Welcome.
My name is Giulia and this is a Yoga Nidra aiming to support you in taking a step forward when you feel blocked or stuck.
To set yourself up for this practice,
Please prepare a comfortable and quiet place to lay yourself down into.
Any support like a pillow under your knees,
A light scarf over your eyes,
The soft envelope of a blanket can really help you surrender to the more subtle layers of your body and mind.
So please take your time to create a setup that makes you feel held and supported,
Knowing that you can pause my voice if needed.
Whether you are in a new or in a very familiar environment,
As you settle into your Yoga Nidra nest,
Please take a moment to observe the space around you,
Where the door is,
Where the windows are,
What's above and below you,
Knowing that you cannot practice Yoga Nidra wrong and that no matter how deep you'll allow yourself to go,
You'll always be able to come back by gently opening your eyes.
Before you are completely settled,
Please take a moment to place your thumb and forefinger into the inner corners of your eyes,
The points that traditional Chinese medicine calls bright eyes,
The points that can best help us make this inward turn.
As you take a breath in,
Look at your fingers,
Hold your breath full if possible,
And as you gently lower your eyelids,
Start to press your fingertips inward.
Can you perceive a release in your eyes muscles?
Release everything out of your mouth and again,
Breathe in,
Eyes open,
Look at your fingers,
Hold your breath full,
And as your eyes close,
The gentle pressure of the fingers helps you open your inner vision.
The exhale is a sigh out of your mouth.
A last one,
Breathe in,
Gently you open your eyes,
Hold the breath in,
And as your eyelids soften,
The pressure of your fingers invites your bright inner eye to see your truth.
Release everything out with the sigh from your mouth and take your arm back to the side of your body,
Maybe with your palms facing up.
As you go through your last micro adjustments,
Please start to feel the sense of safety given by what is holding you.
Maybe you can feel the pillow supporting your bones and the unconditional support of the earth supporting what supports you.
The back of your head begins to release into the earth.
Feel your shoulders and your chest surrender into the support of the earth.
Your lower back and your sacrum get heavy.
The bones of your legs relax into the support beneath them and feel your ankles and feet naturally turning outward.
With every inhale you feel your body expanding and with every exhale you let something go,
Trusting that the earth will respond by supporting you.
With the inhale your belly feels and expands.
As you exhale you feel the release and the support of the earth giving you permission to rest.
And now please release any technique and just allow your breath to flow naturally as you set the intention with yourself that a part of you will remain awake and aware through this whole practice.
And this is where your yoga nidra begins.
I invite you to imagine yourself in a place that fills you with joy and love.
It has been said that we can do about anything while in a state of joy.
See what comes to your mind when I ask you to visualize a real or made place where you feel joyful,
Loved and supported.
How does this place feel like within?
From this safe space perhaps you wish to use a sankalpa to infuse into your practice.
Knowing that a sankalpa is a feeling state,
A positive I am statement that is expressed in the present moment as if it's already so.
As we are working on overcoming blockages some examples could be I am full of resources,
I am confident.
Take a moment to see what emerged from within.
If several sankalpas speak to you right now choose the one that touches your senses the most.
When you are ready repeat it three times to yourself.
Each time with more certainty and more sincerity than the one before.
It is said that up to 60% of our body is made up of water.
Water represents our primal instinct for survival and it's profoundly connected to your bones.
Bones are what define us.
Deep within their strong structure is the marrow,
A thick fluid produced by the kidneys where all our experiences and deepest memories are layered.
Our spinal marrow is also the substance of movement,
The one directing our inner motions,
The helping us find our way when we feel stuck.
Please start to feel your bones,
The bones of the skull that protect and wrap around your brain,
The bones of the spine that support you,
The bones of your limbs,
The bones of your arms,
The bones of your legs,
The bones of the ribcage,
The bones of the pelvis and see how it feels like to go deeper,
Deeper into your bones until you find this thick fluid which is the marrow,
Your deepest essence,
Your emotional nature.
Does it have a color?
Does it have a sound?
How does your essence sound like?
And as you're feeling into that experience,
Please pull your full awareness into your lower back,
Your kidneys area,
Into these bean-shaped organs where your vital force is contained.
Feel the fluids within your left kidney starting to be illuminated and warmed up by a shining blue light.
The same blue light starts to illuminate and warm up the fluids in your right kidney.
And then imagine both kidneys together,
Shining and nurturing the fluids within.
From your kidneys,
Please feel this shining blue light infusing and warming up your whole lower back,
Your whole lower back,
Warm and nurtured.
The blue light travels up both sides of the spine,
Filling and nourishing the spinal cord,
Bringing warmth,
Strength and elasticity to your whole spine and neck.
Whole spine from bottom to top,
Nourished and supported.
This warm sparkle of light widens now into the brain,
The sea of marrow,
The whole sea of your brain nurtured and cleared by the shining blue light.
The light starts now to collect into this almond-shaped gland at the center of the center of your brain,
Your amygdala,
The control unit of your emotions.
Feeling this abundant wellspring filled,
Nurtured and shining.
Please stay with me as we keep traveling together through body parts.
From your amygdala,
Feel the blue light illuminating your brow center.
The light travels over to your right temple,
Right cheek,
Right shoulder.
The light infuses the heart space,
Right side of the chest,
Pelvis.
Feel your whole pelvis and sacrum filled and nurtured by that warm blue light.
The light moves now into your right upper thigh,
Right ankle.
Feel this pathway of shining blue light flowing through your entire right side body.
Your whole right side body deeply nurtured and warm.
Whole right side body together.
The warm blue light continues over to your left ankle,
Up to your left upper thigh,
Back into your pelvis,
Feeling and nurturing your sacrum.
The blue light expands into the left side of your chest,
Heart space,
Whole heart space warm and shining.
Left shoulder,
Left cheek,
Left temple,
Back to brow center.
Feel the sparks of warm blue light illuminate your entire left side body.
Whole left side body together.
From your brow center,
The light now wanders inward,
Back to your midbrain.
And from your midbrain,
Cascading back down,
Illuminating,
Nurturing,
And gently warming up your whole body.
Please feel your entire body plunged into this nurturing river of flowing light.
Your whole body,
Whole body flowing,
Nurtured,
And vibrating with blue light.
Allow this blue river of sparkling light,
This truth serum to gently begin to flow from the top of your head,
Through your whole back body,
Down into your pinky toes.
And from your pinky toes back to the top of your head,
Becoming increasingly aware of your inner emotions.
See if you can welcome your breath to pulse with you here.
As you inhale,
You feel this nurturing stream of light cascading from the top of your head down into your toes.
And the exhale welcomes the stream back up your body from toes to head.
The inhale helps you move from top to bottom.
And the exhale welcomes the stream back up from bottom to top.
Please take a few rounds here at your own pace,
Ebbing and flowing,
Carrying rivers of light through your whole body.
Noticing how fluidly they can move.
Is there any part of you where the flow of this river of light feels slower or stuck?
And if it's the case,
Can the breath and the warmth of the blue light help the stagnation back into flow again?
A few more rounds,
Feeling this warm stream of light traveling from head to toes on the inhale and from toes to head on the exhale,
Balancing the energy of your whole body.
The next time you exhale,
Please let this pattern fade and recall the safe space you envisioned at the beginning of the practice.
A space where you feel deeply filled by joy and love.
A place where you feel safe and supported.
Where do you feel it in your body?
We'll continue to journey together,
Moving through pairs of opposites.
With my voice as your guide,
I'll be naming different feeling states to travel through in their purest form.
And I'll be with you the entire time.
Please allow the feeling state of being blocked to emerge.
The feeling state of being blocked.
What does it feel like to connect with the essence,
The temperature,
The bodily sensation of feeling blocked?
As you let that feeling fade,
Please call forth the feeling state of flowing.
What does it feel like to connect with the genuine feeling state of flowing?
A pure sense of smooth flow emerge.
As that feeling fade,
Please dip back into your safe space within.
That place where you feel loved and held.
Allow now the feeling state of fear to emerge.
Fear in its purest,
Most undiluted form.
What does it feel like to connect with the essence,
The temperature,
The bodily sensation of fear?
And what if love was the opposite of fear?
As you let that fear fade,
Please allow the feeling state of love to emerge.
Love in its purest and most unconditional form.
What does it feel like to connect with the texture,
The temperature,
The bodily sensation of love?
As that feeling fade,
Please dig back into your safe space within.
What does survival mean for you?
What does it feel like to connect with the texture,
The temperature,
The bodily sensation of surviving?
Breathe.
I'm right here with you.
And what would feeling fully taken care of be like?
What does it feel like to connect with the bodily sensation of being fully taken care of?
How does that feel in your body?
Please take a deep inhale.
And as you exhale,
Take this feeling state with you as you come back into your safe space within.
Are you still with me?
Allow the aspect of you that remained aware to follow me in the subtle layers of your imagination.
Please visualize yourself sitting on the grass right at the edge of a calm mountain lake.
Perhaps a lake that you know well,
Or one that you remember from a past journey.
It's a warm day of summer.
You feel the soft grass under your feet.
Your ears are filled with the songs of the birds sheltered in the trees around you.
You observe this extended body of water held in a basin of the earth's surface.
The lake is so calm and clean that reflects the sun and the mountains around with great precision.
Such is the nature of water,
Mirroring truth with great precision,
Revealing the innermost aspects of you.
The gentle warmth of the sun feels like the hand of someone you love,
Inviting you to explore the waters of the lake.
You step into the water and slowly start to walk forward.
You feel the water fresh and welcoming.
Your feet move surely,
Massaged by the sand underneath them.
The water caresses your ankles,
Your knees,
Your thighs.
You take a pause here.
As the level of this still water rises around you,
You feel the waves within you awaken.
Your instinct knows that you can just feel through your inner motions.
You take a deep breath in and you feel your whole system come to life.
Your lungs full of air,
Your heart beating,
Your blood flowing through your veins,
Your bones supporting you.
You have everything you need just within you.
With your new sense of trust,
You take a big step forward.
The earth beneath you is still providing solid ground.
You walk forward with ease,
Moving deeper into the water,
Feeling that what once held you back is now supporting you.
The sun is still shining on the water,
Enveloping you in a warm hug.
As you keep walking forward,
You feel your steps more and more fluid.
The breath starts to settle and deepen.
Your emotional waves begin to quiet.
You are all in and you feel vividly alive,
More vibrant than ever.
You feel a warm wave of joy and trust in yourself emerging from deep within.
You release your feet from the ground and you completely surrender to the gentle support of water.
Your whole back body is now supported and gently rocked by the water beneath you.
Your inner waters are as calm as those around you.
Your breath is long and deep,
Allowing you to float.
You relax,
Trusting your body and the elements around you,
Floating without effort,
Letting the body open up into this deep trust in yourself.
Trust in every cell of your body.
I leave you a few moments of silence to enjoy the experience of resting in this upgraded version of you.
Anchored in the depth of your being,
Everything dissolves until there is only a sense of wholeness.
From this sense of wholeness,
Let your sankalpa come back to you and repeat it as many times as you wish,
Feeling it more and more as a part of you.
Slowly start to feel for the solid support of the earth beneath you again,
Noticing once more all those points of contact,
The weight of your body,
Start to notice the breath again.
Allow the breath to deepen a couple of rounds and let that be a signal to the body that this yoga nidra is now complete.
And we are slowly returning to a normal waking state of being,
Still lingering within this sense of deep,
Deep trust.
You can slowly start to move the head from left to right a couple of times.
You can bring some small movements back into your fingers and toes,
Slowly coming back to the here and now,
Taking all the time you need here.
And when you feel ready,
You can gently start to open your eyes,
From my heart to yours.
Thank you for practicing yoga nidra together today.
