Lie down in a comfortable position.
You might allow your legs to extend naturally or your arms rest by your side.
Your palms soft.
You might notice as you begin to lie down that parts of your body want to move or wiggle or adjust and allow for that.
You might even notice there are parts of your body that are calling for a little extra support.
Yoga Nidra is effortless.
So wherever you can give your body a little extra support is wonderful.
Maybe a pillow or a rolled up towel.
You might even bring a blanket up around you for warmth or comfort.
And when you're ready,
Begin to settle into stillness,
Inviting your eyes to close down the world around them.
Bringing your awareness into your body.
Feel the surface beneath you.
Feel how you are supported.
Allowing your body to give over its weight to that surface.
There's nothing to fix or solve.
You're simply here.
Gently offer to your jaw a moment to let go.
Offer to your shoulders an invitation to release back and down.
Offer your hips a moment to let go.
We invite you to bring your awareness to your breath.
There's nothing to change.
Just notice.
Notice the inhale as it arrives.
And notice the exhale as it leaves.
You might feel your ribs widen just slightly and feel your body settle just slightly.
With each exhale,
Just imagine your body relaxing inward.
It's not a collapse.
It's not disappearing.
Just softening into itself.
As though each cell in your body recognizes that it is safe.
In Yoga Nidra,
We work with a sankalpa.
It's a heart's intention.
We say that sankalpa silently to ourselves,
Three times,
Each on the arc of a breath.
We're going to work with the sankalpa,
I am safe,
To hold every chapter of my life.
So,
For three breaths,
On the exhale,
Say silently to yourself,
I am safe to hold every chapter of my life.
Letting each word drop softly into the body.
I'm going to bring your awareness throughout different areas of the body.
And as I name each body part,
Might you imagine it gently unfolding from within.
Not opening out to the world,
But relaxing into itself.
Each cell in the right thumb,
Softly unfolding.
First finger,
Quiet unfurling.
Second finger.
Third finger.
And fourth finger.
A gentle cellular expansion.
The palm of the right hand.
Each cell breathing open.
Back of the right hand.
Wrist,
Soft and open.
Right upper arm.
Each cell relaxing into itself.
Right shoulder,
Gently opening inward.
The right side of the chest,
Slow,
Safe,
Unfolding.
The waist,
Cells breathing open.
Quietly unfolding from within.
A soft cellular unfurling.
Each tiny cell in the ankle,
Safe and open.
The right heel,
This gentle inward expansion.
The sole of the right foot.
Each cell gently breathing.
The tips of the toes,
Softly unfurling.
Each cell,
Softly unfolding.
First finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Gentle cellular expansion.
Fourth finger.
Palm of the left hand.
Each cell breathing open.
Back of the left hand.
Cells are soft.
Left wrist.
Forearm.
Each cell relaxing into itself and opening.
Elbow.
Left upper arm.
Left shoulder.
Each tiny cell gently opening inward.
The left side of the chest.
The waist,
Cells breathing open.
The left hip.
Each cell relaxing inward.
The left calf.
Left heel.
The sole of the left foot.
This gentle cellular inward expansion.
All the toes on the left foot.
Letting your awareness settle back on your natural breath.
May you imagine your body like warm earth.
Not dry or cracked earth,
But soft,
Receptive.
Begin to bring awareness to the center of your body.
The space behind your heart.
The space deep in your belly.
This is your center.
As you inhale naturally in your own rhythm,
Imagine the breath expanding outward from this center.
It's not a forced breath.
Just a quiet spreading.
From the heart out through the ribs.
Out through the hips.
Each inhale gently widening the field of your body.
And each cell unfolding just a little bit more.
It's like the way the earth receives the morning light.
And as you exhale,
Imagine that breath returning to the center.
Softly gathering itself up from the edges of your fingers back toward your heart.
From your toes back to your belly.
From the skin back inward to the center.
Nothing collapses.
It's just returning home.
So with your awareness on your breath.
Just as it is without changing it.
Inhaling expanding out from the center.
And exhaling gathering inward back to the center.
Just let this rhythm continue for a few breaths.
Outward.
And home.
Your body knows how to expand.
And it also knows how to return.
And back home to the center.
You are both spacious and rooted.
Like warm earth able to hold every season.
The center expanding outward.
And the edges returning home.
Everything belongs and can be held.
Releasing that breath.
I invite you to bring your awareness to the places in your body that feel full.
As if the warm earth of your body has absorbed a rain.
Tense.
Rich.
Substantial.
Feel the weight of your body supported.
Where in your body do you feel supported and full?
And I invite you now to notice where in your body you have a sensation of spaciousness.
As if that same earth was aerated.
Light.
Chorus.
As if there were space between the particles.
Not floating away.
Just breathable.
Where in your body do you feel that spaciousness?
Might you bring your awareness back to where you feel the density.
The richness.
The substantialness of your body.
And once more bringing your awareness to where you feel the spaciousness.
The porousness.
The lightness in your body.
And I invite you now to bring your awareness to both places in your body.
Both the dense and the spacious.
Might you bring both of those parts of your body into your awareness at the same time.
You might notice how the earth doesn't choose between full or spacious.
Dense or light.
It holds both.
And so do you.
The earth doesn't sort its layers.
It doesn't push one season away to make room for another.
The roots of spring live beneath the autumn leaves.
Old growth supports new and nothing is rushed out.
Might you imagine now that your body is just like that.
Not crowded.
Not chaotic.
Layered.
All of you belonging to the same ground.
You don't have to go searching for parts of you.
Simply inviting whatever part of your life wishes to step forward to do so.
Not in detail.
Just as presence.
A sense.
A texture.
Warmth.
With no need to name it.
Just noticing that your body can hold it.
Just as the earth holds stones and roots and fallen trees and riverbeds.
The bottom of a riverbed beneath cool,
Clear water.
Tree rings hidden inside old wood.
Roots stretching quietly through dark soil.
A stone warmed by an afternoon sun.
An empty room with light resting in the corners.
A mountain face shaped by weather and time.
A staircase descending into stillness.
A book resting open.
A lantern in a quiet space.
An old foundation beneath a living house.
A horizon where sky meets water.
Between two breaths.
I am safe to hold every chapter of my life.
Remain quiet for just a few minutes.
Gently bringing your awareness back to your body.
Silently saying to yourself three times.
I am safe to hold every chapter of my life.
And just beginning to feel your breath moving in and out of your body.
Inhaling through your nose.
And allowing your exhale to sigh out through your mouth.
Inhaling through your nose.
Noticing the temperature of the air.
Exhaling through your mouth.
And one last time.
Inhaling through your nose.
Exhaling through your mouth.
You might bring a little movement to your fingers.
Or your toes.
You might roll your head a little bit from side to side.
You might roll to one side.
And when you're ready you might slowly blink your eyes open.
And before you step back out into your day.
Take a moment to look around your space.
Notice a color.
A shape.
Orient yourself to the space that you're in.
Just notice that nothing needs to be solved.
You don't have to fix a single chapter of your life.
Nothing was pushed away.
Nothing was forced forward.
You are safe to hold your life.
And that is enough.
Namaste.
