Yoga Nidra Shakti

Yoga Nidra is a practice of deep rest. There's absolutely nothing for you to do and it's impossible for you to do it wrong. Just be here to rest and give the body, mind, and spirit time for healing. This Yoga Nidra practice utilizes imagery from the Devi Mahatmya (Chandi Path) which tells one story of the Goddess, Yoga Nidra Shakti.

Transcript

Take your time to get as comfortable as possible.

There are no apologies needed to take as much time as you might need to be as comfortable as possible.

Now if you feel a need to move at all here,

If you need to just adjust something really quick or itch something or if your body is asking for a stretch through the arms or through the legs or to rock the head side to side or any kind of movement that feels right,

You can do that right now.

Feel free.

And then you may consider starting to settle in to a sense of stillness or perhaps you've already observed that stillness starting to fill the body.

What tends to happen for people is that there's this beautiful sense of stillness throughout the body because there's a knowing and an understanding that there's nothing that you have to do.

So the body doesn't even have to move.

The body doesn't have to do work except for the work that it knows how to do to sustain you.

So throughout this entire practice you can invite the stillness to deepen because you know that there's absolutely nothing at all that needs to be done.

And that being said,

At any point throughout this practice if you get a little nudge to move,

The first step is to just observe that nudge and you may find that as you observe it that it passes and you can remain still.

But sometimes that nudge remains,

It continues or it comes back up again.

So if that happens then please feel free to move however you need to move.

Perhaps you move into a completely new position,

That's perfectly fine,

And then you settle in again in that new position.

This is your practice.

Everything that I say is simply an invitation.

You can invite the stillness to deepen within the body right now,

Allowing the body to settle in for just a really lovely rest but knowing at any time if you should need to move you can.

There can be some awareness of the eyes and the eyelids.

There might be a nice sense of stillness within the eyelids.

That's different for everybody.

Sometimes it's a sleepy feeling,

Maybe it's a heaviness,

Maybe it's a sensation of the eyelids being nice and soft and gentle,

Maybe those muscles are relaxed.

Notice what it's like for you and know that if you would like to do this practice with your eyes open,

You sure can.

Whether your eyes are open or your eyes are closed now,

Just observe what it's like to have the sense of rest within the eyelids,

Those muscles around the eyes.

And what if you could invite that sensation to trickle down from the eyelids down through the rest of the body,

Trickling down through the rest of the head and the neck and the shoulders and both arms and hands and that sensation of rest through the chest and the upper back and the abdomen and the low back,

The entire spine really,

And down through the hips and the upper legs and the knees and the lower legs and the feet.

Inviting this sense of yoga nidra,

This sense of deep,

Deep rest to fill the entire body.

Observe the sounds happening around you and seeing what it's like to observe those sounds without having to do anything about them at all.

You don't have to change the sounds or figure them out or even wish that they were different.

What might it be like to simply and purely be with the sounds as they are?

Absolutely nothing to do,

No expectations.

It's impossible to do this practice wrong because this state of rest,

This state of yoga nidra is perfectly natural to you whether you know it or not.

You can pay attention to your body inhaling and exhaling and again there's nothing to do so there's no need to change anything about the breath.

You can observe it as it is,

These natural inhales and the natural exhales,

These cycles of breath.

The air coming in and the air going out.

Each cycle of breath an invitation to rest just a little bit deeper.

What if on each cycle of breath you could rest a little bit deeper,

The body could perhaps soften a bit more or melt into the surface beneath or with each cycle of breath the weight of the body could release onto the surface beneath a little bit more completely or the sense of deepening rest with each cycle of breath could be sensed in some other way or not at all.

And then just simply rest deeper and if you're unsure of whether or not you could rest deeper in this moment just say what if,

Well what if I could rest deeper,

What might it feel like or look like and then don't try to make anything happen.

There's absolutely nothing for you to do.

In fact do the least amount of doing you've ever done,

Try the least amount you've ever tried and just rest.

No expectations at all.

The next stage of the practice you'll bring your awareness around to different parts of the body.

I'll say a part of the body and you can bring your awareness there and whether the awareness is there in the way you think it will be or not it does not matter.

What you may find however is that as your awareness moves through the body the body will rest deeper and deeper.

And for the awareness moving through the body it may be as if the body is a dark evening sky almost like when you look up into the sky before the stars come out and there's just that ocean of dark.

And it's as if your awareness could place a star in the evening sky of the body creating a full constellation of the body.

Allow your imagination to just take you as you bring your awareness around starting with the awareness at the top of the head,

The very top of the head it's as if you could place a star of awareness in the dark evening sky of the body just right there at the top of the head.

It may be something you visualize or feel or just intend.

Then allowing the awareness to move down to the space between the eyebrows and placing a star of awareness there.

And down into the pit of the throat that place between the collar bones that pit of the throat right there there's a star of awareness resting deeper.

And into the right shoulder,

The right elbow,

And wrist,

The tip of the right hand thumb,

The index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And little finger.

Placing a star back into the right wrist and back up through the elbow and shoulder through the pit of the throat placing a star into the left shoulder,

Elbow,

Wrist,

Tip of the left hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And little finger,

The left wrist,

Elbow,

Shoulder,

The pit of the throat,

Center of the chest,

Right chest,

Left chest,

Center of the chest,

Navel,

Center of the pelvis,

Right hip,

Knee,

Ankle,

Tip of the right big toe,

Second toe,

Third,

Fourth,

And fifth,

A star in the right ankle,

Knee,

Knee,

And hip,

Center of the pelvis,

Left hip,

Knee,

Ankle,

Tip of the left big toe,

Second toe,

Third,

Fourth,

And fifth,

Left ankle,

Knee,

Hip,

A star shining through the hip,

And a star shining in the center of the pelvis,

A shining star in the navel,

A twinkling star in the center of the chest,

A star placed in the pit of the throat,

Space between the eyebrows,

And the top of the head,

And aware of all of these stars making up the constellation of the body on the ocean of the evening sky,

Imagining all of these stars making up the constellation of the body,

And what if those stars,

The entire constellation,

Could rest even deeper,

That the constellation could rest even deeper in the ocean of the evening sky.

This makes its way back to the breath,

The natural inhales and exhales,

Using the imagination,

Resting even deeper,

Imagining what it might be like if each inhale and each exhale could be felt moving through the nostrils.

Allow the awareness to be with each inhale and each exhale,

Just resting deeper,

Nothing to do,

Aware of the breath moving in and out through the nostrils.

Now imagine that you are feeling the breath moving in and out through the nostrils.

Now imagining what it might be like for each inhale and exhale to move through the eyes.

What if each inhale and exhale could move through the eyes,

The eyes resting deeper and deeper with each cycle of breath.

Next,

Aware of each inhale and exhale to move through the nostrils.

Next aware of each inhale and exhale moving up and down the arms,

The arms resting deeper and deeper with each cycle of breath.

Next,

Aware of each inhale and exhale to move through the nostrils.

And what if each inhale and exhale could move through the entire chest,

The chest resting deeper and deeper with each cycle of breath.

Feel,

Imagine,

Intend for the breath to move through the chest.

Next,

Aware of each inhale and exhale to move through the nostrils.

Each inhale and exhale moves through the space of the heart,

Resting deeper with each cycle of breath.

Next,

Aware of each inhale and exhale to move through the nostrils.

And allowing that awareness of the breath to be released and just resting deeper,

Floating in the ocean of deep rest,

Safe,

Safe to rest even deeper in that ocean of rest.

And just simply observe what may come from hearing phrases or words,

Knowing there are no expectations at all,

Simply the willingness to observe.

Just observing what comes through the awareness when imagining a dark night,

Ancestors,

The world,

Sleep,

Radiant splendor.

A sword.

Beauty.

Protection.

A loving mother.

Feeling in the ocean of deep rest.

Feeling Yoganidra deep rest in the nostrils.

The eyes.

The mouth.

Deep rest in the arms.

Yoganidra filling the chest.

Yoganidra filling the heart.

Once this deep rest,

Filling all parts of the self,

Resting even deeper and even deeper and even deeper.

V cannon.

You Observe this state of rest the state of yoga nidra And starting now to ask Nidra Shakti to be removed from your eyes this process of bringing this practice to a close Is a very slow and gradual one?

First step is to just notice your body breathing Be aware of your inhales and your exhales aware that you're starting to breathe This practice to a close nidra Shakti Starts to make her way off of your eyes And you may allow your breath to remain natural and gentle or you may Lengthen or deepen your inhales and exhales Either way,

There's this awareness of starting to come up toward the surface Taking that first step toward wakefulness you Next be aware of the sounds happening around you Be aware of the sounds happening around you Be aware of the sounds happening around you as if those sounds could move through the mind sweeping out any sort of cobwebs that may be there bringing a sense of wakefulness of coming even closer to the surface And then be aware of the body be aware of your body resting right here and right now resting here on this surface In this nidra nest supported in this particular way And perhaps starting to bring some movement into the body like wiggling toes or wiggling fingers Or maybe rocking the head side to side Or really any kind of movement that feels nice after a rest that might be Circling the ankles or the wrists or even stretching long through the arms or the legs There's this awareness of the body whether the body is moving or not But through this awareness of the body there's an awareness of coming up toward the surface even more Then you make your way over onto your side If you're not already on your side if you're reclining on your back you can make your way onto your side whichever one whichever one feels right And you just pause there and be aware of the sounds happening around you And you just pause there for a moment settling into that stillness again in this new position if you've moved into a new position And then staying as calm and restful as possible you can slowly begin to make your way up to a seat facing the front of your mat Take your time making your way up to a seat there's absolutely no rush at all Taking your time making your way up to a seat facing the front of your mat Letting your eyes close again perhaps if the eyes opened Just sitting in the way that is the most comfortable for you Once you've made your way to a seat just taking a moment to observe,

Observe the state of your mind does it feel calm,

Sleepy,

Awake,

Grounded,

Peaceful,

Something else Be aware of sensations within the body just noticing how the body feels without judging And you can bring your hands together and start to rub your hands together and bring the hands up over the eyes The hands can remain still over the eyes or it may feel right to massage or just simply touch your face,

Your head,

Your neck,

Your shoulders,

Do what feels right And the hands can come back up over the eyes if they're not there already Keep the hands up and allow your eyes to blink open just giving the eyes an opportunity to just take in a little bit of the light And the eyes remain open but maybe only halfway like a soft gentle gaze The eyes remain open and hands can come down And this practice is complete

Reviews

Amazing practice! Thoroughly enjoyed it and much needed! :-)