And when you're ready,
Settle into your Shavasana for your yoga nidra practice.
So lie down on your space.
Place a pillow or folded blanket under your head for support or cushioning.
Elevate the knees.
You can either use another pillow or another folded blanket under your knees.
And then cover your body with a blanket.
Now as you begin to settle into your space,
Start by noticing the sounds that you hear.
So effortlessly let the mind go from one sound to the next.
No effort,
No minding the sound.
Just let the mind go from one sound to the next.
Now begin to notice your own sounds.
Notice the sounds inside of your body,
Like the sound of your inhales and exhales,
The sound of your heart beating,
The sounds in your mouth.
Just be aware of your own sounds.
Now be aware of your body lying down effortlessly on the ground.
And notice the sensation of the body on the ground.
Notice all of the meeting points between the body and the ground,
Like the back of your head and the ground,
The back of your hands and the ground,
The whole back and the ground.
Feel the body lying down effortlessly on the ground.
Now we're going to practice our body-skin.
It's a rotation of awareness.
For this,
All you do is you bring your attention mentally to the area of the body that I mentioned.
So the body will stay still and the mind will go from one part to the next.
No effort to keep up.
Bring your attention to the right hand,
The tip of your right thumb,
The tip of your index finger,
The tip of your middle finger,
The tip of the ring finger,
The pinky finger,
Palm of the right hand,
Back of the right hand,
Right wrist,
Right lower arm,
Right elbow,
Right upper arm,
Right shoulder,
Right armpit,
Right waist,
Right hip,
Right thigh,
Right knee,
Right shin,
Right ankle,
The top of your right foot,
The sole of the right foot,
The heel of the right foot,
Your right big toe,
The second toe,
The third toe,
Fourth toe and fifth toe.
Now move your awareness to the left hand,
The tip of your left thumb,
Tip of the index finger,
The tip of the middle finger,
The tip of the ring finger,
The pinky finger,
Palm of your left hand,
The back of your left hand,
Your left wrist,
Left lower arm,
Your left elbow,
Left upper arm,
Left shoulder,
Left armpit,
The left waist,
The left hip,
Left thigh,
Left knee,
Left shin,
Left ankle,
The top of your left foot,
The sole of the left foot,
The heel of the left foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and fifth toe.
Now move your awareness to the back of your head,
The back of your neck.
Now feel the upper back,
The middle back,
The lower back.
Feel your entire back,
The right butt cheek,
The left butt cheek,
The back of the right leg and the back of your left leg.
Now move your awareness to the top of your head,
Your scalp,
The forehead,
The right ear,
Left ear.
Feel the insides of your ears,
Feel the outer rims of your ears,
The right cheekbone,
Left cheekbone,
Right nostril,
Left nostril,
The tip of your nose,
The upper lip,
The bottom lip.
Feel the insides of your mouth,
Feel the tongue,
Upper teeth,
Bottom teeth,
The roof of your mouth.
Now feel your throat,
Right side of your chest,
Left side of the chest,
The center of your chest,
Your navel,
The lower abdomen.
Now feel the right leg and feel the left leg and feel both of your legs together.
Feel the right arm,
Feel the left arm,
Feel both of your arms together.
Feel the right hand and feel the left hand and feel both of your hands together.
Now feel the right side of your body,
Feel the left side of your body,
Feel the front of your body,
Feel the back of your body,
Feel the insides of your body,
Feel the outer layer of your body.
Now feel your entire body.
Your body is effortless,
So effortless that you're sinking into the ground.
The body is effortless.
You are grounded,
You are steady,
You are safe,
Your body is effortless.
And now notice your body breathing.
Notice the sensation as the breath comes in through the nose,
Out through the nose.
As you inhale,
Feel the body become so light.
As you exhale,
The body becomes so heavy.
Let the ground support the weight of your body.
As you breathe in,
The body is light.
As you breathe out,
The body is heavy.
As you breathe in,
The body is so light,
You can barely feel your body.
As you breathe out,
The body is so heavy that you sink to the ground.
You feel the ground supporting your body.
Now keep noticing the flow of your breath.
Effortlessly in and out through your nose.
And then without effort,
Count your breaths 27 to 1.
So you're counting backwards on each exhalation.
27 inhale,
27 exhale.
26 inhale,
26 exhale.
And then if you lose your count or finish,
Go back to 27.
So there's no rush,
There's no effort to finish your count.
Count your breaths 27 to 1,
Counting on each exhale.
Now let go of your count wherever you are.
And then bring your attention to that space between the eyebrows.
Imagine that you're staring at a dark screen behind the forehead.
Keep noticing the weight of your body sinking into the ground.
So there's no rush.
There's no effort on your part to hold your body.
Let the ground support your body.
And then keep noticing that space between the eyebrows.
Now imagine that you're walking barefoot through a deep green forest.
Each step is slow,
Steady and effortless.
Imagine yourself walking through a deep green forest.
Then feel your feet touching the ground,
Knowing that the earth supports the weight of your body.
Around you,
You see tall,
Thick trees rise up.
The summer leaves are full,
Fluffy,
Breezy and bright green.
You hear the soft whisper of the wind moving gently through the trees.
Now as you walk along the path,
Just feel the soft,
Cool soil beneath your feet.
The warmth of the golden sunlight peeking through the leaves.
The light and the shadow dancing back and forth on your skin.
Now as you walk along the forest,
You see three ducks walking slowly across the trail.
You pause,
Observe and then you continue on the path.
As you walk along the forest,
You see a red bird resting gently and quietly on a branch.
As you walk along the trail,
You watch the bird fly into the distance,
So light,
So free.
Now on your right,
You hear the soothing sound of water.
The gentle creek flowing beside you.
The water flowing steady,
Gently and calm.
On your left,
You see a plum tree.
The branches are heavy with fruit.
You see juicy red plums all throughout the tree.
They hang low and they scatter on the ground.
You see some of the green and ripening still held by the tree.
Now you keep walking along the trail,
Walking slowly,
Steady and peacefully.
Now you see a frog hopping on the trail.
The frog is playful and it's calm.
A little far ahead,
You see a pond in the middle of the forest.
A small crystal clear pond in the middle of the forest.
Now there is a change in elevation and now you're walking up the hill on the trail.
Step by step,
You walk slowly,
Steady and effortlessly.
Now the trees open to reveal a wide beautiful green meadow.
Beautiful bright sunny meadow.
There are no trees here,
Just an open sky and rolling green.
Now you find a soft patch of grass and you lie down in Shavasana on that beautiful green meadow.
Feel the weight of your body as you sink into the ground.
Your body supported completely by the ground.
You are safe.
You are still.
You let your body rest.
The earth is here supporting you always.
Just feel the body as you lie down comfortably on the green meadow.
Your body is heavy.
Your body is held.
No effort.
Just feel the body on the ground.
No effort.
Now come back to that space between the eyebrows.
As you rest effortlessly here,
Notice your mind effortless as well.
Your body is effortless and your mind is effortless.
Your breath is effortless.
Now slowly and gradually we'll start to bring the awareness back.
Begin to wiggle the fingers and toes.
Slowly adding movement back into your body.
As you're ready,
No rush.
When you're ready,
You can start to bend your knees one at a time and then as you're ready,
No rush,
You can roll into a fetal position on the right side.
Take a few moments to pause.
When you're ready,
Come up to a seated position.
Just keeping your eyes closed.
Whatever seat makes you comfortable.
Just take a quick moment to notice how you feel,
Whatever that is.
You can take the hands together at the center of your chest.
We'll finish and close our practice with a deep breath in through your nose.
Inhale.
And out through your mouth.
Exhale.
One more like this.
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
