Trauma Informed Yoga Nidra To Soothe The Nervous System
This 30 min Trauma-informed Yoga Nidra Practice will gently and lovingly guide you through the different layers of yourself to access your pure essence while bringing awareness to repeating thoughts, beliefs, and patterns providing you the space to release them through your breath, through your body, and through your mind. This practice is taking special consideration about trauma awareness and situations that could be activating for the individual, therefore creating a safer cocoon where healing can occur.
Transcript
Welcome to our first Yoga Nidra together.
Let's get ready for our practice.
Begin by laying down with your back on the floor,
Your bed or your yoga mat.
Shavasana.
In this position the body is straight from head to toes,
The legs are slightly apart and the arms resting on each side of the body with your palms facing upwards.
Take a moment to adjust everything that needs adjustment to be a little bit more comfortable.
Your body,
Your position and even your clothing until you are completely at ease.
During Yoga Nidra there should be no physical movement.
You are invited to always keep your eyes closed until you are told to open them.
Take a deep breath and as you breathe out feel your worries and your fears wash away out of you.
Yoga Nidra takes our fragmented reality where we think we are in control and it integrates our awareness regulating our physical body's reaction to the sensory input that is coming in and defragments our perception of ourselves and the world.
In the following practice you will develop the feeling of deep relaxation in the body.
This might feel similar to the feeling you have just before falling asleep when relaxation becomes so deep that sleep could come but in this case you should try to keep yourself completely awake in the stages prior to falling asleep.
It is in this state that one can tap into our subconscious as well as the intuitive nature of the unconscious mind.
If you do fall asleep be gentle with yourself and come back to the practice.
When we fall asleep it usually means that the body is experiencing so much exhaustion that what it deeply needs is sleeping.
So also do not force yourself to stay awake if your body is asking you for something different.
During Yoga Nidra you are functioning on the levels of hearing and awareness and the only important thing is to follow my voice guiding you.
Try not to intellectualize or analyze the instructions as this will disturb your mental relaxation.
Simply follow the voice with total attention and feeling.
Any thoughts come to distract you from time to time do not worry just continue your practice allowing yourself to become calm and steady.
Now let's bring about a feeling of deep inner relaxation in the whole body.
Concentrating on the body and becoming aware of the importance of total stillness.
Developing the awareness of your body from the top of the head to the tips of the toes and mentally repeating the mantra OM.
In absolute stillness and complete awareness of the whole body repeat again Continue your awareness of the whole body the whole body the whole physical body and become aware of the fact that you are going to practice Yoga Nidra.
You can repeat mentally to yourself I am aware I am going to practice Yoga Nidra.
Repeat this to yourself a couple of times.
The practice of Yoga Nidra begins now.
Take a moment to bring about your intention for this practice.
An intention,
A resolve or a sankalpa.
This intention can be something very very simple and try to discover one naturally.
Let it come to you.
Let it come to your heart.
Let it come to your present awareness.
Let it be a short positive statement in a simple language and once it arrives to you state it three times with full awareness and feeling it deeply with your whole body.
This intention is bound to come true in your life as you let it flow through you in this practice.
We now begin becoming conscious of different parts of your body exploring your physicality.
You will be rotating your conscious focus through different parts of the body.
As quickly as possible the awareness is to go from part to part so repeat the part in your mind and simultaneously become aware of that part of the body.
Keep yourself alert without forcing it.
Become aware of the right hand,
Right hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of the right hand.
Become aware of your palm,
The back of the right hand,
The wrist,
The lower arm,
The right elbow,
The upper arm,
The shoulder,
The armpit,
The right waist,
The right hip,
The right thigh,
The kneecap,
The calf muscle,
The ankle,
The heel,
The sole of the right foot,
The top of the right foot,
The big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Now become aware of the left hand,
Become aware of the left hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
The left wrist,
The lower arm,
The elbow,
The upper arm,
The left shoulder,
The left armpit,
The left waist,
The left hip,
The left thigh,
The kneecap,
The calf muscle,
The left ankle,
The heel,
The sole of the left foot,
The top of the left foot,
The big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Now to the back,
Become aware of the right shoulder,
The right shoulder blade,
The left shoulder,
The left shoulder blade,
The right buttock,
The left buttock,
The spine,
The whole spine,
The whole back together.
Now go to the top of your head,
The top of the head,
The forehead,
Both sides of the head,
The right eyebrow,
The left eyebrow,
The space between the eyebrows,
The right eyelid,
The left eyelid,
The right eye,
The left eye,
The right ear,
The left ear,
The right cheek,
The left cheek,
The nose,
The tip of the nose,
The upper lip,
The lower lip,
The chin,
The throat,
The right chest,
The left chest,
The middle of the chest,
The belly button,
The abdomen,
The whole of the right leg,
The whole of the left leg,
Both legs together,
The whole of the right arm,
The whole of the left arm and both arms together,
The whole of the back,
Buttocks,
Spine,
Shoulder blades,
The whole of the front,
Abdomen,
Chest,
Chest,
The whole of the back and front together,
The whole of the head and the whole body together,
The whole body together,
The whole physical body together and again the whole of the right leg,
The whole of the left leg,
Both legs together and the whole of the right arm,
The whole of the left arm and now both arms together,
The whole of the back,
Your buttocks,
Spine,
Shoulder blades and the whole of the front,
Your abdomen,
Chest,
The whole of the back and front together,
The whole of the head,
The whole body together,
The whole body together,
The whole physical body together in total awareness,
In total awareness of your physical body,
No sleeping,
No movement,
The whole body on the floor,
Becoming aware of your body lying on the floor,
Your body is lying on the floor,
See your body laying perfectly still on the floor in this room,
Visualize this image in your mind,
Now become aware of your breath,
Feel the flow of your breath in and out of your lungs,
Try not to change the rhythm,
The breathing is natural,
It happens automatically,
You are not doing it,
There is no effort,
Maintaining complete awareness of your breath,
Complete and total awareness of your breath,
Now concentrate your awareness on the movement of your navel area,
Concentrate on your navel movements,
Your navel is rising and falling slightly with every breath,
With each and every breath it expands and it contracts,
Concentrate on this movement and sync with your breath,
As we move into a three-part breathing,
Start by breathing deeply into your belly,
Watch the belly rise,
Inflating and deflating,
Inhaling through the nose,
Filling up the lower belly and breathing out,
Noticing the navel falling backwards to the spine,
Breathing in through the nose,
Noticing your belly puff up and breathing out all the air out through your nose,
One more time,
Breathing in through the nose,
Noticing your belly puff up and breathing out all the air through your nose,
Now we add another layer,
The ribcage,
As a second step we begin again,
Deeply breathing through the nose,
The nose,
Filling up the belly,
Breathing in a little bit more,
Noticing the ribs expand to the sides,
Exhaling ribs coming back to normal and belly deflates,
Once again,
Deeply breathing through the nose,
Watching the belly inflate and then our ribs expanding to the sides and then breathing out,
Ribs shrinking,
Belly button falling down towards the spine and one more time,
Deep belly breathing,
Breathing through the ribs and exhaling our ribs and belly all the air out,
All the air out,
Now we're adding the third layer,
The chest,
Shifting the attention to the chest,
Exhale all the air and begin again,
Breathing in through our belly,
Our ribcage and finally a little bit more air just to expand our chest and exhale,
Chest is relaxed,
Ribs back to normal and belly deflated,
All air out and we inhale,
Puff up your belly,
Ribs expand to the sides and chest rises up,
Breathing out,
Chest lowers down,
Ribs relaxing and belly is deflated,
Again,
Breathing in,
Belly,
Ribs,
Chest and breathing out,
Chest,
Ribs and belly,
Breathing in,
Belly,
Ribs,
Chest and breathing out,
Chest,
Ribs,
Belly,
Last time,
Breathing in,
Belly,
Ribs,
Chest and breathing out,
Chest,
Ribs,
Belly and release,
Breathing normally again,
Staying with a normal breath,
Now moving the awareness to the nostrils,
Becoming aware of the breath moving in and out of the nostrils,
Concentrate on the movements of the breath in and out of the nostrils,
Observing the air flowing in and the air flowing out,
The air flowing in and the air flowing out and stay here for a few more breaths,
Releasing the focus on the nostrils,
Coming back again to a natural breathing,
Releasing the focus on the breath,
We now come to our visualization,
A number of different things will be named here by me,
Then you're invited to bring up a vision of them on all and any level,
Like feeling,
Awareness,
Emotion and imagination,
I'll say the words and let your whole being bring you into the focus of that thing,
Yoga nidra makes sense of our separate world and unconsciously wovens our awareness together,
I am not my body,
I am not my mind,
My emotions or my thoughts,
I am the awareness in which all of this is experienced,
Imagine a burning candle,
A burning candle,
A fire of a burning candle,
An endless desert,
The sand of an endless desert,
An endless desert,
A huge tree,
A huge tree,
A huge tree in your mind's eye,
Tropical rain,
Tropical rain,
Tropical rain pouring over you,
Snow-capped mountains,
Snow-capped mountains,
Snow-capped mountains,
An old ruin at sunrise,
An old ruin at sunrise,
An old ruin at the sunrise,
A red rose,
A red rose,
A red red rose,
And birds flying across the sunset,
And birds flying across the sunset,
And birds flying across the sunset,
Orange clouds drifting,
Orange clouds drifting with the wind,
Orange clouds,
A tree losing its leaves,
A tree in autumn losing its leaves,
A tree losing its leaves one by one,
One by one,
Stars at night,
Stars at a very dark night,
Stars at night,
And the full moon,
The bright full moon,
The full moon,
A smiling child,
A smiling child looking at you,
A smiling child on the wind from the sea,
The wind from the sea,
The wind from the sea,
And waves breaking on a deserted beach,
Waves breaking on a deserted beach,
The restless sea,
The eternal restless sea,
The eternal restless sea,
Repeating the same intention that you made at the beginning of this practice,
This practice,
Bringing it back,
Repeating this intention three times with your full,
Feeling it all and inside your body,
Relaxing all your body and your mind,
Drawing your mind outside and becoming aware of your breathing again,
Become aware of the natural breath,
Awareness of the whole body and awareness of your breath,
Your body is lying totally relaxed on the floor and you are breathing quietly and slowly,
Develop awareness of your body from the top of the head to the tips of the toes and say mentally in your mind,
OM becoming aware of the ground and the position of your body lying on the floor,
Or visualizing the room around you and becoming aware of your surroundings,
Still with your eyes closed,
Lie quietly for a couple more moments,
Stillness and with your eyes closed,
Now start by moving your body,
Wiggling your fingers and toes,
Stretching your arms and legs and please take your time,
All the time you need,
When you're sure that you're ready,
I invite you to sit up slowly and gently open your eyes,
The practice of yoga nidra is now complete,
Namaste
