Preparing for yoga nidra,
Adjusting your body,
Your clothes,
Your coverings so that you can lie comfortably on your back in shavasana,
Your feet wide,
Your hands wide,
Your eyes closed.
Slowly becoming quiet,
Take a deep breath in,
And as you breathe out,
Relax.
Relax.
Becoming aware of distant sounds,
Moving your attention from sound to sound,
Listening only,
Not trying to analyse.
Relax.
Bringing your attention closer,
Listening for sounds outside the building,
Now becoming aware of sounds inside the building,
Becoming aware of sounds inside the room,
Rotating your awareness from each corner of the room.
The space behind and to the left of you,
The space to the left of you,
The space in front of you,
The space to the right of you,
Rotating your awareness to the space behind and to the right of you.
Becoming aware of the space of your body,
The ground that you are on.
Becoming aware of the subtle sounds inside your body.
Becoming aware of the sound behind all sounds,
Right in the centre of your being.
Feel yourself becoming relaxed,
Your attention withdrawing within.
Aware that you are going to practice Yoga Nidra,
Saying to yourself,
I am going to practice Yoga Nidra,
I will not sleep,
I will not sleep.
Bringing to the mind your Sankalpa,
Your resolve,
Using a previous Sankalpa or choosing a new one,
Something you wish to manifest,
Making real in your life,
Using first person present tense,
Repeating your Sankalpa three times with feeling and awareness,
Bearing in mind that in the fullness of time it will come true.
Moving your awareness.
Moving your awareness to your right hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of your right hand,
Back of your right hand,
Right wrist,
Right forearm,
Right elbow,
Upper right arm,
Right shoulder,
Right side of your chest,
Right side of your waist,
Right hip,
Right thigh,
Right knee,
Right calf,
Right ankle,
Right heel,
Sole of your right foot,
Top of your right foot,
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe,
Fourth toe,
The whole right leg.
Moving your awareness to your left hand thumb,
The left hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of your left hand,
Back of your left hand,
Left wrist,
Left forearm,
Left elbow,
Left upper arm,
Left shoulder,
The left side of your chest,
Left side of your waist,
Left hip,
Left thigh,
Left knee,
Left calf,
Left ankle,
Left heel,
Sole of your left foot,
Top of your left foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe,
The whole left leg.
Your whole body together,
Moving your awareness to your navel centre,
Your abdomen,
Your chest,
Your right shoulder,
Your left shoulder,
Your throat,
Your face,
Your right eye,
Your left eye,
Your nose,
Your mouth,
Your whole head,
Your whole body together,
Your whole body together.
Moving your awareness to the top of your head,
Becoming aware of your central energy channel,
Running straight down the centre line of your body,
From the top of your head all the way down to your perineum,
The base of your spine,
And becoming aware of your left and right energy channels,
Starting in your nostrils,
Looping over your head and running next to your central energy channel,
Down the central line of your body,
Left and right,
All the way down to the space a little below the navel,
Where they join,
The central energy channel.
Now,
Breathing in these energy channels,
Breathing in through your two nostrils,
Letting your air draw all the way down your side to meet below your navel,
And as you breathe out,
Allowing your breath to dissolve upward through the central channel,
Inhaling up and over your head,
Through the side channels all the way down to below your navel,
Breathing out,
Your breath dissolving upward through your central channel.
Begin to count your breath in this pattern,
Breathing in the side channels 54,
Breathing out central channel 54,
Breathing in 53,
Breathing out 53,
And so on,
All the way down to zero.
Moving your attention from your breathing to your Chidakshaka,
The space behind your forehead,
In this space imagining or remembering a beautiful,
Peaceful place,
A place where you can feel warm,
Very safe,
Perhaps somewhere you know well,
Perhaps somewhere you've been once or twice,
Or even an imaginary place.
And as you're here right now in this place,
What do you see?
What do you hear?
What do you smell?
And how do you feel?
Enjoying how this beautiful,
Peaceful place makes you feel.
And now in this place,
Imagining your spiritual teacher coming towards you,
Smiling,
A smile of complete love,
Complete acceptance,
Sitting down in front of you,
Looking deeply into your eyes,
Smiling,
Feeling this smile enter into you,
Joining with your smile.
Now bring this smile inside your body,
Down into your heart,
Smiling into your physical heart,
Experiencing what happens when you smile into your heart.
And now bringing this smile into your lungs,
First the top of your lungs,
Your mid lungs,
Smiling down into the base of your lungs,
And smiling deeper into your stomach,
Seeing how any worries can just melt away beneath the sunlight of your awareness.
Smiling left and right of your stomach here,
The whole area,
Your upper abdomen,
Smiling,
Bringing your smile deeper again down into your belly,
Smiling and releasing,
Bringing your smile deeper still,
Down into your pelvis.
How do things change when you smile down into your pelvis?
And now bringing your smile all the way up into your brain,
Smiling into the front of your brain,
Exploring,
Making friends with your brain,
Smiling into the right side of the brain,
The centre of your brain,
The left side of your brain,
Smiling into the back of your brain,
And down into the vertebrae of your neck,
Smiling into each vertebrae,
Making new connections of awareness,
New connections of love.
Taking a little time to smile into each vertebrae,
Down into your neck,
Down into your upper back,
Smiling,
Opening,
Vertebrae by vertebrae,
Smiling down into your mid back,
Into your lower back,
Smiling into your kidneys,
Left and right,
Either side of your spine.
Now allowing your whole body to be in your sphere of awareness,
Smiling into tight places,
Any resistance,
Exploring for you what happens when you smile into your body.
And now allowing the smile to become like a bubble,
A bubble of smiling energy,
Spreading from your heart,
Through your whole body,
Radiating outwards,
Smiling,
Radiating outwards to all the people in the whole building,
Radiating outwards,
Smiling from your heart to include all the people of the town,
All the people in the city,
All the people in the country,
Radiating,
And now the whole world.
How does it feel to have your smile,
Your heart as wide as the world?
And now,
Bringing your awareness into the centre of your body,
Bringing your awareness to your sankalpa,
Your resolve,
Repeating again three times your sankalpa,
Becoming aware of the deep sound in the centre of your being,
Becoming aware of any subtle sounds in your body,
Becoming aware of subtle sounds in the room,
Becoming aware of sounds just outside,
Becoming aware of sounds around and outside the building,
Listening for sounds in the far distance,
Becoming aware of your body lying here on the floor,
Becoming aware of the points of contact between your body and the floor,
Becoming aware of the surface of your skin,
Your fingers,
Your toes,
Gently starting to move your fingers,
Your toes,
Gently starting to stretch your body,
And when you feel ready,
Coming up into sitting,
Your practice of yoga nidra is completed.
