Let Sleeping Ex-Pats Lie

This week, I am learning Yoga Nidra - or 'psychic sleeping'. I am an excellent sleeper, as anyone who's ever lived with me, worked with me, or had to get me up in the morning, will testify, so why do this? The thing is, that you're not meant to go to sleep, you're meant to get somewhere inbetween. Herein lies the challenge. I am being taught the Swami Satyananda method by an interesting Australian woman called YogaRatna who spent many years in an Ashram and is now teaching all over the world. Yoga Nidra involves lying on your back, palms up, and relaxing (I'm good at this so far); in rotations, you tightly clench and relax your arms, legs, face, and entire body (going well so far) to show how relaxed they should be; then comes 'externalising' where you focus on the noises outside the room and body (in Bangalore, that's dogs barking, rickshaws honking, trucks revving up, construction clanking). So far so good, but here's the tricky bit: in rotation, you start to focus on the inside of all your different body parts. YogaRatna talks you through it, but the minute I start to focus on each little finger, toe, joint, etc., I fall asleep! There are about 18 people in the class and they were commenting yesterday on how someone was snoring... I am almost positive it wasn't me, but who knows? By the end of the week I am hoping to have overcome the sleepy bit and transported myself into a deep - non-sleeping - sleep. Watch this space zzzzzzzzzz.