With a warm heart,
I welcome you into this meditation of Yoga Nidra.
Please make sure that you are extremely comfortable.
Like you're giving yourself a gift,
Making yourself as comfortable as you possibly can,
Grabbing pillows,
Blankets.
Making sure that you're warm and cozy.
Maybe something to cover the eyes.
And really taking your time.
There's no rush.
And once you're comfortable,
Slowly but surely start to welcome the weight of your body.
Feeling how your body rests on the surface below.
And how the surface below is rising up to meet you,
To support you.
Inviting a sense of being held being supported.
And then consciously give yourself permission to rest.
During this meditation,
There's nothing you need to do.
There's nowhere you need to be.
No one you need to be.
Nothing to fix or to achieve.
Just resting.
And if it helps,
You can repeat this a couple of times silently to yourself.
It is okay to rest.
This is my time to rest.
And then again turning your attention to your body and sensing how it's resting on the surface and all the things that are touching you,
Maybe the pillows and the blankets Maybe you feel a touch of air on your skin.
Clothing.
And again,
It's two ways how your body is touching all those things and how all those things are touching you back.
And then take some time to connect with a place,
A memory,
Or a person,
Or maybe an animal that brings you a sense of joy,
A sense of warmth,
Ease.
Maybe someone who makes your life just a little easier,
Who is easy to love,
Or a place that you love.
And you don't have to work for this,
Just allowing whatever wants to come to the surface and if nothing comes,
Then just resting with what is there and if there is a memory or a place or a person or an animal coming up.
Then taking the time to really connect with this.
Using the senses,
What do you see?
Making it come alive.
What can you hear?
What do you feel on your skin?
And is there a specific taste or smell connected to this?
And then gently letting all of this imagery go and drop into the felt sense of this.
How does it feel in your body?
What's happening in your body?
When you're connecting to this memory or place or person.
Maybe there's a sense of warmth.
Expansion,
Opening.
Tingling or vibrations or something completely different.
And all is welcome here.
If there's not so much to feel,
Then that's perfectly welcome too.
And from this place,
Start to bring your awareness to the home of your heart,
Your chest,
Connecting with the heart.
And if you like,
You may visualize that there is a warm amber colored light right inside your heart.
Exactly like the light that you maybe see when the golden autumn sunlight is reflecting to the leaves,
The autumn colored leaves,
That exact color,
Magical color is living right inside your heart.
And breathing with this for a few moments.
Breathing with the heart,
The heart breathing in and the light just intensifies slightly.
And the heart breathing out.
The light gets a little bit less intense but it's still there.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
From this connection with the heart you may feel if there is an intention for this practice.
Maybe there's an intention to rest deeply.
To feel energized,
To connect with your body or to be present with an emotion or something completely different.
Just allowing whatever wants to come up,
To come up.
And again,
If nothing comes up,
Then maybe that's exactly what you need.
If there's an intention for you,
Then you may repeat it a couple of times,
As if you're whispering it back to your heart,
As if it's already true.
I am deeply rested.
I am full of energy.
I am deeply connected to my body.
And then slowly letting this intention go completely,
As if you're a tree letting go of a beautiful autumn-colored leaf,
Seeing how it drifts and drifts and drifts into the air,
Downward,
Eventually coming to rest upon the earth.
Then bring your awareness to the feet.
The whole feet both.
Sensations in the feet.
Sensations in the ankles The lower legs.
The knees.
Sensations in the upper legs.
Both feet,
Ankles and legs all at once.
Maybe inviting gratitude.
For how these feet and legs are supporting you each day,
How you're able to walk,
To run,
To jump,
To fall,
To trip,
To stumble,
And to get up and walk again.
Sensations in the pelvis.
All sides,
The front,
The back,
The left,
The right.
Inside and outside of the pelvis.
And let your awareness flow into the belly.
Sensing how very subtly the belly is moving with each breath.
And the chest.
How that too is moving with each breath.
Sensations in the whole back,
Just resting.
The shoulders.
Arms.
.
.
And hands,
Sensations in the hands.
And letting your awareness rest here for a while inviting gratitude again for these beautiful hands that allow you to touch to feel things,
To hold things,
To hold things with love,
To make things.
Your attention flows through the hands and the arms,
The shoulders,
Into the throat.
Resting your attention in the throat.
Inviting gratitude for the ability to speak your mind,
Your truth,
Your boundaries,
To sing,
To laugh.
Say loving words to yourself and the ones you love.
Awareness flows into the mouth.
The lips,
The nose.
Feeling how every in and out breath just very gently strokes the nostrils.
The eyes.
Inviting gratitude for the eyes.
That allow you to see beauty.
The whole face,
Just resting.
The top of the head back of the head.
And the whole head.
Sensing the weight of the whole head.
How it's resting,
Maybe on a pillow.
Or on the surface below.
Then allowing your attention to encompass the whole body.
The whole body as one field of sensations.
The whole body just resting.
And noticing that there is a breath.
That there is nothing you need to do for that.
The body is being breathed.
The whole body breathing in.
The whole body breathing out.
And again bringing your awareness to your heart,
Breathing for a few times with the heart.
Connecting with that beautiful amber colored light.
Breathing in and you're breathing warmth in.
And on an out-breath you may whisper silently something like,
Thank you for this body.
Thank you for today,
For something that feels honest to you.
Breathing in warmth.
Breathing out.
Thank you for today.
And then slowly,
Slowly letting all of this go.
Nothing to do,
Letting your attention roam free.
And let everything come,
Maybe stay for a while and then go ideas,
Thoughts,
Images,
Emotions,
Sensations.
Dreams.
Just letting it come and go,
Resting with whatever is there.
Resting back.
Resting together with the breath that is always there.
The surface beneath you that is always there holding you.
Inviting a quality of gratitude in the body,
A sense of warmth.
Maybe spreading from the chest,
Gently flowing towards your shoulders and throat.
A sense of melting Maybe it feels like expansion or groundedness.
Nothing forced,
Just being open.
Notice how the body is breathing together with the space around you.
Letting yourself melt into that feeling for a few moments.
Letting go.
Letting go.
And then very,
Very slowly start to feel the earth beneath you again.
Sensing again how you are held by the space around you.
And see in your mind's eye the room that you're in and the space that you take up in this room See yourself resting.
Feeling the blankets,
The pillows,
Clothing air on your skin.
And you may invite the breath to become a little bit deeper.
And then following your own intuition to how you want to come out of this meditation.
Maybe it feels nice to very subtly wiggle the toes and the hands,
The fingers.
Allowing that movement to spread to the arms and the legs,
The rest of the body.
Maybe a delicious stretch.
Taking all the time you need for this.
And thank you for giving yourself the gift of rest.
