New Year & New Beginnings Yoga Nidra

This 20 minute yoga nidra session is designed with setting a heart felt intention for your New Year, although this can be practiced at any time of the year, and especially if you are beginning something new or looking for purpose and direction.
Make yourself comfortable and listen as I guide you into a deep state of relaxation where you can connect more fully with yourself.
I hope this practice brings you insight and meaning in whatever way best serves your highest good.
Please let me know how you get on.
With love and good wishes, Brita x

Transcript

Hello,

This is Britta and welcome to your Yoga Nidra practice for the new year and new beginnings.

You may wish to listen to this recording lying down on the floor or on a bed covered with a warm blanket or if you prefer,

Please make yourself comfortable sitting in a chair.

You may wish to pause this recording and create a nourishing warm space before starting it again.

New year and January offers us an opportunity to reflect backwards,

Both to the old year that has faded away with its lessons and gifts and to also face the future,

Look into the future,

Set intentions,

Certain values that can help to support your path onwards on your own journey.

The word January comes from the Greek word Janus and it offers us two faces of January,

Reflective and future focused.

So once you're comfortable,

Let's begin.

Once you've settled into a comfortable,

Cosy,

Warm space,

Slowly begin to draw your eyes down,

Relax back,

Get really comfortable,

Let the body get heavy,

Feel the weight of the body relaxing back.

Now tune into your natural breath,

Just as you're breathing now.

Notice the in-breath and the out-breath.

Notice how the breath naturally ebbs and flows like movements created by the ocean.

You could imagine your breath like a wave and this wave-like action,

Rising,

Expanding on the in-breath and dissolving away on the out-breath.

Notice the parts of the body that move and expand and contract naturally as your body breathes.

And see if your attention can connect with each part of the breath.

So don't worry if you find yourself sinking,

But just see if you can bring yourself back to your next breath and travel down into the body,

Feeling that expansion and rising of the in-breath as it moves down into the body and the release and relaxation and heaviness of the body as it lets go of that breath.

And simply just keep returning to your next breath.

Notice if you can soften any of your muscles,

Maybe the face,

The jaw,

The skin around your eyes.

Could you let your head relax back,

The shoulders soften and release.

Could you let go of any holding in the body,

Any tightness or strain.

Relax your face,

Your neck,

Shoulders,

Torso,

Arms and legs.

Relax.

Now take a deeper breath in through the nose and as you exhale open your mouth and sigh out your breath.

Breathe in again,

Open the mouth and sigh the breath out.

And as you breathe out,

Let any staleness of the tension of the body release through that out-breath.

Do that one more time.

Take a deep breath in,

Open the mouth,

Exhale.

And allow the breath to return to its natural pace once more.

Now the next time you exhale,

Imagine that exhalation taking you deep down into your heart space.

On the exhalations,

Following your awareness down into the centre of your chest.

And as you next breathe in,

Imagine the breath moving up from the heart to the centre of your head,

The centre of your brain,

The pineal gland.

Breathing out,

Going down into the centre of your chest.

And breathing in,

Allowing that breath to rise up to the centre of the brain.

And just moving the awareness with the natural breath for a few more breaths.

And the next time that you breathe out,

Let the awareness settle into the area of your heart space.

And again,

Just let go of any focus of the breath now.

And bring all awareness to your heart space.

Feel your connection to your own heart and a connection to your life force.

You might notice the rhythm of the heart as it's beating now,

The pumping of the blood and your energy,

Any fluctuations here,

Movement of breath that naturally comes and goes,

Or anything else,

Any sensations and experiences.

Don't try too hard.

Just be with whatever is arising as you settle all awareness to the heart space.

And you may like to now create an intention,

Which could be an intention for this practice,

For this moment,

Or it could be for the year ahead.

In yoga this is known as a sankalpa,

Often translated as your heart's desire,

Your deepest longing.

So as you connect here to your heart space,

In that connection,

See if you can sense into what is your deepest heart's longing.

What does your heart long for?

Inner peace,

Joy,

Inner calm,

Groundedness,

Good health,

Compassion,

Self-love.

And see if a door just opens and if any wisdom of your heart is revealed in this space.

It may be a feeling,

An image,

A sense.

And then state your own positive intention,

Keeping it short and sweet.

And you may like to create a sentence that reflects your own heart's desire.

And I'm going to offer you a few options that you could use or change for yourself,

Such as,

I feel peace within myself.

I feel peace within myself.

I am grounded and empowered in my life and in my chosen life path.

I experience good health in all aspects of my being.

I experience good health in all aspects of my being.

I am safe and sound.

I trust myself completely.

Feel free to use any of these or create your own.

And state your own sankalpa,

Your intention,

Three times within yourself,

As though you're planting a seed of intention within your own heart.

Now let all of that go.

And let yourself settle,

Continue to settle and rest.

And as we move now the consciousness around the body,

You could imagine this being the fertile soil of your whole body,

Planting this seed of intention throughout the different points that I will take you to on this journey around the body.

No movement is necessary.

And you can simply imagine this seed of intention that you've made,

Moving and deepening into each body part.

So from the heart space,

Move the awareness down the body to the solar plexus,

At the midpoint of the ribs,

Down to the navel.

Migrating the awareness now to the hip on the right.

And down the right thigh to the knee,

The lower leg to the ankle,

The sole of the right foot.

All five toes.

The whole foot and the whole right leg.

And now take your awareness to the left hip,

Planting this seed into the left hip,

Moving down the left leg to the knee,

And the lower leg to the ankle,

The sole of the left foot,

And bringing awareness to all five toes,

And the whole foot and left leg.

Now taking your awareness over to your right palm,

The centre of the right palm,

And all five fingers on the right hand.

And now to the wrist,

Moving up the right arm to the elbow and the upper arm to the shoulder,

The right collarbone,

The centre of the chest,

And over to the left collarbone,

Tip of the left shoulder,

Moving down the left arm to the elbow,

Lower arm to the wrist,

And the centre of your left palm.

Become aware of all five fingers on the left hand.

Now bring your awareness to your back body,

The lower lumbar spine,

Over to the back of the pelvis on the right and the left pelvis,

The whole of the lower back and the middle back,

The middle spine and the back of the ribcage,

The whole of the upper back,

The right shoulder blade and left shoulder blade,

The upper thoracic spine,

And the back of the neck,

The back of your head,

The crown of the head,

Moving the awareness over the top of the head and bringing the awareness now into your third eye,

Space between the eyebrows,

The right eye and the left eye,

The bridge of the nose and the tip of the nose,

The upper lip and the lower lip,

And the space within your mouth,

Tip of the tongue and the root of the tongue,

Your chin and your throat,

And back to your heart space,

Feeling the whole body,

The whole body resting,

Relaxed,

Breathing,

Stating your sankalpa,

Your intention once more within your heart space,

In this space of rest,

Allowing that seed of intention to settle deeper,

Deeper into your heart,

And seeing yourself now moving forward into the future,

With this new resolve,

This new beginning,

And a renewed sense of purpose.

How would that feel?

How would you act,

Behave,

Think,

Do and be?

What would your relationships be like?

What would you be doing if you were acting from this place?

And how might that affect the world around you?

And as you reflect on this potentiality within yourself,

Know that you can continue to grow in this way,

And connect deeper and deeper on your life's journey,

That this seed of intention is now sown,

And you can come back and nurture it,

Watering and feeding it in all the ways that will enable it to grow into your life.

You may like to rest longer and just linger in this sense of reflection and well-being,

And if you're ready to re-emerge from this space,

Gently start to deepen the breath,

Bring awareness to the body in this time and space.

You may like to give some thanks to your body,

To your heart,

And mind for the impressions that it's given you and any reflections.

Sending some gratitude out into the world for your life.

Bring a smile to your lips,

Smile into your heart,

And come round slowly with some care for yourself.

Gently returning,

Opening the eyes when you're ready,

Bringing gentle movements back into the body,

Maybe resting for a little time on your side if that's available for you.

Thank you for listening.

Go well,

And let me know how that was for you.

Namaste.