Yoga Nidra: Flowers Of Loving Kindness

This yoga nidra combines the process of gradual relaxation with loving-kindness evoked by using positive thoughts, positive imagery, and positive feelings. Suitable for falling asleep or a period of luminous rest at any point during the day, it might help us cultivate a better relationship with our body, our mental experiences, and, eventually, all beings. (Includes a minute of complete silence before the ending bell)

Transcript

This Yoga Nidra practice is centered around tenderness and loving-kindness for ourselves and others,

And we evoke the experience of loving-kindness throughout our body and mind by using positive imagery,

Positive thoughts,

And positive feelings.

To begin the actual practice,

Find a comfortable stationary position.

You will most likely be in the supine position or something similar,

Where the posture can support profound states of relaxation,

And you can be still and stable.

First,

Take a few moments to quietly settle into the position and temporarily release all other concerns.

Now is the time to take care of our body and mind,

The time to cultivate inner well-being and profound relaxation.

Resting quietly generates a positive motivation for this guided practice.

For that,

Recall your highest spiritual or psychological aspirations,

Whether that's full awakening,

Complete liberation,

Profound transformation,

Healing,

Or something else.

Make these spiritual or psychological aspirations personal to yourself,

Pertinent in your own situation.

And having established them,

Then expand them to encompass the benefit of numerous sentient beings and the healing of the world.

Isn't it wonderful that through cultivating our own loving-kindness,

Including loving-kindness for ourselves,

We can affect the global interdependence in positive ways?

So in seeing how beautiful that is,

We can rest with these vast aspirations for practice.

Just being joyful about them.

At the same time,

You can also gently bring to mind the more immediate goals for this practice.

For example,

You can think about what specifically in your body and mind needs soothing or healing right now.

Goals associated with that are also deeply meaningful.

With these aspirations,

With this motivation as our basis,

We gently bring our awareness to the body.

Instead of perceiving the body as a fixed,

Concrete,

Heavy thing,

Think of it as a network of vibrant energy.

Some aspects of this network might carry tension or pain,

And in other parts,

The energy or prana is flowing freely and smoothly.

All of that is manifesting in our experience as tactile sensations primarily,

And we will be attending to these tactile sensations for a short while,

In order to allow the body to relax.

First notice the stability associated with the element of earth.

The stability and stillness of the ground.

We are noticing these sensations with loving,

Tender attention,

Affectionately.

To create a safe space for this practice,

We can imagine ourselves resting in the middle of a beautiful water lily or a lotus flower,

Or any other flower that we prefer.

Alternatively,

We can also see ourselves resting on a very large round cushion that glows softly like the moon.

The flower,

Or the moon disc that we are resting on,

Provides a safe container for our practice and serves as a source of tenderness for our body and mind.

A source of affectionate,

Loving connection.

From the stability of the earth element,

Let's move our awareness to the stillness of the body.

The body is breathing,

The heart is beating,

But at the same time there is an element of perpetual stillness associated with the space itself,

The immutable space that everything abides in.

So with each out-breath we connect to that spacious,

Restful stillness more deeply,

Relaxing into it,

Breathing naturally and letting go.

From this stillness we switch to a gentle body scan.

In this case,

Body scan for the purpose of relaxation.

When we attend to a specific body part,

Our awareness is full of tenderness.

Think of how you would hold a newborn baby,

Or a kitten,

Or a puppy.

The same quality of gentle support,

Affectionate attention,

Is what we now bring to each body part,

Beginning with our right foot.

So noticing sensations,

Releasing tension,

And expressing tenderness towards our right foot.

Then our right ankle.

Our right knee.

Our right thigh.

Our right hip.

Then moving down to our left foot,

Noticing,

Releasing,

And attending with tenderness.

Then our left ankle.

Our left knee.

Our left thigh.

Our left hip.

Then tenderly attending to our pelvic floor and whatever sensations we notice there.

Then bringing our awareness to our abdomen.

To our navel area.

And to our chest.

Then gently attending to our right shoulder.

Our right arm.

Our right elbow.

Our right hand.

And so holding our right hand in tender,

Loving,

Appreciative awareness.

And then bringing our gentle awareness to the left shoulder.

Our left arm.

Our left elbow.

Our left hand.

Tenderly resting with our left hand.

And then coming back to our chest and the area around the heart.

Bringing awareness to our upper back.

Both of our shoulders together.

The back of our neck.

Our throat.

Our crown.

Our face.

Our eyebrows.

Our eyes.

Our nose.

Our tongue.

And our jaws.

And so for a few moments just resting with an awareness of the entire body.

The body is still and relaxed,

But the physical energy is still moving.

Our heart is beating,

Our breath is flowing.

And we're not controlling the breath,

Simply allowing it to move naturally.

And now let's use our imagination a little bit and invite loving kindness.

A wish for happiness and the causes of happiness.

And we first invoke loving kindness for the body itself.

Wishing it comfort,

Health,

And well-being.

And so using our creative powers,

We imagine that from the starry sky above us,

A rain of beautiful flowers falls all over our body.

Each flower conveying the intention of loving kindness.

The wish for greater well-being.

And so while resting with this gentle rain of flowers and flower petals,

We can think if there's any sickness in our body or any discomfort or any type of chronic tension.

Just here we can imagine the flowers dissolving into those body parts and soothing the entire network of the body.

This whole bandwidth of energy that we call our body.

And so we're allowing ourselves to rest under this beautiful,

Refreshing rain of flowers.

Resting in kindness for our own body.

And to strengthen this kindness,

We will once again go through the body parts in brief,

Creating gentle loving intentions.

Such as,

May my head be well.

And then moving down.

May my neck be well.

May my lungs be well.

May my heart be well.

May my arms be well.

May my hands be well.

May my tummy be well.

May my hips be well.

May my legs be well.

May my feet be well.

Rest in this tender,

Somatic awareness for a short while,

Attending to the body.

And then we gently switch the focus to our mind and our mental experiences.

Our feelings,

Our emotions,

Our thoughts,

Our dreams,

Our memories.

May we be well and happy.

As we rest in this wish and allow it to envelop our entire being with each breath,

We also allow the rain of flowers and flower petals to gently fall again.

This time,

This rain is illuminating all the aspects of our inner life.

Healing and soothing all that needs to be healed and soothed.

Filling us with the energy of loving kindness and fueling our long-lasting aspirations for well-being,

For genuine flourishing.

May we be well and happy.

May we be happy and have the causes of happiness.

As we rest in this aspiration for our own genuine well-being,

We can expand our mind and allow the same love to freely flow towards others.

It first reaches those who are close to us physically or geographically,

Manifesting in our imagination as a gentle whirlwind of flower petals coming from our heart,

Our body,

And the flower or the moon disc that we're resting on.

And when these petals that symbolize loving kindness touch others,

They plant the seeds of long-lasting well-being,

Genuine well-being.

Awakening our own basic goodness and the basic goodness of others.

Creating positive interdependence that would support healing,

Reconciliation,

Wisdom,

Compassion.

And well-being and flourishing for all,

And not just the select few.

And then these flowers and these flower petals extend limitlessly to all beings,

Filling the entire universe with a luminous dance of beautiful fragrant flowers,

A beautiful dance of loving kindness and compassion,

A beautiful dance of loving kindness and affection.

May we all be well and happy.

May we all be well and happy.

May we all be well and happy.

Now let go of the aspiration for some time and allow the mind to rest in awareness without any reference points,

Without any objects of interest,

Simply radiant and clear,

Holding its own ground.

And then we bring this awareness back to our body and mind,

Noticing our breath as it's gently rocking us to sleep if we choose to sleep,

Or brings us freshness if we plan to return to activity after this practice.

Either way,

We are surrounded by the energy of loving kindness,

We're full of loving kindness,

And we're ready to extend it to any beings we encounter,

While also maintaining kindness and care for ourselves.

And warm and soothing.

If you're choosing to go to sleep now,

Allow the breath to help you relax deeply and just let go,

Keep letting go until you fall asleep.

If not,

Rest for as long as you need before gradually waking your body up.

Either way,

We're resting with the energy of loving kindness.

Resting and resting for as long as we need.

Reviews

A favorite. Hey, could you remove the end chime? I like this for sleep and it wakes me up :)

This has been one of my favorite loving kindness meditations. The instruction is so calming. For me, the connection between myself and the rest of the universe and beings is substantial.

Amazing.. So soothing. I’m feeling good.
My heartfelt thanks. 🙏🏻🪷☯️

Combining the deep relaxation of yoga Nidra with loving kindness meditation. Wonderful, thank you.🙏🏽✨💗

A lovely Nidra, haven’t done one in a while and much needed, thank you.

Loved it, thank you

I love the attention to loving heal all parts of body, and the Metta dimensions. Also, the almost visceral symbolic imagery of flowers as loving healing. 🙏 Just what I needed! Thank you.

Poeerful and poetic way to integrate one’s spiritual purpose into practice. Thank you 🙏🏾

Incredible nidra meditation. Thank you so very much for this wonderful experience.

Lovely practice thank you 🙏🏽 💜

One of the best guided Nidra I've experienced.

I love those flower meditations!

Very calming and healing. Thank you 😊

No words. A release of body, family, community, universe: kapow!

Lovely, thank you so kindly for thatloving kindness nidra session ❤🌠
Namaste 🙏🏼 🌺

Excellent and soothing.

Thank you for your guidance and loving kindness

Rain of mandarava flowers 🌺💗
Thank you, Venerable!

Delightful and refreshing. I appreciate the imagery and the emphasis on kindness

Thank you 🙏