So welcome.
My name is Nola Bloom and this is Yoga Nidra.
The Sanctuary of Silence.
Tonight's practice is an invitation into deep stillness.
The kind that exists beneath every racing thought.
Every overstimulated moment.
Patiently waiting for you to return to it.
Somewhere.
Beneath all the noise.
There is a hush.
That has never once been disturbed.
A silence that isn't empty.
But full.
Waiting quietly for you to remember it.
So if your mind rarely stops,
If your days arrive through screens and voices and a hundred small demands,
This practice is exactly made for you.
Find your stillness now.
Lie down.
Get yourself comfortable,
Perhaps cushions underneath your knees or your hands.
Wherever comfort is asking for it.
And let your arms just fall naturally by your sides.
Feel the places where your body is meeting the surface beneath you.
Let that surface hold your full weight of the body.
Take a slow nourishing breath in.
And a long,
Easy breath out.
Let your jaw soften.
And your shoulders sink towards the earth.
There is nothing you need to do for this practice.
Other than follow the sound of my voice.
And rest into the silence that holds it.
Now imagine yourself walking along a quiet garden path.
The air is warm and still around you.
Tall hedges rise on either side.
Hushing every sound the world as you move deeper along the path.
And somewhere nearby,
A small bird calls once.
And then fall silent.
As though even the garden itself understands what this place is for.
A small wooden door rests within an ancient stone wall.
Worn smooth by hands you will never know.
A soft light glows faintly from the crack beneath it.
Warm and golden.
As though a lamp has been left burning just for you.
As you reach it.
The door easily opens beneath your hands.
And you step through.
The moment the door settles closed behind you.
Every last sound of the world outside.
Disappears entirely.
Not muffle.
Not distant.
Simply gone.
As though it was never truly there to begin with.
In its place.
A silence so deep and complete.
It feels almost like a presence of its own.
Older than memory.
Patient beyond counting.
Inside,
A single round room reveals itself slowly.
Softly lit by candles into the alcoves along the walls.
Their flames gently flickering.
The air smells faintly of beeswax and warm stone.
And something else.
Something you cannot quite name.
But you recognize all the same.
In the center of the silent room.
A low bed awaits you.
Layered deep with blankets and cushions,
The color of dusk.
It has the look of something that has rested here for a very long time.
Undisturbed.
Exactly as you find it now.
You walk towards it and lie down.
Sinking into the warmth beneath you.
Let your body soften into stillness here.
Resting fully into the surface beneath you.
In this quiet room.
That already feels like it belongs to you.
As you rest here.
In the quiet of this sanctuary.
Allow your sankalpa to arise.
Your heartfelt intention.
To guide your journey tonight.
May come as a word.
Feeling.
Or a felt sense.
Quietly rising from the heart.
And if nothing comes.
Gently repeat these words softly I rest in the stillness.
That has always been here.
Allow the words to move through your body three times over.
Every time.
Settling a little deeper into the heart.
Now feel a soft current of air.
Gently begin to stir in the room.
Like a single feather drifting along its own quiet path.
It finds you now.
Begins to travel softly through the body.
It grazes the crown of your head.
Faint and tingling.
Like the first breath of morning air.
It drifts across your forehead.
Brushes your temples.
Your cheek.
Your job.
Until your entire face rests still and easy.
It moves past your throat.
The current settles over your right shoulder.
Drifts down your upper arm.
Elbow Forearm.
Rest.
.
.
Until it settles into the palm of your right hand.
As though the light of the feather is coming to stillness.
And from there,
It spreads into each fingertip,
One by one.
And each finger growing quiet and still beneath that.
Now feel the whole right arm as one soft field of sensation,
Fully at rest.
Attention now moves to your left side.
Over your left shoulder.
Upper arm.
Elbow.
Forearm.
And rest.
Until it settles in the palm of your left hand.
Resting like warm light held gently in an open hand.
It moves through each finger.
Each finger settling into its own soft stillness.
Now feel your whole left arm easing into quiet stillness.
And the current drifts into your chest.
And settles there a moment.
Something loosens.
Softly,
Slowly.
The soft warmth begins to spread outward from your heart.
Filling the entire space of your chest.
From there,
It moves into your belly.
Your belly softens beneath it.
Gently rising and falling with a warmth of its own.
Settles into your hips.
And you feel your whole body sink a little further into the bed beneath you.
The gentle current now travels down your right leg.
And brushing your thigh.
Anchor until it reaches the sole of your right foot.
Resting there feather like.
And spreading into each and every toe.
Now feel your whole right leg.
It's a one.
Gentle field of sensation.
Attention now moves to your left leg.
Tracing through your thigh.
Your knee.
Ankle into the gathers of the sole of your left foot.
Resting there quietly.
And then easing outwards into each and every toe.
And feel your whole left leg.
Settling into its own deep ease.
Feel your whole body now.
Front and back.
Arms and legs.
Resting together in one still place.
Heavy and held.
Sensed all at once in the crown of your head.
To the soles of your feet.
One continuous field of sensation.
Silent from within.
Now feel your whole body growing heavy.
Heavy like warm stone resting deep in the hush of this silent room.
Sinking further into the bed beneath you.
Settled and complete.
As though gravity itself has grown kind.
Now feel the opposite.
Your whole body growing light.
Light as the candle's flames flickering softly along the walls.
Weightless.
Rising.
As though the room itself has begun to breathe you upward.
Now,
Heavy again.
Sinking deeper into rest.
Night again.
Rising soft and unbound.
Heavy and light.
Now sense both together.
Heavy and light.
Grounded and open.
Resting fully in the space between the two.
And let your attention now settle fully on your breath.
Watching the gentle rise and fall of the chest and belly Just feel how it moves on its own.
It rises softly.
And releases just as gently.
The way still water rises with no wind to disturb it.
You are simply present while it moves.
And breath arising.
And releasing entirely on its own.
Every inhale draws you into the silence of this sanctuary.
A little deeper into your body.
As though the room is breathing through you.
Slow and steady.
Every exhale.
Carries a little more of the outside world away.
Quietly dissolving into the candlelight.
And rest here.
The simple felt truth of the breath.
Now turn your attention more inward.
Towards the space.
The mind and emotion.
Where the thoughts live.
A thought may stir here.
Faint and passing.
Like a distant sound in another room.
Let it rise and let it settle on its own.
My feeling may come in the very same way.
Let it come.
Just let it soften.
Let it move through you with ease.
Welcomed in the way that this room welcomes everything that enters it.
Thoughts arise.
Your thoughts dissolve.
Feelings arise.
And feelings dissolve.
Notice how much quieter the space has grown since you first arrived.
What once moved.
Is settling now.
Into something closer to stillness.
Way the candlelight settles once the door has finally closed behind you.
And let the space between your thoughts grow wider.
Until what remains is almost quiet.
Mostly silence.
Spacious and open.
Deeper still.
Deeper than thoughts.
Deeper than emotion.
Sense the quiet presence that has been here all along.
It's been here long before you arrived.
Will remain long after you leave.
Does not speak in words.
Simply knows.
And rest here in this gentle knowing.
As a felt certainty resting quietly in your chest.
The way you'd know an old friend by their footsteps before you even see their face.
Let go now the room around you.
Candlelight.
The walls.
A quiet shape.
Simply dissolve.
What remains is simple.
A stillness so complete it holds no edges at all.
There is nothing to reach for here.
Only gentle rest.
In the sanctuary of silence.
And from this quiet place.
Let your sankalpa return.
And if no words arise,
Simply repeat.
I rest in stillness that has always been here.
Let the words settle once more in the heart.
Three times over.
And feel your sankalpa.
Being planted gently in the heart.
Begin to feel the edges of your body again.
The weight of the body against the surface beneath you.
And just watching the gentle rhythm of your breath.
Let your fingers stir a little.
And your toes.
Inviting small movements into the body.
Perhaps a gentle stretch.
Gently rolling over to one side.
And a quiet pause before you rise.
Carry the stillness with you as you move towards your day.
Gently opening the eyes.
Namaste
