Yoga Nidra | Embracing Restful Balance

In this Yoga Nidra practice, you will gently explore the experience of opposite sensations and opposite emotions. Allowing you to feel profound relaxation and a deep state of rest in experiencing the balance beyond duality. A journey that encourages harmony within contrasts.

Let this practice guide you into a restful and transformative experience of unity and the feeling of being deeply supported by yourself in all circumstances.

Transcript

Welcome to your yoga nidra practice.

Let's start by getting the body completely settled.

So maybe you're already laying down,

But just noticing if there's any last small things you can do to make yourself just a little more comfortable.

And sometimes that's just slightly changing the positioning of your head.

Maybe making sure that your chin isn't tucked all the way into the chest bone.

Maybe it's feeling if the arms could be a little more comfortable.

Maybe they're resting next to the body.

But sometimes resting the hands on the lower belly can help for some of us to soften the shoulders a little more.

So noticing how can you give yourself that extra little bit of comfort.

And within that feeling of safety and comfort of your own personal yoga nidra space,

We can allow the eyes to close.

Letting the touch of your eyelids be soft.

Letting the eyes even be soft within their sockets.

As you allow that softness to spread through the whole face.

Letting that softness spread through the whole scalp,

The whole head.

As you feel it moving down,

Releasing the tension in your shoulders,

In your arms,

As you feel the arms become a little heavier.

That heaviness and softness spreading all the way into the fingertips.

Then flowing awareness back into the chest.

Noticing the softness there.

Gentle softness in the belly and the whole back becoming a little heavier.

A soft release in the hips and a release in both legs becoming heavier.

Heavier into the present moment.

Whole body just resting down a little deeper into the safety of your yoga nidra space.

You're just here.

For this upcoming practice,

There is nothing to do or to achieve.

Just here exploring what's present.

What's here.

Let's feel into the whole body again.

The whole softening body.

Noticing if there's any places within the body that feel maybe a little more closed down,

Tensed.

Might be that some places in the body even feel some aching or some pain.

Just observing,

Not trying to change anything.

Just feeling into those places in the body that feel maybe a little less comfortable or there's a little more discomfort.

And then scanning the body for places that actually feel really comfortable.

Maybe really spacious.

That feel really free.

That might feel really joyful to rest awareness in.

And now feeling both these places where you felt some level of maybe tense discomfort and the places that feel a little more spacious and comfortable.

Can you feel those at the same time?

Once again,

Just noticing.

Not trying to change or fix or analyze or just feeling it.

Maybe it's just very subtle for you.

Maybe you can really feel that difference.

Just holding both within your awareness.

And I'm feeling into the whole body again.

The whole body resting down into the support of the ground beneath you.

The whole body that's allowed to gently sink a little deeper into this state of relaxation.

The body that's allowed to gently open up to a new level of calm.

A body that's allowed to receive all the benefits of this practice.

Body that's allowed to just be.

To just rest.

Let's bring full awareness into the palms of our hands.

Really filling the whole palms of your hands with your awareness.

Noticing what's here.

What do you feel when resting awareness in the palms of the hands?

What do you notice?

How do you relate to being with or being within the palms of your hands?

Noticing what that's like.

Before with full awareness diving into a rotation of awareness through our body.

Starting with full awareness into the right thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Tips of the right fingers,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Right shoulder,

Armpit,

Right side of the waist,

Right hip,

Right upper leg.

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the right foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe.

A little toe.

Tips of all five toes of the right foot.

Whole right side of the body.

Awareness into the left thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And little finger.

Tips of the left fingers,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Left shoulder,

Left waist.

Hip,

Upper leg,

Knee,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the left foot,

Top of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe.

Fourth toe,

Little toe,

Tips of the left toes,

Whole left side of the body.

Inside,

Feel the inside of the right cheek,

Inside of the left cheek.

All the upper teeth and the gums,

The lower teeth and gums.

Tip of the tongue,

The lower lip and upper lip.

Tip of the nose,

Right nostril,

Left nostril.

Right eye and eyebrow,

Left eye and eyebrow.

Space in between the eyebrows,

The whole forehead,

The whole scalp of the head.

The point of the crown of the head and the space just above the crown of the head.

Feeling the whole spine,

Feeling the whole backs of the shoulder blades,

The backs of both arms left and right,

The backs of both legs left and right.

The whole back of the body,

Deeply resting down into the ground.

The whole front of the body,

Soft and open.

Feel the whole body at once,

Whole body at once.

From the tips of the toes and the fingers all the way into the crown of the head,

The whole body felt from the inside out.

Feeling and covering the body with awareness.

Allowing the body to rest within awareness.

Allowing it to sink into the embrace of awareness.

Feeling the movement of breath now.

Effortless,

Natural breath.

Just gently moving in and out of the body.

Just observing how the body is being breathed.

Just noticing that beautiful effortless flow.

Receiving each breath.

While feeling the breath,

Flowing full awareness into the backs of the heels.

And only on your next inhalation will move awareness up over the back of the body,

Through the calves,

The hamstrings,

Backs of the hips,

The whole back,

Back of neck,

All the way into the crown of the head.

And only as you exhale you allow awareness to soften down the front of the body,

Over the face,

The throat,

The chest,

Belly,

Front of thighs,

Shin,

Toes,

All the way back towards the backs of heels.

Then the inhalation guides awareness and breath over the back of the body up into crown.

And the exhale softens the breath over the front of the body all the way down back into toes and backs of heels.

Following your natural breath.

Allowing the natural breath to guide awareness in this rotating motion over the body.

Inhalation ascending breath into crown.

Exhalation softening it down over the front.

Cycling the energy of breath over the body.

With each breath cycle,

You feel the energy within the body rise.

With each cycle you feel the potential of energy within the body expand.

Letting go of the breath as we feel into the whole body again.

Just noticing the radiance of your body.

Feeling into the back of the body again.

Noticing where the back of the body rests down on the ground beneath you.

Noticing the meeting points of your body with the ground.

What is the place within the body that feels heaviest?

Where you really feel the sense of weight most?

Can you get into that feeling of heaviness within this place?

Might be the backs of the hips or the back of the head.

Just notice what part of the body feels heaviest.

Really feeling into that.

And then allowing that feeling of heaviness to spread throughout the whole body.

Letting the whole body become heavier.

The whole body becoming heavy like a solid rock.

Sinking down into the ground.

Body becoming heavier and heavier.

Like the most heavy form of metal.

Like a rock sinking down through layers and layers of thick mud.

Body becoming so heavy.

And then notice the front of the body now.

And can you feel into what feels like the lightest point of the body?

Maybe it's the tip of the nose,

The tips of the fingers,

The tip of the chin.

Get completely into that feeling of lightness.

Spaciousness.

And allow that feeling of lightness now to spread through the whole body.

Letting the whole body feel light.

Becoming so so light as if the whole body is weightless.

Completely hollow body.

Feeling the body so light that it feels as if limbs are lifting off of the ground.

Starting to float into air with this weightless body.

Light as a feather dancing in the wind.

Whole body so light.

Now can you bring into awareness both this feeling of deep heaviness and lightness at the same time?

Releasing the need to analyze just sensing.

What is that like?

Inviting the sensations of heaviness and lightness both within your whole system.

Resting into these opposing qualities at once.

Aware of the whole body resting down again.

Whole body resting deeply.

Feel how every exhalation just moves through you like a wave of calm.

Each exhalation allowing the body to rest a little deeper.

Now flow awareness into the heart.

Feeling into the heart space.

What is it like to rest awareness into the space of the heart?

What's here?

What's present?

And while resting within the heart let's awaken the feeling of excitement within.

This feeling of boundless possibility.

Feelings of enthusiasm and joy.

Really a desire to jump in and experience the moment fully.

Awakening the feeling of excitement within the whole body.

Not just as a mental exercise but really this fully embodied experience.

Awakening excitement within.

What is it like to feel excitement?

Now awaken the feeling of apathy.

Where there's this dull sense of emptiness within.

Making it hard to care about anything.

When thoughts feel stagnant.

There's a lack of motivation or passion.

Leaving everything feeling meaningless or monotonous.

Awaken the feeling of apathy within.

As a bodily experience within every cell of you.

Now can you awaken both the feeling of excitement and apathy at the same time?

Welcoming excitement and apathy both within the body.

What is it like to experience both simultaneously?

And gently let that go.

Now feel the weight of the back of the head resting down.

And notice the feeling of a warm glowing hand touching the back of your head.

Your head resting down in this warm comfortable hand holding you here.

Can you surrender fully into that gentle hold of this warm hand?

Now feeling the weight of the shoulders resting down.

And notice that the shoulder blades are being supported by this warm glowing hand as well.

Glowing hands holding the shoulder blades and the back of the head as you fully surrender your weight into them.

Now notice the last warm glowing hand holding the weight of the backs of the hips.

Beautiful comfortable glowing hands holding the hips,

The shoulders and the back of the head.

Fully surrendering your weight into the support of these loving hands.

Feeling supported.

Feeling loved.

And reminding yourself that these hands of support are not coming from any place external.

Reminding yourself that you are holding yourself with these loving supporting hands.

Can you rest a little deeper into that knowing,

Into that loving support?

A full letting go into that loving support.

Resting deeply into it.

Feel the weight of the body again.

Noticing the space of the body within the space you are laying in.

Noticing the breath.

Gently allowing your breath to deepen again.

Bring your full awareness into your hands and your feet.

And allowing some very gentle mindful movements to resurface in the fingers and the toes.

Gently moving your head from left to right.

And then in your own time you can very slowly and gently with loving support bring yourself into laying on either side.

Left or right.

Closing this practice of yoga nidra together here.

Giving yourself the time to gently move out and into the rest of your day while just bringing a little bit of this restfulness into the rest of your day.

Thank you.

Reviews

Really beautiful practice although the voice was a bit muffled so I missed some words 🙏

True relaxation and body balance. I am so grateful for your beautifully guided yoga nidras🙏✨

Very restorative. Really enjoyed the visualisation of being held by the hands near the end. Thank you 💙

Thank you 😊🙏

So amazingly calming. I look forward to listening again. Peace and blessings to you.💜🙏💜

Great work with opposites and a lovely visualization. Thank you!

Beautifully restorative practice. Thank you and Blessings 🕊️💞

I really enjoyed your guiding. Thank you so much💜🙏

Stunning
😍

That was so necessary and thank you so much. Love your voice and you lead a perfect Nidra.

Your voice is like warm, dark liquid honey, so pleasant to listen to. The guidance is very gentle. Wonderful. I'll be back.

Thank You for this delightful nidra to end 2024!! Happy 2025!! 🎇