Yoga Nidra | Slow Down
Yoga Nidra means "yogic sleep" in which we explore our inner wisdom by being guided through the awareness of our 5 koshas (or layers of our being). Grab some blankets and pillows, lay down, and tune into your inner truth through this deeply restorative, guided meditation.
Transcript
Hello and welcome to your yoga nidra practice.
My name is Ashley St.
John.
I'll be guiding you wherever and whenever you are.
Before we dive into what yoga nidra is,
I encourage you to find a comfortable place.
Set up your space.
Perhaps lay down in your bed,
Or if you'd like you can lay down on your yoga mat.
Try to lie all the way down on your back.
Try to make yourself really comfortable by draping a blanket over your body,
Placing a pillow under your head,
Or under your knees,
Or under your feet.
Gather whatever props you need,
Settle down and get comfortable.
If you'd like you can tune into some very soft,
Slow,
And ambient music.
When you're all settled in,
Just take a few moments to soften and relax even more.
Perhaps take just a minute to adjust any props that you have,
Your pillows or your blankets.
Try making any movements or adjustments in your body now in order to find deeper stillness.
Perhaps stretch through your fingers and your toes.
Move any clothing around in order to create a more restful place.
Allow your legs to extend out long.
Allow your feet to rest outwards and your arms to rest down alongside your body.
Gently allow your eyelids to close.
With your eyes closed,
Soften your gaze outwards towards your temples so your eyes can relax as well.
Soften the space between your eyebrows.
Sink your whole body down into your mat.
Soften through the front side of your body.
Allow yourself deeper connection to your body and your mind by trying to remain still.
Relax through your ankles,
Your knees,
Your hips,
Your belly,
Your wrists and your shoulders,
Your jaw and your eyes.
Continue to relax deeply here.
Settle in.
The practice of yoga nidra means to be present mentally while your body is at ease.
Yoga nidra means yogic sleep.
This practice allows you to find a restorative space so you can experience your deep intuition,
Wisdom and explore your inner truth.
As you continue in your practice,
Try to keep your mind aware and your body soft and restful,
But know that it's quite common to fall in and out of sleep.
Just know that it's okay if this happens to you today.
The rest that your body gets in your nidra practice can be deeply healing,
Deeply restorative.
Don't worry about having to control or force anything.
Just simply try to work on allowing your mind to stay aware as your body relaxes deeply.
Be confident in knowing that whatever unfolds in your practice today will be unique and perfect for you.
Your practice of yoga nidra begins now.
Relax your body even more.
Soften down.
Imagine your breath as an ocean wave.
On your next inhale,
Fill your belly,
Fill your lungs,
Your upper chest.
Come to the very top of your breath.
Imagine sending it all the way to the crown of your head.
As you exhale,
Imagine like an ocean wave,
Allow your exhale to wash back down your body,
Down your throat,
Your lungs,
To your belly.
Imagine sending your breath even further now down to your toes.
Once you slowly release that exhale,
Inhale,
Fill back up.
Allow the wave to come back up your body.
Bring it to the crown of your head.
Exhale,
Imagine this ocean wave breath washing back down your body.
Follow the pace of your own breath.
Inhale to fill up.
Exhale to release the wave back down your body.
Take a few more mindful breaths just like this.
Inhale to rise.
Exhale to fall.
Let it wash back down.
As you continue to breathe,
Allow your breath to rise and fall this time without needing to pay too much attention,
Without needing to change or mold it into anything than what it is.
It's now time to set your sankalpa for your practice.
Your sankalpa is a positive present tense statement.
It begins with the words,
I am.
Your sankalpa is a phrase that helps you shift a limiting belief into one that is liberating.
So begin to search now for your sankalpa.
It may rise right away or perhaps you're already working on one.
Either way,
Let it rise for you here.
And if you'd like a few suggestions to work with,
I'll name a few for you to try.
And as I name them,
Notice how they feel,
What energy resonates from them.
For example,
If you're working through challenges in your life,
Your sankalpa could be,
I am capable.
I am strong.
I am forgiving.
If you're experiencing fear or doubt,
Try,
I am safe.
Or I am growing.
If you're struggling to overcome physical or emotional obstacles,
You could try,
I am healing.
I am enough.
Or I am loved.
Your sankalpa is a powerful seed that can be used as a tool of transformation and healing.
Repeat it to yourself now three times.
And imagine planting it deep in the center of your chest.
We move first to anamaya kosha.
This is the layer of your physical body.
You do this by practicing rotation of consciousness through your physical body.
The body scan.
As the body part is named,
Try to bring your full awareness to that place.
Once another place is named,
Move on.
If you notice yourself drifting off,
It's perfectly fine.
You don't have to redo anything.
Simply return and begin again with the guidance when you're ready.
Begin by noticing the space in the center of your chest.
Feel the space in the center of your chest.
Now send your awareness to your right hand.
Notice the space in your right thumb.
Now notice the space in your right index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Pinky finger.
The palm of your right hand.
Back of your right hand.
Your right wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Right shoulder.
Feel the space under your right shoulder and allow your awareness to weave down the right side of your ribs.
Waistline and your right hip.
Send your awareness to your right thigh.
Knee.
Lower right leg.
Ankle.
Heel.
The sole of your right foot.
The top of your right foot.
And all five toes on your right foot.
Observe the space now on the whole right side of your body.
Fill the entire right side of your body with your awareness.
Your whole right side.
Now shift your awareness to your left hand and notice the space in your left thumb.
Send your awareness to your left index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Pinky finger.
The palm of your left hand.
The back of your left hand.
Your left wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Your left shoulder.
Send your awareness under your left shoulder and allow your awareness to weave down the left side of your ribs to your waistline to your left hip.
Feel your left thigh.
Knee.
Lower leg.
Left ankle.
Heel.
The sole of your left foot.
The top of your left foot.
All five toes of your left foot.
Draw your awareness now to the entire left side of your body.
Notice the space in the whole left side of your body.
Your whole left side filled with your awareness.
Now begin to move your awareness and your focus through the back plane of your body beginning with the soles of your feet.
Feel both soles of your feet.
Send your awareness and your focus to the backs of your heels,
Your calves,
Backs of both knees,
Both sets of hamstrings,
Both hips,
The back of your pelvis,
Your glutes.
Notice the space in your low back.
Middle back.
Your upper back.
Feel your shoulder blades.
Then send your awareness to the curve of your neck,
The back of your head,
And the crown of your head.
Observe and feel your forehead,
Your eyebrows,
Your brow center,
Both eyes together.
Begin sending your awareness down your face through the bridge of your nose,
Your whole nose,
Your lips,
Your whole mouth,
Your chin,
Your jaw,
Your ears together filled with your awareness.
Now allow your awareness to travel down your throat.
Feel your whole throat through your awareness and then move your awareness into the center of your chest.
Feel your lungs,
Your heart,
Your entire ribcage.
Send your awareness to the middle of your upper abdominal area,
Into your low belly,
Into your whole pelvic floor.
Observe and feel the front of each thigh,
Both of your kneecaps and your shins.
Feel the tops of your feet and all ten toes.
Feel the whole entire right side of your body,
The whole entire left side of your body,
The back plane of your body,
The front plane of your body.
For now,
Your whole entire body is filled with your focus,
With your awareness.
Feel your whole body,
Whole body connected,
Your whole body aware.
If you've drifted,
You can choose to come back now and move to the second kosha,
Second of five.
This is called pranamaya kosha,
Your energy body.
By shifting your focus now from your body to your breath,
Start to connect to your energy.
Take a mindful breath,
Use your inhale as a tool to deepen your focus on your breath.
Exhale,
Let that breath go.
Begin to deepen through your breath now.
Without moving or touching your nose,
Come into a variation of nadi shodhanam.
Imagine drawing in your air through only your right nostril.
Focus on that space and then as you slowly exhale,
Release your exhale out through your left nostril.
This time as you inhale,
Draw in your air through your left nostril.
Exhale,
Send it out your right nostril.
Inhale through your right.
Exhale through your left.
Inhale through your left.
Exhale through your right.
Take a couple more just like this.
Try to slow and lengthen your breath.
Inhale through your right.
Exhale through your left.
Inhale through your left.
Exhale through your right.
On your next inhale,
Fill yourself up.
As you exhale,
Allow your breath to wash down your whole body.
Bring your focus now to the center of your chest as you begin to breathe deeply and connect to the space in the center of your chest.
Notice where your breath connects within you,
Where you feel it,
Where your energy flows.
Continue to relax your body deeply.
Continue to keep your mind aware.
With your focus on the center of your chest,
Allow your awareness to rest here as we move to Mano Maya Kosha.
Your body,
Thoughts,
And emotions.
Notice the space in the center of your chest,
This neutral space.
Then begin to allow the feeling of stress to rise.
First in the center of your chest,
Hold this feeling of stress here.
Notice if you feel it anywhere else though.
What sensations rise when you allow yourself to feel stressed in this contained,
Safe space?
What can you observe about feeling stressed?
Let that go and move now to what it's like to experience the feeling of being relaxed.
What does relaxation create within you?
Simply observe what it's like to feel relaxed.
Now move back to feeling stressed.
Observe here.
Add in the feeling now of being relaxed.
Hold stress and relaxation together.
These two opposites that make a whole.
Hold them both.
Now let them both go.
Return back to your neutral space.
Let yourself now experience what it's like,
What it's like to feel sad.
It's connected to feeling sad.
You observe when you're sad.
Gently let that go and move now to joy.
What do you find within when you feel joy?
Simply observe joy.
Now move back to sad.
Let yourself feel it.
Add in joy.
Hold them both together now,
Sad and joy.
Connect these opposites.
Hold them both together.
Let them both go.
Return back to your neutral space.
From your neutral space allow your awareness to envelop your whole body.
Feel your whole body,
Physical,
Energetic,
Thoughts and emotions connected now.
Your whole body connected.
Now we'll explore our insight body,
Vinanamaya kosha.
So begin with rapid visualization.
With your eyes closed,
Allow yourself to see each image in your mind's eye.
Let each image go as it's time to move on to the next.
Allow yourself to see a dark sky.
Clouds covering the bright moon.
Fresh linen sheets on a bed.
Sunlight trickling through a window.
A tiny creek of water flowing.
A baseball field.
A large snow covered hill.
A warm,
Thick winter coat.
Imagine yourself now wearing this warm,
Thick winter coat.
Feel its warmth and comfort.
In your mind's eye imagine looking up from this winter coat and finding yourself standing on a large hill that is blanketed with white,
Bright,
Thick snow.
See the snow beneath your feet.
Perhaps feel its crunch.
Allow yourself to gaze up at the sky above you.
What color is it?
Is it cloudy or clear?
As you gaze at the sky above you,
Notice snowflakes falling from the sky and landing softly onto your face and your warm winter coat.
The snow begins to fall more heavily now and the sky above begins to turn gray.
Slowly the soft snow has turned into a blizzard.
Though this blizzard is coming down around you,
You still feel safe and warm in your thick winter coat.
As you search around for shelter,
You notice a large forest of tall pine trees at the bottom of the hill of snow that you're standing on.
You walk down the hill towards the forest of deep green,
Tall pine trees.
Their needles dusted with snow.
Feel the snow crunch beneath your feet as you walk towards this forest.
Notice that you now see on the edge of the forest entry is a wolf.
Almost as if this wolf is waiting for you,
The wolf gazes at you,
Waiting for you to come closer.
What can you notice about this wolf?
What color is it?
How tall or small?
As you get closer to the wolf,
You notice the wolf enter the forest,
Gazing back at you as if they want you to come follow them,
As if the wolf wants to guide you somewhere.
You feel hopeful,
As if this wolf is taking you to a place you've been searching for.
You follow the wolf into the forest.
Once in the forest,
You feel sheltered from the blizzard you were once in.
The tall pine trees around you act like a safe roof,
Keeping you dry and safe from the struggle you were once in.
You notice you are now on a path beneath these trees.
The wolf up ahead still continues on as you continue to try and catch up.
As you walk down this path to catch up to the wolf,
Guiding you ahead,
You look around you,
Into the forest of trees that surround you.
What do you see?
What colors?
Do you see wildlife or other plants around you?
What can you notice about this forest?
What does this forest hold for you to observe?
As you continue to walk down this forest path,
Following your wolf,
You notice now a turtle,
A turtle in the middle of your path.
This turtle is in no hurry to get where he is going.
He simply walks,
Feeling each step beneath each foot.
You begin to slow down to walk with this turtle.
How big is this turtle on your path?
How does it feel to slow down and match this turtle's pace?
As you begin to walk slowly with the turtle on your path,
You see the wolf that has been guiding you has slowed also.
Though the wolf is still well ahead of you,
You now know that it's okay to slow down.
The wolf will match your pace as you match the turtles.
There is no rush.
Walking slowly,
Slower than you're used to,
You can now see more clearly what's around you.
The colors,
The animals,
Plants.
As you move along,
The beautiful and colorful these hues begin to captivate your attention.
Now,
What colors,
Animals,
Plants can you notice even more now that you've slowed down your pace?
Taken,
What's around you?
Notice down and see that the turtle has stopped and is now gazing into the forest at something in the distance off of the path that you're on.
Allow yourself to stop with the turtle now and notice that what the turtle is looking at is a giant ball of swirling colors in the distance,
Swirling together like ribbons intertwining one another.
Notice and observe these colors.
Does one stand out?
Feel through words or energy what this color is trying to communicate to you.
You gaze down at the turtle.
You now see that the turtle has moved on to continue down the path.
But in his place now is the wolf you've been following.
Your wolf gazing up at you with knowing and wise eyes.
For your wolf knows that it was not guiding you towards a specific destination.
What you need is right here.
Perhaps you just need to slow down and see it.
Perhaps the reminder that your wolf,
Your intuition and strength has no timeline but the present moment.
As you lean down,
You put your wolf's head into your hands and you see the wolf lift up one of its paws.
Underneath its paw is a tiny note.
You pick up the note in your hands and read what's written.
What's written is your sankalpa.
Repeat your sankalpa to yourself now three times.
This time knowing its truth as it pulses through you.
We move now finally to Anandamaya Kosha.
This is your layer or being of complete bliss.
Perhaps the simple feeling of connection.
Allow yourself to feel what's here for you.
You may choose to return with what you learned on your journey and know that what you find in your yoga nidra practice is entirely of your own creation.
It is a part of the wisdom found within you.
Your practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
Take a deep breath in and exhale softly.
Try that again but this time on your own allow your breath to sigh out loud through your mouth and release.
Take at least a few more breaths like this on your own in through your nose out through your mouth.
When you're ready,
Slide your left hand over your heart,
Your right hand over your belly.
Feel your breath all the way up and in.
Hold this time at the very top.
Exhale,
Sigh it out loud and release.
Hari Om Tat Sat.
All is truth.
All is reality.
All is good.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
Please take your time rising or allow yourself to drift off to sleep.
See you next time.
