I was in a pretty good place with myself having been involved with 12 Step program for addiction for the last seven years. However I was feeling somewhat imbalanced and undisciplined. I also did not feel a vital connection to the world and myself.
Then I attended one Divine Sleep yoga nidra session with Jennifer and my life changed! I knew instantly that this was for me. A light went on and said “follow me- this is it”! 12 Step has been so powerful for me, and Yoga Nidra became my next step. Yoga Nidra has brought me to a deeper level of healing and living life fully. My world was much smaller and Jennifer opened me up to a much bigger space.
I had such profound experiences with Divine Sleep that I knew I wanted to give this back! I help lead a group in the detox center for addiction at my local hospital. There are so many repeat patients and how can I give them tools powerful enough to really change? So I was motivated to do the Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra Teacher Training to bring it to them, even though I was not a ‘yoga person’.
I still do not really get into the postures — my love is yoga nidra! I graduated in October as a Divine Sleep yoga nidra guide. I was recovering from an acute illness and for many days during the training I was thinking- should I really be here? But the group was so connected, and the depth of experiences guided me along, and I found I was able to speak my truth and be completely accepted, loved and cherished for exactly where I was at. And that is the same feeling I get each time in Yoga Nidra.
I now am living in life! The cumulative affect of Yoga Nidra powerfully peaked one special day when Jennifer lead us in Divine Sleep followed by a silent outdoor wandering walk. I felt like a door opened and I was rocketed into a new dimension. This world had always been here but I was not fully living in it until that day.
The space around me when I walked — I felt like I was a part of it. And a part of the blue sky. And when I looked at the clouds, I was the clouds. I lay in the grass and I became grass. I took my shoes off and could feel the ground for the first time. I felt reborn! My senses had been sleeping and are now alive and drinking up the world! I am fully alive!
Driving the other day the leaves on the trees had such a depth of color, so alive, vibrant and amazing. As if Jennifer gave me a new pair of glasses to wear. I felt I had fallen off my spiritually beam. But I feel now I am back on top of it and walking across the beam with my higher power.
Along with heightened awareness of everything, I have noticed new changes in how I am without even trying. I am able to step back and witness without needing to force. I am able to trust that things are unfolding perfectly just as they are. I am more aware of why I do things and my ego does not get hurt if things do not go how I wanted them to go. I do not ‘need’ things to be a certain way as I did before.
I feel connected to my inner self and have a deeper connection with other people. I am able to understand where they are coming from, and with acceptance. I use to feel like I was all on my own- I had to solve it on my own and do it all by myself. Now I know I can be vulnerable, be myself, and I am loved.
Thanks Jennifer. One class at Kripalu has changed my life.
Tanya Mossman
