Hi,
My name is Jocelyn.
I'm so glad you're here.
I'm going to be guiding you on a short yoga nidra that's focused around Asankalpa.
Asankalpa is your heart's desire,
Your heart's intention,
The heart's whispering.
So just to get started,
You could find yourself in a comfortable position with your body fully supported.
For some,
That might mean laying on the ground on your back.
For others,
It might be a really comfy chair or on your bed.
You can use pillows and blankets to support any place that your body isn't touching the floor or your chair.
You might want to put an eye pillow over your eyes to block out any light.
You may want to put a blanket on top of you for warmth.
Often I put pillows under my knees or ankles,
Sometimes under my head,
To allow my body to give over,
To release.
When you find yourself supported,
Just take a few deep breaths,
Inhaling into your belly,
Your ribs,
And your chest,
And exhaling.
Inhaling with bringing the breath down to your belly,
Expanding your ribs,
And then your chest.
And when you exhale,
You can allow everything to release together.
So inhaling,
And opening your mouth,
And exhaling out a sigh.
Inhaling belly,
Ribs,
And chest.
Opening your mouth and allowing yourself to sigh out the breath,
Releasing any hold you have on that breath.
You can do this a few more times at your own pace,
Inhaling belly,
Ribs,
And chest.
Opening your mouth for the exhale and allowing it to sigh out of you.
And on that release,
That exhale,
If you could imagine letting go of just a little more tension,
Or a little more control over holding your body,
Surrendering to the ground beneath you,
Or the pillows beneath you.
On each exhale,
You can begin to rest back your head,
Your skull,
Relaxing it back,
Releasing the weight of your head,
Relaxing your jaw,
Those large muscles that hold on to so much,
Allowing it to fall back.
Your eyes,
Allowing your eyes to rest back in your head.
Your ears,
Imagining you could rest back your ears,
Listening from deep within your ears.
You might even take a moment to listen to the sounds and vibrations all around you.
What you're hearing on this recording,
My voice,
The music,
But also the sounds in your space.
Maybe the sound of your breath,
Or your heartbeat.
What do you hear?
Relaxing back the muscle of the mind,
As if we could slowly and tenderly unfurl the mind,
Letting it rest back.
Your hips,
Can you release your hips down to the ground?
And your heels,
Can you release and relax your heels?
Taking a moment to create for yourself an intention of staying awake and aware during this deep rest,
Mentally repeating to yourself,
I am awake and aware.
I'm going to move into a rotation of consciousness.
I'm gonna guide your awareness from one place in your body to the next,
And all you have to do is gently place your awareness on that spot.
As you listen to my voice,
You don't have to think about what's next,
Or what was behind,
This is effortless.
You're just resting your awareness gently on each spot that my voice guides.
The center of the forehead,
Gentle awareness,
Like placing a blossom of a flower right in that space.
The center of the throat,
The center of the heart space,
Gentle awareness,
Like the petals of a flower gently laid down.
The tip of the tongue,
The inside of the right cheek,
The inside of the left cheek,
The tip of the nose,
The right eye,
The globe of the eye,
All the muscles behind the right eye,
The left eye,
The globe of the eye,
All of the little muscles behind the left eye,
Gentle awareness,
Placing gentle awareness.
The center of the forehead,
The top of the head,
The back of the neck,
The center of the throat,
The heart space,
The right shoulder,
The right elbow,
Wrist,
Palm,
Thumb,
The tip of the first finger,
The tip of the second finger,
The tip of the third finger,
And the tip of the fourth finger,
Gentle awareness,
Being placed like petals of a flower.
The center of the heart space,
The left shoulder,
Elbow,
Wrist,
Thumb,
Tip of the first finger,
Tip of the second finger,
Tip of the third finger,
Tip of the fourth finger,
Gentle awareness,
The heart space,
The center of the belly,
The pelvic bowl,
The right hip,
Knee,
Ankle,
Top of the foot,
Center of the bottom of the foot,
The big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe,
The pelvic bowl,
Placing gentle awareness here,
The left hip,
Knee,
Ankle,
Top of the foot,
Center of the bottom of the foot,
The big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe,
The pelvic bowl,
The heart space,
Placing your awareness on the right side of the body.
Can you imagine your awareness on the whole right side of the body,
The whole left side of the body?
Can you imagine placing your awareness gently on the whole left side of the body?
Now placing your awareness gently over the whole body,
The whole body.
A sankalpa is a heart's whisper,
A gentle calling from within.
Take a moment to allow your ears to listen to your heart's whisper.
Allowing the threads of mental thought to unravel and unfurl and just listening to your heart.
What is it calling for?
This is effortless.
It doesn't require thought,
Just listening.
A sankalpa is stated in the present in a positive way using the words,
I am.
You might want to try on the sankalpa,
I am trusting myself and my body.
I am allowing my body to experience a deep state of rest.
I am cultivating unconditional love for myself.
Your sankalpa will be unique to you as you listen,
Deep listening to your heart's mother tongue.
You might have a word or an image that you can incorporate into your sankalpa.
Take a moment now to repeat your sankalpa to yourself on the arc of your breath.
Starting now to deepen your breath back into the belly,
The ribs and the chest on an inhale and then opening your mouth and allowing the exhale to leave as a sigh.
We're going to do this five times,
Counting like this,
Inhaling five,
Exhaling five,
Inhaling four,
Exhaling four.
At your own pace,
In your own time,
Continuing down to one.
And you can take a moment to become aware of where your body is being supported by the ground or by pillows,
Opening your ears to the sounds in your space,
Gently wiggling your fingers or your toes if that feels good or taking a full body stretch.
You can flutter your eyes open when you're ready.
It would be a good time to pull out a journal or a piece of paper and a pen if you had any images or words that came up while we were listening to the heart's whisper.
It'd be a wonderful idea to write them down or sketch them.
A sankalpa is something you can work with in each yoga nidra that you practice.
A sankalpa can be simple but it can also be a life's work.
So taking time to write on some of the images or words that came up for you would be wonderful.
And if you feel called to,
I would love to hear some of your sankalpas in the comments.
Thank you so much for doing this short yoga nidra focusing on the sankalpa today.
Namaste
