Shifting Addiction with Yoga Nidra

Just the other day, I had a conversation with someone about addiction, and whether or not it is possible for an addicted individual to change.  Many people seem to be dismayed, due to experiences of their own, or due to the experiences of loved ones who have danced with addiction.  The common threads weaving their way through the difficulty of moving beyond addiction seem to be deeply embedded thought patterns, fears, and reactions living within the psyche.  To take this a step further, that which is heavily programmed within the psyche can eventually settle in and become programmed within the body. 

So we may address addiction issues by accessing the deeper mind directly, through methods such as meditation, psychotherapy, counseling.  We can also address addictions by accessing the deeper layers of the body through conscious movement practices along the lines of yoga, t'ai chi, martial arts, and dance.  It is ultimately a matter of training ourselves to look at things in new and different ways in order to see that which we haven't seen before.

I am a firm believer that people can change.  Not just a believer, but a faith holder in this regard. 

This is for two reasons:
1.  I have seen it happen.  Time and time again.
2.  There is one primal, universal law.  And that is change.  Change is the only thing we can be sure of.

The following is an excerpt from Richard Miller's book, "Yoga Nidra".  This is a wonderful book for describing the shifting mechanisms that take place with this sacred practice:

Awakening from the dream Yoga, often inadequately translated as “union,” represents both the action of awakening to, as well as the description of, our underlying True Nature or pure Being that is the birthing ground of authentic spontaneity. Nidra or “sleep,” on the other hand, is the state in which we are unconscious to True Nature, when we are identified with, and swayed by, thoughts and actions that are based on misperception and reactive patterns. Yoga Nidra represents a paradox and is a play on the words “sleep” and “awake” as it means “The Sleep of the Yogi,” and implies that the normal person is asleep to their True Nature through all states of consciousness—waking, dreaming, and deep sleep—while the yogi is one who is awake to and knows his or her True Nature across all states, even sleep.

When we sleep, we believe our dream-self and dream-world are real. When we wake up, our dream-world gives way to the waking state, and we recognize that the dream-self and dream-world are actually empty of substance. They are only fabrications and projections of the mind.

During waking consciousness, we perceive the world to be made up of solid and separate objects. We believe that our waking thoughts and the objects around us are real. But, could it be that waking-state thoughts and objects are also fabrications and projections of the mind, as empty of substance as our dream-self and dream-world? Yoga Nidra is the process whereby we explore and discover the truth of this fact.

Usually we have no reason to question the validity of these beliefs. But there is good reason why we should. Yoga Nidra reveals that all dream and waking phenomena—thoughts, emotions, sensations, images, and the world around us—are constantly changing, coming, and going. Everything about our body, mind, and the world is constantly changing, morphing from one thing into another, a mass of swirling, changing sensations, emotions, thoughts, and images.

When we are attached to life being consistent, we feel dissatisfied; we suffer, because life constantly changes. We are constantly searching within this sea of instability for something stable and constant to hold on to. Yoga Nidra reveals that the inner fabric of each of us is deep equanimity or peace that is stable and steady, and when realized, is recognized to be ever present even in the midst of life’s tumultuousness. This is what Yoga Nidra refers to as your fundamental True Nature, your innermost I-ness—deep peace that you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that is always present.

Yoga Nidra teaches you how to inquire into the fundamental nature of your “I” that registers the fact that everything is changing. When we inquire into the who, what, and where of the “I” that is witnessing the smorgasbord of life’s changing phenomena, we discover that this “I” that we take ourselves to be is not solid either, but paradoxically, unlike everything else, it isn’t changing. Yoga Nidra helps you realize that your True Self, or true I-ness, is an infinite and unqualified spacious Presence of Being in which everything, both waking and dream states, is born, unfolds, and dissolves. With Yoga Nidra, you explore and discover the truth of your True Self, as Pure Being.