And then any final adjustments that you might need for yoga nidra,
You can go ahead and make them now.
As a reminder,
Yoga nidra is a practice of effortless concentration.
So you're not trying to keep up but you're in a state of effortlessness.
Now begin by noticing the sounds that you hear.
Just effortlessly letting the mind just go from one sound to the next without holding on to the sound or without analyzing the sound.
And now be aware of your own sounds.
Notice the sounds happening in your own body,
Like the subtle sound of your inhales and exhales,
The sound of your heart beating,
The sounds in your mouth,
And just be aware of the sounds in your own body.
And then we'll introduce an intention for safety in our practice.
So you can repeat the following phrase on your own mentally.
I am grounded,
I am safe,
Just as I am.
I am grounded,
I am safe,
Just as I am.
You can repeat that to yourself three more times.
Notice your body lying down effortlessly on the ground.
Notice that inner sense of effortlessness,
Knowing that your body is safe right here,
Right now.
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to go,
Nothing to say,
Nothing to see.
Now we're going to practice rotation of awareness.
For this,
All you do is you bring your attention mentally to the area of the body that I mentioned.
Your body stays still.
The mind will go from one part to the next.
No effort to keep up.
Go ahead and bring your awareness to the right hand,
The tip of your right thumb,
The tip of your index finger,
The tip of the middle finger,
The tip of the ring finger,
The pinky finger,
Palm of the right hand,
The back of the right hand,
Right wrist,
The right lower arm,
The right elbow,
Right upper arm,
The right shoulder,
Right armpit,
The right waist,
Right hip,
Right thigh,
Right knee,
The 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,
The fourth toe,
And the fifth toe.
Move your awareness to the left hand,
The tip of your left thumb,
The tip of the index finger,
The tip of your middle finger,
The tip of the ring finger,
The pinky finger,
The palm of your left hand,
The back of your left hand,
Your left wrist,
Left lower arm,
Your left elbow,
The left upper arm,
The left shoulder,
The left armpit,
The left waist,
Your left hip,
The left thigh,
The left knee,
Left ankle,
Feel the top of the left foot,
The sole of your left foot,
The heel of the left foot,
Your left big toe,
The second toe,
The third toe,
Fourth toe,
And fifth toe.
Move your awareness to the back of the head,
The back of your neck,
Back of the right shoulder,
The back of your left shoulder,
Feel your spine,
Feel the upper back,
Your middle back,
The lower back,
Feel your entire back,
Feel your spine,
Be aware of your spine,
The right butt cheek,
The left butt cheek,
Feel the back of the right leg,
And the back of your left leg.
Move your awareness to the top of the head,
Your scalp,
The forehead,
The right ear,
The left ear,
Feel the insides of your ears,
Feel the outer rims of your ears,
Right cheekbone,
Left cheekbone,
The right nostril,
The left nostril,
The tip of the nose,
The upper lip,
The bottom lip,
Feel the insides of your mouth,
Feel the tongue,
Your upper teeth,
The bottom teeth,
The roof of your mouth,
Feel your entire mouth,
Feel your throat,
Right side of the chest,
Left side of the chest,
The center of your chest,
Your navel,
The lower abdomen,
Feel the right leg,
Feel the left leg,
Feel both of your legs together,
Feel the right arm,
And feel the left arm,
Feel both of your arms together,
Feel the right hand,
And feel the left hand,
Feel both of your hands together,
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 abdomen,
Feel the outer layer of your body,
Your skin,
Clothes against your skin,
The air against your skin,
Be aware of the insides of your body,
Organs,
Your bones,
Your muscles,
Just being aware of them.
And then feel your entire body.
Just notice your whole body lying down effortlessly on the floor.
Your body is effortless on the floor.
And then begin to observe your body breathing.
Noticing your inhales and the exhales.
Noticing how the body expands slightly,
Chest expands,
Belly rises,
Ribs expand as you inhale.
And the body slightly contracts as you exhale.
Following those movements here,
The front of your body expands on the inhale.
The body contracts,
Becomes smaller as you exhale.
Body expands as you breathe in,
Making space for that air to come into the body.
Body becomes smaller as you breathe out.
Very effortlessly,
Notice the breath moving in and out.
In and out.
No effort,
No changing the breath.
Simply observe.
And then keeping the natural flow of your breath,
Start to count your breaths backwards,
27 to 1.
So you're counting effortlessly on each exhalation.
If you lose the count or finish,
You go back to 27 and start over.
So there's no rush,
No effort to finish your count.
Count your breaths 27 to 1,
Counting each time that you exhale.
Now let go of your count.
Remember a time when you felt restless in the body.
So restless you were unable to sit still,
Not even for a second.
Recreate that feeling of restlessness.
So restless.
Maybe you were nervous,
Maybe you were anxious,
Maybe you had too much energy.
Just notice that feeling of restlessness in the body.
Now remember a time when you felt so calm,
Grounded,
So still and peaceful.
And welcome that feeling of calm,
Relaxation and grounding in your body.
How does your body feel when you're so grounded?
So still.
Go back to that feeling of restlessness,
Unable to sit still.
Then go back to that feeling of grounding and relaxation.
So still,
So peaceful.
Then welcome both feelings at the same time.
Restless and calm.
Welcome both into your presence.
Restless and calm.
Now remember a time when you felt fearful.
While feeling sensations come up when you feel fearful.
Now remember a time when you felt safe,
Confident.
Welcome that feeling of safety,
Knowing that everything is okay.
No fear.
No anxiousness.
Go back to that feeling of fearful.
What comes up when you feel fear?
Then go back to that feeling of safety,
Confidence.
Just knowing that everything is fine.
And then feel both at the same time.
Fear and safe.
Allow both into your presence.
Just knowing that one cannot exist without the other.
Then bring your attention to the space between the eyebrows.
That inner screen right behind your forehead.
Imagine that there's a smaller version of you sitting behind that screen.
Observing that screen.
As if you were waiting for a show or something to come on that screen.
Then we're going to go into some fast moving images.
So without any effort,
See if you can visualize what I mentioned.
No effort to visualize.
Just see what comes up into the screen of the mind.
Visualize a frog hopping across the meadow.
A field of sunflowers.
A waterfall in the forest.
A clear blue sky.
White puffy clouds.
The sound of heavy rain.
A bright yellow frog.
Yourself sitting on top of a mountain.
A sunset over a valley.
A starfish.
An eagle flying across the ocean.
Yourself sitting in meditation.
The sound of people laughing.
A frozen lake.
Blue Caribbean water.
A very cold evening.
Fire crackling.
Bright lights.
A wooden bridge in the forest.
A river in the mountains.
A growling tiger.
A cat sleeping by the fireplace.
A cozy bed.
Yourself lying down in Shavasana.
Visualize yourself lying down in Shavasana.
Visualize a place that makes you feel safe.
And imagine yourself lying down in that place.
And we'll come back to the intention for our practice.
You can say it to yourself three more times here.
I am safe.
I am grounded.
Just as I am.
I am safe.
I am grounded.
Just as I am.
When you're ready,
Slowly and gradually,
We'll start to bring the awareness back.
Begin to wiggle your fingers and toes.
And slowly add in movement back into your body.
You can start to bend your knees one at a time.
And then as you're ready,
No rush.
You can roll to the right into fetal position and pause.
Whenever you are ready,
You can start to come up to sit.
You can keep your eyes closed.
You can take your hands at the center of your chest.
No rush.
And then close the eyes.
Just taking the time to close out what we started.
Let's take a final deep breath in through the nose.
Inhale.
Then out through the mouth.
Exhale.
