To get ready for yoga nidra,
I invite you to lie down in shavasana,
Comfortably,
On your back.
In this position,
The body should be straight from head to toes,
Legs slightly apart,
Arms a little away from the body,
Palms facing up,
Receiving.
Adjust everything,
Your position,
Clothes and blanket,
Until you are as comfortable as possible.
Your body temperature will likely drop,
So make sure you won't be cold.
Now close your eyes,
Take a deep breath in,
And as you breathe out,
Feel yourself letting go.
Take a long,
Deep breath in,
And as you breathe out,
Feel the concerns and pressures of the day flow out of you,
Fading into the background.
Take another full and complete breath in,
And as you breathe out,
Feel calmness spreading throughout the body.
Now feel the breath calming down,
Becoming regular,
And returning to normal.
Become aware of your natural and normal breath,
The spontaneous,
Effortless breath.
Do not try to change the rhythm.
The breathing is natural,
Automatic,
No effort.
Keep watching each and every breath.
Feel the navel rising and falling slightly with every breath.
Follow the natural rhythm of your breath.
I now invite you to make your sankalpa,
Your resolution,
Your intention,
A short positive statement that articulates a heartfelt desire.
If you can't put it into words,
Then try visualizing it.
Sankalpa is a seed that you plant in your mind and grows in your daily life.
Please repeat your sankalpa three times with feeling.
In Yoga Nidra,
You simply need to follow my voice with attention.
And if you lose track,
Don't worry.
Just return to the practice.
When Yoga Nidra is over,
You will hear me say Hare Om Tat Sat to signify that the practice is over,
And then you will have the opportunity to repeat your sankalpa.
Now bring your awareness into the middle of the head and experience a warm current of light float down through the body from the middle of your head,
A constant flow of energy,
Of light.
Slide down through the neck to the right shoulder.
Continue down the right arm to the hand.
Turn around in the hand,
Back through the arm,
Up to the armpit,
Down the right side of the body,
Out through the leg,
The right leg,
All the way to the toes.
Turn back in,
In the foot,
And up the leg across the pelvis,
And glide down the left leg to the toes.
Turn around at the foot and come up the leg through the left side of the body,
All the way to the armpit.
Move down the left arm to the hand.
Come up the arm to the left shoulder,
Neck,
And up to the place you started.
Continue a few more rounds with as smooth a movement as possible.
Now experience the whole body,
The whole body lying there.
Become aware of the body lying on the floor and notice the contact between them,
The meeting points between the body and the floor.
Buttocks and floor,
Shoulder blades and floor,
Thighs and floor,
Calves and floor,
Hips and floor,
Heels and floor.
This whole plane of contact between the body and the floor.
It's not the body or the floor you experience,
But the meeting between them,
Neither one or the other,
Between the body and the floor.
Notice the force of gravity pulling your body down against the floor,
The whole weight of your body pressing down against the floor.
Imagine in your mind that the body is becoming very heavy.
Awaken the idea of heaviness in the body.
Slowly feel that the body is becoming heavier and heavier.
The head is becoming heavy.
The right palm is heavy.
The left palm is heavy.
Both arms and the shoulders are heavy.
The back is heavy.
The buttocks and the groin are heavy.
The right thigh is heavy.
The left thigh is heavy.
Both kneecaps,
Heavy.
Both legs,
Heavy.
Both arms are heavy.
The whole head is heavy.
The eyes are heavy.
The lips are heavy.
The whole body is heavy.
Intensify the feeling of heaviness,
Then gradually relax.
Now feel the whole body becoming lighter and lighter.
The head is light,
So light that it can even rise from the floor.
The right and left palms are becoming lighter.
Both arms and shoulders are light.
The right thigh is light.
The left thigh is light.
Both heels are light.
The whole body is light and weightless.
When your body becomes weightless,
You feel as if it is rising from the floor.
Now bring your attention to the breath in the nose and follow the natural and quiet breath through both nostrils,
In and out.
The body breathes all by itself,
Just as it does when you don't think about it.
Now feel as if you can breathe through just one nostril at a time,
The air flowing through alternate nostrils.
Don't change the rhythm of the breath,
But visualize the air entering one nostril and coming out of the other.
In through the other nostril and out the first.
Maintain awareness of the alternate nostril breathing.
If you become distracted and the mind wanders,
Just return to the practice as soon as you realize it.
Keep returning.
We now come to visualization.
A number of different things will be named.
Try to develop a vision of them on all levels with feeling,
Awareness,
Emotion,
Imagination as best as you can.
Allow them to come to you.
Burning candle,
Endless desert,
An Egyptian pyramid,
Torrential rain,
Snow-capped mountains,
A Greek temple at sunrise,
Birds flying across a sunset,
Red clouds drifting,
A cross above a church,
Stars at night,
A full moon,
A smiling Buddha,
Wind from the sea,
Waves breaking on an empty beach,
The restless sea,
The eternal restless sea,
Waves breaking on an empty beach.
Try to visualize your own body.
Imagine that you are viewing it from outside.
See your whole body,
Both legs,
Stomach and chest,
Arms.
See your blissful face.
See your whole body as an object,
A reflection in an imaginary mirror.
Or think,
How do I normally look when I look into a mirror?
Take a moment to reflect upon your sankalpa.
Repeat it three times.
Yoga Nidra is over.
Become aware of this physical body,
Of its position lying on the floor in Shavasana.
Listen to the sound.
Become aware of the space around you.
Then,
When you feel ready,
Move the body,
Have a little stretch if you like.
Open the eyes and sit up.
Take in your surroundings.
Aryong Thatsat.
Yoga Nidra is over.
