Yoga Nidra - Dissolving Into Being

Evaporating tension, freeing the flow of sensation, and dissolving into being. We are not supposed to hold anything that we are not made of - and we are not fear, stress, disappointment, distraction, detachment, anxiety, depression, or whatever it is you're feeling. These are just transient feelings moving through our awareness and our bodies trying to get us to come home. We are the ocean and we experience waves but the waves do not define us.

Transcript

Take plenty of time to create your cozy nidra nest.

There is absolutely no rush and no hurry.

I always like to allow plenty of time here at the start for you to feel properly settled in before we begin.

So make sure that you are as comfortable as you would like to be.

And perhaps you are able to immerse in darkness or cover your eyes to block out the light.

Feel free to prop up the backs of your thighs with pillows or a bolster if you are lying on your back.

Make sure that your head and your neck feel supported and that you are warm.

And what could you do to make yourself even more comfortable than you are right now?

Feel free to take time to readjust your position and to continue to settle in here as I share with you this introduction to the practice.

Yoganidra is both a practice and a state of awareness.

As a form of awareness it is both deeply relaxed and highly attuned.

A blissful paradox of deep relaxation and heightened awareness hovering at the shore of sleep as we are bathed in waves of soothing relaxation.

And as a practice it is a form of effortless meditation and deep relaxation.

One that invites us through different stages with each stage inviting a unique experience of awareness and brainwave activity.

It is a practice of effortlessness and surrender that asks us to release from doing and knowing,

Into being and feeling.

To shift from the known states of everyday awareness into the unknown states of the in between.

The state of Yoganidra calls us home to ourselves as we peel away the layers of complication,

Cognition and conditioning and open out into wide open fields of radiance,

Resonance and vitality.

Yoganidra invites an experience of unity,

An opportunity to taste a world without duality and division.

As we melt into being and all the labels wash away,

We get to experience ourselves as we truly are.

We get to remember who we were.

We get to remember who we always have been.

Yoganidra reminds us that there is no separation,

That we are the earth,

The trees,

The stars,

The sky and each other.

When we marvel at the magnificence of a mighty oak,

We are in fact marvelling at our very own might and magnificence.

When we gaze in awe at the wondrous night sky with its brightly shining stars,

We are gazing in awe at our very own wondrous nature and acknowledging the spark of light within us.

When we look upon our friends and loved ones with pride,

We are in fact showering ourselves in those very same feelings.

For all that we have become and all that we have overcome,

We are deeply interconnected and the practice of Yoganidra is here to remind us of that.

And though it may not seem that way when we are immersed in them,

There is no such thing as a bad emotion.

To cut ourselves off from pain is to inevitably cut ourselves off from joy.

We cannot have one without the other.

There can be no spring without autumn,

No summer without winter.

Beginning now to transition from your everyday state of awareness towards the state of Yoganidra.

A long slow exhalation inviting you to settle and melt.

And feeling your senses open just as you might throw open the windows of your home on a warm summer's day in awe,

Inviting in the light.

Taking a moment here to open your sense doors and to let in the light of awareness.

Taking in the sounds around you as though you were listening to the melody of a song.

Hearing the sounds and the pauses,

The spaces between sounds.

And each sound meeting whether in resonance or dissonance and your body responding to it all.

As though your body were being played like an instrument by your environment.

Awareness of your mind,

Your brain,

Inviting the mind to soften.

Awareness of your heart,

Your compass,

Inviting your heart to open.

Awareness of your belly,

Your womb,

Your intuition,

Inviting a receptivity.

And as you drop into your experience let yourself wonder and discover your inner refuge.

Perhaps it's a felt sense of well being within the body and the mind.

It may be that you evoke this place by calling on a memory or an imagining of a time or a place where you felt completely at ease.

Maybe it's a warmth in your belly,

A radiance in your heart,

A stillness in your mind.

An ever expanding radiant flow of sensation emanating from the heart of your inner refuge,

Inviting you home.

As you arrive home you might begin to awaken your sankalpa,

Your resolve,

That vow you make to your true nature.

And it might be that you would like to invite your sankalpa to reveal itself slowly over time.

Or perhaps your sankalpa is simply to enjoy this practice,

To soak in this space of rest and rejuvenation.

Try not to let cognition get in the way,

Causing any undue stress or tension.

Better to welcome a slow and gradual unfolding or even to let it go completely.

Whatever feels right for you in this moment.

Letting your sankalpa come to you.

And then beginning to move awareness around the body,

Inviting a sense of ease and effortlessness to each part.

Beginning by sensing and feeling into the right hand thumb,

Aware of the vibrancy and aliveness at the right hand thumb.

And the index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Thumb and fingers together.

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Side,

Waist and hip.

The front of the right thigh and the back of the thigh,

Knee and the space beneath the knee,

Shin,

Calf and ankle.

Heel,

Sole and ball of the right foot.

And the big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and fifth.

And all of the toes together.

And the whole right side of the body,

All the way through.

And taking your awareness to the left hand thumb,

Sensing and feeling the vibrancy and aliveness of the left hand thumb.

And the index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Thumb and fingers together.

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Side,

Waist and hip.

The front of the left thigh and the back of the thigh,

Knee and the space at the back of the knee,

Shin,

Calf and ankle.

Heel,

Sole and ball of the left foot.

And the big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and fifth.

And all of the toes together.

And the whole of the left side of the body,

All the way through.

The sensation of the right arm from shoulder through fingertips.

And the whole of the left arm from shoulder through fingertips.

The fingers as streams of sensation.

And the whole of the right leg and the whole of the left leg and both legs at the same time.

Toes as streams of sensation.

And the whole of the back of the body,

Melting,

Dissolving.

Backs of heels,

Backs of thighs,

Back of the pelvis.

A decompression here.

And aware of the rippling undulations and waves of the spine.

The inward curve of the lower back.

Outward curve of the upper back.

Outward curve of the neck.

Outward curve of the back of the head.

The crown of the head,

Vibrant and alive.

The forehead,

Space between eyebrows.

The eyes,

Floating effortlessly in the spaces behind the eyes.

Muscles around the eyes.

Temples,

Cheeks,

Jaws,

And the hinge of the jaws.

Inviting some space between the back teeth.

The tongue,

Soft and broad.

The whole of the face expressionless and soft.

And that softness rippling down through the front of the body.

Soft hollow of the throat.

Valley between the collarbones,

The chest,

The solar plexus,

The navel,

And the lower belly.

Hips,

Thighs,

Knees,

Ankles and feet.

The whole of the front of the body soft.

And feeling the whole body together.

The whole body at once.

Every part brought into your awareness.

The rivers,

Channels,

And estuaries invited to flow freely and without hindrance.

Feeling the body grounded,

Supported,

Receptive like the earthy basin of a lake.

And sensing the body of water contained within.

The breath,

Free to flow in,

Free to flow out.

The water of the lake contained but not constricted.

Held without being held back.

Noticing if there are parts of your body braced against the flow.

Can you invite a letting go?

A surrender to the untamed flow.

Feeling tension evaporating.

Tension and awareness freed to flow effortlessly.

To eat in every part.

Resting in the vibrancy of aliveness as you drop deeper and deeper into rest.

Sensing the back of the body and the density of form.

The containment of earth.

Earthy sensations.

Dense,

Heavy.

The weight and the density of bones.

The heaviness of your form.

And then the transmutation of earth to water.

Solid to liquid.

Inviting liquid sensations.

Fluid,

Soft,

Receptive.

The smooth and silky experience of a soft breath.

The depth and receptivity of your feeling nature.

And the fluidity of emotion,

Awareness,

Sensation.

Your capacity to transmute and transform that which is heavy and dense into something soft,

Open,

Fluid.

And then experiencing both at the same time.

The density of form as the earthy container holds the lake.

And the fluidity and softness of water as the lake flows within the form.

Sensing how we cannot have one without the other.

Too much containment and we grow stagnant.

Too little and we run dry.

And within this still body of water,

Noticing if there is a current.

A current of emotion inviting you in.

And can you trust that the waves will eventually still and the water will once more run clear.

How does it feel to open up and listen?

To offer space for this part of you to speak.

To give it a name,

To let it be heard.

And then to set it free.

Can you trust in the waves?

Can you feel that they are both a part of you yet not who you are?

And then becoming the water.

Dissolving and evaporating into being.

Welcoming feelings of innate joy that can arise through simply being.

Welcoming those feelings to emanate from your heart,

Your belly,

Perhaps somewhere else.

Spreading throughout your body and out into the space around you.

With every out breath experiencing sensations of warmth and joy.

Aminating outward.

Feeling your entire being bathed in well being.

Drifting into deep stillness.

Deep rest.

Becoming aware of your experience here.

Resting in the state of your nidra.

An opportunity to taste a world without duality and division.

As you melt into simply being,

Feeling your labels washing away.

Can you reconnect with who you truly are?

Who you always have been?

The earth,

The trees,

The night sky.

You are me,

I am you.

We are all and everything.

Space and matter.

Earth and sky.

Everything and nothing all at the same time.

And then returning awareness to the place in your body where you feel naturally arising intuitive guidance.

And taking a moment to listen.

What do you hear?

You might take time to reaffirm your sankalpa here to notice if anything has changed.

And then very gradually transitioning from the state of your nidra back into everyday waking awareness.

Lingering in the liminality of this moment.

Resting in the spacious possibility of the in between.

Senses opening back out as though once again you were listening to the melody of a song.

Inviting the melody lines of your inner song to meet the melody lines of the outer world.

Welcoming sounds near,

Far,

Loud,

Soft.

To meet in harmony and resonance as you draw yourself back to being fully awake and aware.

Reviews

A beautiful yoga nidra. Beautiful, descriptive language. Incredibly relaxing. Thank you 😊

Thank you - such beautiful imagery.🙏💜

Truly delightful yoga nidra practice. Your voice is soothing and the cadence of the practice was wonderful. I look forward to more of your yoga nidra.