Hey,
I'm Chibs Akarake and welcome to today's Yoga Nidra for Emotional Exhaustion.
Today we're going to settle the body,
We'll move our attention slowly through it and then we'll rest for a long while right at the edge of sleep.
And at the end,
I'll count you back up from one to five,
So you'll get up awake and clear-headed,
Ready for whatever's left of your day.
So finding somewhere to lie down if you can.
A bed.
A sofa.
The floor.
Sitting back works too.
And putting the phone somewhere it can't reach you.
Yoganidra is deliberate deep rest.
The body settles all the way down.
While the mind stays just on the waking side of sleep.
And for a lot of us,
That restores something sleep on its own doesn't quite reach.
You don't need to fall asleep.
You don't even need to try.
If you do drift off along the way.
That's completely fine.
The counting at the end will gently bring you back.
But if there's somewhere you need to be afterwards.
You're welcome to set an alarm before we start.
Just in case.
And whenever we're ready.
If we haven't already done so.
Allowing the eyes to close.
Taking a moment to feel the weight of the body.
Wherever the body is being held.
The back of the head.
The shoulders.
The hips,
And the heels.
Noticing where the body meets the surface underneath.
Allowing that surface to take all of the weight.
And bringing our attention to the breath now.
Without changing anything at first.
Simply noticing the air coming in.
And noticing the air going out.
On the next few breaths out.
We're going to allow the XL to run on a little longer than it might want to.
We're not counting.
And we're not measuring.
Just allowing each breath out to trail away.
And finish in its own time.
Perhaps the breath in arrives a little smaller after that.
Perhaps the pause at the end of the exhale opens up a bit wider.
That's the body settling.
Now allowing the breath to go back to its own natural rhythm.
We're finished with managing the breathing.
The body knows how to do that without any help from us.
Now before we move through the body We're going to plant one sentence.
In Yoganidra,
It's called a sankalpa.
And it's an old part of this practice.
Small intention.
Set yourself as though it's already true.
This intention isn't a goal.
It isn't something to work towards.
And the reason we do it here,
Because in deep rest the part of the mind that argues with a sentence like this tends to go quiet.
So the sentence can land.
Without the argument.
If there's no phrase or intention that springs to mind.
You can borrow mine,
And it's a simple one.
You can say,
Silently in your mind or out loud.
I am allowed to rest.
So for now,
Saying your phrase three times slowly.
Now we are going to move our attention quickly through the body.
There's nothing to do with each area.
No need to move it.
Or relax it on purpose.
We're just resting our attention there for a moment.
And then moving on.
If the mind drifts off.
That's okay.
It's perfectly normal.
It's what our minds are designed to do.
And whenever you notice you've wandered off.
Simply coming back to the sound of my voice.
Beginning with the right side of the body.
The right hand.
The right thumb.
The first finger.
Second finger.
The third finger.
The Little Finger the palm of the right hand.
The back of the right hand.
The right wrist.
The right forum.
The right elbow.
The right operon.
The right shoulder.
The right side of the chest.
The right side of the waist.
Right hip.
The right thigh.
The right back of the thigh.
The right knee.
The right calf.
The right shin.
The right ankle.
The right foot.
The sole of the right foot.
The right big toe.
The second toe.
The third toe.
The fourth toe.
The Little Toe.
And now the whole right side at once.
The whole right arm.
The whole right leg.
The whole right side of the body.
Now moving our awareness to the left side of the body.
The left hand.
The left thumb.
The first finger.
The second finger.
The third finger.
The little finger.
The palm of the left hand.
The back of the left hand.
The left wrist.
The left forearm.
The left elbow.
The left upper arm.
The left shoulder.
The left side of the chest.
The left side of the waist.
The left hip.
The left thigh,
The left back of the thigh.
The left knee.
The left calf.
The left shin.
The left ankle.
The left foot.
The sole of the left foot.
The left big toe.
The second toe.
The third toe.
The fourth toe.
The Little Toe.
And now the whole left side at once.
The whole left arm.
The whole left leg.
The whole left side of the body.
Now moving our awareness to the back of the body.
The back of the head.
The back of the neck,
The right shoulder blade.
The left shoulder blade.
The space between the shoulder blades middle of the back.
The lower back.
Back of the hips.
The backs of both legs.
Both heels.
And the whole back of the body at once.
Held by whatever's underneath.
Now the front of the body.
The forehead.
The Eyebrows and the space between the eyebrows.
The eyelids.
The cheeks.
The jewel.
The throat.
The collarbones.
Center of the chest.
The ribs.
The belly.
The hips,
And the whole front of the body at once.
And now bringing our awareness to the whole body.
Right side.
And left side.
Bank.
And front.
The whole body.
At rest.
And now we rest here for a while.
Nothing to follow.
Nothing to work out.
Perhaps the body feels heavy.
Heavier than when we started.
As though the surface underneath is taking more of the weight now.
Perhaps the body feels light instead.
As though there's less of the body there than there was.
Either one is fine.
Heavy.
Or light.
No decisions here.
No one to hold together.
No one to look after.
Nobody needs anything from you here.
The breath carrying on by itself.
The body.
Resting.
Nothing being asked.
Just resting.
No decisions here.
No one to hold together.
No one to look after.
Nobody needs anything from you here.
The breath carrying on by itself.
The body resting.
Nothing being asked.
Just resting.
And now.
Before we come back.
Bringing back our Sankalpa.
The sentence we planted at the start.
And saying it silently in our minds three times slowly.
And if you can't remember what it was.
.
.
You can borrow my one.
I am allowed to rest.
In a few moments.
I'll count from one to five.
And with each number you'll come back a little more.
One.
Allowing the breath to deepen.
A fuller breath in.
.
.
And a fuller breath out.
2 noticing the sounds around you.
Noticing the room you're lying in.
3.
Beginning to move the fingers and toes.
Small movements.
Bringing the body back online.
For having a stretch.
Anywhere the body would like one.
And yawn.
If a yawn wants to come.
5 and whenever you're ready allowing the eyes to open.
Taking a moment here before you get up.
Noticing what's different in the head.
And in the body.
Perhaps things feel a little further away than they did at the start of the session.
You're welcome to come back here anytime.
Have a wonderful rest of your day.
