Mark A. Michaels & Patricia Johnson: Ananda Nidra: Blissful Sleep (2-CD) #CDSale

Product Description

Ananda Nidra : Blissful Sleep was created by renowned Tantra teachers and authors Mark A. Michaels and Patricia Johnson. It is inspired by a traditional Tantric practice known as Yoga Nidra. These two innovative, spoken-word meditations rely on pleasurable images and sensations to induce feelings of relaxation and refreshment coupled with a profound sense of satisfaction. Presented for the first time on compact disc, the 44-minute meditations are read by Michaels (accompanied by a minimalist ambient track from darkwave legends Black Tape For A Blue Girl) and Johnson (accompanied by a floating soundscape from prominent electronic-ambient pioneer Steve Roach). Each CD in this 2-CD set contains one meditation, followed by an additional 16 minutes of music for continued reflection and intregration of the experience.

Practicing Ananda Nidra™ involves following the speaker’s voice while lying in a comfortable position. If the mind wanders or the listener drifts off to sleep momentarily, the attention is brought back to the instructions. Ananda Nidra begins with a rotation of consciousness through the body. Moving the awareness in this way produces a deep meditative state. Repeating the instructions mentally will take one even deeper. After the rotation is complete, the listener is taken through a series of sense memories and is then guided to experience a direct connection with internal sources of bliss and the beauty of existence.

It is said that 45 minutes of this guided meditation is equivalent to more than three hours of sleep. After practicing Ananda Nidra, the listener will emerge with renewed calm, focused awareness, and a sense of increased energy. Unlike other guided meditations, Ananda Nidra is specifically intended to awaken delightful and erotic sensations and to give the listener a greater capacity to experience joy in everyday life.   

“Mark and Patricia have made Tantra accessible to the everyday person. Their work is simultaneously traditional and completely new and radical.”
   – Tristan Taormino – writer, director, and sex educator. Author of The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women and former Village Voice columnist.

“Ananda Nidra effortlessly and consistently transports me into a state of tingling tranquility. It’s delicious!”
   – Barbara Carrellas – writer, sex educator and sex/life coach. Author of Urban Tantra: Sacred Sex for the Twenty-First Century; Ecstasy is Necessary due in 2012 from Hay House Publishing.

“Trust me! If you are thinking you are just way too busy to listen to a relaxation CD, then Ananda Nidra is exactly what you need. It helped me to slow down, get the deep rest I so needed, and in an aha moment I realized that the bliss the CD offered was exactly what I thought I was moving so fast to attain. Just stop, listen and feel the bliss.” – Annie Sprinkle, PhD. Sexologist, Artist, Ecosex Activist

In Ananda Nidra, the listener is invited to set an intention at the beginning of the meditation and then to visualize it. The intention should be framed in positive terms: for example, to reinforce a desired behavior, to deepen one’s connection with a partner, to develop even more focus, or to maximize self-confidence. This is a powerful tool for personal growth and transformation because the suggestible state that Ananda Nidra produces will implant the intention deep within the unconscious. 

According to the Vijnanabhairava Tantra, a classic seventh- or eighth-centuryTantric text, the state that lies on the border between sleep and wakefulness is a profoundly mystical one. Ananda Nidra will guide one into this blissful state, while focusing the mind on pleasure. Just lie back and let Ananda Nidra awaken the joy that dwells within.

ARTIST BIOS:
Mark A. Michaels and Patricia Johnson have been  teaching Tantra together since 1999. They are the authors of The Essence of Tantric Sexuality (Llewellyn, 2006, winner of the USA Book News National Best Books 2007 Award in Health: Sexuality) and Tantra for Erotic Empowerment: The Key to Enriching Your Sexual Life (Llewellyn 2008, winner of the USA Book News Award, also in Health: Sexuality, Indie Excellence Awards finalist in New Age Non-Fiction, and ForeWord Magazine Books of the Year Award finalist in the Body, Mind and Spirit category.) Michaels and Johnson wrote and appeared in two instructional DVDs produced by the Alexander Institute: Tantric Sexual Massage for Lovers and Advanced Tantric Sex Secrets. They are senior students of Tantric pioneer Dr. Jonn Mumford who has named them his lineage holders for the Americas and Europe. In addition, the two are co-founders of the Pleasure Salon, a monthly gathering in New York City that brings together sex-positive people and pleasure activists from a variety of communities. 

Steve Roach has created landmark music in the electronic, ambient, and new age genres since the early 80s. His classic albums Quiet Music and Structures from Silence are as relevant now as when Yoga Journal wrote they “transcend typical musical standards and set their own requirements for deep listening.” Roach has consistantly topped polls, including #2 on Echoes Radio’s 20th anniversary listener poll. A track was featured on Eckhart Tolle’s Music to Quiet The Mind CD. “The First Light” is taken from the 3-CD set Immersion : Three.

Black Tape For A Blue Girl celebrates their 25th anniversary in 2011; they are one of America’s darkwave / gothic / ethereal pioneers. The track behind Mark’s meditation is a complete reworking of “The Passage,” a floating comtemplative piece created in the late ’90s by Blacktape’s leader/synthesist Sam Rosenthal, with an appearance by violinist Vicki Richards (known for her healing releases including Cleansing Waters: Pura Vida). Included as the 2nd track on Disc 1 is the original recording of “The Passage,” From As One Aflame Laid Bare By Desire.

Click to Join, hit send, and I’ll add you to the list. – Sam