Yoga Nidra - Inhabiting Polarity

This Yoga Nidra practice takes you through an exploration of polarity, through opposing sensations and experiences. In this practice, you are invited to inhabit both ends of various spectrums and to find the space within your being to integrate and heal them.

Note: this practice uses Sankalpa (short, positively worded "I am ____" statements) as a way of restructuring limiting beliefs.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to your Yoganidra practice.

My name is Briana Morandi and it is my pleasure to guide you through your practice today.

Begin by taking the posture of Savasana,

Lying on your back,

With your arms at your sides and your palms turned up to face the sky.

Take any additional props or supports that you need to allow yourself to rest comfortably and to allow the body to settle now into stillness.

Now the practice of Yoganidra begins.

Beginning at the crown of your head and slowly moving your way through your entire body,

Begin to consciously soften.

Feel your body expanding and widening into the earth underneath you.

Feel every last trace of tension or gripping in your system starting to fall away.

And as you settle now into this more spacious inner landscape and a resting body,

Begin to breathe a little bit more deeply.

And slowly,

Breath by breath,

Feel that spaciousness continue to grow.

Feel yourself land more and more fully here in your body,

Lying comfortably and deeply supported on your mat.

Begin to turn your attention now to your heart,

Right in the center of your chest.

Begin to call in a feeling of gratitude,

One that begins from deep within the well of your heart and slowly starts to bloom outward,

Filling up your body in all directions,

Spilling over into the space of your mind and your heart.

And as you feel that gratitude growing deeper and wider,

Begin to call into your mind now your sun kalpa,

A short I am statement for a state or an experience that you are cultivating in your practice today.

And into that space of deep gratitude now,

Plant your sun kalpa three times.

And now turn your attention back into your physical body.

As you hear me name various points along your body,

Allow your attention and your awareness to settle into each one fully and completely.

And then move freely into the next point you hear called.

Filling on your right,

Right hand thumb,

Right index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And pinky finger,

The palm of your right hand,

The back of your right hand,

Your whole right hand,

Your whole right hand,

Your whole right hand,

Right forearm,

Upper arm,

And shoulder,

Right ribs,

Waist,

And hip,

Right upper leg,

Lower leg,

The top of your right foot,

Your right foot big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

And fifth toe,

The sole of your right foot,

Your whole right foot,

Your whole right foot,

Your whole right foot.

The whole right side of your body as one.

Moving to the left,

Left hand thumb,

Left index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Left pinky finger,

The palm of your left hand,

The back of your left hand,

Your whole left hand,

Your whole left hand,

Your whole left hand,

Left forearm,

Upper arm,

And shoulder,

Left ribs,

Waist,

And hip,

Left upper leg,

Lower leg,

The top of your left foot,

Left foot big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

And fifth toe,

The sole of your left foot,

Your whole left foot,

Your whole left foot,

Your whole left foot.

The whole left side of your body as one.

The backs of your heels,

Backs of your calves,

Backs of your thighs,

The back of your pelvis,

The whole length of your spine,

Shoulder blades,

The back of your neck,

The back of your skull,

The crown of your head,

Your forehead,

Left and right eyebrows,

Cheekbones,

The bridge of your nose,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

The tip of your chin,

And the tips of your ear lobes,

Collarbones,

The front of your throat,

The front of your chest and heart,

Your belly,

And your sit bones,

The whole body as one,

Your whole body as one,

Your whole entire body as one.

Turn your attention now to the very center of your heart,

The physical landmark of your energetic heart just to the right of your physical beating heart.

Even in that space of quiet and stillness,

See a tiny seed of light like one small glowing ember in the dark and start to notice the way each breath washing over that seed of light amplifies it,

Begins to grow it,

And breath by breath will wash over,

Adding a little bit more vibrancy with each one that goes by.

And for these next few moments,

Continue to come back to that seed of light right in the center of your heart over and over again.

As you continue to watch that seed of light grow,

Notice now as one thread begins to extend right down to a point just below your navel and it starts to connect with another seed of light.

And for these next few breaths,

Feel your breath move along that thread,

Navel to heart,

To navel.

And the next time your breath draws your attention down to the seed behind your navel,

Let that extend two more threads of light down the length of both legs,

Connecting with seeds of light right at the soles of both feet.

And for these next few moments now,

Breathe all along these threads from your navel down to the soles of both feet and right back up along those threads connecting back into your navel.

Wave by wave of breath,

Soles of your feet to your navel,

Navel to the soles of your feet.

And next time that your attention and your breath gather back into the point behind your navel,

Allow your attention to draw back up that line and thread of light to the space of your heart,

To that glowing ember right at the center of your heart that you began with.

And from that seed at the center of your heart now,

Watch as two more threads of light extend down each arm to connect with a seed of light in the palms of your hands.

Breathe now with your attention following these seeds of light and the threads that connect them from your heart to your palms and from your palms back to your heart.

And the next time that you return to your heart again,

Settle your attention for a few breaths back onto that core seed of light in the center of your heart.

And then watch as a fourth thread extends from that seed of light at the center of your heart through your throat and connects to a seed of light right at the center of your brain at your pineal gland.

And begin to breathe now along this thread of light,

Heart to pineal,

Pineal to heart.

And the next time that your attention returns again and your breath guides you back to your heart,

For a moment,

Settle your attention there once more and start to breathe into this whole constellation of points and threads of light.

Breathe into this vibrant,

Brilliant light.

Begin now to move into the imaginal space of your mind where anything is possible and any state can be cultivated through your attention.

Right from within the center of your body,

Start to feel a glowing warmth beginning to build.

And by moment,

Feel that warmth beginning to grow and radiate out through your body,

Through your bones and your muscles,

Through the fluid spaces of your body until it warms you right up to the edges of your skin.

And as that warmth continues to grow,

Feel it growing so strongly that it begins to radiate off of you and into the space around you,

Growing so warm that you feel the air around you and the whole room beginning to radiate and be filled by that warmth.

And now begin to feel that warmth starting to retreat,

To recall itself from the edges of the room,

To return from all corners as the air around you begins to cool.

And the warmth continues to retreat back into the center of your body.

You feel the edges of your skin growing colder.

And you begin to inhabit a state of cold,

Bone-deep cold.

Where even the air around you now grows still and quiet,

Crystallized and frozen.

And from the center of your being,

From the heart of your matter,

The core of your body,

Now you begin to thaw out.

You feel yourself start to equalize.

And the body settles back to a comfortable temperature as that frozen experience thaws itself out.

And you feel yourself resting comfortably.

Begin to feel your body growing heavier now.

As though someone were pouring sand over your body,

Beginning at your feet,

Pouring over your legs,

Your torso,

Your arms,

And nesting around the crown of your head.

You feel yourself grow so heavy that you can feel the impression your body is making on the earth underneath you.

And the strong imprint from the back of your head,

Down the length of your arms,

Your back,

Your pelvis,

And the back of your legs.

And now begin to feel that sand and that heaviness starting to pour off of you,

Releasing you from the grip of gravity and starting to inhabit a state of levity.

Where the body begins to grow lighter and lighter,

More and more diffuse.

Until you part with that impression you've made on the earth underneath you and you begin to float.

You experience this sense of lightness throughout your entire being.

Slowly now you feel your body drifting back towards the earth.

Slowly resting,

Being lovingly supported by the earth underneath you.

And yet open to the light and to the levity above you.

And you feel yourself now whole,

Balanced,

And integrated.

Allow yourself to move more fully into the imaginal space now.

Into the vast sea of consciousness where anything can manifest.

And anything can be called forth.

Feel yourself steady and settled and safe here.

And as you hear each image or sensation named,

Allow it to flash across the screen of your awareness.

Inhabit it completely.

And just as freely allow yourself to release from it and move on.

A tree canopy.

The smell of rain.

A winding road.

A blue apple.

A blue apple.

A blue apple.

The sound of glass breaking.

Waves lapping at a shoreline.

A cool breeze on your skin.

A herd of elephants.

A herd of elephants.

A herd of elephants.

The hands of a loved one.

The smell of coffee.

The feeling of a warm bath.

A seed breaking open.

A seed breaking open.

A seed breaking open.

As you watch that seed break open,

Zoom in with your mind's eye.

Feel yourself settle in at the center of that seed breaking open.

From its core,

You watch as streams of light emit in all directions.

You see yourself at the center of this seed that has broken open and you watch each of these threads of light.

And you notice that each one exists as a pair,

Moving in opposing directions.

And as you watch them spider out away from you,

You begin to feel yourself magnetically pulled by the seed opening on your left side and the thread of light emanating from it.

You begin to walk along that cord of light.

And as you trace its cord and you follow it out to its periphery,

You find a scene opens up.

A busy,

Hectic city street.

You find yourself amidst people moving in all directions.

Loud sounds from cars around you.

Bright lights.

And a scene of chaos begins to unfold as people hurry back and forth.

As traffic flows.

And you stand there,

The one still point amidst the chaos,

Observing all of that busyness going by.

You watch the hustle and the bustle.

You begin to feel yourself become saturated by that chaos.

Begin to observe the way that your nervous system responds to that intensity.

To the fullness of that chaotic scene.

And yet feel the still point inside of you still.

Even as your system grows saturated with the sights and sounds and smells and the feeling of this busy city street.

With one last look around,

You turn.

You begin to walk away from that scene.

You trace your way back into the center of that seed,

Broken open,

Along the cord of light that you followed.

You pass through center and you begin to follow the cord of light in opposition to where you came from.

And as you trace along this next cord of light,

A new scene opens up to you.

A vast field takes shape.

There seems to be no end to the horizon line in all directions.

It is still,

Empty,

Quiet.

Not another soul inhabits this place.

No creature is visible.

And you know yourself to be totally and completely alone here.

And you inhabit this stillness.

This quiet.

This emptiness.

You notice this space so empty that even your own thoughts have vacated this space.

As your system now grows acclimatized and saturated with this scene,

This complete,

Mundane,

Quiet.

You turn again and leave.

You trace your way back along the cord of light that brought you there and find yourself settled back into the center of that seed.

You turn now and follow another cord of light out from center.

You travel your way along it.

And as you reach its edge,

A new scene opens up to you.

This scene speaks to you of great pain,

Of deep longing and loss.

The scene may contain various images,

Sights,

Sounds,

And feelings.

But the sum total of the scene unfolding in front of you is that of heartbreak and pain.

You feel it saturate your heart and travel deep into the endings of your nerves.

And you witness this pain.

You respect and honor this pain.

And yet you feel steady and secure amidst this pain.

Once again,

You slowly turn.

You recede away from the scene you have found yourself in and you begin to trace the cord of light back into the center of the seed.

As you reach the center and the heart of that seed,

You begin to follow the cord in direct opposition to where you just were.

You travel now down the length of this cord and again,

As you arrive at the periphery,

A new scene opens up.

You find yourself faced with a scene of immense beauty unfolding in front of you.

Once again,

Various images will appear,

Sights and sounds.

What in front of you now is a feeling that cultivates and amounts to a total feeling of beauty and love.

You feel yourself moved by the beauty in front of you,

By the gestures of love and the creativity that you feel and inhabit in this space that unfolds in front of you now.

And yet as you witness it,

You hold no preference for this over any other state.

You allow yourself to be saturated by this beauty,

By the love you feel radiating through this space.

You feel your heart filled to the brim and the soothing and steady quality of your nervous system in this space.

You welcome it into you.

You honor and respect the beauty and the love.

Slowly you begin to turn away again and trace your way back along that cord of light until you arrive again at the center of the seed.

You see many more cords spiraling out in all directions,

Each one equally paired with an opposing direction to travel,

And you see yourself at the middle,

The heart of that seed broken open,

Witnessing each one of these pairs of cords.

You feel yourself grow still and quiet here,

And you recognize each one of these experiences,

The chaos and the mundane,

The beauty and the pain,

All as ways of journeying home to the still point,

The still point at the center of the dance,

The heart of your own matter in your lived experience.

You begin to feel this heart of your matter as the place in which all of these polarities weave themselves together to create the beauty and the richness that emanates from that seed,

Where you trust and honor all elements completely,

Holding preference for nothing,

Allowing and welcoming everything,

Honoring all of it as medicine and as teaching.

And you settle yourself here now,

Still,

Quiet,

Infinite.

You drift off into that infinity,

Trusting it completely as you trust the world of form.

You allow yourself to become saturated now with that infinity,

That timelessness,

Formlessness,

The wide open field of consciousness.

을 You You You You You You You You You You You From far out in that vast sea of consciousness Begin to call into the whole space of your being A deep and complete feeling of gratitude Feel every layer of yourself Physically,

Mentally,

Emotionally and energetically completely filled with that deep and pervasive sense of gratitude And into that space now recall again one pure thought As you plant your sun kalpa with conviction three times now Sun kalpa Sun kalpa Sun kalpa Sun kalpa Feel it ring out into that vast space of consciousness And as the reverberation from that conviction starts to dissipate Begin to call your attention back into your body This still and steady outer form of the body resting Allow yourself to remain in that stillness as you begin to feel the temperature of the room on your skin Begin to feel the heaviness and the weight of your body resting on the earth again Feel yourself supported by the props underneath you And with your eyes still closed sense the space around you Very gently now Beginning with just one fingertip and toe at a time Start to take a tiny little bit of movement Feel yourself starting to settle more heavily into your body as the movement wakes you And allows you to feel more solidly connected to this form again You can gently continue to wake your body up in whatever ways feel supportive and tender to you now The practice of yoga nidra is now complete Hari Om Tat Sat

Reviews

Love the holding of opposites in the attention and the visualizations. Some nidras skip these two, which I experience as the most effective parts. Thank you for a complete yoga nidra. 🙏🕊

So beautiful. What is the music? Thank you.

Such a beautiful journey in this Nidra! Thank you 🤗.

Another wonderful meditation 🙏

Absolutely beautiful, many thanks 💜