Soma Nidra: The Origin of the Senses is a multi-scale body trip, exploring your embodied anatomy through gentle movement, Yin and Restorative Yoga, and Soma Nidra (Bex Naj’s somatic approach to Yoga Nidra). Yoga Nidra bridges our conscious and unconscious minds through storytelling and deep rest, and Bex keeps it somatic by grounding the stories she tells in the felt-sense awareness of your body and breath as dynamic processes. We’ll explore our inner space through the body maps of western anatomy, physiology, and embryology as an energetic practice, melting away tension, resting deeply, cultivating deep listening, and illuminating the mysterious places within. This class is appropriate for all levels of yoga and will feature optional drawing and journaling prompts to integrate the dreamlike wisdom of your bodied revelations. In this class we return to the origin of our sensory systems to explore how we have grown them for ourselves in deep time, using stimuli from the world around us. Through our senses and our perpetual nervous systems interpretations of them, we organize personal patterns of information out of chaos. Our capacity to build our own sensory worlds which are unique to each of us as individuals is immense, as is our capacity to change the meaning we make through the self-study of yogic and contemplative practices. Come dressed in comfortable and warm layers you can move gently in. While yoga props and materials for writing and drawing will be provided, students are encouraged to bring their own beloved props, eyemasks, and drawing or journaling supplies should they wish.