Hello,
And welcome to the practice of yoga nidra.
My name is Kumari,
And I am so happy that you decided to come with me on this journey of effortless meditation.
So find yourself in the most comfortable position for you right now.
Is it on your bed?
Is it on a chair or on the floor?
There's really no right or wrong way to practice yoga nidra.
Just get yourself as comfortable as possible,
Fully supported,
Something under the knees maybe,
Under the head,
Allowing your arms and legs to really be at ease.
You might put a covering over your eyes if there's light in your room.
And of course,
Take care to turn your phone off or let anyone in your space know that you are meditating and not to disturb you for a little bit.
I'll also leave some time at the end of this yoga nidra in case you're using it to fall asleep.
So yoga nidra is like powering down your nervous system.
I'll be guiding you on a journey into deep relaxation that has a profound healing effect on your nervous system.
I like to think of it as rebooting your nervous system to function optimally.
It's not uncommon to be living in a state where the mind,
Emotions,
And body never really get a rest.
And we might not even realize it.
Our bodies and minds are so adaptable that even living in a stressed state can sometimes feel normal.
This is why taking the time to power down is so important and beneficial.
So let's take some time to reset here.
And the benefits are many.
When we actually take the time to be guided into a deep state of meditation,
The helpful supportive substances in our body take center stage.
Things like serotonin,
Melatonin,
And GABA,
All the feeling good substances our brain releases when we are at ease flood our system and affect lasting change in the nervous system.
We come back into balance.
And the best part is it is effortless.
All that is required is that you get comfortable and listen to my guidance.
So we'll begin the practice now.
And are there any other adjustments you could make in order to feel a little more comfortable?
Maybe nodding the head from side to side,
Shifting the shoulder blades to feel flat against the surface,
The hips,
Legs,
Or feet,
Just allowing yourself to fidget and then become really still.
It's really normal to move in and out of this dreamlike consciousness as you practice yoga ninja.
And it's also really normal to fall asleep.
So don't worry if that happens.
You can remember that your subconscious is always listening.
If you find during the practice that you're uncomfortable,
No worries,
You can move,
Get yourself more comfortable and then come back to the sound of my voice.
So we'll begin the journey inward now.
Allow all outside distractions to fade away as you intentionally shift your focus to your body.
So start to sense your body and its relation to the surface you are upon.
Scan your body and feel all the places you make contact with the surface beneath you.
Could you feel into the density of your body here?
The body heavy and still,
Maybe even sensing the weight of your bones,
Your muscles.
The only motion now is your breath,
Sensing your breath within your body,
Going inward with the breath.
Now take a deep breath in through the nose and exhale through your mouth as if you were blowing through a straw.
And as we breathe here,
We're trying to elongate the exhale.
So let's do that again.
Exhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
Again,
Inhale big and fully exhale.
Now we'll begin to hold the breath for a pause at the top of the inhale.
So inhale and sip in a bit more breath and hold and exhale slowly.
Again,
Inhale,
Hold,
Now let go.
Go ahead and practice this a few more times at your own pace.
And now with your next exhale,
That will be the last one.
In the practice of Yoga Nidra,
We create and set an intention.
This intention is all about nurturing and bringing to life something you truly want to experience in the living of your life.
Each time you practice Yoga Nidra,
You can bring this sankalpa or intention.
And each time your subconscious listens,
You begin to manifest this heartfelt desire or sankalpa.
So if you're new to this idea,
Think of it as an intention spoken in a concise,
Positive,
Present tense sentence.
An example is,
I am the embodiment of inner peace.
So your intention or sankalpa is something you want to live and that comes naturally in your everyday life experience.
Take a few moments now to search your heart for your own unique sankalpa.
And if you're already working with one,
Bring it to your mind now,
Breathing into it as if to expand it and make it stronger.
So I'm just going to give you a few moments to connect with your sankalpa.
Okay,
Now that you have your personal sankalpa,
Repeat it three times in your mind with feeling.
Next on our journey is a rotation of awareness around the body.
I'll be naming different areas of your body.
Please follow along and place your attention on each area as if you were shining a spotlight right on the place I mentioned.
So we'll begin with the right thumb,
The first finger,
Second finger,
Third finger,
And the small finger.
And sense all your digits.
And now at the same time,
Awareness of the top of your hand.
Now the palm,
And sensing your entire right hand as one.
The wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
And the right collarbone.
And the right side of the chest,
The right side of the ribcage,
And the right side of the waist.
The right hip,
Thigh,
Knee,
Lower leg,
Ankle,
The heel,
And the ball of the foot.
Now the entire sole of your foot,
And now the top of your foot.
Each toe tip,
The big toe tip,
Second toe tip,
Third toe tip,
Fourth toe tip,
And small toe tip.
Feeling and feeling all five toes,
And the entire right foot.
And now slowly move your attention to your left hand thumb,
The first finger,
Second finger,
Third finger,
And small finger,
And sensing all your digits now at the same time.
And awareness of the top of your hand.
Now the palm,
And sensing your entire left hand as one.
The wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Right collarbone,
And the left side of the chest,
The left side of the ribcage,
And the left side of the waist.
The left hip,
Thigh,
Knee,
Lower leg,
Ankle,
Heel,
Ball of the foot,
And the entire sole of your foot.
Now the top of your foot,
And each toe tip,
The big toe tip,
Second toe tip,
Third toe tip,
Fourth toe tip,
And small toe tip,
And sensing and feeling all five toes.
Now the entire left foot,
Attention slowly moving to your navel now,
And sensing the area all around your navel,
Moving up to the center of the chest,
The center of the chest and the space all around it,
Attention expanding in all directions to the hollow of your throat,
To the base of your tongue.
Now the tip of the tongue,
The inside of the left cheek,
And now right,
The gums and teeth,
And sensing and feeling the inside of your mouth,
Your lips,
Jaws,
Nose,
And feeling your breath flow in and out of your nostrils,
Your cheeks,
And both eyes simultaneously,
And both ears,
Both ears listening.
Could you imagine going inward through both ears into the center of your brain,
The center of your brain?
And awareness flows now to the center of your forehead,
Energy rating outward across your forehead in all directions,
Melting into sensing your entire head now,
Your hair follicles,
And the tiny muscles of the scalp,
All radiating subtle energy.
Now coming to the back of the neck where the head meets your neck.
And now could you imagine flowing your awareness all the way down the spine through the neck,
Upper back,
Middle back,
Lower back,
To the sacrum,
To the tailbone,
Sensing your tailbone sinking into the surface beneath you.
Begin to imagine exhaling from your tailbone.
Visualize exhaling deep into the earth.
Stay with that for a few more breaths,
Welcoming any visuals that occur.
Now add in inhaling up from the earth,
Inhaling up from the earth at your tailbone,
And exhaling deep into the earth from your tailbone.
Breathe like this until you hear my voice again.
Now allow the focus on your breath visualization to dissolve and begin to sense the whole body as spacious.
Each inhale a gentle expansion outward.
Imagine the container of your body as open,
Expansive,
Light,
And airy,
And the body energetically moving past its physical parameters,
Expanding beyond the skin.
Expansive.
You might notice there is a witness perceiving this expansion.
And now moving into a sense of grounding,
Sensing the body as heavy,
Dense,
Energy moving inward now,
Solid,
Filled up to the edges of the skin,
Grounded,
Unmoving.
Now return back to a sensing of expansiveness.
Your whole being,
Spacious,
Expansive,
And you are the witness perceiving this expansion.
Allow it to happen without effort.
Sensing this expansion in the whole being.
Now revisit grounded.
Sense what grounded feels like in the body,
Firmly rooted,
Planted,
Grounded.
And now allowing time to welcome sensations of both expansion and grounded.
Expansion and grounded at the same time.
Notice how you might sense both simultaneously.
And however you experience this is perfect just as it is.
No need for effort here.
You are the witness of expanding and grounding in the entire body at the same time.
Allow your awareness to shift to the soles of the feet.
Feel the earth beneath you.
Imagine you sense the feeling of soft dirt under your feet,
Feeling and sensing the earth.
Imagine yourself standing upon the earth.
Feet securely planted,
Grounded,
Warm and stable.
Now imagine you're standing on a path in a pine forest,
Surrounded by majestic pine trees.
The felt sense of being held by the forest.
Taking in the scent of the forest.
And the smell of pine,
Of earth,
Of deeply nourished plants and trees.
And now might you sense the temperature of the forest on your skin,
The warm air touching your skin.
And the subtle sounds of the pine forest here.
And as you stand in this place,
Welcome any visions,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations.
All these as messengers.
You are simply the witness.
Pure awareness.
Complete connection and melding with your radiant true nature here.
And spending a few more moments in the vastness of all that you are.
And now could you feel your sankopa,
Your intention as a felt sense.
The sankopa mingled with your entire being.
You might repeat your personal sankopa three more times here.
Your intention deeply integrating.
And shifting your attention now to the natural rise and fall of your breath.
Feeling your breath in your whole body.
Could you invite some deeper breaths now?
Softly feeling your body expand as you deepen your breath.
And as you breathe all the way down to your toes.
Awareness of the toes and feet.
Warming gentle movement in the toes and in the feet and ankles.
Breathing all the way down to the tips of the fingers.
Simply moving the fingers and the hands and the wrists as you ever so gently rouse yourself from this state of yoga nidra.
You might nod your head from side to side and start to notice any sounds within your space.
Beyond the space you're in.
Allowing your attention to gently drift outward.
Allowing any gentle movements.
You might come to rest on your side if you're lying down.
Warming all the time that's necessary for you to feel like you're awake and ready to move on to the next stage in your day.
Or perhaps you'll turn the recording off and just go to sleep.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I hope this practice gave you exactly what you were looking for in a meditation.
I invite you to check out all of my yoga nidras and I'd love to hear from you.
Please leave me a comment.
How do you feel?
Or maybe where you're tuning in from.
Please subscribe.
I post new nidras every week.
And I would love to have you along.
Wishing you all the best.
Namaste.
