Welcome,
My name is Kumari.
I am the relaxationist because I love guiding people into spaces of deep rest and nervous system regulation.
So yoga nidra is a deep rest practice.
It's a practice where we use specific techniques in order for the body to completely relax.
And when the body is completely relaxed,
Then we start to really relax the mind.
And in fact,
We start to dis-identify from the thinking mind.
So we're brought into this liminal space of just not asleep,
But not awake and super slow brainwave states.
And it's in this space that we can impress the subconscious.
And that's why we use sankalpa or intention in our yoga nidra practice.
So you're going to get really,
Really relaxed.
And part of that is to first and foremost get really,
Really comfortable.
Let's take this journey together.
I'll bring you out of this practice.
I do the little chime.
When we get towards the end.
Let's begin.
And all we're doing here is just intending to settle.
So just making any other little adjustments to your body.
Something that might even help you get like 3% more comfortable.
And just noticing now,
Noticing how the body is.
How are your hands and fingers,
Your arms?
How's everything resting?
And what about your toes and your feet and the legs?
Do you notice,
Do you have something under your knees to help support your lower back?
Do your hips and buttocks really feel relaxed?
And then just really cultivating an awareness of just your whole body in space here.
Just feeling all the things that your body is resting on.
Maybe the softness of whatever your head is resting upon or your bed.
And with these next few exhales,
Let's think about really releasing through the whole backside of the body with every exhale.
Okay,
Inhaling.
Exhaling.
As if your exhale was coming out of every pore.
Breathing in again.
Just a few more times,
Energetically letting go down to the earth.
Maybe even the idea of just giving away something that no longer serves you.
Let it be free through your exhales,
Through your body.
Just sensing and feeling the whole body.
Let's move awareness to rest on the face.
Just sensing all the skin on your face.
And now a sense of the cheekbones,
The jaw,
And just really the whole skull.
Feeling your head as heavy,
Like you could let the weight of your head sink into the pillow just that much more.
Two millimeters.
Just feeling that letting go.
No need for expression.
No need for thinking.
Just allow my voice to take you into a state of deeply nourishing rest.
Together,
Let's take a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in.
And softly release.
You might even imagine you're blowing out through a straw on your exhale.
Two more just like that.
And from here,
We'll practice the brahmari pranayama.
This is the buzzing breath.
And this is the gentlest little hum.
You don't have to do it hard at all.
In fact,
See how gentle you could make it yet so audible.
And let's just do it three times in a row.
Breathe in.
Let's take two more.
Just noticing the subtle vibrations saturating your body.
And now connecting to the deeper part of ourselves by creating an intention or sankalpa.
If you're currently working with a sankalpa from practice to practice,
Call that in now.
And really,
The sankalpa is something that aims to align us with the embodiment of our highest truth.
And speaking at it as if you know for sure that you're whole and complete just as you are,
But you're wanting to expand and embody what you really want in this life.
So take a moment now,
If you don't have a sankalpa,
To just really speak with your heart.
Listen to your heart.
Try an I am statement.
Something that's spoken in the positive present tense as if it's already done.
And if you have your sankalpa already,
Just see if you can start to practice feeling it,
Feeling the essence of the words.
And then when you're ready,
Repeat this sankalpa three times in your mind.
This sankalpa is like planting a seed.
As we move away from the grips of the ego or the natural mind,
The thinking mind,
Space opens,
And we can plant this seed of what we do desire deep in the subconscious.
And it will flourish and grow over time.
We'll plant our sankalpa again later in the practice.
Now we move into the next technique of yoga nidra,
And that's the rotation of consciousness.
This is where we move around the body,
And you'll place your attention on each area that I mention.
And in this way,
We have an even more subtle and deeper access to the physical body and all of its layers.
Where attention goes,
Energy flows.
And this is another way that we bring ourselves into an even more profound state of rest.
We begin to really take in this medicine of stillness.
So let's begin at the soles of the feet.
Feel the arches of the feet in your mind.
And now the heels and the balls of the feet.
And feeling both feet,
The soles of the feet,
Maybe even a subtle warmth or sensation.
And now set your attention into the toes on the right foot.
The big toe,
The second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth,
And fifth.
All five toes on the right foot and their toe tips.
And to the left toes,
Take time to just send your awareness to the left toes.
The big toe,
Second toe,
Third,
Fourth,
And fifth toe.
Sensing all five toes on the left foot and the toe tips.
And now feel both feet at the same time.
Both feet like little boots of energy.
Become aware of the right ankle and the left ankle.
The right calf and the left calf.
The right shin,
Left shin.
And set your awareness to rest on the backs of the knees.
The backs of the knees.
Backs of the knees.
And now the kneecaps.
Both at the same time,
The kneecaps.
And tops of the thighs.
And the backs of the thighs.
And the buttocks.
See if you can sense the pelvis inside the body.
And both hips and the lower abdomen.
The whole lower half of the body,
Just sensing the whole lower half of the body here.
And now allow time for awareness to saturate the center of the palm on the right hand.
The right palm.
And then into all five fingers.
The thumb,
The index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And pinky.
The whole right hand.
Whole right hand.
And then draw your awareness over to the left palm.
The left palm here,
Left palm.
And all five fingers.
And the thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And pinky finger.
All five fingers.
Now come to sense all 10 fingers.
And all 10 fingertips.
All 10 fingertips.
And both hands together now.
Both hands together.
Feeling just an energy here.
And now the right wrist.
And the left wrist.
Feel the whole forearm on the right side.
And now on the left side.
Tune into the creases of the elbows.
Both at the same time.
Now the bones of the elbows.
And the upper arms.
Can you sense the upper arms?
The parts that are lying on whatever you're resting upon.
So the backs of the arms.
And now the fronts of the arms.
And feel the right shoulder.
And the left shoulder.
Now sensing the right shoulder blade.
And the left shoulder blade.
And then the point between the shoulder blades.
The whole upper back.
Sensing the space of the lower back.
And the navel.
And expanding out like a sunburst to sense the whole abdomen.
And the ribcage.
And the sternum.
And the whole chest.
And the hollow of the throat.
The root of the tongue.
The root of the tongue deep inside your throat.
Now the surface of your tongue.
Feeling all 10,
000 taste buds.
The roof of the mouth.
Your gums and your teeth.
Allow your awareness to saturate the inside of your mouth.
Now feel the lips.
The flares of the nostrils.
And the right ear.
Inside the ear.
And the left ear.
And inside the ear canal.
And now moving awareness to the third eye.
And then the orbs of both eyes.
And the forehead.
The scalp.
The back of the head.
Your whole head.
Whole body.
The whole body.
The whole body,
One radiant field of energy.
Sensing your entire body here.
Shimmering with subtle sensation.
Trillions of cells alive.
Animating you.
Feeling your whole body.
Return to the awareness of your breath.
Feeling the soft flow of breath moving in and out.
Not changing the breath in any way.
And just simply breathing.
Feel all the nostrils.
Softly breathing.
You take in the cooler air.
And release the warmer,
Moister air.
Really,
Really tuning in to your breath.
Feeling everything.
And feeling your breath as energy.
And now psychic nadi shodhana,
Or alternate nostril breathing,
Where you'll just imagine you're bringing your air in through the nostrils on each side.
Place your attention on your left nostril.
And just imagine you could breathe solely through the left nostril.
And now exhale solely out the right nostril.
In right.
Out left.
Breathe in through the left.
And out through the right.
In right.
Out left.
Keep going.
Slow and steady breath.
As if you were just breathing in one side or the other.
And tuning in to the rhythm of this alternate nostril breathing.
Staying with the breath.
And now this next time you exhale out your left nostril.
Let that go.
And feel the breath at both nostrils.
Feeling the nostrils equally.
Feeling the nostrils equally.
Sensing the subtleties of the breath.
And might you expand into the awareness of feeling the breath in the whole body.
Whole body.
Micro-moving with each inhale and exhale.
Sensing the body as an organism of energy.
Now let go of any focus on the breath.
Begin to really notice how still the body is.
Heavy like a boulder.
Eternally still.
And now start to sense the body as ever so gently swaying from side to side.
Sense the body as swaying like you were in a hammock.
The slowest,
Sweetest sways from side to side.
Now return to the body as still and heavy as a boulder.
Body heavy and sinking down into the earth.
Sinking down into the earth,
Heavy.
And still.
Now welcome back this idea of just energetically rocking.
Swaying from side to side.
Body ever so gently moving from side to side.
And now sensing swaying and stillness simultaneously.
Swaying and stillness at the same time.
Come back to the breath.
Feeling the energy of the breath moving in and out.
And seeing the vastness of the dark night sky here.
All the stars,
The planets,
The darkness.
And bringing to mind a beautiful tree with a thick,
Sturdy trunk.
And green leaves moving in the wind.
And see the roots of this tree.
The roots down deep into the earth.
The rocks.
See the roots and the earth together.
And feel the body as grounded.
One with the roots.
And the earth.
Resting back as embodied presence.
Deeply rooted in the alignment of all that you are.
One with the gravitational pull of the earth.
And welcoming messages.
Awarenesses.
Just open to the screen of the subconscious mind.
Rooted in the higher self.
Rooted in health.
In the presence of all that you are.
Resting so deeply.
See whole body shimmering energy.
In this space,
It's time to feel your sankalpa again.
Just welcoming back the sankalpa.
And whispering it back three more times.
And watering the seed.
Trusting and knowing that you already have it all.
Breathing.
Coming back to the breath.
Feeling the softness of the flow of the breath.
In the belly,
The chest,
The nostrils.
Gently encourage a deeper breath now.
Feel your body expand once again with your inhales and exhales.
You might take two sips of breath in.
And then exhale.
And just let this energy spread into your arms and your hands.
And just wiggling your fingers and your toes.
And if you can,
Take your time really stretching and moving and staying connected.
Even though your awareness is now widening out into your space.
And whatever's happening in your next segment.
Just noticing how you're feeling.
Continue to take a few more deep breaths.
Maybe make the little stretches into bigger stretches.
Yoga Nidra is a really cumulative practice.
So I encourage you to practice as often as you're able to.
There's so many benefits.
And I hope that you are already experiencing them or at least one right now.
This peaceful,
Relaxed state that's just so yummy.
Let's take a cleansing breath together if you're still kind of coming out of it.
Let's inhale.
And this would be such a beautiful time to journal or just contemplate or reflect on your experience.
A lot of times there can be messages and just insights from the practice.
It could be right after,
It could be later.
And I hope you notice the peaceful energy that is a result of this practice.
As always,
Thank you for taking this time for yourself.
Because this time for yourself also transfers out into the world around you.
You are part of the solution creating more peace on our planet.
So yay!
Alright,
All the best to you.
Namaste.
