45-Minute Yoga Nidra Into Vulnerability (NSDR)
Join me for this Yoga Nidra into the depths of your vulnerability and strength, the mirrors of your reflection in nature. This Yoga Nidra is a channeled transmission and is a full Yoga Nidra including a Sankalapa and opening into the five subtle selves or Koshas. This is a deep rest for the body, mind & soul and a beautiful contemplation of vulnerability. Yoga is effortless, so relax back, close your eyes, and rest a bit. I hope you enjoy it! LOVE. Jocelyn b.
Transcript
Welcome,
I'm Jocelyn.
I have been taken with the idea of vulnerability.
This place within us that I think a lot of us are scared to open up to,
And yet at the same time that place of vulnerability can have the deepest transformations for us.
And when I look around me,
Nature,
The world around me,
I think how vulnerable nature is and how it's such a beautiful reflection of that.
There is a huge trust within nature,
And really when we talk about vulnerability,
We're also talking about trust.
So this is a yoga nidra into an exploration of vulnerability and trust.
Yoga nidras are effortless,
So you can find yourself in a comfortable position where your body feels as effortless as possible.
And when you're ready,
Go ahead and close down the curtains of your eyes.
That right there is a vulnerable act,
Where we begin to trust in the safety of the space that we're in.
And simply bring your awareness inward onto your breath as we begin to settle into where we are in this moment.
Just taking a few deep breaths,
Inhaling through your nose and two gentle sips in,
It sounds like this,
And then opening your mouth and sighing out.
This is called the physiological sigh.
And we'll start here,
At your own pace,
Two gentle sips in through the nose,
Opening your mouth and sighing out.
And one last one.
And letting go of any control over your breath,
Any control over the depth of breath,
The length of breath,
Any judgment,
Letting go of it,
Any blame for the reasons your breath is the way it is,
Letting go,
And just allowing your breath to breathe.
Bringing your awareness to your heart space as we begin to shape a sankalpa for this journey.
A sankalpa is a heart's intention or a heart's desire.
I love to explain it as a true north.
It is a deep primary intention,
Right?
So with your awareness on your heart,
And the idea of vulnerability and trust,
Ask your heart if there is a sankalpa that you want to work with.
And a sankalpa usually begins with an I am statement and is in the positive.
You might want to use,
I am safe to be vulnerable,
Or I am safe to be vulnerable in my heart.
I am trusting myself,
My body,
My energy.
I am trusting that it is safe to be vulnerable with myself.
Or you may have your own variation of one of those sankalpas.
The way we work with a sankalpa is we inhale through our nose,
And then as we exhale through our nose,
We say the sankalpa silently to ourselves.
And we do this three times in total.
Each time we say the sankalpa to ourselves,
It is on the arc of a breath.
So you'll be breathing three times,
Saying your sankalpa to yourself three times.
We can begin that now.
You can release that as I begin to bring your awareness and attention across the landscape of the body in a rotation of consciousness.
When my voice lands on an area of the body,
Might you imagine that area of the body almost having a trust fall with your awareness.
A trust fall is when you close your eyes and you fall back,
Trusting that someone will catch you.
Can you imagine that same energy,
That same motion,
That same feeling in each area that I bring your attention to with my voice?
That falling back in trust,
That vulnerability.
Sometimes it can feel exciting,
It can feel scary,
It can feel a whole range of emotions.
And let's start this rotation of consciousness at the feet where we're rooted,
Into our steps across the earth's back,
Allowing your awareness to settle over the feet,
Imagining that sense of trust falling back at the feet and all 10 toes,
The tips of all 10 toes,
Giving over and falling back,
Trusting,
Like a 10-toed trust ball.
The ankles,
Both ankles,
The right ankle and the left ankle.
That feeling of letting go,
Release and freedom,
Of trusting,
Just imagining.
And both calves,
The right calf,
Left calf,
The right shin and the left shin,
That sensation of releasing and letting go,
Trust falling back,
And both knees,
Kneecaps,
Back of the knees,
Sides of the knees,
That sensation of giving over,
Trusting that you'll be caught.
Both thighs,
The front of the thighs and the back of the thighs,
So much density in the thighs to give over,
Trust fall back.
And the glutes,
The right glute and the left glute,
The right hip and the left hip,
Both hip sockets,
That complete giving over and trust falling back,
To be caught.
There's those moments in the air when you don't quite know,
But you trust so you know.
And there's freedom in that,
Across both glutes and both hips.
The pelvic bowl and the pelvis,
All of the sexual organs,
That release,
Letting go,
Trusting,
That moment of weightlessness in the air before you're caught,
Freedom.
It's like a sigh.
And the tailbone,
The lumbar spine and the low back,
Your awareness there ready to catch,
Ready to hold as you give over.
And the lower belly and the navel center,
Ready to catch you.
The front ribs,
Side ribs and back ribs,
That giving over,
That release,
That trust,
That moment of weightless freedom.
And the lungs,
The right lung and the left lung,
Releasing and trusting.
And the heart,
The front of the heart,
The back of the heart,
Both sides of the heart,
Your awareness ready to catch that heart.
And the free giving over,
Trust there at the heart.
And the collarbones,
Shoulders,
Both right shoulder and left shoulder,
Right armpit and left armpit,
Right shoulder blade and left shoulder blade,
Your awareness like that moment of free falling into that trust.
The right upper arm,
Left upper arm,
Both elbows,
Right elbow,
Left elbow and both forearms,
Right forearm and left forearm,
All of those arms,
Your awareness like that place in midair when you've totally trusted,
Let go.
And both wrists,
Inner wrists and outer wrists,
Right palm of the hand and left palm of the hand and all 10 fingers.
Your awareness spread across all of both hands,
That feeling of trust,
Of letting go,
Of releasing,
Of giving in and giving up and giving away.
The front of the neck and the sides of the neck,
The back of the neck,
Both sides of the jaw,
The right side of the jaw and the left side of the jaw,
That sense,
That sensation of falling back,
Of trusting.
Both lips,
The inside of both cheeks,
Gums and teeth.
The tip of the tongue and the back of the tongue,
A whole environment of the inside of the mouth,
That sensation of falling back,
Of trusting,
Of letting go.
Both cheekbones,
The right cheekbone and left cheekbone,
Right temple,
Left temple,
Both eyebrows,
Trusting.
And both eyes,
The right eye,
Left eye,
Right globe of the eye,
Left globe of the eye.
All the little muscles behind both eyes and that sensation of letting go,
Of falling back,
Of being caught and trusting.
Both ears,
The right ear and the left ear,
The right inner ear and the left inner ear,
And that sensation of trusting,
Of falling back,
Letting go.
That freedom.
And the back of the head.
And the top of the head.
And might you imagine your awareness across the whole right side of the body,
The whole right side of the body.
That moment of trust,
Of letting go,
Of falling back,
Of trusting.
Might you bring your awareness now to the whole left side of the body.
Falling back,
Dropping away,
Trusting,
Giving over to that freedom.
And might you find your whole body in that flow,
That free fall,
The whole body,
That sensation of trust and giving over,
The whole body.
And then allowing your awareness to come back to the breath.
Just witnessing your breath,
That simple act of noticing your breath,
If you think about it,
Breathing is a very vulnerable act.
It is our way of communicating with the world around us through the air we breathe.
Just noticing where the breath is born in your body right now.
And noticing what area of your body the breath wants to travel.
What area of your body do you need to trust more?
Just noticing your breath as you inhale and exhale at your own pace.
And might you for a minute imagine that each breath,
Each inhale,
Was born at the center of the heart.
Inhaling and expanding out,
Opening up,
Trusting that your energy will hold this breath.
And each exhale moves back into the center of the heart.
Might you imagine that each breath pushes those boundaries further,
Trusting that your heart can hold it.
And each exhale bringing that breath right back to the center.
Each inhale expanding the energy of your heart out past the parameters of your body,
Trusting that your heart will hold it.
And each exhale bringing that breath right back to the center.
Just imagining that each breath you take goes further and further out in all directions.
And somehow that breath comes right back to the center of the heart on each exhale.
Until you inhale again.
And each inhale you expand further and further out until the edges of your inhale totally encompass your body.
And then you exhale back down,
Playing with the safety,
Playing with the trust,
And playing with the vulnerability.
Each exhale opens wider the heart space until it is all the way around you.
You are fully enclosed in this beautiful energy.
Wider and larger than it was before.
And on the exhale it comes back in bringing it right back to the center point of the heart.
And doing this a few more times,
Trusting that your energy is elastic,
That it moves with you,
With your intention,
With your trust,
With your vulnerability.
And you can release that now.
Might you,
For a moment,
Find your awareness within your body,
In the places that are most vulnerable.
The places that are maybe the softest,
Maybe they are the weakest,
Or maybe they're just perceived as the weakest.
Allowing your awareness to scan for the places that are most vulnerable in your body.
Maybe these are the places that you are most open,
Where the walls are thinnest.
Allowing your awareness to be in these places that you are most vulnerable.
And allowing your awareness to move to the places in your body where you feel invulnerable.
You might be,
These might be places that are encased in thick walls,
Impenetrable.
They might be the strongest centers of who you are.
They might be built on words that have defined you.
Allowing your awareness to settle on the places in your body that feel invulnerable,
That feel immovable,
That feel unshakable.
Allowing your awareness to move back to all those places in you that hold vulnerability.
Maybe they're cracked or broken.
Maybe they have thin,
Thin walls.
Maybe they don't have definition.
Maybe you see them as weak,
Or that's just the label you've given them.
Where are the most vulnerable parts within you?
And allowing your awareness now to move back to the invulnerable,
Immovable,
Unshakable parts of you.
Maybe these too have been broken but have been scarred over and are stronger for it.
Or maybe that's just the label you give them.
Allowing your awareness to move over all of these invulnerable parts of you.
And might you for a minute,
Just a minute,
Bring your awareness to both the vulnerable places within you as well as the invulnerable.
You might think weak and strong or strong and weak.
Bringing your awareness to both the places within you that are vulnerable and trusting and invulnerable.
Can you bring your awareness to both simultaneously together?
Both sides make up you.
Just like nature has both.
Trees trustful in the forest when it's their time.
Baby buds sprout up amidst a forest floor of danger.
Nests and trees move with violent winds.
Animals trust they will have enough food for a season.
Water flows trusting its riverbed.
And when droughts come,
Nature prepares its own invulnerable circumstances.
And we are part of nature.
So we hold within us both invulnerable and vulnerable pieces.
And together,
They knit us into a human being.
A winding stone wall.
The thick trunk of a centuries-old tree.
Barbed wire.
And sunlight reflecting off water.
An empty well.
And a newborn fawn.
A heart at your feet.
Your forehead to the earth.
The spark of a flame.
And the sturdiness of two feet solid on the ground.
Closed eyes.
Arms across your own chest.
And trust falling into the arms of someone you love.
I am going to remain quiet for a minute.
Slowly beginning to deepen your breath.
Just a little bit at a time.
Allowing your inhale to be just one count longer.
And your exhale to be just one count longer.
Bringing your awareness to what it feels like for the air to come in and the air to go out.
Allowing your awareness to trace the path of air throughout your body.
And bringing back the sankalpa that you started with.
It might have been your very own sankalpa from your heart center.
Or it might have been,
I am safe to be vulnerable.
Or I am safe to be vulnerable in my heart.
I am trusting myself,
My body,
My energy.
I am trusting that it is safe to be vulnerable with myself.
We're going to repeat that sankalpa to ourselves,
Silently,
On the arc of a breath.
For three separate breaths,
Beginning now.
You may begin to deepen your breath even further,
Inhaling through your nose.
Opening your mouth and sighing it out.
Ah,
This communication between you and the world around you.
With each breath,
Inhaling through your nose.
Opening your mouth and sighing it out.
Bringing sound to your sigh,
If that feels correct for you.
Inhaling through the nose.
Opening your mouth and sighing it out.
On the sigh,
Feel free to stretch your body just a little bit.
Feel into the spaciousness of your heart center and allow your body to take up space.
You might want to wiggle your fingers or your toes.
You might want to roll your head around your shoulders.
Yawn with your jaw.
Flutter your eyes open.
You may even want to bring your hand to your shoulder and give a squeeze on each side.
It takes courage to walk into your vulnerability.
As well as walk into your invulnerability.
But we are one with nature.
We are part of nature.
And in nature,
These two exist simultaneously.
So thank you so much for practicing with me.
I'm so grateful for your presence here.
Again,
My name is Jocelyn Bates.
I have many different yoga mantras,
Inner Refuge,
Breathing techniques,
And inspirations.
So please,
If you don't follow me,
Please do.
And check out some more of my chats.
I have a few courses as well.
A course on automatic writing and creative writing.
A course on EFT,
Grief,
And tension setting.
So please check out my offerings.
Thank you again.
Namaste,
My friends.
