Click here to access Yoga Nidra for Manifesting
(about 30 minutes)
I used to be so skeptical about the notion of “manifesting.” This of course was coming from the mind set that I had no control over the Universe, that I was merely a pawn in the game of something much bigger than I could possibly imagine. But the more I practice Yoga Nidra, known as the so-called yoga of sleep, the more I connect with a felt sense of Source and therefore understand myself as Source. The more I understand myself as Source the more I experience myself as the Universe and not just controlled by it. Suddenly manifesting doesn’t seem like so much of a fantasy and more of my mission as the Universe itself.
Understanding Myself as Source
The Gayatri Mantra is an ancient text, thousands of years old, contained in the Rig Veda—an old, old, text— and basically states that everything comes from Source and if I were to really understand that, I’d see that I’m basically no different than anything else in the Universe and therefore, I would BE the very thing that I otherwise felt like I lacked. This is one thing to understand philosophically or intellectually, but quite another thing to truly come to know this truth. Essentially, this is the end-game of Yoga—Samadhi, the experience of Oneness, to enter into the grand Singularity of all things. What we practice when we do yoga asana (poses) or practices like Yoga Nidra, is to create the conditions necessary for the EXPERIENCE of yoga to occur, to truly experience ourselves like the Gayatri Mantra says, as Source.
I’d argue that we’ve all at one time or other felt what it’s like to be Source. It’s that feeling when you touch the eternal when someone is born or dies or you brush up somehow with that other world in nature, for example. Source is our origin so we all seem to be reaching for it over the next horizon. When we practice yoga and Yoga Nidra we touch upon Source as we come to experience ourselves as Awareness through deep presence. In those moments we get the feeling that we are both the infinite Source and a finite individual expression of Source waking up to know itself as Source. We experience the paradox of these two realities simultaneously. With this feeling of being everything, Source, there is nothing we need, nothing we aren’t already, and nothing we can’t do.
Sankalpa: The Door To Wholeness
The Universe and everything in it exists as a giant YES. Yoga and meditation practitioners can leverage this Universal yes through their Sankalpa to manifest what they’d like to see in their life. Sankalpa is a Sanskrit word meaning your seed of intention and often yoga and meditation practitioners state their Sankalpa as a positive statement of truth at the beginning of their practice to dedicate their practice and to open to the possibility of greater clarity by using the mechanism of practice to find illumination. By stating something that is true about where you are now in relationship to where you would like to be, gives the Universe a clear bulls-eye to help manifest the thing you desire and to show you that somehow you already have what you desire. Some great examples of Sankalpas are, “I have everything inside of me that I need for ________,” or “I am on the road to ___________,” or “The Universe wants to bless me with ________.” These are both optimistic and yet realistic, our eternal mind and conscious mind can both get onboard with this statement. Plus, the part of us that is Source within us only understands yes and now so to speak to the Source within you, it’s helpful to formulate your Sankalpa in this way. Your Sankalpa is a way of knowing yourself as Source and as you do, you will find yourself more and more at one with the thing you desire. On more practical terms, you tend to lean toward whatever you focus on. If you’re constantly thinking of what’s positive about what you desire, you’ll most often make great strides along that path. Truly, you’ll look back and see that it was through your apparent lack that you came to know yourself as already complete and whole.
Seeing The Stars
A few months ago, my wife and I decided to put this manifesting business to the test. We were living in France and relying 100% on my monthly online sales for our financial subsistence. For some reason, I’d experienced a sharp decline in sales from the previous months and we decided to try manifest what we felt we needed. So we got really basic and made a simple poster with the numbers 1–10 on it. We divided the amount of money we felt we needed into 10 segments and bought some gold stars so that every time we made 1/10 of what we needed, we could simply put a star on the poster. Basic but effective. Knowing that seeing is believing, together we had a visualization ritual where we visualized exactly what it feels like to succeed in our goal. We envisioned ourselves celebrating having reached our goal with a bottle of champagne on the beach. We visualized our success by using all of our senses, how the champagne would taste, the sound of the waves, the feeling of holding hands on the beach, etc. At the time, I was thinking to myself that while this goal was kinda shooting for the stars, it was nonetheless possible. To cut to the chase, with only 2 weeks to meet our goal, on the last day of the month we had posted not only all 10 stars but had acquired an additional 3 stars on the poster! We succeeded with 33% more than we had even hoped for.
As you engage in the practice of yoga, meditation, and of life, I encourage you to remember that you are Source and as such there’s nothing you can’t do. Leverage the Universal YES to power your intention to show yourself in very practical and real ways all the ways that you are already whole and to help you Universe bless you with what you feel you need in your life.
Please enjoy this free Yoga Nidra recording above (guided meditation), dedicated to manifesting whatever you feel you need in your life.
Blessings!
Luxury Château Yoga Retreat
Bordeaux, France June 13–19, 2020