Hello and welcome to this Yoga Nidra where we invite in the wisdom of cyclical nature in the form of your breath.
So may this be an invitation for you to receive stillness and rest in the ongoing rhythm of your life.
May this be the opportunity to receive and rest in the state of being after or in between all the activity and doing that comes with the reality of motherhood.
So may this be an invitation for you to settle down into comfort.
Take your time to arrive into a comfortable position held by the earth beneath you,
Perhaps lying on your back,
Perhaps on your side or maybe even on your belly.
Either way,
May yourself be completely held,
Supported,
Comfortable.
Take your time to arrive,
Wiggle around,
Adjust your position.
And when you feel like this might be a good position for you to spend the next 20 minutes or so in,
You can slowly exhale yourself into the stillness that might take a little while to arrive.
Letting the support beneath you rise up to hold you as you release the weight of your body,
The weight of any worries,
The weight of any expectations.
Release all of this to the earth beneath you.
And in order to release,
You might want to take a deeper inhale and a sigh.
You might want to repeat this a couple of times with each of these sighs,
With each of these big audible exhalations.
There is this release of any weight that is not necessary in this moment in time.
You might want to look around and when you feel like it is a good time for you to close your eyes and invite the attention inwards,
You do just that,
Inviting your awareness inwards,
Deep within,
Knowing that all the sounds of the environment you're in are welcome,
Knowing that the sound of your own breath is welcome.
You might want to feel into the rhythm of that breath,
The almost inaudible sound for each inhalation and exhalation,
Rocking you into the present moment,
Into the safety and comfort.
This predictability is knowing that after exhalation there will be the inhale and after each inhale there is an exhale.
Lean into this knowing,
This predictability of your own breath,
Like a lullaby,
In the same way that you know that at the end of the night the sun rises,
At the end of the day the moon arrives,
Predictable,
One of the few things that are certain in life.
You might lean into this coming and going,
There is any way you would like to adjust your position so that you can resettle into relative stillness,
Feel free to do that and know that the stillness is very welcome and the stillness might be on surface,
They might be slowing down while there is still this continuation of this rhythm in the form of your breath,
The form of your heartbeat and the blood pumping through your veins,
Stillness on the surface,
Slower coming and going of the rhythm of your life.
Will you now be present to this cyclical wisdom of your body that is simply apparent and present in every breath?
Let the breath settle your body down so that every time the breath comes out the body weight can release down,
It's as if the sun is coming down behind the horizon,
Each exhalation is this reduction in light,
This sunset in your own body and each inhalation is this gentle arrival,
The fresh beginning,
The dawn light arising with each sip of fresh air.
Can you be with this rhythm of the dawn-like inhalation and the dusk of exhalation?
And you might even notice that at the very top of your inhalation,
There's this fullness,
This fullness,
This completeness,
This fullness of your breath as the fullness of the sun in the middle of a warm sunny day.
And at the very bottom of your exhalation,
With your lungs empty,
Free of air,
There is this spaciousness,
This darkness,
Similar to the dark night.
And the next rounds of your breath,
Can you be more present to this height of your inhalation with the brightness of the midday sun?
And to the very bottom of your exhalation,
This little space of quiet,
Of darkness in the midnight.
And can you now travel fluidly through all of these four stages of your breath in a similar way that the sun and moon travel through the four stages of the daily cycle?
The inhalation as the sun rises,
The fullness of your breath with the midday sun,
The slow release of exhalation as the sun is coming behind the horizon,
To the very bottom of your exhalation,
The darkness of the night.
Knowing that this rhythm continues,
How about you now settle in the spaciousness that arises from behind as the background to the cyclical movement?
Can you simply be present to what is?
This energy,
This energy that motivates,
That gives rise to the cycle of your breath.
Can you be present to your own sankalpa?
Perhaps it takes form in words,
In a sound.
Maybe you are simply present to the existence of what is.
If there is a sankalpa that arises,
You might want to repeat it three times silently inside your heart.
Welcoming your deepest heart's desire.
You may release any effort here.
Welcoming this dawn light,
The rising sun,
The warmth of the rising sun.
As your awareness moves fluidly through your physical body,
Resting,
Still,
Comfortable.
It's as if the sun was rising and spreading this orange-reddish hue of warm light across the entire landscape of your body,
Beginning at the crown of your head,
The space between your eyebrows,
The left eye and the right eye,
A radiant orb of light of awareness inside the left ear and inside the right ear,
The tip of your nose,
Light,
Warming and covering the left nostril and the right nostril,
The left cheek and the right cheek,
The upper lip and the lower lip,
The space in between the lips,
The tip of your chin,
A little hollow in between your collarbones,
Sun rising and spreading to the left shoulder,
The upper left arm,
The lower arm,
The palm of your left hand and the five fingers on the left hand,
First finger,
Second finger,
Third,
Fourth and the fifth finger,
The entire left arm covered in the beautiful hues of the rising sun,
Back to the space between your collarbones as the light spreads to the right shoulder,
Right upper arm,
Lower arm,
Palm of your right hand and the five fingers in turn,
The first finger,
Second finger,
Third,
Fourth and the fifth finger,
The entire right arm bathing the warm hues of the rising sun,
Back to the space between your collarbones,
The rising sun,
The light spreading to the space in between your breasts behind the breastbone,
The left breast,
The right breast,
The left side of your waist and the right side of your waist,
The middle of your belly button,
Source of the warm rising sun,
The mandorvinus,
The pubic bones,
Spreading to the outer left hip,
The upper left leg,
The thigh,
The lower leg,
The top of the left foot,
The bottom of the left foot and the five toes in turn,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four and five toes,
The entire left leg warm and lit up by the sun rising as it moves across to the outer right hip,
The right upper leg,
The lower leg,
The top of the right foot,
The bottom of the right foot and the five toes in turn,
First,
Second,
Third,
Fourth and the fifth toe,
The entire right leg,
The entire front of your body and the back of your body,
The whole body alive,
Lit up with the rising sun of your awareness and in the same way that the sun is rising,
You might feel the inhalation coming in,
Bringing in the spark of energy,
Receiving each inhalation as the fresh beginning and the exhalation as and coming to an end,
Feeling each inhalation as the light spreads through your body and each exhalation as the sun and the light retreats.
What would it be like to be present both to the height of the inhalation,
The fullness of the top of your inhale,
The fullness and brightness of the middle of the day sunlight and at the same time welcoming the very bottom of the exhalation,
The emptiness,
The darkness,
What would that be like,
Full and empty,
Receiving and giving?
Can you be here present to both and at the same time?
And then softening any efforts so that you may rest in the cyclical nature of your inner wisdom without trying to analyze,
Understand or change anything at all,
Simply being present to what is,
A little moment of silence and stillness and in this moment of pure receiving in this state that is Yoganidra,
Might reconnect with your heart's desire,
Replanting it in this fertile soil,
Warmed up by the rising sun and cleared up by the arrival of the night and darkness,
This receptive state,
May you welcome your sankalpa one more time and now might be a good time to get involved with your breath,
Taking in slightly bigger,
More full inhales and perhaps even an audible exhale.
May the next couple of rounds of your breath be full of life as each of the inhalations bring the freshness into the very edges of your body,
The fingertips,
The toes and with that fresh air there is maybe even a little bit of movement that arises and the next breath might even bring a full body stretch.
This cycle of coming and going can become bigger,
Maybe even a yawn and as this Yoganidra is slowly coming to an end,
You might blink your eyes open for a little moment,
Just getting a taste of the outer world and then closing it again for a little moment and then opening again maybe for a little bit longer,
Getting more of the brightness and colors in and when you feel ready your eyes might remain open,
Wide and curious,
Reconnecting with the world.
The breath is still here,
Same and yet different and so are you.
As this Yoganidra practice is coming to an end,
You might want to express gratitude for yourself,
For your innate wisdom,
Perhaps even repeating with me,
I honor my heart,
My inner teacher and with that have a beautiful rest of your day.
Thank you for your practice,
Thank you for listening and I hope to see you soon again.
