Yoga Nidra 30 Minutes Practice

Yoga Nidra works with the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system regulates processes of the body that take place without a conscious effort (heartbeat, breathing, digestion and blood flow). This system also includes the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Yoga Nidra is equivalent to 8 hours of deep sleep.

Transcript

Hello,

This is Cristiane Machado and I'm very very honored to be here with you at this moment to connect and to practice Yoga Nidra.

Yoga Nidra is also known as Sleepy Yoga.

It is an amazing opportunity to give deep rest not only to your physical body but also to your nervous system.

Yoga Nidra is equivalent to 8 hours of sleep and you're going to prepare for it by finding the most comfortable position that you can muster for yourself.

I suggest that you lie down,

Maybe on your bed,

Maybe on your yoga mat,

Maybe bringing pillows underneath your knees to give yourself a sense of support where you can relax a little deeper,

Making sure that your head is comfortable and that this position that you are going to be in is sustainable for the next 30 to 40 minutes.

Make sure that your phone is not going to ring,

Make sure that any distractions that could get you out of the deep state of relaxation don't occur.

Once you establish your position,

I like to refer to this position as a nest,

Somewhere that you can feel safe and completely relaxed.

All you have to do is to be guided by the sound of my voice and whenever something either pops up as a thought or an inconvenience,

Just get back into taking a deep breath in and out and back to listening to the sound of my voice.

You will now get ready for Yoga Nidra.

You're going to lie down in the deep comfortable position,

Adjust your position so that you can be comfortable and still for the whole duration of this practice.

If required,

Adjust yourself finally.

Become aware of the weight of your physical body.

Your body is heavy and you let the floor,

The pillow,

The mat to hold your body.

Let it go.

Let your body sink into the floor,

Into the support.

You will bring your focus on your breath.

Take easy,

Relaxed and natural breaths.

Observe the breaths as they enter and leave your nostrils.

You will now bring your focus on your whole physical body,

From head to toe.

Focus on your whole body,

Your whole body.

Observe your whole body.

You are aware of the whole body,

The physical body from the head to toe,

Not just the awareness of your legs,

Arms,

Trunk,

Chest or head,

But the awareness of the whole body,

Awareness of the body as a whole,

Complete and constant awareness of its physicality.

Be aware that you are going to practice Yoga Nidra and say mentally to yourself,

I am aware I am going to practice Yoga Nidra.

I am aware.

I am going to practice Yoga Nidra.

Relaxation.

Relax your body.

Relax your mind.

You are completely relaxed by breathing normally and concentrating on the natural flow of the breath in your nostrils.

As you inhale,

Your abdomen is rising and as you exhale,

The abdomen is relaxing.

With each relaxation,

You allow your body to feel heavier and heavier.

With each exhalation,

Allow yourself to feel supported and profoundly relaxed.

Observe the breath as it passes through your nostrils.

Check if you are breathing more from the left or the right nostril.

Observe the flow of breath.

Enjoy your breath.

Easy,

Relaxed and calm breathing.

Keep focus on the practice.

Do not wander away and do your best to not fall asleep.

Sankalpa Now,

Think of a positive resolve,

A Sankalpa.

The Sankalpa will be simple,

Short and clear language.

That's your intention.

Why are you here?

Now repeat your Sankalpa to yourself mentally,

Three times.

Rotation of Consciousness Now we start to observe the element of the Earth throughout our body.

Earth element gives us heaviness,

Hardness and structure.

Bring your awareness to your feet.

Visualize and sense your feet.

And as you do so,

Observe the element of Earth in your feet.

Become aware of the element of Earth in the various tissues of your feet.

The skin,

The bones and the toenails.

Feel the heaviness of the Earth element within your feet.

You will now bring your awareness to your lower legs.

Visualize and sense the shape and position of your lower legs and observe the element of Earth.

Become aware of the element of Earth in the various tissues and feel the heaviness of the Earth element.

The skin of your calves,

On the front and the back.

Sensing the sensation of clothing on your lower legs.

You will now bring your awareness to your knees.

Visualize and sense the shape and position of your knees and observe the element of Earth.

Become aware of the element of Earth in the various tissues of your knees and feel the heaviness of the Earth element.

Bring your awareness to your thighs.

Visualize and sense the shape and position of your upper legs and observe the element of Earth.

Become aware of the element of Earth in the various tissues and feel the heaviness of your thighs,

Front and back.

Being supported,

Being relaxed.

Now it's time for you to bring your awareness to your pelvis.

Visualize and sense the shape and position of your pelvis and observe the element of Earth.

Become aware of the element of Earth in the various tissues of your pelvis.

Feel the heaviness of the pelvis being supported by the Earth.

Bring your awareness to your lower back.

Visualize and sense the shape and position of your lower back and observe the element of Earth.

Become aware of the element of Earth in the various tissues and feel the heaviness of the Earth element.

Feel the weight of your vertebra and how supported you feel.

Bring your awareness to your abdomen.

Visualize and sense the shape and position of your abdomen and observe the element of Earth.

Become aware of the element of Earth within your organs and observe the heaviness of the Earth element.

With every exhale,

You allow yourself to feel heavier and heavier.

Bring your awareness to your entire spine and observe the element of Earth in your spine and back.

Bring your awareness to your chest and observe the element of Earth in your chest as you become aware of the shape and weight of your ribcage.

Bring your awareness to your hands and observe the element of Earth in your hands.

Observe your right hand and your right pinky finger,

Your annular finger,

Your middle finger,

Your second middle finger,

And your thumb of your right hand.

You will now bring your awareness to your left hand,

Pinky finger of your left hand,

Annular finger,

Middle finger,

The indicator finger of your left hand,

And the thumb of your left hand.

Bring your awareness to your forearms,

Your wrists.

Bring your awareness to your upper arms and observe the element of Earth in the entirety of your both arms.

Observe the element of Earth in your shoulders and neck.

Observe the element of Earth in your head,

On your face,

On your jaws.

Observe the heaviness of your eyeballs inside of your skull.

Notice your tongue,

Relaxed and heavy inside of your mouth.

Observe the heaviness of your entire head,

Feeling supported by the Earth.

Imagine the body filled with the element of Earth.

Be aware of your physical body in its lying posture and nothing else.

Your body is perfectly steady and still like a rock.

Become aware of how solid and compact your whole body is,

Still like a statue.

Visualize your entire body filled with the element of Earth.

Visualize your limbs melting and see your body as one big piece of Earth element.

Experience the Earth element,

The physical presence and weight of the body,

The feeling of all the bones touching the ground,

The teeth in your mouth,

Your forehead and the skull.

Notice these experiences of solidness throughout your entire body.

And even if you were to try,

You would be unable to move any body part now.

Imagine the Earth element around the body.

You will now bring the focus of the Earth element outside of your body,

Everything that is solid outside of ourselves.

Start with the floor upon which you are lying,

Then expanding outward to visualize the room that you are in,

The furniture around you,

The light fixtures.

You will also visualize the door to this room and the rooms around this room.

You will also visualize the house or the building that this room is part of.

You will also visualize the neighborhood that this house or building is part of.

You will observe and notice in your mind the vehicles,

The roads,

The mountains,

Rocks,

Pebbles,

Soil,

The bodies of our other beings,

Trees,

Wild plants,

Animals and crops growing in the fields.

Do not start to think,

But just allow images and sounds to come to mind as you observe the element of Earth outside of your body,

Merging the inner and our outer Earth elements.

Everything solid within the body and everything solid externally is part of the same Earth element.

There is really not a me Earth element or other Earth element.

It is all the same.

Become aware of the inner and outer Earth merging.

Visualize the Earth element inside and outside of your whole self,

Joining and becoming one with the Earth.

Stay with this awareness of oneness,

Moving deeper and deeper.

Do your best to lose all sensations of your body.

Let go of all ideas that your body is separate from the world around you.

Now try to become your own witness.

Try to become your own witness.

Try to become your own witness.

Whisper to yourself,

I am not this physical body.

I am not these senses.

I am not this mind.

I am not this breath.

I am not these thoughts.

I am not these feelings.

I am not heaviness.

I am not pain.

I am not cold.

I am not this mind.

All of these are changeable.

And I am changeable.

I am Self with capital S.

You will now observe the Self with capital S for the next few minutes.

You will now bring your attention back to your breath.

Observe the movement of breath.

The amount of air that comes into your nostrils.

The amount of air that you exhale out of the body.

You will now repeat your sankalpa,

The resolve,

The intention that you set in the beginning of our Yoga Nidra practice.

And you're going to repeat that sankalpa to yourself mentally three times.

You will take a large breath that fills up your entire torso.

And you exhale,

Letting all go.

Take two more breaths like that.

The practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.

Very gently and slowly become aware of your surroundings.

Allowing some minute movement to come to your toes,

To your fingers.

Maybe moving your head side to side.

Maybe lifting the corners of your mouth into a smile.

A smile for yourself,

For practicing Yoga Nidra.

Gratitude for the earth that houses our physical body.

Gratitude for the practice itself.

Maybe you feel ready to stretch your arms above your head.

Pointing your toes into a full body stretch.

Opening up,

Awakening the body.

As if you're coming out of the deepest sleep you have ever experienced.

And once you're ready,

Little by little,

Start bringing the knees into your chest and you're going to find yourself on your favorite side into fetal position.

Giving yourself opportunity to rest for a moment into that position.

Once you are complete,

You're going to start pressing yourself up to seat,

Using your hands.

And if your eyes are closed,

Maybe keeping them that way until you find your seat.

Your Sukhasana,

Easy seat.

Once you arrive there,

Bringing the hands together into your chest and using your thumbs to elevate your heart.

And we're going to close this practice with the vibration of Aum,

Which is the very first sound ever spoken or heard in the Vedic traditions.

It is also a beautiful way to express our voice.

But feel free to vibrate on the Aum with me or be silent if you would like to do it but you have no idea of what to do.

It is an out-breath and sounds a lot like A,

O,

M,

And silence at the end.

We take a big inhale and exhale for ourselves and a big inhale for Aum.

We bow our heads towards our hearts,

Recognizing ourselves and one another.

Namaste.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to be with you in this practice of Yoga Nidra.

I hope you have enjoyed yourself and that you feel refreshed,

Clear,

And at ease.

Be well.