With a warm heart,
I welcome you into this practice of Yoga Nidra.
Gently allow yourself to be as comfortable as you can,
Using pillows,
Blankets,
Maybe an eye pillow,
As if you would tuck in someone who is very dear to you for a good night's rest.
You can lay down for this practice or you can sit in an easy chair,
Whatever feels best for you in this moment.
And listen closely to your body for feedback.
You are always welcome to shift positions during the practice to remain comfortable.
And once you feel comfortable,
Deeply,
Deeply begin to welcome the weight of your body.
Allow gravity to weigh the body down.
Feeling the weight of the heels,
The pelvis,
The hands.
The weight of the whole back.
And the head.
And sense how the whole body is pressing down into the surface below.
And also how the surface below is pressing back into the body.
How the body is supported by the earth.
And maybe you can sense that the more you let go,
The more the earth has your back.
For a moment,
Allow any sounds in your environment to float into your awareness.
Some sounds might be pleasant.
Others you might want to push away.
And how would it be to,
Just for a moment,
Allow all sounds to be exactly as they are?
It may be supportive to follow a sound from beginning to end.
And to notice the silences in between the sounds.
The silences,
This underlying quietness,
In which everything comes and goes.
And then notice your position in the room you are in.
Be aware of the shape of your body and how it touches into all directions.
Front,
Back,
Left,
Right.
Above and below.
And again,
How all directions,
How everything that surrounds you is touching you back.
How the life around you is touching back.
And maybe you notice that the mind wants to participate in this.
And if so,
Then lovingly invite yourself to really feel into this instead of thinking about it.
And then notice the breath.
There's nothing to change here,
Just the breath exactly as it is.
How does the breath feel to you in this moment?
Where do you feel the breath the most?
Maybe it's the nostrils or the throat.
The chest,
And then slowly take your attention even more from the outside world into your inner world.
Your inner world.
Your inner landscape with valleys and mountaintops,
With light and shadows.
And give yourself permission to rest.
In the next following minutes,
There is nothing to do,
Nothing to achieve.
There's nothing to reach for or to work out.
There's no special state to acquire.
There's nothing to get rid of.
You can let all of that doing just seep into the surface below for now.
And allow yourself to rest fully.
Allow yourself to just be.
To let everything in your experience right now,
If it's thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations,
Images,
Sounds,
Everything in your experience to just be exactly as it is.
And then gradually invite your awareness to pour into the heart space,
As if you're very slowly pouring delicious warm massage oil into the space of the heart.
And begin to massage the heart with your loving attention.
Maybe you feel the heart beating.
Or maybe you don't feel this and it's all okay.
Softly listen into this area of the body.
And breathe with this area of the body.
The heart breathing in.
And the heart breathing out.
Feeling into the aliveness of the heart.
And then from this connection with the heart,
Notice if there is an intention for this practice coming from the heart space.
How would you like to feel after this practice?
And try not to think about this with the mind.
Take the time to let the answer come to you from the heart,
From the body.
Maybe there's an intention to feel rested or grounded.
To feel energized or calm.
Maybe to feel connected with your body.
And these are all just suggestions,
So take some time to really feel into this question.
And maybe what comes up is images or words.
Maybe it stays quiet and perhaps that's exactly what you need right now.
If it feels right to you,
You can try to turn these images or words or silence into a short positive sentence like I am grounded or I feel deeply connected with my body.
And if you're ready,
Using your inner voice,
Mentally whisper your intention a couple of times back to your heart.
And let this intention swirl around the body.
And notice again how this feels in your body.
Where do you sense it,
This intention?
What do you notice?
And now let everything go free.
Just let everything roam free and rest back into the body again.
This body resting here on the surface below.
And then slowly bring your awareness to the mouth.
There's no effort here,
Just sensing the sensations in the mouth.
You can allow yourself to be kind of lazy,
But with this soft awareness.
Quietly watching.
The mouth as sensation.
Maybe you feel some tingling sensations.
Moisture.
Feel the tongue,
The teeth.
The throat,
The lips jaw,
And the ears.
Back into the throat.
There's nothing to create or to make different than it is,
It's just feeling.
And if there's nothing to feel right now,
Then that's welcome too.
Up into the sinuses.
And the nostrils.
Sensing how the air passes through the nostrils.
Eyes quietly resting in their sockets.
And all the tiny muscles around the eyes.
Eyebrows forehead.
The center of the forehead the top of the head.
And the back of the head.
Just being with the sensations that are there in the whole head.
And down into the neck,
All sides,
Front,
Back,
Left and right.
And inside the neck,
The throat again.
Down into the shoulders Arms.
And hands.
Let awareness flow into the hands.
The palms,
Top of hands.
The fingers and fingertips.
And sense into the aliveness of the hands.
Maybe there's tingling,
Buzzing.
Warmth or coolness.
The hands.
Wrists.
Elbows.
Shoulders into the chest.
The front of the chest,
The back of the chest.
Left side.
Right side and the belly.
Sense how the belly moves very gently with every cycle of breath.
And moving attention towards the whole back,
The whole back that is just resting.
Feeling into the whole head,
The arms,
Hands and whole torso at the same time.
And then drop attention into the pelvis.
Without effort.
Maybe there's sensations of heaviness or groundedness.
Maybe it feels tense or numb.
You're always welcome here.
Sensing the hips,
The pelvis,
Buttocks.
Pelvic floor,
The whole pelvic region at once.
Inside.
And outside.
Into the legs.
How do the legs feel?
Upper legs.
Knees Lower legs.
Angles.
And no thinking,
Just feeling.
And the feet.
Sensing the feet.
The heels.
Arches,
Tops of the feet.
The toes,
Alive with sensation.
And then open up your awareness very slowly to encompass the whole body.
This body,
Just being.
Nothing to do.
This loving awareness embracing the whole body like a warm cocoon.
And maybe the body feels rested,
Heavy.
Maybe it feels restless.
Some places tense.
Other places open and spacious.
Can you welcome the entire body here,
As it is?
This beautiful intelligent body you inhabit.
And then notice the body breathing.
And notice how the body doesn't need you to breathe.
It's breathing by itself.
How would it be to completely trust the body to breathe by itself?
To let go of control.
And see how this is for you.
Invite some curiosity and let go of ambition,
Just quietly observing.
Allowing the body to breathe itself alive.
And sense how the breath travels by itself to all the corners of your body.
All the parts of your body.
The parts that you celebrate.
And also the parts you maybe want to hide away.
The breath flowing as life through you.
And allow the breath to softly kiss all the cells,
All the corners,
All the parts of your body.
The breath that is effortlessly inviting you to the only place you need to be right now.
This moment.
This body.
The breath telling you how you are feeling in this moment.
What are you feeling in the body?
And there's nothing to create here.
Whatever you are feeling,
Do this with compassion.
Bringing your awareness back to the breath again.
And how every inhale and every exhale.
Is a gentle reminder that even amidst stillness,
There is movement.
Even during the hardest times,
Nothing stays the same.
And also how laying here,
Quietly breathing,
Tells you that even amidst movement and change,
There is rest.
Maybe you find this in the pause after the exhale.
Very gently allow yourself to drop into the stillness after the exhale.
And then ever so slowly Let the outside world seep into your field of awareness again.
The room that you're in.
Sound.
The feeling of your body on the surface below.
And allow the breath to flow to the toes and give them a little wiggle.
And breathe into your fingers and invite some movement into your fingers and hands.
And follow your intuition,
Your own intuition to move the body.
Maybe it feels nice to have a delicious stretch or to give yourself a hug And if you like,
You can slowly begin to massage your face.
Your ears.
Taking your own time,
Your own space.
To come out of this meditation.
Thank you for giving yourself the gift of rest.
