Yoga Nidra: Emotional Integration

In this practice, you will be guided into a state between sleep and wakefulness, tapping into the subconscious mind and coming into a space of deep rest. This has a greatly soothing and restorative effect on the nervous system.

Transcript

Welcome to a profoundly powerful yoga nidra practice in which you are going to tap into your feelings really,

Where you are going to be exploring exactly what you feel and what you experience deep within the emotional body and hopefully find a way in which you can entirely accept and acknowledge what you are experiencing.

So begin with finding a really comfortable position.

You can be either lying on your bed.

You could be lying on the ground on a few blankets or a yoga mat.

So just taking a moment to straighten yourself out,

Lengthen the spine,

Separate the feet,

Relax your pelvis,

Relax your head and soften the shoulders.

Begin to connect to your breathing and for a whole long moment just notice how you're feeling.

Pay attention to exactly what is there.

Pay attention to any sensations.

Notice any discomfort or psychological holding,

Holding on to particular thought patterns,

Repetitive thought patterns,

An emotional gripping,

Possibly a physical pain.

You might be noticing something more vast like spiritual longing or a desire for connection.

So let yourself settle into exactly that which you are experiencing.

There's no need to adjust or alter your experience.

There's no need to identify or label how you're feeling.

Noticing and paying attention to exactly what is in this moment and deeply acknowledging that there's no wrong way to feel,

There's no wrong way in which to experience something.

And then connecting to deeper levels of breath.

Just a few more rounds of deeply connected strokes of breath in and out of your nose.

Letting the body settle and relax into your experience with every exhalation.

Take an inhalation through your nose and then a stronger exhalation through your mouth.

Again,

Inhale,

Nose.

Extend your breath out through the mouth.

And one more,

Inhale through the nose.

In your own time,

Completely exhale through the mouth.

Allowing the breath to return to a natural pace.

Allow the breath to soften and smooth out.

And then let your attention settle in the center of your chest.

Let the awareness in your chest widen and expand through the entire ribcage.

Allowing your awareness to soften itself.

Let your awareness widen and spread beyond your shoulders.

Awareness between the shoulders.

Feeling the gentle reverberation of your breath push up against the bones of your ribs.

Against the breastbone,

Sternum.

Feel the breath moving the collarbones.

And allow this breath to soften you.

Allow it to relax you.

And allow it to settle you further and further back into yourself.

Allowing your experience to be exactly what it is.

And then taking your awareness down into your right hand thumb.

Soften the right thumb.

With every continuing piece of information of this practice,

Allow every piece of your body to soften and settle.

Allow every sensation to be part of your experience.

And allow every emotion of joy,

Of pain,

Of relief,

Of restlessness,

Of anger or grief,

Of love or devotion to be part of you.

And entirely part of your experience as a whole.

From your right hand thumb moving into your right index finger.

Soften right index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And the right little finger.

Softening your whole right palm,

Right wrist.

The inside of your right elbow and the right elbow joint.

The right shoulder and the right shoulder joint.

Right collarbone.

Softening through the right collarbone.

And then let your awareness settle back in the center of your chest.

Moving your awareness into your left hand thumb.

Soften the left hand thumb.

Index finger.

Soften.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

And the left little finger.

Softening the whole left palm.

And the wrist.

Inside of the left elbow.

And the left elbow joint.

Left shoulder and left shoulder joint.

Left collarbone.

Softening the left collarbone.

And let your awareness once more settle deeply into the center of your chest.

Feeling the subtle sensation of your breath.

Allowing the breath to move freely and entirely by itself.

Allowing your breath to become a lot more shallow.

So that it's just a very subtle and gentle sensation at the base of your lower ribs.

Gently feeling the pulse in the diaphragm.

It's the same kind of breath that you experience when you begin to fall asleep.

You're allowing your body to come to rest.

You're allowing your body to essentially fall asleep.

You're allowing your mind to come to rest.

You're allowing your mind to drift to sleep.

Yet an aspect of your awareness,

An aspect of your consciousness remains fully awake and attentive to your feeling experience.

Let your attention soften into your abdomen.

Imagine a sense of warmth and expansion in the abdomen.

Moving your attention into a space deep down behind the navel.

And then deep down into a space inside the pelvis.

Fully relax the entire pelvic floor.

Release your buttocks.

And your right hip.

Right hip joint.

Right thigh.

Back of the thigh.

And the right inner thigh.

Soften and relax.

The back of your right knee.

Your right calf.

Right ankle.

Whole right foot.

Right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

And the right small toe.

Relax your whole right leg.

And then bring your awareness to your pelvis.

Into a space deep down inside the pelvis.

Moving your awareness into your left hip.

And the left hip joint.

Left thigh.

Back of the thigh.

And the left inner thigh.

Soften and relax.

Back of the left knee.

Left calf.

Left ankle.

Whole left foot.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

And the left fifth toe.

Relax your whole left leg.

Taking your awareness into the pelvis.

Into a space deep inside the pelvis.

Feel the burn of your sacrum.

And the lower back.

Gently resting against the support beneath you.

Feel the softness of your lower belly.

Navel.

The diaphragm.

The breath moving the diaphragm.

Centre of the chest.

Soft and wide.

Both shoulders.

Allow the shoulders to decompress.

Softening the sides of your neck.

The throat.

Release your jaw and your tongue.

Soften and widen the back of your skull.

Inner ears.

And the eyes.

Notice the gentle brush of your breath in and out of your nose.

Forehead.

Centre of the head.

The whole head.

Notice your feeling breathing body.

Fully resting in your experience.

Acknowledging every part and every aspect of your experience.

Acknowledging every part and every aspect of what you're feeling,

Sensing.

Allow yourself to entirely soften your experience.

Welcoming it.

Submitting to it.

Noticing your feeling breathing body.

Notice the part of you that is holding yourself.

Notice the part that is holding you in this experience.

Notice the part that provides and facilitates this experience for you.

And in this soft,

Subtle vibration of your own experience begin to gently and slowly deepen your breath.

Allowing this stream of breath to be slow and steady.

Drawing the breath in through the nose like a nourishing stream of consciousness.

And letting the breath brush up your throat,

Out the nose.

Slow,

Deep and subtle breath in through the nose.

And soft,

Slow,

Steady breath out through the nose.

One more time in through the nose.

And out through the nose.

Slowly make yourself aware of your physical body.

Your feeling,

Sensing body.

Begin to move your toes and fingers.

Feel the breath expanding into the ribcage.

And then gently move your neck from side to side.

Bringing the knees into your chest and turning yourself over to lie on your right hand side.

With the heart having space on the left.

And as you feel ready you can slowly and gently with awareness bring yourself up to any comfortable seated position.

Take a moment for your blood pressure to normalize.

Reorienting yourself back into your immediate surrounding.

Take one more deeper breath.

And then allow your hands to gently close in together in front of your chest.

Taking a moment here to bow inward and appreciate the capacity that you bring to your practice.

The capacity to feel and acknowledge yourself completely.

And then slowly closing.

Opening your eyes.

Namaste.