Hello everyone and welcome to your nervous system deep rest regulation.
And yoga nidra practice.
This is a class I kind of came up with a couple of months ago in my mind and I thought I'd really like to give this a go.
I think this could be an excellent way to allow people to deepen into Deepen the yoga nidra practice basically by adding in this component of the nervous system rest,
Which I learned from Anthony William,
The medical medium.
This practice is in his book,
Brainsaver.
Not a plug,
But just so you know where to find it.
And it's so simple,
A lot of people naturally do this practice,
But the way that your body kind of takes over and does the work for you.
Is really quite profound.
And then if we add on the guided yoga nidra in the second half,
That just takes it to a deeper level.
It's really simple.
I would suggest doing it lying down.
You're probably going to get more from it,
Especially in the yoga nidra aspect.
Just because of the positioning of your spine.
But if you're seated,
That will work as well for both parts of the practice.
So what it's going to look like is we're going to do the nervous system.
Rest reset kind of part at the beginning,
Which will be half of the practice,
And then I will guide you through the talking part of the yoga nidra.
Where you're lying down or in some cases seated and your eyes are closed.
And it's essentially called conscious sleep.
So it's a practice of being guided through bringing your awareness to different parts of your body,
Sensation or feelings in your body.
That allow different parts of your body to relax,
Release,
And allow your,
I guess,
Breath,
Energy,
And just sense of self to just come to a deeper level of peace,
Might not be the right word,
But relax is probably the only way I can describe it.
But you just come into a deeper level of rest than what you get from simply lying there.
It's a way of using your brain to bypass holding patterns in your body,
I guess.
And it's at the end of pretty much all yoga classes.
So when you've done your yoga postures,
Which is called yoga asana,
You're generally guided into Shavasana,
Which is called conscious sleep,
Basically,
Which is a lying down practice,
Which is what we're going to do.
So hopefully that's enough of this talking.
If you're doing this more than once,
You will hopefully have.
.
.
Skipped past all my talking part and just go straight into the practice.
But just so you know what we're doing,
The first part of the practice is going to be largely,
I will guide you verbally through a little bit of it,
And then we'll probably stay still for a minimum 8 to 10 minutes.
And I will probably stop speaking at that time for the most part,
And you'll just go on with the practice.
And then when it's time to come out of that part of the rest,
I will start speaking again and I will verbally guide you into the yoga nidra.
So,
That's kind of what you need to know.
I hope you're prepared.
Of course you're prepared.
So,
Either lying down or taking your seat.
So,
Just if you're seated,
Make sure you're comfortable.
Make sure you can kind of open up through your spine.
So if you can sit upright and you have neck support on the chair,
That's probably going to be more relaxing.
You want to allow your hips and your legs to really relax into the chair and the support underneath you.
If you're lying down,
Shavasana is usually done lying flat on your back.
So if you're doing this on your bed,
For example,
And it's comfortable for you,
Take the pillow out from under your neck so the back of your spine is elongated and kind of straight.
Obviously,
With the natural curves in the neck,
You don't want to lock your jaw.
Relatively straight,
You want your arms down by your sides with palms facing up and leaving just a little bit of space between your arms and your body.
With your legs,
You want them around about hip-width apart,
Allowing your feet to fall open to the sides,
Space in between your feet.
Your hips are feeling a little bit open.
Now just kind of not right yet right now because this is how we're going to start the practice.
If you are lying choosing to do lying down to go through the rest and the yoga nidra.
You want to just kind of wriggle your hips around,
Maybe wriggle your shoulders around until you feel comfortable under your shoulder blades and your hips and your lower back is comfortable.
Also,
If you're choosing to lie down and you're having pain or too much tightness in your lower back,
You can put a pillow underneath your knees.
And that will just ease tension in your lower back and could be more relaxing.
So give that a shot.
Okay.
Well,
We're going to just about start the deep rest,
Nervous system rest practice,
And basically all this is,
So if you're sitting down.
Relying Dems You're closing your eyes.
And throughout the entirety of the practice,
You're just keeping your eyes closed and you're keeping your body still.
So doing your best not to move your fingers,
Your arms,
Your toes,
Your feet,
Your head.
Obviously,
If there's an itch that you just can't not scratch,
Then do that.
But for the most part,
You want to keep your arms and legs still and keeping your eyes closed.
Keeping the eyes closed keeps the emotional center of the brain calm.
And so it kind of allows you nervous system to click in and take over.
This is Anthony Williams information and your nervous system is able to go into a restore and rest in healing phase because it's not focusing on all your other functions.
Your body's still,
You're not overthinking,
Your eyes aren't open,
You're not taking in information.
So that's kind of how this practice works and as we do it,
You'll feel it yourself.
So we'll be starting that now,
Whether you're sitting up or lying down.
So your eyes are closed.
And you're literally just allowing yourself to breathe.
So you're not trying too hard to keep your breath flowing in any particular way.
You're just allowing yourself to breathe,
Observing your breathing.
And in terms of like meditative state,
Don't worry too much about your thoughts.
If you notice that your thoughts are getting lost on different stories or worries or ideas or just running different events through your mind,
Which is totally normal.
Not really even trying to stop that from happening,
Just redirecting your awareness and reminding yourself,
I'm just resting my nerves right now.
And you just relax back into your body.
You just let yourself breathe,
Keeping your body still,
Keeping your arms still,
Your head,
Keeping everything still.
You're just resting your nerves.
So anytime you notice your thoughts wander off.
Don't try too hard to change,
You'll still get the benefit from the practice,
But you can just maybe remind yourself.
Just resting my nerves.
So I'm going to stop speaking right now and we're going to stay here until I start speaking again and then I'll guide you out of it.
So you're just staying here.
Breathing,
Letting your body be still.
Letting your body do the work.
Reminding your mind,
If you get lost in thought,
To just come back to what you're doing.
But no big deal.
Okay.
We'll be right back.
So we've just got a few more minutes here.
So just to check in,
Staying still,
Not moving,
Keeping your eyes closed.
And just reminding yourself,
If your mind is wandered off,
You're just resting your nerves,
Letting your body do its thing.
Okay.
So,
Staying where you are,
We're going to shift into the next part of the practice.
Before we start that,
You might want to move your body around a little bit and just feel into how your body is feeling right now.
Noticing any difference you feel in your body,
If you noticed a shift in your breathing,
The pattern of your breathing naturally,
A deepening in relaxation,
Early subtention.
Or just a release of state in your nervous system.
So sometimes you could be feeling a bit more activated,
A bit more alert,
And through this practice,
At least for me personally,
I noticed that my body really settles and finds calm and wholeness and grounded energy.
So.
.
.
Just noticing that if you're lying down you might want to hug your knees into chest and just rock left to right to just soften up through your back.
If you're seated,
You might want to roll your ankles,
So in circular motion,
And then back in the other direction,
And your wrists,
And maybe even turning your head around,
Stretching your arms up.
We're going to come back to a resting seated position and to lying down flat again in a moment.
Just give your body a chance to kind of integrate that session.
And we're going to shift into the next part.
I'm just going to have a little bit of water.
I'm sure that sounds lovely.
Okay,
So when you're ready.
Going back into whatever position you're in.
Shavasana is usually best lying down,
But if you're seated,
Stay seated,
Or if you're lying down,
Get back into the lying down position.
And it's probably about 10 minutes,
Just gonna guide you through a more conscious process of relaxing your body.
So if you're lying down.
Or seated,
Either way,
Feeling into.
Back of your body.
Against whatever surface you're lying or sitting against.
Feeling your hips on the ground or the seat.
Feeling your knees.
And feeling your ankles.
And feeling the weight of your heels,
Just relaxing and becoming heavier or allowing them to become heavier.
As they sit into the ground.
Noticing the soles of your feet,
So the arches,
Just feeling the inner arches.
When I say feeling,
This can even just be bringing your mental awareness to this area.
If you can actually feel through sensation without having to move your body,
Just bring a feeling awareness to this part of your body,
That's great.
If that doesn't feel quite easy or natural to you today or in general,
Just imagining.
It's bringing your attention to that part of your body.
Imagining it,
Just seeing it,
And see if your body relaxes a little bit more in that area or anything shifts.
Okay,
So just bringing your attention to your toes.
Your big toes,
Down through the rest of your toes.
Tops of your feet.
Tops of your shins,
Your knees.
Bringing your attention to the tops of your thighs.
While you're doing this,
Paying attention to your breath.
So as you're bringing your conscious awareness and attention to different parts of your body,
Just also noticing your breathing.
In and out,
Allowing your breath to flow into your stomach area.
Noticing hopefully you'll be able to breathe through your nostrils but if you need to breathe through your mouth that's okay too.
Or whatever variation.
But doing your best to breathe in and out through your nose.
But without really trying,
So you're just allowing your breath to come in and out.
You're just noticing and observing your breath.
The natural breath.
Of bringing your attention back to your legs.
And your hips,
The tops of your hips.
Feeling into your pelvis,
Your groin.
And allowing your hips to feel heavy.
So imagine your pelvic bone kind of really weighted and sinking into the ground.
Or the chair.
And noticing your spine.
Literal bones of your spine and imagining your spine inside of your back.
And imagine your spine feeling heavy in that same kind of way,
Feeling weighted or just feeling it just gently pulling into the ground.
Or softening into your chair.
And really softening your belly,
Feeling your belly relax.
This area can often hold a lot of emotional energy or tensions.
We've got a lot of nerves that link up there.
Just softening,
Relaxing to the best of your ability,
Noticing your belly button.
And your chest,
So bring your attention to your ribcage.
Feeling the fronts,
Sides,
And the back of your ribcage.
And feeling inside of your ribcage.
See if.
.
.
Your ribcage expands as you breathe or if there's any more room inside of your chest to just expand or breathe a little deeper.
Unless it's without too much force.
Just noticing if you can open a little bit.
And bring your attention down to your lower back.
Both sides of your lower back.
Down to your buttocks,
Both buttocks muscle,
And softening there.
And then bring that awareness back up to the middle of your upper back.
The left shoulder blade.
Right shoulder blade.
I'm softening through.
Both shoulder blades.
Both sides of your upper back.
And shoulders.
And then bring your attention to the back of your neck.
The sides of your net.
In the front of your throat.
And softening.
And softening is really just a noticing.
And if you notice any holding or gripping,
You just consciously intending to relax it.
As you do that,
If you notice nothing happen,
And everything stay the same,
That's also okay.
It's more the intention.
Remember your breathing.
To see how that's going,
See how your breath is flowing in this moment.
And bring your attention now to your shoulders.
In your upper arms.
Elbows.
Down through your forearms.
Your wrist.
The barks of your hair.
And feeling your fingers,
Your thumbs.
Feeling right to the center.
Of the palm of your hand.
Just feeling the weight of your arms.
Relax into the ground.
Or resting on your legs or however they're resting right now.
Just allow your arms to be heavy.
Your shoulders to soften.
Bring your attention up to your jaw now.
Softening your jaw.
Around your chin.
Bringing your attention to the base of your skull.
Not really seeing any.
Sense it gripping there,
Just allow your head to kind of feel heavy.
Anywhere you can,
Propping your neck up.
I'll let your head be supported,
So just relax.
Feeling the back of your head.
He's on the ground.
On the chair or if you're holding yourself up seated,
Noticing the back of your head.
Crown of your head,
Bring your attention to the sides of your head and your ears,
Softening through your ears and jaw.
Bringing your attention to your lips,
Your mouth,
Your tongue.
Softening through your mouth and your inner mouth,
In your tongue,
Your gums,
Relaxing there.
And bring your attention to your cheeks.
Softening your cheeks,
Softening through your eyelids,
Your eyebrows,
Softening your brow,
Your forehead.
Notice if you're kind of frowning a little bit or holding tension through your forehead,
Just relax that.
Softening through your temples.
Relaxing through the sides of your face.
Thought to your head.
And then flow that attention right down your spine.
Right down into your hips,
Into your coccyx.
And let your pelvis feel heavy.
Flow that attention down through your legs through your knees,
Through your shins,
Your calves,
Right down into your ankles and your feet.
Allowing your arms to be heavy,
Your hands to relax.
Just noticing your breaths.
Breathing in and out into your belly,
Soft belly.
Gentle breathing.
Allowing yourself to just be here and breathe for a bit.
Taking three more breaths here.
Breathing in through your nose.
And out their own nose.
And on your final breath.
Breathing in through your nose.
Just gently breathe out through your mouth.
Then come back to your normal breathing.
Taking a moment or two here still just to be present,
Just to breathe,
Relaxing.
And then very gently with you lying down.
Or seated.
Gently rolling your ankles.
Circular motion.
Clockwise,
Then anticlockwise.
Doing the same with your wrist.
You can gently.
.
.
Turn your head left to right.
Just to open up through your knit.
And maybe interlace your fingers and stretch your arms overhead.
So if you're lying down,
You're stretching your arm back behind you,
Above your head,
And if you're seated,
You're stretching out into the sky or whatever area you're in.
And relaxing all of that and When you're feeling ready,
You can open your eyes.
And slowly get up or continue whatever you're doing,
Whether that's going to sleep,
Continuing your day.
I hope you enjoyed that and let me know.
Have a good day or night.
