After Asana: Wholeness Practice

About This Class

This 18-minute Yoga Nidra practice by Eric Bennewitz is designed to be experienced lying on your back or in a comfortable seated position. The class opens by inviting students to feel supported by the earth and to set a personal resolve — a short, positive sankalpa — before embarking on a systematic body-scan (rotation of consciousness) from hands to toes and across all sides of the body. A breath-counting sequence from 10 down to zero anchors the mind in calm awareness. The practice then uses vivid sensory visualization — alternating feelings of warmth and cold — to deepen physical relaxation and sharpen interoception. A rich sequence of guided imagery follows, including a wooden wheel, a bright star, the Earth, our solar system, the iris of the eye, the yin-yang symbol, a white lotus flower, a raindrop rippling on a pond, the full moon, the sun, a ring of flowers, the Om symbol, and a tiny golden egg opening to release joy. The session closes by revisiting the sankalpa, resting in a sense of boundless light and wholeness, and gently returning to waking consciousness with a slow count up from zero to five, finger-and-toe movements, a full-body stretch, knees-to-chest, and a roll to the right side. Framed explicitly as a complement to physical asana ("After Asana"), it targets stress, anxiety, sleep support, grounding, and mental focus through the complete Yoga Nidra protocol.