Welcome to this practice of Yoga Nidra for a peaceful easy feeling.
Take the time you need to make yourself really comfortable.
Perhaps settling yourself down onto your mat with a pillow underneath your head and a bolster underneath your knees.
Allow the face to soften,
Closing your eyes,
Softening your eyes to the back of the eye sockets.
Perhaps taking a little yawn and relax the jaw.
Raising your eyebrows up to the hairline and then lowering them,
Relaxing them down so you can smooth out the forehead and just having a feeling as if the very weight of your bones could sink down into your mat.
Being aware of any sounds that you can hear that are further away and then bring awareness closer to you to the sounds that are near.
Allowing these sounds to be here in this practice with you and then to simply watch the thoughts as they pass through your mind and I invite you to visualize your thoughts as if they are so many different shapes and sizes of pebbles on the beach and that your breath is just like the tide,
Just like the moving sea washing over the shore of your mind and with each breath in the tide washes over the pebbles smoothing them and softening them and perhaps even pulling them back into the ocean with the exhale.
Each breath is smoothing and softening your thoughts and begin to deepen your breath perhaps taking an equal length now to your inhale and your exhale.
Moving your breath all the way down into your belly so that you can invite some spaciousness into the belly with your breath and see the spacious breath moving through the belly and the ribs all the way up to the chest as you breathe in and then as you breathe out the weight of the body softens down onto the mat and at the end of your exhale just allow there to be a little pause.
Allow there to be a little pause which is just like a touchstone of peace before the new breath comes back into the body again.
So see this spacious breath flowing up and down the body and taking a moment of rest at the end of the exhale where there isn't anything you need to do just rest at the end of your exhale before the new breath comes back into the body again and then bring your awareness all the way down to the soles of the feet where there is a space between the heel and the floor and see this spacious nothingness here at the soles of the feet and just as if you can copy and paste it moving this spaciousness and copy and paste it to the point between the eyebrows to the third eye where the dreams appear at night.
Copy and pasting this spaciousness and freedom at the soles of the feet and placing it into the point between the eyebrows and then from this point I invite you to copy and paste this freedom and spaciousness and place it all around the body onto each point of the body as it's named.
Planting your spacious freedom into the palm of your right hand,
Your right hand thumb and your index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger and little finger.
Copy and pasting spacious freedom all the way up the right arm to the inside of the right elbow to the top of the right shoulder.
Placing spacious freedom all the way down the right side of the body in between the ribs the right side of the ribcage.
Spacious freedom.
Spaciousness planted onto the right hip making its way down the right leg to the right knee.
Spaciousness and freedom around the right ankle and the right big toe and the second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Seeing the spacious freedom at the sole of the right foot and then bringing awareness all the way back up to the third eye again to that place between the eyebrows.
Seeing that spacious freedom there and then continue your journey of copy and pasting the spaciousness and freedom into the palm of the left hand.
Spacious freedom under the left hand thumb and the index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger and little finger.
Spacious freedom into the inside of the left elbow and the left shoulder.
Planting this spacious freedom all the way down the left side of the body over each rib of the left side of the ribcage in between the ribs onto the waist and the left hip.
Spacious freedom planted onto the left knee and the left ankle,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and fifth toe.
Spacious freedom into the sole of the left foot and then moving your awareness to the base of the spine.
Copying and pasting your spacious freedom onto the sacrum to the base of the spine.
Moving this spaciousness over each vertebrae of the spine,
Making your way up the spine,
Landing onto the right shoulder blade and then the left shoulder blade.
Spacious freedom in between the shoulder blades.
Spaciousness at the back of the neck.
Spacious freedom at the back of the head.
Spacious freedom in the crown of the head.
Seeing this spacious freedom back at the point where we began at the third eye center.
Placing this freedom and spaciousness onto the right eye and then the left eye,
Onto the tip of the nose,
The right cheek and the left cheek,
The mouth and the chin and the jaw.
The whole face filled with spacious freedom.
Bringing your awareness down your throat to that point between the collarbones.
Copying and pasting your spacious freedom to that point between the collarbones and then underneath the breastbone into the space of the heart.
Copying and pasting your spacious freedom into the space of the heart and seeing the heart opening and closing with the breath.
Seeing the chest rise and fall with the breath.
Copying and pasting your spacious freedom down the belly,
Over to the navel,
The right groin and the left groin,
Around the hips,
Around the buttocks and all the way back down to the feet and all the way back up to the crown of the head.
The whole body,
The whole body filled with spacious freedom.
Feeling easy,
Feeling peaceful.
See yourself as if you are looking at yourself from a bird's-eye view,
From up high above,
Gazing at yourself,
Lying here practicing Yoga Nidra,
Feeling so spacious and so free.
See yourself as if from underneath your body,
Lying here practicing Yoga Nidra,
Bathed in your spacious freedom.
And with each breath out,
The body is so heavy and weighted down into the earth,
Feeling so rooted and grounded as you breathe out.
And then with each breath in,
The body is so light and so spacious.
The whole of the front body so light and so spacious,
Wide open to the sky above you.
And as you breathe out,
The body so weighted and so heavy into the earth beneath you,
Rooted down.
Moving your awareness with the breath as you breathe in,
This light spaciousness and freedom into the body.
And as you breathe out,
Heavy rootedness into the earth beneath you.
And finding yourself in this place of rootedness and heaviness and expansive spaciousness.
And finding yourself in this place where the earth meets the sky,
So rooted and grounded and yet at the same time so light and so spacious.
Knowing how it feels to experience these things all at the same time.
And then see the breath as it moves up and down the body,
Seeing the breath float up and down the spine.
Being aware of the shape your body is making,
Knowing where your center is,
Knowing where your edges are,
Seeing the chest rise and fall with the breath.
Knowing that this practice of Yoga Nidra is drawing to a close.
And perhaps beginning to make your outgoing breath a little bit more audible so that as you breathe out you could release a gentle sigh out.
Breathing in,
Welcoming in whatever is coming next for the rest of your day.
Breathing out a gentle sigh out of the mouth.
Being aware of the colors behind your eyelids.
Being aware of the taste in your mouth.
And being aware of how rested and how peaceful your body feels.
And perhaps begin to bring a little bit of movement into the body,
Into your toes,
Maybe rotating your ankles.
A little bit of movement into your fingers,
Perhaps touching each fingertip with your thumbs.
And then to simply take a stretch out in any way that feels so nice for your body.
Thank you for listening to this practice of Yoga Nidra.
This practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.
