Welcome to the practice of yoga nidra Come to lie down,
Allowing your body to find its most comfortable position.
Allow the legs to roll out a little and making a little space between your arms and the sides of your body.
Tucking your shoulders,
Shoulder blades in underneath you,
Letting the arms open out gently.
Softly closing down the eyes.
Letting your jaw soften and release And just letting your tongue rest back softly in your mouth.
Take a moment simply to arrive.
You have nothing to do here.
Nowhere to be.
Nothing to manage or organize.
Nothing to hold together.
This time is yours fully and complete.
With no conditions.
Start to feel the surface underneath you becoming aware if you're lying on your bed or you're lying on the floor Just becoming aware of the surface underneath you.
Noticing which parts of your body connect with the surface.
The backs of your legs,
Lower back Maybe the shoulder blades,
Back of your head.
Notice the weight of your body being received.
On the floor or the earth or the bed.
Allow it to hold you.
And support you is asking nothing of you in return.
Feel how you are held and supported.
You do not have to hold yourself.
Take a long slow breath in through your nose and slowly let it go.
Just going to repeat this two more times.
Take a long slow breath in through your nose.
And a slow exhalation letting it go.
One more time,
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
With each exhale feeling the body settling a little more deeply into the surface beneath you.
Heavier,
Softer.
Completely at rest.
And now we create space for your sankalpa.
A resolve or intention for the yoga nidra practice.
A sankalpa is not a goal or a wish.
It's like a tiny seed that we can plant in the fertile ground of the relaxed mind.
It can take root and grow in its own time and in its own way.
It might be something true,
Something you already know.
Or something that wants to be remembered.
Just take a moment now,
Trust what comes,
Just let it arise Bringing your awareness to the space around your heart,
Your heart center.
What wants to be created through you?
What wants to be expressed through your hands,
Your voice,
Your body or your work?
Is there something that arises,
An image,
A word,
A sensation?
Something that speaks of your own creative life,
Your own inspiration.
Your unique way of making meaning.
If a sankalpa has arisen,
Hold it gently in the heart.
State it inwardly three times.
With quiet conviction.
Not forcing or striving.
Simply planting the seed.
If nothing clear has come that's okay.
Simply rest in the intention to open,
To receive and to allow.
We'll now move through rotation of consciousness.
A journey of glowing warmth through every part of the body.
As I name each part.
Bring your awareness there.
And feel a soft luminous warmth arising.
As if a gentle golden light is moving through you,
Illuminating each part from within.
You might visualize,
You might feel it,
A warmth,
A glow,
A soft aliveness spreading from part to part.
Begin with the right side of the body.
Right hand thumb index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
The whole of the right hand glowing with warmth and light.
The right palm.
The back of the hand.
The right wrist the right forearm.
The right elbow the upper arm.
Right shoulder.
Right armpit.
The right side of the chest.
The right side of the waist.
The right hip the right thigh.
The front and the back of the right thigh.
The right knee.
The right shin.
The right calf.
The right ankle.
The right heel sole of the right foot.
The right big toe second toe third toe.
Fourth toe 5th ch whole of the right foot glowing with warmth and light.
Now bring your awareness to the whole of the right side of the body.
From the tips of the fingers to the tips of the toes,
Warm,
Luminous and alive.
Now the left side.
Left hand thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
The whole of the left hand glowing with warmth.
The palm of the left hand.
What do you notice?
The back of the left hand.
Left wrist.
The left forearm.
Elbow.
The left upper arm.
The left shoulder left armpit.
Left side of the chest.
Left side of the waist the left hip the left thigh,
Front and back The left knee,
The left shin.
Left calf.
The left ankle.
The left heel.
Sole of the left foot.
The left big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe fourth toe.
Fifth toe Feel the whole of the left foot glowing and the whole of the left side of the body.
From the tips of the fingers to the tips of the toes,
Warm,
Luminous,
And alive.
Now the back of the body.
Bringing your awareness to the back of the skull.
Back of the neck.
The right shoulder blade left shoulder blade The whole upper back warm,
Broad and open.
The middle back.
And lower back.
Feel it softening,
Releasing the right buttock left buttock back of the right thigh.
Back of the left thigh.
Back of the right knee.
Back of the left knee.
The right calf.
The left calf.
The right heel.
The left heel.
Feel the whole back body.
Glowing with warmth,
Luminous light softening into the earth.
Now bringing your awareness to the front of the body.
The forehead,
The face.
The throat,
Soft and open.
The right collarbone,
Left collarbone.
The chest.
Feel it rising and falling with the breath.
Bringing your awareness to the heart center,
Warm and luminous.
The right side ribs the left side ribs the solar plexus.
The belly,
Soft and warm.
The navel the lower belly.
The pelvis.
The right hip crease,
Left hip crease.
The right side.
The left thigh.
The right knee,
The left knee.
The right shin.
The left shin,
The tops of both feet All 10 toes.
Feel the whole of the front of your body glowing warm and luminous Now the face.
The forehead,
Smooth,
Wide and still.
Bright eyebrow.
Left eyebrow.
The space between the eyebrows.
Glowing with a soft golden light.
Right eye.
Left eye.
Right cheek left cheek.
Right nostril left nostril.
The upper lip.
The lower lip.
The chin.
Jaw.
Completely released.
The right ear.
Left ear.
Back of the head.
Crown of the head.
The whole body.
The whole of the body.
From the crown of the head to the tips of the toes,
The whole body together.
Filled with a soft warm golden glow.
Every cell illuminated.
Every tissue warm,
Alive and at rest.
Feel the whole body as a field of life.
Breathing glowing Completely held.
Now allow yourself to be taken somewhere.
You're standing at the edge of a forest.
The light is golden.
Like early morning or late afternoon light.
The sun is low.
The shadows are long and everything seems lit from within.
You can feel it on your face,
Warm and gentle.
You step forwards.
The ground is soft.
Leaf litter and moss.
Earth that has not been walked on.
Feel each step.
The way the ground receives you.
The way your body adjusts and finds its balance with each gentle footstep.
Around you the trees rise,
Tall and still.
The trunks are silver and gold in the light Through the canopy above the light falls in shafts and pools,
Dabbling the forest floor.
In a mosaic of brightness and shadow.
Listen now.
There is birdsong somewhere distant.
Waving through the stillness There is the sound of the leaves.
A gentle unhurried sound There is the sound of your breath.
There is the sound of the world being magnificently alive.
You walk further into the forest.
The air feels cooler against your arms and your face.
But the light that falls through the canopy carries warmth.
And then you see ahead of you a clearing Trees opening out into a circle of soft green grass and the light falls freely and fully You can see the open sky above.
And the most extraordinary quality of stillness.
The grass is green and soft.
So you take off your shoes and feel it against your bare feet.
You can feel the cool soft living texture of the grass beneath your feet.
Feel each blade.
Feel the give of the earth beneath you.
Feel how the ground holds you You move to the center of the clearing and you sit down.
The grass receives you.
You can feel it beneath your hands,
Against the backs of your legs,
Under your feet.
Feel yourself being held by this particular piece of earth in this moment as if this place has always known you were coming.
Above you the sky is very blue.
Very wide,
Very still.
Sunlight falls on your face.
Warm and generous.
Your face softens.
Your forehead,
Your cheeks,
Your closed eyes glowing softly with the warmth of the sunlight.
You feel safe here.
This place is yours.
It has always been yours,
Even before you knew it existed.
Rest in the stillness of the clearing for a moment longer.
Letting the warmth of the sun fill you,
The softness of the grass hold you listening to the sounds of the leaves and the birdsong.
And the quiet breath of the forest.
You are a part of this,
The same intelligence that moves through the trees and the light moves through you too.
Creativity and inspiration is here.
In your body,
In the breath.
In the irreplaceable way that you receive and transmit the light of the world Let an image arrive.
Maybe it's just a color,
A shape.
A feeling,
A possibility.
Maybe something you have been turning towards for a long time.
Maybe something unexpected,
Completely new.
Let it come in,
Let it take whatever form it wants to take.
Hold this image gently,
The way you might hold something small and luminous in cupped hands.
Not gripping,
Not analyzing,
Simply receiving.
This is yours.
Rest there a little longer,
Feeling the sun,
The grass,
The forest breath.
When you are ready you will find your way back Now we return,
We return to sankalpa,
To your intention.
You resolve.
Feel it in the heart.
Bring your awareness to your heart center and feel warm and steady like an ember,
Glowing ember that does not go out.
Return to your sankalpa again and state it silently three times.
With quiet certainty.
You have planted the seed and it is growing.
In its own time and its own way.
Begin now to become aware of your breath.
Notice the natural rhythm of the inhale and the exhale.
Not changing it in any way,
Just noticing.
Feeling the rising and the falling of the belly and the chest.
Feeling the air moving in through the nose and out through the nose Becoming aware now of your body lying on the floor.
Feel the weight of your body.
The solidity of it.
Feel the way that your body makes contact with the surface beneath you.
Become aware now of the room around you,
The space that you are in.
Feeling the temperature of the air.
Listening to any sounds that are present.
Maybe near to you or in the distance.
And just noticing the quality of the light.
Behind your closed eyelids.
Slowly now we start to make some very small movements as you start to wake up Wiggling your fingers,
Feeling them waking.
Wiggling your toes.
Starting to stretch out through the body Taking a few deeper breaths.
Feel the whole body lengthening,
Awakening and stretching.
Remembering itself.
When you feel ready to move a little more,
You're going to roll gently to one side.
Just rest there for a moment and then when you feel ready to you can come back up to a sitting position Letting your eyes open slowly and the light coming in gradually.
Carrying the warmth of the clearing,
The quality of the light and whatever arose in the stillness with you.
The practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.
