Exactly as you are,
Take the deepest breath you've taken all day in through the nose,
Fill up the lungs and then let it go through the mouth.
Do that two more times,
Deeply fully in through the whole body and releasing out through the mouth as if you're just letting it all go.
Nicely done,
Starting to feel yourself landing and arriving in your meditation experience,
Starting to feel the body dropping into space.
There's that moment of sweet surrender where the body just surrenders and softens in toward the support or the ground that you are connected to.
Noticing the body now softening further and further with each breath.
And I'd like you to meet with your personal intention for the next few moments,
Finding your intention for your practice,
Crystallising it and then feeling it into the body.
What drew you to your practice today?
And once you've found your intention,
Seeing it to be true,
Imagine it's already in motion,
It's happening presently.
If you need to make any final movements for your ultimate comfort,
Now is the time.
And we start our practice today with gratitude.
Gratitude for having a functioning,
Healthy,
Happy body.
Gratitude for being able to breathe with ease.
Gratitude for finding a practice and a time for a practice today to support you from the deepest point of you within.
Nowhere else to be,
Nothing else to do but here.
So I'd like you now to draw your attention to your natural breath.
Without shaping it or altering it,
Just become aware of your natural breath.
Where do you feel it most?
We're going to go on a little journey of breath awareness here lying down.
So spend some moments now noticing the breath at the nose,
The nasal passages.
And just keep your awareness here for a few rounds,
Witnessing the breath coming in and the breath going out.
Keep it simple.
And then noticing now the breath in the back of the throat,
The breath in the back of the throat.
Stay here for a few moments with your awareness in the back of the throat.
Notice how it feels to feel sensations and breath without over-complicating things.
Coming back into the felt sense of your body.
And then draw your attention now to the breath in the chest.
Breath in the chest.
Perhaps you'll feel the texture,
The feeling of the clothes against your skin here in the chest as the chest lifts to meet your clothes with every breath in.
And now drifting your awareness to the breath in the lower ribs and the stomach.
Nicely done.
Now I'd like you to trace the full journey of the breath.
Coming in through the nose,
Meeting the back of the throat,
Filling the lungs,
The belly,
And then coming back up and out the same way that it came in.
Witnessing the journey of the breath,
You might choose to visualize a color or a light coming in through the body and a different color or light leaving the body with the exhale breath.
Nicely done.
From here we're going to expand the breath together.
So just starting to smooth out the breath even more,
See if you can extend the breath in and the breath out just a little beyond what's usual and easeful.
Expanding a little bit further into the ribs.
Replenishing breath.
And as we journey further into our yoga nidra practice today,
Remember there is no way to do this wrong.
There's always a part of you listening and this will always work somewhere in the mind body.
Come into complete stillness now and deep rest.
The bones get heavier and heavier in toward the earth.
The muscles,
The skin soften and release.
I'd like you now to rotate your awareness to your mouth.
Feel your mouth,
Your upper lip,
Your lower lip,
Upper jaw,
Lower jaw,
Inside of the left cheek,
Inside of the right cheek.
Notice the tongue,
The tip of the tongue,
The center of the tongue and the back of the tongue.
Notice the roof of your mouth,
The palate and remain curious about the sensations that are presenting themselves.
Can you meet them with curiosity?
Can you meet them with neutrality?
Noticing the entire mouth as one sensation.
Feel your nose once again,
Notice the nostrils and then spread from the nose to the left cheek and the right cheek.
Noticing the left ear and the right ear.
Scanning up to the top of the head with your awareness.
Noticing any sensations that are present here at the top of your head.
Feeling the entire space of the scalp all the way around the back of the head.
Left eye and right eye,
Left eyebrow and right eyebrow.
Noticing the inner head now,
The brain.
And now become aware of the entire head,
Inner and outer,
As one complete sensation.
I'm drifting your attention now into your neck.
Notice the throat,
The back of the neck,
And then all the way into the left shoulder,
The left shoulder,
Inner and outer shoulder,
Noticing any sensations with curiosity and equanimity.
Moving across the left collarbone to the right collarbone and then into the right shoulder,
Sensing the entire shoulder.
Both shoulders together,
Both collarbones together.
Bring your complete focus and attention to your left arm,
Upper arm,
Elbow,
Lower arm,
Wrist,
And into the left hand.
Notice the back of the hand and then spend some time in the palm of the left hand,
Noticing any sensations at all here.
The entire left arm from shoulder to fingers,
Noticing the entire left arm as one sensation.
And then drawing your awareness over to the right arm,
The right arm,
Upper arm,
Elbow,
And lower arm,
Right wrist,
Palm and back of the hand,
And then spending some moments in the palm of the right hand,
Palm of the right hand.
Notice the entire right arm here in time and space,
And then notice both arms together.
Bringing your awareness into your torso now,
The entire left side of your torso,
Inclusive of the ribcage,
The left lung,
The left side of the intestines,
The left side of the spinal column,
And the left hip.
Notice the entire left side of the torso.
And then draw your attention to the right side of the torso,
The ribcage,
The lung,
Stomach inclusive of the intestines,
The right side of the spinal column,
And the right hip.
Notice the entire right side of your torso.
Any sensations here?
And then notice both sides of the torso connected as one,
As one area of sensation.
And then drifting your attention to the left leg,
The left leg,
Top of the leg,
Moving slowly down toward the left knee,
Moving slowly down toward the left ankle,
And then spending some time in the left foot.
Any sensations here?
And then drifting your attention into the right leg,
Upper leg,
Through to the knee,
Lower leg through to the ankle,
And then spend some moments in the right foot,
The right foot.
Both legs now together.
And then notice the entire body,
The entire body here connected as one ecosystem of sensation and experience.
Its own universe.
Notice the parts of your entire body that are touching the ground beneath you,
Or the support,
Moving down toward the earth.
And then notice the upper part of the body facing the sky.
And sky and earth connect to the sky.
Let your body expand wider into the space around you.
And as you start to pay attention to your natural breath,
Imagine a wave of fresh,
Vital energy coming up through the soles of the feet,
Meeting the top of your head and beyond as you breathe in.
And as you breathe out,
Imagine any stagnancy,
Any stuck energy being drawn out through the feet into the earth.
Breathing vital energy like a wave up through the feet,
Up to the crown of the head.
Breathing out stuckness or stagnancy from the crown of the head out through the feet.
Enjoy the wave-like sensation of the breath for a few rounds.
We are now journeying toward the end of our body scan in our yoga nidra.
When I make one sound on the bowl,
That is our closing of our yoga nidra body scan.
And after you hear the sound,
Start to invite a little bit of awareness back into your room,
Back into your space.
Breathing to draw your attention back into your physical body.
And it might feel good to start to wiggle the toes,
Wiggle the fingers.
If you have the luxury of time and you want to stay here in rest,
On the ground or on your support,
Feel free to stay.
This is your time,
Your practice.
Otherwise,
You might like to continue the movement in the body toward a big stretch from the toes to the fingers.
You might even lift your hands up and overhead,
Stretching the entire body system.
And then in your own time,
Feel free to rejoin the room,
Rejoin the space,
Blinking the eyes open,
Taking everything in once again.
And then just notice how you're feeling on the back of your practice.
Notice what is present for you.
No right or wrong,
Just is.
