Yoga nidra is complete.
Be good to yourself.
Appendix 2
YOUR DARING TO REST TOOLBOX
The Daring to Rest program provides practice tools you can use forever. When you need to address physical exhaustion, you’ll choose the rest tools. If you feel emotionally exhausted, you’ll dive into the release tools. And for life-purpose exhaustion, you’ll use the rise-up practices.
Let intuition tell you when and how to apply the tools. If one doesn’t stand out as right for you, write the names of the tools on separate pieces of paper and place them face down. Mix them up. Then take three slow, deep breaths and, with your left hand, pick a piece of paper. This is the tool to use.
Following is a list of all the practices/tools mentioned throughout the book and the chapters they are in, so you can find them easily when you need them.
Phase One: Rest
The focus is addressing physical exhaustion.
Intention (Chapter Four)
•Discovering Your Intention
Body (Chapter Five)
•Activate the First Power Center
•Anointing Practice for the Rest Phase
•Lie on the Ground
•Sixty-One-Point Relaxation
•Mindful Movement
•Open Your Feminine Highway
Energy (Chapter Six)
•Activate the Second Power Center
•Use Water
•Cooling Breath
•Alternate Nostril Breathing
•Pay Attention to Rhythm
Phase Two: Release
The focus of this phase is releasing emotions, thoughts, and habits that no longer serve you and keep you from feeling peace of mind.
Mind (Chapter Seven)
•Holding Opposites Practice
•Activate Your Third Power Center
•Anointing Practice for the Release Phase
•Clean Out Your Gut
•The Ha Breath
•Create a New Intention
Wisdom (Chapter Eight)
•Connect to Your Council of Women
•Activate Your Soul
•So Hum Breath
•Tapping Your Thymus
Bliss (Chapter Nine)
•Activate Your Fourth Power Center
•Inhale Joy
•Laugh
•Nurture Others
Phase Three: Rise
This phase focuses on rising up in your life in a new way, so you can make a difference and continue to feel well rested.
Lead (Chapter Ten)
•Four Steps for Discovering Your Big Dreams
•Activate the Fifth and Sixth Power Centers
•Anointing Practice for the Rise Phase
•Practice Sensing and Saying Yes and No
•Love Yourself First (give kindness, go on wonder dates)
Life (Chapter Eleven)
•Assess How Rested You Are
•Use Your Touchstone
•Refresh Your Altar or Rest Cave
NOTES
Chapter 1Why Rest Is So Important for Women
1.National Sleep Foundation, 2014 Sleep Health Index (Arlington, VA: The National Sleep Foundation, 2014), sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/2014%20Sleep%20Health%20Index-FINAL_0.PDF.
2.D. J. Taylor et al., “Epidemiology of Insomnia, Depression, and Anxiety,” Sleep 28, no. 11 (2005):1462.
3.Medco Health Solutions, “America’s State of Mind: New Report Finds Americans Increasingly Turn to Medications to Ease Their Mental Woes; Women Lead the Trend,” PR Newswire, November 16, 2011, prnewswire.com/news-releases/americas-state-of-mind-new-report-finds-americans-increasingly-turn-to-medications-to-ease-their-mental-woes-women-lead-the-trend-133939038.html.
4.L. A. Pratt, D. J. Brody, and Q. Gu, “Antidepressant Use in Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2005–2008,” NCHS Data Brief no. 76 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 2011), 2, cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.pdf.
5.Rubin R. Naiman, Healing Night: The Science and Spirit of Sleeping, Dreaming, and Awakening (Minneapolis: Syren Book Company, 2006), 41.
6.David Whyte, “Rest,” in Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words (Langley, WA: Many Rivers Press, 2016), 181.
7.Nathaniel Kleitman, Sleep and Wakefulness, rev. ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987).
8.Nathaniel Kleitman, “Basic Rest-Activity Cycle—22 Years Later,” Sleep 5, no. 4 (December 1982): 311–17.
9.Naiman, Healing Night, 41.
10.DeLisa Fairweather, Sylvia Frisancho-Kiss, and Noel R. Rose, “Sex Differences in Autoimmune Disease from a Pathological Perspective,” The American Journal of Pathology 173, no. 3 (September 2008): 600–609.
11.Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype (New York: Ballantine, 1992), 427.
Chapter 2Welcome to Yoga Nidra
1.Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Yoga Nidra (Munger, Bihar, India: Yoga Publications Trust, 1998), 14; Kamakhya Kumar, “Complete the Course of Sleep through Yoga Nidra,” Nature and Wealth 7, no. 1 (January 2008): 8.
2.Khushbu Rani, S. Tiwari, U. Singh, et al., “Impact of Yoga Nidra on Psychological General Wellbeing in Patients with Menstrual Irregularities: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” International Journal of Yoga 4, no. 1 (2011): 20.
3.Kamakhya Kumar, A Handbook of Yoga Nidra (New Delhi, India: D.K. Printworld, 2013), 56.
4.Pranav Pandya and Kamakhya Kumar, “Yoga Nidra and Its Impact on Human Physiology,” Yoga Vijnana 1, no. 1 (2007): 1–8; S. Amita, S. Prabhakar, I. Manoj, et al., “Effect of Yoga-Nidra on Blood Glucose Level in Diabetic Patients,” Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 53, no. 1 (January–March 2009): 97–101.
5.Pamela G. Pence, Lori S. Katz, Cristi Huffman, et al., “Delivering Integrative Restoration–Yoga Nidra Meditation (iRest) to Women with Sexual Trauma at a Veteran’s Medical Center: A Pilot Study,” International Journal of Yoga Therapy, no. 24 (2014), irest.us/sites/default/files/iRest%20for%20Women%20with%20Sexual%20Trauma%202014_Research,Pence_0.pdf.
Also see Courtney Hartman, “Exploring the Experiences of Women with Complex Trauma with the Practice of iRest–Yoga Nidra” (doctoral dissertation, Cal
ifornia Institute of Integral Studies, 2015), irest.us/sites/default/files/iRest%20and%20Women%20with%20Complex%20Trauma.pdf.
6.Richard Miller, The iRest Program for Healing PTSD: A Proven-Effective Approach to Using Yoga Nidra Meditation and Deep Relaxation Techniques to Overcome Trauma (Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2015).
Phase OneRest
1.Naiman, Healing Night, 40.
Chapter 6Energy
1.Marcus E. Raichle and Debra A. Gusnard, “Appraising the Brain’s Energy Budget,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99, no. 16 (August 2002): 10, 237–39.
Phase TwoRelease
1.Marianne Williamson, Illuminata: A Return to Prayer (New York: Riverhead Books, 1995), 149.
2.R. Stevens, “Working against Our Endogenous Circadian Clock: Breast Cancer and Electric Lighting in the Modern World,” Mutation Research 680, nos.1–2 (November–December 2009): 106–8.
Chapter 7Mind
1.Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (New York: Bantam, 2006), 207.
2.Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (1946; repr. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006), 66.
3.Michael J. Breus, “Unlocking the Sleep-Gut Connection,” Huffington Post, January 13, 2016, huffingtonpost. com/dr-michael-j-breus/unlocking-the-sleep-gut-connection_b_8941314.html.
Chapter 8Wisdom
1.Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves, 22.
2.Ibid., 125.
Phase ThreeRise
1.Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper?” The Forerunner (October 1913), nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/theliteratureofprescription/exhibitionAssets/digitalDocs/WhyIWroteYellowWallPaper.pdf.
Chapter 10Lead
1.ALisa Starkweather, “I am sad tonight, and I don’t think I’m alone,” Facebook post, February 7, 2017, facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154922228026763&set=a.53616791762.79395.672291762&type=3&theater.
2.Valerie Estelle Frankel, From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey through Myth and Legend (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010), 20.
Chapter 11Life
1.Marion Woodman, Holding the Tension of the Opposites (audiobook) (Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 1994), 1 cassette; 00:45.
2.Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves, 20.
RECOMMENDED READING
Looking for books to read on your Daring to Rest journey? Here are some of my favorites.
Brogan, Kelly. A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives. New York: Harper Wave, 2016. I started doing backflips when I read this bold book that essentially shows you why you’re not crazy and how you can naturally heal.
Brown, Brené. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. New York: Avery, 2012. Makes data on vulnerability feel sexy and inspiring.
Chödrön, Pema. When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times. Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2002. Always on my bedside table.
Cohen, Doris. Repetition: Past Lives, Life, and Rebirth. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2008. Fascinating read with practical advice you can follow at home. It’s a great complement to the Release phase of the Daring to Rest program. I love this book, and women in my programs do too!
Desai, Kamini. Yoga Nidra: The Art of Transformational Sleep. New Delhi, India: Lotus Press, 2017. This yoga nidra book from my mentor is a comprehensive guidebook exploring yogic philosophy and modern-day yoga nidra.
Huffington, Arianna. The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time. New York: Harmony, 2016. Simply the best one-stop shopping for information on sleep.
Kent, Tami Lynn. Wild Feminine: Finding Power, Spirit, and Joy in the Core of the Female Body. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words, 2011. This book will make you feel powerful and proud to be a woman.
Miller, Richard. The iRest Program for Healing PTSD: A Proven-Effective Approach to Using Yoga Nidra Meditation and Deep Relaxation Techniques to Overcome Trauma. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2015. Learn about iRest yoga nidra’s unique and successful approach to healing PTSD.
Mohr, Tara. Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message. Nottingham, UK: Hutchinson, 2014. Full of practical advice on how women can lead with heart and soul.
Naiman, Rubin. Healing Night: The Science and Spirit of Sleeping, Dreaming, and Awakening. Minneapolis: Syren Book Company, 2006. Delicious must-read sleep book filled with science and sense.
Pinkola Estés, Clarissa. Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992. You’ll soak up wisdom and reclaim your Wild Woman in every word.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen Brody is the founder of the Daring to Rest program for women. An expert in women’s empowerment and well-being, with a passion for women’s leadership, Karen helps women take back rest and dream big using yoga nidra meditation. Karen is certified in the Amrit Method of yoga nidra and trained in level two of iRest yoga nidra. She is also a writer and the playwright of Birth, a theater-for-social-change play seen in over seventy-five cities around the world. She has a BA in sociology from Vassar and an MA in women and international development from the International Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands. She was raised in New York City and lives with her husband and two boys in Washington, DC.
For more, please visit Karen’s website, daringtorest.com. There you can find Karen’s blog, additional yoga nidra meditations, information about workshops, trainings, programs, and more.
ABOUT SOUNDS TRUE
Sounds True is a multimedia publisher whose mission is to inspire and support personal transformation and spiritual awakening. Founded in 1985 and located in Boulder, Colorado, we work with many of the leading spiritual teachers, thinkers, healers, and visionary artists of our time. We strive with every title to preserve the essential “living wisdom” of the author or artist. It is our goal to create products that not only provide information to a reader or listener, but that also embody the quality of a wisdom transmission.
For those seeking genuine transformation, Sounds True is your trusted partner. At SoundsTrue.com you will find a wealth of free resources to support your journey, including exclusive weekly audio interviews, free downloads, interactive learning tools, and other special savings on all our titles.
To learn more, please visit SoundsTrue.com/freegifts or call us toll-free at 800.333.9185.
Sounds True
Boulder, CO 80306
© 2017 Karen Brody
Sounds True is a trademark of Sounds True, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author(s) and publisher.
Published 2017
This book is not intended as a substitute for the medical recommendations of physicians, mental health professionals, or other health-care providers. Rather, it is intended to offer information to help the reader cooperate with physicians, mental health professionals, and health-care providers in a mutual quest for optimal well-being. We advise readers to carefully review and understand the ideas presented and to seek the advice of a qualified professional before attempting to use them.
Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.
Cover design by Jennifer Miles
Book design by Beth Skelley
Cover image © Golubvoy, shutterstock.com
Printed in Canada
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Brody, Karen, author.
Title: Daring to rest : reclaim your power with Yoga Nidra rest meditation / Karen Brody.
Description: Boulder, CO : Sounds True, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017010827 (print) | LCCN 2017011784 (ebook) | ISBN 9781622039104 (ebook) | ISBN 9781622039098 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Hatha yoga. | Relaxation. | Meditation.
Classifi
cation: LCC RA781.7 (ebook) | LCC RA781.7 .B7574 2017 (print) | DDC 613.7/046—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010827
Praise for Daring to Rest
“As someone who has found yoga nidra to be utterly life changing, I am over-the-moon delighted that Karen wrote a guide for every woman to get the rest she needs using this ancient tool. You’ll love the science and the excellent case she makes for why you need rest. But the way she gives you to actually get that rest—it’s going to create such magic in your life. Please read this and do the practices. Then prepare to become a raving fan!”
JENNIFER LOUDEN
author of The Woman’s Comfort Book and The Life Organizer
“What a masterpiece! With skill and compassion, Karen masterfully guides her reader through a step-by-step journey into herself, where she can shed the worn-out woman and emerge well rested, fully energized, and empowered. Accessible, relatable, and full of inspirational success stories, this book artfully introduces the ancient practice of yoga nidra rest meditation to our rest-deprived society.”
KAMINI DESAI, PHD
author of Yoga Nidra: The Art of Transformational Sleep, education director of Amrit Yoga Institute
“Karen Brody’s Daring to Rest offers us essential teachings about the true nature and profound benefits of genuine rest . . . Based on an integration of science and spirituality, Karen gently guides us through an effective and practical, life-changing program . . . Daring to Rest is a beautiful book of contagious inspiration.”
RUBIN NAIMAN, PHD
clinical assistant professor of medicine, University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine
“Daring to Rest is simply brilliant. I thought I knew a thing or two about health, rest, and yoga. But in this wonderful book, Karen Brody breathes new life into the need for rest—and it’s not just ‘get more sleep.’ After reading Daring to Rest, I cannot wait to lie down, listen to a yoga nidra meditation, and start listening to my soul. Women everywhere need to take rest seriously if they are to enjoy vibrant health. This book is the most practical place to start.”
