Experience Inner Serenity With Yoga Nidra

This is a live recording of a class during a New Moon. During this immersive session, you will be gently guided through a sequence of reclined practices designed to nourish your body, mind, and soul. Experience this meditative practice uncovering the deeper layers of your unconsciousness while setting your intentions,(i.e. sankalpa) to align with your inner serene self. While in deep rest, your attention and awareness actually increase. Not like resting in sleep, where awareness decreases and completely diminishes.

Experience moments of profound tranquility while harnessing the power of your mind to foster self-discovery and personal growth.

Props: blanket, eye covering, pillow.

Transcript

Welcome my name is Brenda and this is an inner serenity yoga nidra practice.

This class was previously recorded live during a live session and so it starts slightly somewhat in the middle without a ton of introductions.

You want to be in a space where you can go from seated to then fully recline all the way down.

This might be the floor on your yoga mat,

This might be your bed,

This might even be your couch.

As you start to transition to the lying down position there's going to be some some stretches before that as well just some light neck stretches and head rolls.

Once you come to lie down there's a little bit of stretching as well and then once you're fully reclined just have it handy near you maybe go grab it right now.

A blanket or a shawl to cover your entire body for full relaxation and even perhaps a light covering for your eyes.

It could be a scarf or a light towel and then the back of your head.

Since we are lying down for a good amount of time you might want to bring a folded blanket or a pillow.

Just make sure your pillow isn't too big so that your neck is out of alignment.

We want that neutral spine slight kind of curve in the back of our neck.

Chin is not too far up or too far down.

Enjoy this inner serenity yoga nidra and I'll see you soon.

And close your eyes and or look down to the floor with your eyes a little bit open if closing your eyes right now is not the space and time.

And before we change anything,

Alter anything,

I want you to visualize lighting a candle or a candle for yourself.

So lighting this candle in honor of yourself,

In honor of your soul,

Of your spirit,

Of your love,

Of your light,

Lightness and just visualizing this candle perhaps in front of you or just this gentle flame right at the mind's eye.

This gentle flame that represents you,

Represents your soul and your loveness,

Lovingness.

May this gentle flame be here with us,

Hold you in this space for the rest of the practice.

And then take a nice big breath in through the nose,

Let it out the mouth.

Again like that,

Big breath in through the nose,

Let it out the mouth.

This time as you inhale,

Reach your arms up overhead and stretch really long,

Really wide if you can,

Almost like you're reaching,

Reaching,

Reaching,

Tugging on some ropes up above you to get longer.

And now exhale,

Just lean over to any side,

Right or left side,

A gentle side stretch.

Maybe you're looking down,

Release the neck down.

Inhale,

Reaching back up and just a gentle side stretch to the other side.

It doesn't matter which side,

Just whichever one.

Then inhale,

Coming back up,

Reaching back up with both arms and then letting the arms fall gently by your side.

And then pick up any arm again or any hand.

You're just gonna do these gentle cobra rolls or what one of my teacher calls cobra rolls.

Just releasing the wrist up and down,

Up and down,

Just waving.

And then second side,

Cobra rolls,

Up and down,

Up and down.

You can keep the eyes closed and then let that fall.

Shrug the shoulders up towards your ears,

Roll them back and down.

And again like that,

Shoulders up towards your ears,

Back and down.

Up,

Back and down.

Now we're just reverse it up,

Forward and down,

Up,

Forward and down.

One more,

Up,

Forward and down.

Shake out the shoulders.

And then find some stillness with your shoulders.

Find your spine just nice and balanced.

So your head feels balanced over your torso,

Over your hips and gently start to tip your chin down.

So release the back of the neck for a moment.

Shoulders are broad.

Release one ear towards one shoulder.

Slowly tip the chin up and then roll the opposite ear to the opposite shoulder.

So we did just did a neck roll,

But I wanted to really move slow here.

Just noticing any little crinkles or any little tension that might be happening as you're slowly rolling your neck out.

These are really great for obviously your neck and you're releasing anything.

You can keep going in that same direction,

But also for our throat chakra or Vishuddha.

And just that space of communication.

Okay,

Now switch the other way.

Very slow,

Just really feeling any little sensations here.

Little crinkles,

Little sounds,

Little cracks.

Maybe one more in this direction.

Good.

And then slowly as you come back down to chin to chest,

Lift the chin back up,

Level your nose forward,

And maybe a couple shoulders again,

Chest or side to side,

Any other motions in the upper body.

Now let's make our way all the way down to recline for a couple stretches on our back.

And we're slowly starting to make our way towards that Nidra practice.

So as you come to lie down,

Just hug your knees into your chest,

Rock a little side to side to massage the low back.

And then keep your right knee into your chest and extend the left leg long and take a gentle twist.

Now,

Right knee up and over to the left and open the chest to the ceiling.

Open the arm.

Maybe you don't have a ton of space.

I can't really extend my right arm out.

So just a cactus shape or a half bent elbow.

Take a big breath in and out.

Perhaps just taking a moment to practice that visualization with a candle that you lit for yourself here.

Roll it back through to the center.

Hug both knees into your chest and then extend your right leg long.

Keep the left knee where it is.

Twist left knee up and over.

Keep the chest towards the ceiling.

Just a nice gentle twist.

And with these big breaths,

Moving in and out of your body,

Visualizing honoring yourself with your candle.

The visualization of the candle might stay within your mind's eye or it can move to a different body part like your side rib or your hip.

Then bring it back through to your center,

Hugging both knees into your chest.

Draw your nose up towards your knees,

Curling your neck forward,

Rounding yourself into a little ball.

Holding here for a moment.

Big breath in.

Squeeze everything into the midline and then big breath out.

Starting to extend your legs now.

Really wide.

Wider than your hips.

And I guess before you actually fully start to recline,

Maybe this is a time to get your props.

So if you need the blanket,

You can grab your blanket.

If you need your head pillow,

You can grab your head pillow.

If you need your eye cover,

Grab your eye cover.

As you're starting to make your way there in the fully reclined position,

Make yourself comfortable or as comfortable as you can.

Knowing that if you start to become uncomfortable,

You can always move,

Even if I'm not directing any body movements.

And making sure that your pillow or the covering underneath your head isn't taking your neck out of its neutral position.

So sometimes our pillows can be kind of big,

So your chin might be really far up or your chin might be kind of tucked in.

So we want that neutral position where the nose is straight up towards the ceiling,

Our chin is leveled,

And there's this light gap in the back of our neck away from the floor.

And as you are now there,

I'm hoping reclined,

Start to make little fists with your hands.

Just squeezing everything in,

Squeezing your fist.

And then exhale,

Release the palms and release the fists.

And then we'll pick another muscle group to do something similar.

So maybe squeeze and curl your toes up.

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze it very tight.

And then exhale,

Release.

Let's do that with our thighs and our glutes.

So squeeze your glutes,

Squeeze your thighs,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze.

And then exhale,

Release.

We'll do one final muscle group.

Let's squeeze and scrunch everything up in our face and our nose and our mouth and maybe even clench your jaw tight,

Tight,

Tight.

And then release and relax and let all of the muscles of your face,

Of your hands,

Your glutes,

Thighs,

Feet,

Belly,

Just gently start to melt or visualizing them melting towards the earth,

Towards the floor.

Feeling the sensation of the floor or the cushion,

Wherever you're lying,

Supporting you.

In some ways it has been lifted up to hold you.

And so let yourself be held here.

Begin to now observe and hear and tune in to the sounds around you.

Just very gently,

You're noticing sounds that might be a little far away from you.

Bouncing your awareness from sound to sound without necessarily pausing or analyzing it.

And then bounce your awareness from the sounds a little closer to you,

Maybe in your home or around you,

Little hums or little creaks.

Just gently bouncing from the various sounds around you.

And then gently start to notice the sounds closest to you,

Like the sound of your own breath.

What is a sound of an inhale and an exhale?

And seeing if there's any other sounds that you can bounce your awareness to.

Close,

Far,

Really close,

You.

We have now entered a little bit more of our inner world.

We'll start to practice body rotation.

And as we move through this technique,

If you lose me,

Don't feel like you need to make anything up.

Just come back to the sound of my voice and pick up wherever you are.

Bring your attention to the tips of your toes.

And imagine this golden healing light is entering through the tips of your toes and through the soles of your feet now,

The heels.

And this healing light wraps around your ankles and starts to move up your shins and to the back of your calves,

The tops of your knees,

The backs of your knees,

Moving slowly up to the tops of your thighs,

The front of your hips,

The back of your hips.

This golden light,

Healing light is moving to the back of your spine as it slowly makes his way up behind the belly button,

The mid back,

Between the shoulder blades,

Up to your shoulders,

Down slowly,

It moves to the upper arms,

The elbows,

Your forearms.

And this golden light wraps around your wrists,

Moves down to your thumbs,

Your index fingers,

Your middle finger,

Your ring finger,

And your pinky finger.

This healing light pools at the center of your palms,

Backs of your palms are light and then continuing moving up to the back of your neck,

The back of your head,

Top of your head,

Sides of your head,

Your forehead.

This healing light moves down your eyelids very softly.

The tops of your cheeks,

The bridge of your nose,

Your jawline relaxes as this healing light touches the tip of your chin,

The front of your throat,

The sides of your neck,

Relax the collarbones and down right at the center of your heart,

Your spiritual heart,

Right at the center of yourself.

And this healing light is now illuminated here,

Paused here,

Radiating all around you.

As you lightly have your attention and awareness here,

Slowly count backwards from the number 11.

And you'll count 11 inhales and 11 exhales.

If at any moment you lose your count,

You can start back at 11.

And if you finished before I have guided us,

Feel free to go back to the number 11.

Pausing wherever you are,

Moving now to the practice of rapid visualizations.

As I share different words or different images,

Notice what comes up at the screen of your mind,

Just letting the awareness bubble up and float away.

A burning candle,

Waves crashing,

A gentle breeze,

The rustling of leaves on a tree,

Birds flying over the sunset,

A lake,

The ripples in a lake,

An embrace or a hug,

A yellow taxicab,

A thunderstorm,

Sound of waves crashing,

Children playing,

The sound of your own laugh,

A golden egg,

A color purple,

That healing light,

The feeling of a laugh coming up into your mouth,

The experience of feeling content,

Sitting on a bench,

A pink elephant,

A full moon.

Once again,

Now come back to the space of your heart,

Perhaps where we can visualize where we left that healing light there.

And just once again,

See if you can start to count backwards from that number 11,

Slowly,

Very slowly counting the inhale and the exhale,

The inhale and the exhale.

Pausing wherever you are,

Start to practice now pairing of opposites,

Noticing opposite sensations.

As we go through various sensations or emotions,

Once again,

You can notice what comes up to the screen of your mind.

Feel your body getting very,

Very heavy.

The heels feel heavier.

The legs are heavy to the earth.

The arms are so heavy,

You can't,

Wouldn't even be able to pick them up.

The head is heavy.

Your eyelids are very heavy.

And then slowly invite this lightness to your body.

Almost feeling like your heels are lifting.

Your torso is light.

Your arms are feeling light as a feather.

And the back of the head feels like there's a gentle breeze right beneath you.

So light,

Light as a feather.

And then once again,

Ground down just very gently,

A grounding and heaviness that is brought from the nurturing of Mother Earth.

Grounding that feels supported,

At ease,

And rooted,

Rooted for your purpose,

Yourself.

Invite up that lightness again now,

The opposite,

Feeling light and lifted,

Easeful,

Free,

Content,

At ease,

So light.

Thoughts feel light.

Arms feel light.

Legs feel light.

Light as a feather.

And now gently find this really nice medium where you're grounded and heavy,

But with a light ease and freedom.

Bring the attention back to your heart space,

To that golden light.

Our healing light at the heart space.

And we'll move now towards our practice of long visualization now.

Feel the sensation of being on your back,

Lying down.

And now imagine looking up at a starry night.

The stars surround the sky,

Twinkling,

Glimmering.

You notice,

As you're looking,

A shooting star.

Without a doubt,

You make a wish,

Perhaps even recalling a wish you have set in the past,

Looking up at the stars.

And maybe you are living the manifestation of that dream right now.

Notice the spaciousness between each star,

And just imagine getting closer to the spaciousness,

To this vastness of the universe.

And now see if you can,

In this reclined position,

Just imagine that you have now lifted your head,

Lifted your torso,

And you're slightly now in a seat,

Looking around you into this landscape,

Into this space,

With the most beautiful color palette,

Easeful colors of pinks and blues,

Light colors surround you.

See if you can notice anything else in the landscape here.

Trees,

Perhaps,

Any animals around you,

Any body of water near you.

What type of sounds might be in this beautiful,

Serene landscape?

An embodiment of you surrounds you now,

That spaciousness,

Vastness.

Now you're further getting up.

You start to place your feet on the earth.

Imagine looking down,

Seeing your feet,

And what type of structure or landscape is beneath your feet?

Is it sand,

Grass,

Dirt,

A street?

Walking now,

Slowly,

Stepping out.

As you're walking further down this path,

You see a road.

You can either go right or left.

See which one you are moving towards that feels right for you in this moment.

As you're walking towards this place,

You now see a small,

Little fire flickering here,

Just enough to illuminate your path,

Illuminate you,

Illuminate your body,

And illuminate your intention.

This is your moment now to set your intention for yourself,

To honor yourself,

To take away with you,

And to set it here so that the universe can transform it and create it into your life.

You close your eyes,

Place your hands on your heart,

And with love,

You speak your intention in a whisper to the fire,

To yourself,

To the landscape around you,

The trees,

The animals,

The starry night,

The spaciousness between the stars,

And anything else that wants to listen to this intention from your heart.

Bowing down now,

You give thanks and gratitude from this space.

Now you're walking back down that path,

Down to the road,

Watching your feet once again,

Coming back to the seat and back to the reclined position where you looked up at that starry night,

Another shooting star,

And you're bringing that consciousness back into your physical body,

And you're bringing that consciousness back into the physical body here and now,

Remembering,

Visualizing the space you're in right now.

Bring the attention back to the space of your heart,

Where our healing light is,

Where we left it,

And one final time,

You will count backwards from the number 11,

And this time,

As you reach that final number of one,

You can let that practice go and just simmer here for a little longer in some quietness,

In some stillness,

Before I guide us out of our Nidra practice.

Slowly now,

Start to make a little bit of movement with your toes,

With your fingers,

Inviting a bigger breath in to your body.

Without too much movement or activity,

I just want you to remember or recall the feeling of your intention.

It might not be words just yet,

But just recall what that may have been or what came up.

You're feeling even more ready to move.

You can stretch up and long,

Widen your arms above you,

Maybe taking a yawn,

Widening the mouth.

You can slowly blink the eyes open,

Just taking your time to take in the room you're in,

Looking at the colors,

The different textures,

The different things that are in there.

If you're feeling ready,

You can maybe make your way up to jot a few things down on paper,

A journal.

Maybe this is where you take some time to even jot down the sensations or feelings of that intention.

Friday is our new moon,

And new moons are great time or energetic spheres or spaces for setting intentions.

So perhaps you have kind of a seedling of an idea or that intention had this feeling,

And then keep playing with it or keep it close to you as we get closer to Friday.