Let's breathe and relax together.
My name is Kathy and I'm honored that you've joined me here today.
I'll be leading you through a yoga nidra.
This is a practice of deep relaxation and today the focus will be on softening and balancing the nervous system.
Now nervous system regulation is somewhat of a buzzword that we hear these days and I want to speak just a little bit about the nervous system and why it's important to have it in a state of balance.
So stress activates your nervous system.
Your body will interpret stress as potential danger and it reacts in order to prepare you.
Your organs will send out particular hormones.
Your heart beats faster.
Your blood pressure can increase.
And these are all things that can be supported and softened and redirected by a practice.
Of yoga nidra and all of the methods of deep relaxation that are involved in this practice in a very systematic and conscious way.
So let's come into this practice today.
Let's soften and rebalance the nervous system.
By the end of this practice,
You should feel a greater sense of mental clarity,
Emotional equilibrium,
And overall physical well-being.
So let's take the time to get comfortable.
Yoga Nidra is a practice that asks for your complete surrender to comfort.
So allow yourself to find a very comfortable reclined posture.
Oftentimes this is laying completely on your back.
You could lay on your bed.
You could lay on some carpeting.
You can lay on the earth.
Just being certain that you will be warm.
That your spine will be supported with perhaps a pillow under your knees,
A small pillow to support the natural curvature of the neck and the head.
Just want to ensure that you'll be warm and comfortable for the duration of the practice.
You may find it really supportive to have a bolster or a pillow to place under your knees or even between your knees if you're laying on your side.
A small pillow to support the head and neck to support that natural cervical spine.
You want to feel when you're laying on your back that your forehead and your chin are the same height or that your forehead is just slightly higher than your chin.
Allow your shoulders to tuck under a bit so that your collarbones are open.
Your hands can be resting to the sides equidistant away from the midline of the body.
If that feels too vulnerable for you today,
You can place your hands on your belly.
Sometimes it's more comfortable to have the arms palms down and sometimes it is comfortable to have the palms open in a gesture of receptivity.
And let's go ahead and invite a breath.
We're just going to take a sip of air in through the nose and release it through the open mouth.
So just breathing in through the nose.
And then we'll do another like that.
Again,
Another breath in through the nostrils.
And this time as you exhale,
You might release with an audible sigh,
Breathing in.
Ahhhh.
Feeling the bones begin to become heavy.
And releasing any tensions that may be held in the physical body.
It is often necessary to hold a bit of tension through the day.
But for this moment right now and for the moments to come in this practice,
It is most beneficial to feel that slowly all of the tensions and the rigidities and the resistances,
They soften.
And let go.
And let's take one more breath of clearing and release together by breathing in through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
So a long breath in as you're ready.
Exhaling with some heat from the back of the throat.
And beginning to feel all the connection points.
Your physical body.
To the Earth that is supporting you,
So feeling the back of your head.
Fully supported by the pillow,
By the mat,
By the bed.
Feeling the back of the shoulder blades anchored down to the earth.
The sacrum.
Is heavy.
Fully supported.
Backs of the knees,
Perhaps resting on a pillow.
And the heels also resting on the earth.
Feel that your feet are a nice distance apart to support the release of the hip joints.
Backs of the arms resting on the floor.
Or palms of the hands resting on your belly.
Nothing to do.
Nowhere to be.
Simply to rest.
And to support the health of your being.
Calming and softening the nervous system.
Allowing the thought waves to slow down.
Could you allow your attention to begin to rest on the sounds that are around you?
Just simply allowing your attention to notice the sounds.
Perhaps in the distance.
The sounds that are outside of the space that you're laying in.
And then gradually beginning to let the awareness move a little closer towards you.
The sounds within the room.
The sounds of this recording of my voice and of your own breath.
Will begin to systematically relax.
The body,
Beginning with the head and moving down to the feet.
So let's begin by relaxing the jaw.
Feel the tongue move away from the roof of the mouth.
Softening even the teeth and the gums.
Soften all the muscles of the face around the eyes.
The eyelids.
Even behind these luminous orbs of the eyes,
Feel the eyeballs resting back in their sockets.
Feeling the whole body melt.
Let the throat soften.
You may swallow here if it feels supportive in this softening of the throat.
And feel the back of the neck soften.
The trapezius muscles which connect the neck downward to the shoulders,
They let go and soften as well.
And feel how this may support the release of the shoulders down a little further away from the ears.
Upper arms are soft.
Forearms release any tension.
Palms of the hands soften.
Pads of the fingers.
Feeling vibratory,
Can you feel and notice a bit of pulsation in the pads of your fingers?
Allow your awareness to travel back upward towards the space of the throat.
And feel the collarbones wide.
The right and left sides of the chest are soft.
Which allows for an easy expansion.
And deflation of the lungs.
The ribcage,
Soft and pliable.
Which enhances.
The capacity of our lungs to breathe.
Tracing down the back body,
Can you begin to notice that your spine is lengthening?
There's a warmth as the spine begins to unfurl.
From the base of the skull.
Downward.
Behind the cervical spine,
Behind the heart.
To where it lifts at the low back.
And releases downward at the sacrum.
Whole spine lengthening,
Softening.
Healing the weight of the pelvis.
The entire bowl of the pelvis resting here on the earth.
All four lines of the thighs,
The tops of the thighs,
The backs of the thighs,
Inner and outer thighs,
Letting go of any tensions.
As the knees release towards the bolster.
Calves and even the shins let go of any holding.
Ankles are released.
Softening the tops of the feet.
And the soles of the feet feel light.
This pulsation in the soles of the feet.
Can you feel them warm with presence?
Same with the pads of the toes.
As all of the joints of the toes are releasing in their sockets.
Feeling a wave of ease from the crown of the head through the body all the way down to the feet as if you were being touched by a warm,
Gentle wind.
Allowing a breath.
Exhaling through the mouth if you desire.
Present moment awareness already happening here.
As you're sheltered here from the Hustle and grind the outside world.
Could you bring your attention to rest at the space of your heart?
Not just the physical heart.
With the wisdom of the heart,
The spiritual heart.
As we continue to move from the external to the internal.
Settling your mind into the space of the heart.
You come to a time.
To set intention.
In this tender space.
So if you have an intention that you're working with,
You could state it now mentally.
Or for today,
I might offer.
I am welcoming health and well-being.
Into all spaces of my body and mind.
And with intention seated in the heart.
And the entire being.
We'll continue with our practice.
So first,
Let's invite.
A more conscious breath.
So we're resting so peacefully now and the breath is just naturally occurring.
We're going to very,
Very gently Just encourage the breath.
To come into the space of the ribcage.
So as you're ready on your next breath in,
Just feel that as you receive the breath,
You feel that the ribcage moves side to side and front to back like a barrel as you breathe into these pliable intercostal muscles.
Feel as you breathe in the ribcage move side to side,
Front to back.
And as you breathe out,
You notice the ribcage move back inward.
Slowly and smoothly.
One or two more times like that.
Taking your time here Feeling the lips and the teeth are soft.
As the teeth are slightly parted,
The lips are together and you're breathing in and out through the nostrils.
After your next exhalation.
Let any efforting go,
Just resting.
In the natural flow of the breath.
No efforting at all.
No holding.
Ease.
And softness.
Now we'll begin to rotate consciousness throughout the body.
So you might think of this as allowing yourself to place life force energy into each of the places mentioned and just allow your mind to float from place to place to place as we rotate this energy through the body.
We begin at the space between the eyebrows.
You might envision a sense of warmth.
A sense of vibration or pulsation.
Or even a spot of light here at the space between the eyebrows.
And the center of the throat.
The right shoulder.
The right upper arm.
The right forearm,
Wrist,
Center of the right palm.
The pads of all five fingers.
Bring your attention effortlessly back.
To the right shoulder.
In the center of the throat.
And now the left shoulder.
Left upper arm.
Left forearm pulsation here warm.
Left wrist.
Center of the left palm.
Warm with pulsation,
A spot of light.
The pads of all five fingers.
Let your attention effortlessly return to the left shoulder.
Energy here.
Warmth.
Center of the throat,
Point of light.
The center of the chest.
Heart space.
Navel center.
Center of the pelvis.
Right hip joint.
Middle of the right thigh.
Pulsation here,
Warmth.
Right knee.
Middle of the right calf.
Right ankle.
Top of the right foot.
Arch of the right foot.
And the paths of all five toes.
Feel for spots of light here.
Let your awareness return to the right hip joint.
And to the middle of the pelvis.
Left hip joint.
Middle of the left thigh.
The left knee.
Middle of the left calf.
Left ankle.
Top of the left foot.
Arch of the left foot.
And the pads of all five toes of the left foot.
Spots of light here.
Left hip joint.
Middle of the pelvis.
Light here.
Naval Center.
Warmth,
Pulsation.
Heart center.
Could you see,
Sense,
Feel,
Or just trust a light here at the space of the heart?
Center of the throat.
And spot between the eyebrows.
Now see all of these points at once.
See them,
Sense them,
Feel them.
And could you envision?
All of these points like a constellation of stars.
As if you're laying on a warm beach at night.
Looking up at a dark sky filled with stars.
Your body is a reflection.
Of this constellation.
As if.
You could consider that you hold.
All of the magnificence.
The brilliance.
The radiance.
Of these stars.
And you rest here in this spacious awareness.
Your body.
Is this constellation?
And the breath.
Moves through the spaces between.
Resting here in this spacious awareness for the next two minutes.
And once again,
Revisiting the intention that you set in the beginning of practice.
I am welcoming health.
And well-being.
Into all spaces of my body and mind.
And very,
Very gently now.
Begin to notice the surface upon which your body lays.
Beginning to notice the breath.
As it effortlessly and generously moves inward and outward.
And ebb and flow of the breath.
You're resting more deeply with the exhalations.
And on the inhalations beginning to notice a gentle wakefulness,
A sense of lightness.
Let's begin to invite a longer breath.
And inviting this longer breath with the intention of anchoring the energy.
At the space of the navel.
So as you breathe in,
Feeling that your belly rises.
And as you breathe out,
The belly falls back down towards the spine.
Taking your time,
Inviting another breath in.
A bit more awareness here,
Breathing into the low belly.
Feeling the abdomen rise,
And as you breathe out,
Could you apply a subtle bit of tension at the space just below the navel.
This is to anchor the energy here,
The space of the navel dantian.
Which helps to balance.
Any supercharged energy.
If your hands are away from your body.
Let your palms come into rest,
Perhaps one hand on the belly and one hand on the heart.
And if your palms are already resting on your body,
Allow a shift just to move positions.
Perhaps gently wiggling the toes.
And as you feel ready,
You may very gently roll to one side of the body.
Pulling the knees in.
Feeling the support of the floor.
The practice is complete here.
Allow your eyes to slowly blink open and begin to return back to this external world.
With this greater sense.
Of ease in the physical body.
Mental clarity.
And a sense of emotional equilibrium,
Balance.
Beautiful.
Take your time here.
And allow this essence of you that's always available.
Always existing.
Allow yourself to take this back with you into the rest of your day.
I'm honored that you joined me here today.
And look forward to being with you again.
Namaste
