Hi,
This is Kumari Skye and today I am going to guide you into a beautiful yoga nidra.
So whatever position you choose,
Set yourself up for comfort.
Whether you're lying on your back,
On your bed,
Or on the floor,
You might support the backs of the legs with a pillow or bolster or a rolled blanket.
Make sure that your head and neck are comfortable.
You can even practice yoga nidra seated if that serves you more.
Perhaps in a comfortable chair with your arms supported and your feet touching the floor or even sitting up next to a wall with your lower back and your back supported.
Legs could be crossed or long.
Whatever you need to do to be supremely comfortable.
Go ahead and take a moment to do that now.
As you're getting settled,
I just want to tell you a little more about the practice of yoga nidra.
So yoga nidra means yogic sleep.
It's a state of deep sleep while you remain conscious.
It brings amazing clarity of mind,
Calmness,
And stillness.
It is one of the deepest forms of meditation leading to supreme quietness and insight.
And the depth of yoga nidra is far beyond just relaxation.
During a yoga nidra session,
You leave your waking state and go through the dreaming state and into a deep state.
Yet you remain fully awake.
And scientific research has demonstrated that the restorative power of just one hour of yoga nidra is equal to four hours of healthy sleep.
Tension and anxiety melt away with a profound experience of muscular,
Mental,
And emotional relaxation.
Yoga nidra is a state of receptivity and creativity,
A blissfully rejuvenating and restorative practice that will guide you into inner calm and a state of ease and relaxation.
One more thing,
Yoga nidra is an effortless practice.
The only thing you need to do is stay comfortable and follow along with my voice.
And sometimes people fall asleep,
No worries,
That's okay.
That's the kind of rest your body needed this time.
So trust you are receiving exactly what you need for this practice.
You may also stay awake or you might drift in and out of consciousness.
Again,
All of it is totally normal.
Just do your best to surrender to the process of deeply relaxing and letting go.
Let's begin the practice of yoga nidra.
Are there any other adjustments you could make that would help you feel even 5% more comfortable?
Feeling the head and neck,
Feeling the shoulder blades flush against the surface beneath you,
The hips and buttocks settled and sinking down,
The arms and legs at ease,
The hands and feet still and at ease,
And the ears listening,
Awareness of any sounds beyond the space you're in.
Tuning into any sounds within the room or on this recording.
Maybe even the sound of your own breath.
Letting go in the jaw,
Feel the jaw release and separate,
The tongue softly letting go,
The forehead,
Temples,
Cheeks and eyes all softening,
The tiny muscles in the face all relaxing now,
The globes of the eyes sinking back into the skull and the soothing darkness of the eyelids allowing you to rest deeper and your whole body beginning to respond to this stillness,
The whole head and neck sinking down,
Cradled,
Held,
Receptive to letting go,
Tuning into the weight and mass of your torso,
Back and limbs,
Seemingly so heavy,
So at ease,
Completely letting go,
Allowing your weight to be surrendered all the way down into the earth and slowly shift your attention to your breath.
Tune into the already occurring natural breath.
Feel the rise and fall in your body and now we'll do a breathing practice where you'll take a full breath in through the nose and then hold and let go through the mouth like you were blowing out of through a straw.
So I'll guide you through these breaths and we'll take a few natural breaths in between the sets.
Inhale,
Hold and exhale slowly.
Again,
Inhale,
Expanding,
Hold and exhale.
And inhale,
Breathe,
Hold and exhale.
Noticing how incredibly relaxed you feel still and safe and held.
In yoga nidra,
We practice some kalpa or intention and this is your own unique heart's desire.
It is your deepest wish for yourself currently in this life.
Through our conscious use of this intention in yoga nidra,
We can steer our life in the direction we want it to go rather than letting our habits of thoughts steer us.
We plant this seed of intention two times in the practice as a way to consciously affect shifts from our most subtle state of being.
With practice,
We start to move away from our default settings of limiting beliefs,
Thoughts,
Behaviors.
You might already be working with a sankalpa and you can bring it in here or maybe you would like to make an intention specific for this practice today.
These intentions are worded as a short sentence in the positive present tense.
For example,
I am allowing myself to rest deeply or I'm at peace with my body.
Take a moment now to connect with your sankalpa or feel free to use one of my examples.
Now go ahead and repeat it three times in your mind with feeling.
You are planting the seed of your truest desire.
Next on our journey is a rotation of consciousness.
Take your attention and sense the areas that guide you to beginning with the tip of the tongue.
The base of the tongue.
The inside of the right cheek.
And now the inside of the left cheek.
Feeling sensation in the inside of your mouth.
The top lip.
And the bottom lip.
Could you sense that space in between the lips.
The tip of the nose.
Feel the breath in both nostrils.
Awareness of the right eye.
Eyebrow.
Right temple.
And shifting that awareness now to the left eye.
Eyebrow.
Left temple.
Now feel into the sensation of both eyes together at the same time.
Shifting your attention to the center of the forehead.
To the crown of the head.
Draw your awareness to the hollow of the throat.
To the right side of the chest.
The right shoulder.
The upper arm.
Elbow.
Forearm.
Wrist.
Feeling into sensation in the palm.
The top of the hand.
And all the fingers.
The thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Small finger.
Can you sense the whole right arm as one.
The density.
The space it takes up.
The whole right arm.
Now to the left side of the chest.
The left shoulder.
The upper arm.
Elbow.
Forearm.
Wrist.
And feeling into sensation in the palm.
The top of the hand.
And all the fingers.
The thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Small finger.
Can you sense the whole left arm as one.
Its density and the space it takes up.
The whole left arm.
Move your awareness now to the center of the chest.
To the solar plexus.
The navel.
And the right hip.
Thigh.
Knee.
And ankle.
And can you feel into the sole of the right foot.
And now the top of the foot.
And all the toes.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
And awareness of the whole right leg as one.
Feeling into the space of your whole right leg.
Moving to the left hip.
Thigh.
Knee.
And ankle.
Can you feel into the sole of the left foot.
And now the top of the foot.
And all the toes.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
The toes and foot alive with sensation.
Awareness of the entire left leg as one.
Feeling into the space of your whole left leg.
Shifting your attention back to the navel.
And could you start to become aware of the whole body as one.
Whole body subtly vibrating.
Feeling into the presence and space of your whole body now.
Awareness of your entire body.
Allow your attention to drift back to the natural rise and fall of your breath.
Tune into where you feel the breath in your body.
All the muscles that allow you to expand and contract.
Now could you imagine as you inhale.
The breath rises all the way to the crown of your head.
And as you exhale the breath flows through the body out the soles of your feet.
Inhaling in and up through the soles of the feet all the way to the crown of your head.
And then again exhaling down through your whole body.
Breathing with your whole body.
Inhaling up through the soles of the feet to the crown of the head.
Exhaling through the crown of the head down the whole body to the soles of the feet.
Visualizing the breath flowing through your entire body.
Your whole body breathing stay with his breath until you hear my voice again.
Dissolving the focus on your breath now and bringing your attention to the palm of your right hand.
Deeply diving your awareness into the palm of your right hand.
Warm.
Sensational.
You might feel it alive with energy.
Slowly let your attention move to the left palm.
Could you feel subtle energetic sensation in your left palm?
Warm or tingling.
Now back to the right palm.
Feeling into the subtle sensations again.
Back to the left.
Feeling into any sensations present.
Now back to the right.
To the left again.
Now could you focus on both the palms at the same time.
Observing sensations in both palms simultaneously.
Perhaps feeling a gentle buzzing of energy in both palms.
Both palms alive and receptive and radiant with sensation.
Now the allow the awareness of the energy in the palms to melt away and begin to visualize yourself at the beginning of a dirt path into a shady grove of trees that have a low hanging canopy of branches and leaves.
This path is surrounded by knee high lush green grass.
An abundance of lush green grass.
Sensing the quiet stillness you are entering.
The smell of soft earth wafting up with each step you take.
All you can see is green grass and trees on each side of your path.
Long green grass.
Canopy of branches and leaves isolating you from the sky and sun.
As if walking into a protective cave.
A canopy of trees.
Soft dirt path begins to turn into sand.
Sparkly sand as you leave the cover of the trees.
Feel into the cushy warm sand beneath your feet.
Soft and warm.
Sparkly.
A mass of water that meets the edges of several staggered very large slabs of almost horizontal granite.
Large inviting slabs of rock.
You're drawn to sit on a slab near the edge of the water.
The mass of rock is warm.
Soothing warmth beneath your body.
You look out over the pond.
Sweet oasis of water.
And tiny fluctuations on the surface from the gentle breeze.
The subtlest movement on the pond surface from the tiny minnows beneath.
Your eyes feasting on the many textures on the water.
The depth of movement here.
The scenario is one of calm.
The tiniest flow of a breeze in the trees across the pond.
Swaying leaves.
Branches.
Expired twigs still attached.
All creating a symphony of sound.
In this place teeming with life.
You lie back on the warm granite.
Soft.
Warm.
Held.
Your ears alive with the sound of doves calling.
The hoot of an owl.
Insects humming.
And the rustle of leaves.
Bathing in the sounds.
Basking in the stillness within the life.
Perfection.
All in perfect harmony with no seeming effort.
Stillness so rich with movement.
You savor the perfect harmony and stillness here.
Rest back into your true nature.
Abiding in your innate wholeness and perfection.
Thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations may come.
Allow them to pass through without attachment.
You are the observer.
The witness.
The higher self.
Float here in the peace of all that you are.
Your soul is here.
Perhaps it's a felt sense or a word.
Maybe it's the whole original sense again.
Take some time here to welcome your sunkopa.
You might repeat it again three times or simply feel it.
Embodying your sunkopa.
Now from this place of wholeness begin to sense your breath.
The expansion and contraction of your natural breath here.
Now you might begin to pull in some deeper breaths.
Exhaling fully,
Pressing out all the breath.
Continue to be aware of the places moving in your body as you breathe ever so gently bringing yourself from the state of yoga nidra.
Sense the support beneath your body.
Feel into the edges of your body that touch the surface holding you.
Bringing your awareness to any sounds you hear beyond the room you're in.
Within the room.
You might notice any smell.
Just taking your time to sense the room around you.
Ceiling floor.
All the wall.
You might softly move the head from side to side.
Perhaps wiggling the fingers and toes.
Take these next few moments to just linger.
And sensing the peace you have allowed from this practice.
This calm is always underneath it all.
Available to you anytime you choose to slow down and offer yourself time for deep breaths,
Such as this practice.
Take all the time you need to return to your day or to fall off into a blissful sleep.
Thank you so much for taking this time today or this evening to practice yoga nidra with me.
I would love to hear from you in the comments.
Namaste.
