Yoga Nidra for Optimal Health

Hello and welcome to my channel! I am so happy you are here and I look forward to sharing this week's Yoga Nidra practice with you!

This meditation (and Yoga Nidra in general) is all about nourishing your being on all levels-physical to the most subtle layers of consciousness. Yoga Nidra is a systematic guided meditation practice that has been shown to reduce stress, help with sleep issues, relieve tensions in the body and so much more.

A beautiful thing about this practice is that it is effortless and can be practiced at any time of day-so you could use this as an afternoon refresher or a soothing meditation before bed!

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the practice of yoga nidra My name is Kumari, And I'll be your guide today Thank you so much for choosing to meditate with me. I'm so glad you're here So start off by Creating the most comfortable position you can Traditionally, Yoga nidra is practiced in a reclined position But it's totally fine. If a seated position is better for you Just try to be as supported as you can something comfy under the neck and head Perhaps something under the knees a A blanket or an eye covering are nice And please know that it's okay to move positions once you're in the meditation Just come back to comfort and focus as soon as you can so yoga nidra is a A way that we can manage stress and tension in our lives It can be practiced morning noon or night with great benefits One of the key benefits of the practice is that we're slowing the brainwaves down So we're moving Ourselves into this space where we are more open to relaxing letting go slowing down and Making contact with the more subtle layers of our beingness As we create our intention or sankalpa This is like Planting a seed deep in the subconscious And we'll get to that in just a moment So let's just start out by sensing the body Feeling the weight of your head Of your arms and your hands Feeling the weight of your back on the surface It's on the hips and buttock the legs and feet The sense of your whole body just being supported and held And inviting you to let go even more The jaw is relaxed The eyes Gently held in their sockets All the muscles in the face Soften Relax at ease Consciously moving from the state of doing Accomplishing action into a state of being Feeling Sensing Aligning with pure presence Come to feel the breath that moves within Sensing and feeling the innate rhythm in your body The effortless rise and fall of your breath Could you sense your heartbeat? The lungs Expanding and contracting Maybe even a sense of the blood moving in your body An awareness of all of these biological functions happening Effortlessly We'll direct our breath Into a few rounds of a physiological sigh This breath is two sips of air in through the nose And a nice long exhale through like this let's do three rounds Ready Tuning into your whole body Noticing how the mind has already taken a backseat and become more relaxed We'll welcome a sankalpa into the practice now A sankalpa is like an intention Something you wish to live every day of your life A Sankalpa can be used each time you practice yoga nidra Or perhaps if you aren't using a sankalpa or not sure what to choose You could welcome in this sankalpa. I take time to Rest my entire being For optimal health So go ahead and repeat Your sankalpa three times in your mind And now the next part of our journey is a rotation of Consciousness around the body Follow my voice and place all of your attention in each area of your body that I mentioned We'll begin with the crown of the head sense and feel the very top of your head the forehead the point between the eyebrows the right eye Right ear Left ear Sensing both ears now listening to the nose the cheeks the jaw Feel the inside of your mouth the tongue of the mouth the gums and teeth Both lips The back of the head your entire scalp The center of the throat the collarbones both shoulders both elbows both wrists the palms of your hands all ten fingers the space in between each finger both hands both arms at the same time Sense the center of your chest And now the abdomen the hips knees Ankle the soles of the feet all ten toes Become aware of the little spaces between each toe both feet both legs The tailbone the glutes the lower back middle of the back upper back the shoulder blade the back of the head Let your awareness fill your whole head now and your whole body Your whole body Sensing and feeling Your body as one your whole body Resting And could you come back now to the sensation of your breath flowing within? The simplicity of your breath moving all on its own Imagine with each inhale your whole body expands And each exhale your whole body Returns back to the starting point Inhaling your body expands Exhaling softening back in As if you were breathing Through every pore of your body As if you were breathing through every cell whole body's cellular breath whole body's cellular breath Sensing the energy within Expanding Contracting and now could you guide your awareness into the right palm? The center of the right palm Perhaps a sensation of tingling or warm Feeling the right palm with your mind And now the left palm Pour all of your awareness into the left palm Seeking awareness of sensation in the left palm and now both palms Feeling both palms Attention moves back to just the right palm Just the right palm Expanding into an awareness of all five fingers the body electric feeling the energy in the hand And now guide your awareness to sense the left hemisphere of your brain The left hemisphere of your brain And now could you welcome in the awareness of both the right hand and the left hemisphere of the brain An awareness of all And now begin to funnel all that awareness into the left palm all five fingers the entire left hand an awareness of the whole left hand Tingling with sensation And now the right hemisphere of your brain Sense and feel the right hemisphere of your brain And now both Simultaneously left hand right hemisphere of brain Release the focus and come back to sensing and feeling Your whole body The feeling of pure presence one with all aspects of Who you are? Resting in a state of divine peace I'll now be naming images Allow whatever comes to mind To flow through a snow-capped mountain peak a rocking chair a horse an evergreen tree a Wood fence a brown egg a bag of rice The statue of the Buddha a fast moving river a Lemon tree a Blue bicycle the dark evening sky with stars You lying on the earth Gazing up at these stars Gazing up into the stars Swirling with the entire Universe There is no boundary between you all universe whole universe within Without Infinite connection Everywhere resting here now a subtle awareness Of Your own true radiance Divine connection All the layers of your being in complete alignment pure ultimate peace every Intelligent cell in your body Organizing into optimal health one with universal consciousness Abide in this space of peace For a few more moments And now from this space of nourishing peace Repeat your Sankalpa three more time I Take time to rest my entire being For optimal health and now it's time to connect back with the sensation of breath Sense all the places that your body moves with each breath Begin to feel these areas expand a little more as you deepen each breath Invite movement into the fingers into the toes Allowing these movements to become more All the joints ahead and whatever position you're in Shifting perhaps opening the eyes Becoming aware of the space all around you the sound the temperature Gently moving forward with your night or day Please know I am wishing you all the best Thank you for joining me today Namaste

Reviews

Peaceful...felt energy filling my being. Beautiful session. Thank you for your guidance ✨

This was perfect as I am using the time after being ill to shift patterns of overfunctioning and doing toward a more allowing and being state. By being with myself I allow better health.

Kumaris voice is so soothing...she makes me feel warm and cozy every time.

Wonderfully relaxing and refreshing at the same time. So beautifully lead as well. Thank you Kumari!