Welcome to this yoga nidra practice of deep peace.
A space where your body can soften,
Your breath can settle and your whole system is gently invited into restoration and balance.
This practice can support your nervous system in unwinding from subtle activation,
Inviting a natural return toward balance,
Regulation and inner steadiness.
Allow yourself to arrive,
Taking a moment to gently settle your body into a position where you can feel fully supported.
Perhaps lying down,
Allowing the weight of your body to be received.
A soft exhale through the mouth,
As if the day is slowly loosening its grip.
There is nothing you need to do,
Nothing you need to achieve here.
Only a gentle willingness to be here.
A quiet noticing of the body breathing itself.
And perhaps already,
A sense of being held by something deeper than effort.
At the threshold of this practice,
You are invited to receive a quiet inner intention or orientation.
Not as something to think about but as a subtle resonance you can allow to move through you and move with.
My body remembers how to rest in safety and peace.
I am gently held in the quiet rhythm of peace.
There is nothing you need to repeat,
Nothing you need to hold on to.
Just allowing these words to land wherever they are received.
Another soft exhale through the mouth,
As if the day is slowly loosening its grip.
Allowing the body to settle into the support beneath you,
Listening to the natural rhythm of your breath.
Without changing anything at first,
Just noticing the inhale and the exhale.
And then very gently,
Allowing the exhale to lengthen just a touch.
As if the body is remembering how to soften.
A slightly longer out-breath,
Like a quiet sigh of the nervous system.
With each exhale,
You may begin to sense a subtle downward movement.
A settling.
As if the body is being received by the earth beneath you.
Safe enough in this moment.
Now,
Becoming aware of the space at the back of your body.
The places where your body meets the ground.
The heels.
The pelvis.
Heavy and supported.
The back of the shoulders.
Let your awareness rest here for a few breaths.
As if the ground itself is gently holding you,
Without condition.
Now,
We begin a slow,
Gentle rotation of awareness through the body.
Not to change anything,
But simply to feel.
To include.
Bring awareness to your right hand.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
Back of the hand.
Wrist.
Upper arm.
Right side of the chest.
Left wrist.
Right waist.
Ankle.
Second toe.
Little toe.
Bring awareness to your left hand.
Left thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
Back of the hand.
Wrist.
Elbow.
Middle finger.
Left side of the chest.
Left waist.
Ankle.
Big toe.
Second toe.
Now,
Both sides of the body together.
Right and left.
In one field of awareness.
Bring your attention to the back body again.
And now,
To the front of the body.
Eyes resting in their sockets.
The space between the eyebrows.
Allow the tongue to soften in the mouth.
Collarbones.
Chest.
The gentle movement of breath here.
Upper abdomen.
Navel.
Now,
Sensing the whole body at once.
As a field of sensation.
But one breath.
One continuous landscape of aliveness.
And within this field,
Begin to notice that there may already be places of ease.
Places that feel neutral.
Or even quietly pleasant.
You don't need to search.
Just allowing what is already here to reveal itself.
A soft warmth somewhere.
A sense of openness.
A subtle flow.
Let your awareness rest there for a few breaths.
As if you are gently orienting toward ease.
Not forcing it.
Simply noticing.
Now imagine the breath moving like a soft wave through the body.
On the inhale,
A subtle expansion.
On the exhale,
A gentle settling.
And with each exhale,
A quiet signal through the body that it is safe to soften a little more.
You may begin to sense a subtle pathway.
From the base of the skull,
Down the back of the neck,
Through the throat,
Into the heart space and further down into the belly.
A soft inner channel through which the breath flows.
With each slow exhale,
This pathway softens.
Widens.
Like a river finding its natural course.
This gentle awareness can support the body's innate capacity to regulate,
To restore.
Now very softly bring awareness to the left side of the body.
The left hand.
Left arm.
Left leg.
Left side of the face.
Sensing the qualities here.
Perhaps receptive.
Spacious.
And then the right side of the body.
Right side of the face.
Noticing the qualities here.
Perhaps more defined.
Structured.
Without needing to analyze,
Just sensing.
And now allowing both sides to be felt together,
Left and right.
As if they are gently communicating.
Balancing.
Meeting.
With a shared field of awareness.
No effort needed.
The body knows how to find balance when given space.
You may sense a subtle harmony emerging.
Not as something you create,
But as something that reveals itself when nothing is pushed away.
Now imagine a soft luminous field surrounding the body.
Like a quiet presence holding everything.
This field does not ask anything of you.
It does not need you to change.
It simply allows.
And within this allowing,
Peace is not something you have to reach.
It is something that is already here,
When nothing is resisted.
Rest here.
If thoughts arise,
Sensations,
Emotions,
They are all gently included in this field.
Nothing is outside of it.
Even movement is held within stillness.
Even sound arises within silence.
Even the breath moves within something that is already at rest.
And you may begin to notice that this stillness,
This peace,
Is not separate from you.
It is what you are resting as.
Not something to hold on to.
Not something that can be lost.
Just this quiet,
Aware presence.
Allowing everything.
Rest here.
And as this practice slowly begins to complete itself,
There is nothing you need to do to come back.
Just allowing a gentle deepening of the breath.
Perhaps a subtle movement in the fingers.
Perhaps a small stretch if the body asks for it.
Just taking your time.
Sensing again the support beneath you.
The room around you.
And noticing what is here now.
The practice of yoga nidra comes to a gentle close.
Thank you for the gift of your presence.
