Conscious Rest

Words GAYLYN AITKEN

There’s a lot of anxiety and fear around, so I’m going to take you through Conscious Rest. I used to call it Constructive Rest but felt the word ‘constructive’ was too linear and solid to express the natural, nurturing flow of the body’s healing energy.

Conscious Rest is when a person is guided into a relaxed state while the mind stays active. It is a hypnagogic state – the threshold between alpha and beta waves – the knife-edge where the body sleeps while the mind is lucid.

I’ve been practising and teaching Conscious Rest for many years, observing the same response across the board, with the body and mind returning to a calm, measured state. It’s here we can sense the reality of our humanity. Personally, I feel spaciousness and lightness within and around me.

This is the natural state in which we develop an awareness of the energetic axis that will spontaneously move both our physical and spiritual systems back into balance.

To know ourself is to know our human form. How does it work? What do I do that creates discomfort? How can I learn what I need to flourish? What is this body capable of; therefore, what am I capable of?

Lie comfortably on the floor in a quiet, uninterrupted space. Place your feet flat on the floor, hip-socket width apart so your knees are facing the ceiling. Tie a yoga belt around the top of your thighs to support the weight of your tired legs. Make sure your head and neck are supported. Rest the weight back into the support and soften your lips. Place an eye pillow over your eyes and lay your arms where they can comfortably rest their weight – on the floor at your side, out from your shoulders or on your body.

Feel the shape of your feet, pelvis, back and back of head resting on the floor. Have an image of your body lying in this position. Sense the feeling of how the air comes into your body and how it feels as it leaves. Have no preconceived notions of how it should be. It is what it is, and you simply sense and acknowledge it.

Feel the places in your body that are moved by your breath. Notice how your body moves as you inhale and how it moves as you exhale. Allow that movement to take place. Sense the feeling of the different parts of your body as you scan yourself from feet to head. Focus especially on your bones, your spine and ribs, and how they breathe. Stay in this state for at least 20 minutes. Lay on your side before you slowly sit up. Peace.

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