I'm Cassandra.
Welcome to your Yoga Nidra practice.
There's nothing you need to do here,
Nothing to fix,
Nothing to achieve,
Nothing to get right.
You're simply going to lie down and let yourself be heard by your own body.
So take whatever time you need to settle,
Lying down on your back,
If that's available to you,
Or on your side.
However your body wants to be held.
Use any support you have,
A blanket,
A pillow under the knees,
A cushion under the head.
Let the surface beneath you take your full weight.
You don't have to hold yourself up here.
The ground or the bed has you.
The earth underneath the floor has you.
You're allowed to be completely supported.
And before we begin,
I want you to know you are in charge of this practice,
Not me,
You.
If at any point something feels like too much,
You can open your eyes,
You can shift your body.
You can place a hand somewhere that feels steadying.
You can step out entirely and come back when you're ready.
None of that is failing.
All of it is your nervous system doing exactly what it's designed to do,
Keeping you safe.
So if it feels right,
You might let your eyes close now.
And if closing them doesn't feel safe,
Let your gaze soften instead.
Somewhere low and still in the room,
Both are completely fine.
Let's take a breath together,
Breathing in through the nose.
And a long,
Slow breath out,
Letting the exhale be longer than the inhale.
Twice as long if you can.
Again,
Breathing in.
And a long sigh out.
You might even let it be audible.
Let the body hear itself exhale.
One more in.
And a long,
Slow release.
Beautiful.
Now let the breath go back to its own rhythm.
You don't have to manage it anymore.
Before we go any deeper,
We're going to give your system something to hold onto,
An anchor,
Somewhere it can always return to.
I'd like you to bring to mind a sense of safety.
This might be a place,
Somewhere real that you've been,
Or somewhere imagined,
A room.
A shoreline.
A forest.
A corner of a place you once felt held.
Let an image arrive if one wants to.
And if no place feels safe,
That's okay.
That's so okay.
Instead,
You can let the resource be simpler.
The support of the ground beneath you right now,
The weight of the blanket the warmth of your own hand resting on your chest or your belly.
A color that feels calm.
The memory of an animal or one person or one moment where you felt even slightly more at ease.
Any of these can be your anchor.
Whatever you've chosen,
Stay with it for a moment.
Notice what happens in your body when you rest your attention here.
Maybe the breath softens a little.
Maybe the shoulders drop.
Maybe nothing dramatic at all,
Just a small sense of okay.
Even that is enough.
This is yours now,
This anchor.
We'll come back to it again and again.
Anytime anything feels like too much,
This is where we return.
You can return here on your own,
Anytime,
Without me.
Now from this place of safety we'll plant an intention.
In yoga nidra this is called the sankalpa,
A short true statement spoken to yourself in the present tense as if it is already so.
Today's intention is about release.
About letting your body set down what it has carried for too long.
So silently to yourself,
You might offer something like,
I am safe.
My body can let go.
Or choose your own words if others feel truer.
It is safe to release now I am allowed to rest.
My body knows how to heal.
Whatever the words,
Say them to yourself slowly,
Three times,
And let them land not as a thought,
But as a felt truth in the body.
Beautiful.
Let the intention settle beneath the surface now.
You don't have to hold it.
It will do its own quiet work.
Now we settle the body fully.
We let it become heavy.
Bring your awareness to the points where your body meets the ground.
The back of the head.
The shoulders.
The space between the shoulder blades.
The hips.
The backs of the legs.
The heels.
And at each of these points,
Imagine the body softening downward.
Surrendering its weight.
Letting gravity do the holding.
Feel how the ground pushes gently back up to meet you.
You are supported from below.
You have always been supported from below.
This as a signal of safety to your nervous system.
The felt sense of being held,
Of not having to brace,
Of not having to be ready.
For just this time,
There is nowhere to be and nothing to defend against.
Let the body grow heavy.
Let the body grow heavier.
As though it's sinking a quarter inch deeper into the support beneath it.
Now we'll move awareness gently through the body.
You don't need to tense or relax anything.
Simply let your attention rest on each place as I name it,
Like a soft light passing through.
No effort.
If your mind wanders,
That's fine.
Just rejoin wherever my voice is.
Bring your awareness to the right hand.
They're right.
Second finger third finger.
Fourth finger.
Fifth finger.
The palm of the right hand.
The back of the hand.
The rest.
The lower arm.
The elbow.
The upper arm.
The right shoulder.
The right armpit.
The right side of the waist.
The right hip.
The right thigh.
The knee.
The lower leg.
The ankle.
The heel.
The sole of the right foot.
The top of the right foot.
The big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Little toe.
The whole right side of the body.
Now the left hand.
The left thumb.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
Fifth finger the palm.
The back of the hand.
The rest.
The lower arm.
The elbow.
The upper arm.
The left shoulder.
The left armpit.
The left side of the waist.
The left hip.
The left eye.
Funny.
The lower leg.
The ankle.
The heel.
The sole of the left foot.
The top of the foot.
The big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Little toe.
The entire left side of the body.
Now the back of the body.
The whole right side of the back.
The whole left side of the back.
The spine from the base all the way up to the neck.
The back of the head.
Now the front of the body.
The forehead.
The eyebrows.
And the space between them.
The right eye.
The left eye.
The right ear.
The left ear.
The nose.
The cheeks.
The lips,
Upper and lower.
The chin.
The jaw.
Let the jaw be soft.
The throat.
The right side of the chest.
The left side of the chest.
The whole chest together.
The belly.
The navel.
The whole abdomen,
Soft.
And rising and falling and now the whole body at once.
The whole body lying here,
Held,
Complete.
The whole body.
The whole body.
Now let your awareness drift to the breath.
Not changing it,
Just watching it.
The breath that has been breathing you this whole time.
Without you ever asking.
Notice the cool air arriving.
And the warm air leaving.
The slight rise of the belly.
And the slow fall.
Now gently we'll lengthen the exhale.
This is how the body tells itself it is safe.
Through the long,
Slow breath out.
So on your own pace,
Breathe in naturally.
And let the exhale stretch long and slow.
Like a tide pulling back from the shore.
Again in and a long unhurried release.
And if it feels good,
You might silently count.
Breathing in for four.
And out for 6 or 7 or 8.
The out breath always longer than the in.
And out.
Long and slow.
Let's stay here.
Breathing like this for several rounds at your own pace.
Each exhale a little more of the day leaving the body.
Now release the counting.
Let the breath find its own way again.
And notice,
Has anything changed?
Is the body a little softer than when we began?
Now we'll work gently with sensation.
This trains the body to feel and then to let go.
First,
Notice any place in the body that still feels tight.
Help.
Brace.
You don't need to search hard.
Let it announce itself.
Maybe the jaw.
The shoulders.
The belly.
The hips.
Just notice the holding,
Don't change it yet.
Just let yourself feel that this part of you has been working.
It's been protecting you.
It has been on duty maybe for a very long time.
And now silently you might thank it.
Thank you.
I see how hard you've been working.
You can rest now.
And on your next long exhale,
Invite that place to soften.
Not forcing it open.
Just offering it permission.
You can let go now.
It's safe.
Now feel the opposite,
Feel a place in the body that is already at ease,
Already soft.
Already resting.
Let your awareness rest there in the softness.
Now hold both at once,
The part still letting go and the part already at rest.
The whole body somewhere between holding and release.
This is the body in transition.
This is the body learning it is safe.
This is the heart of today's practice.
And I want to remind you,
Your anchor is always here,
The safe place,
The ground.
Your hand on your heart.
You can return there anytime.
The body holds what it didn't get to finish,
Energy that got stuck mid-motion and moments when there was no time to feel,
No space to fall apart,
No one to catch you.
Your body protected you by holding it.
And today in this safety,
It doesn't have to hold it anymore.
So gently place your awareness in the center of your body.
The belly.
The chest.
The throat.
Wherever feeling tends to live for you.
And simply ask with curiosity,
Not demand.
Is there anything here that's ready to be felt?
Allowing the answer to arise on its own.
Not forcing.
Whenever arises a sensation,
A wave of warmth,
A tightness,
An emotion.
An image.
Or nothing at all.
Let it be welcome.
You don't have to understand it.
You don't have to name its story.
You only have to let it move.
Your body knows how to release.
It might come as a wave of heat.
Trembling a sigh that runs into something deeper.
Tears.
A shudder.
A yawn.
Or just a slow,
Quiet loosening.
All of it is your nervous system completing what it couldn't finish before.
All of it is safe.
All of it is welcome here.
You can let it move through you like weather.
And if at any moment it becomes too much,
We pendulate,
We return.
Bring your awareness back to your anchor now,
Just for a breath.
The safe place.
The ground beneath you.
Your hand warm on your chest.
Feel how you can always come back to safety.
The releasing and the resting are not opposites,
They're partners.
You move toward the feeling and back to safety.
Toward and back.
Spike waves.
You are always the one in control of the tide.
So once more gently let your awareness drift back toward the center of the body.
Is there anything more that's ready to move?
And whatever the answer.
Yes or no.
Or not today.
It's perfect.
And now return to your anchor.
Rest fully in safety.
The work is done.
You've let the body speak,
And you stayed with it.
That is everything.
Now we'll let the body settle into images of letting go.
Let these wash over you.
And if any image doesn't sit right,
Simply let it pass and wait for the next.
Imagine,
If you like,
That you are lying beside slow-moving water.
And with each exhale,
Something you've been carrying is set gently onto the surface and carried away downstream.
You don't have to choose what leaves.
Your body knows.
It floats away.
Growing smaller until it's gone.
Or perhaps you feel warm.
Like sunlight or a warm hand.
Resting over the places that have held tension.
And under that warmth,
The tension melts.
The way ice softens into water.
And water soaks quietly into the earth.
Or imagine a heaviness draining from the body down through the back.
Down through the legs.
Down through the soles of the feet.
Released into the ground.
Where the earth receives it without judgment and quietly composts it into something new.
Whatever leaves tonight,
Let it leave.
You don't have to carry it any longer.
You were never meant to carry it forever.
Now that the body is open and quiet.
We return to the intention we planted at the beginning.
This is when it takes root most deeply.
Silently to yourself.
Repeat it three times,
Slowly,
As a felt truth.
I am safe.
My body can let go.
I am safe.
My body can let go.
I am safe.
My body can let go.
Let it settle into the deepest part of you and trust that it will keep working long after this practice ends.
We're going to begin the journey back now,
Slowly.
There's no rush.
We don't startle the system on the way out.
We invite it.
Begin by becoming aware of the breath again.
The natural breath.
Moving on its own.
Let it gradually deepen just slightly A little more breath in.
A little more life returning.
Become aware of your body again,
Its weight,
Its shape,
Lying here.
Feel the points of contact with the ground.
The blanket over you.
The temperature of the air on your skin.
Become aware of the room around you.
The space it takes up.
The walls.
The ceiling Notice any sounds near and far.
Let sound bring you gently back into the world.
And now when you're ready,
Not before.
Begin to bring small movements back into the body.
Wiggle the fingers and the toes.
Maybe a slow stretch through the arms,
The legs.
However your body wants to move.
A breath that wakes you a little more.
You might roll gently onto your side and rest there for a moment.
In the shape of being newly born back into the day.
Knees drawn up the earth still holding you.
And take your time.
There is no hurry to sit up.
When it feels right,
You can slowly press yourself up to sitting,
Letting the head come up last.
Before you open your eyes fully,
Take a moment to feel yourself here.
Hole.
A little lighter perhaps.
The same person who laid down and also not quite the same.
You let your body set something down today.
That matters.
And whenever you're ready,
Let your eyes open and let them take in the room slowly.
Look around.
Notice three things you can see Feel your feet or your seat against the ground.
You're here.
You're back.
You're safe.
Take this calm with you.
It belongs to you.
It was always yours.
The practice just helped you find your way back to it.
Thank you for giving yourself this.
Be gentle with yourself for the rest of the day.
Breathe,
Move,
Rest.
