Complete Practice Of Yoga Nidra

Yoga Nidra is the practice of maintaining mental awareness coupled with physical relaxation. It's immensely beneficial for the nervous system and may lead to improved sleep quality. To prepare for this practice please find a comfortable position lying on your back. If lying on the back is inaccessible to you, lay on your side, your belly, or even sit in a chair. There is nothing to do physically in this practice - all the cues will be directed at moving only your mental attention. Enjoy.

Transcript

As you prepare for this yoga nidra practice it's important that you find a comfortable position preferably lying on your back and making sure that your space is set up in a way that you won't be interrupted and either in a room with low lighting or eye pillow or a light blanket covering the eyes and as you get the body comfortable you might support the back of the knees with a pillow or a bolster or support the back of the head with a small pillow to allow the skull to be in line with the rest of the spine and as you continue to settle in physically making sure that the ankles are as wide as the hips if not a little bit wider and there's no tension in the inner thighs so it allows the ankles to spray out to the sides and the preferred position with the hands is down by the sides not touching the body the palms facing up and the natural curl of the fingers as the palms relax and if it feels more comfortable to put the hands on the body that option is there for you as well.

Experience now the spine in alignment with the pelvis and the skull seeing this intuitively or you might lift the head up slightly and peak down the body to make sure that there's alignment through the spine and feel the line of connection that the body makes to the ground noticing that certain areas will carry a little bit more weight than other areas such as the hips or the upper back and feel into the sensation of the clothing as it touches the skin and how different fabrics will create different sensation and how that may differ from the feeling of the skin exposed to open air and now invoke a vision of the body as though you were looking down on the body from above and take note of the shape of the physical body and trace the body's outline with a golden line and remember the color of clothing and see the natural expression on the face leave that vision now and start to tune into sounds casting the sense of hearing out wide and noticing the sounds that you can hear furthest away from the body and as you hear each sound without attachment simply notice the sound let it go and move to the next sound like a sort of radar move closer to the body now and hear sounds more within the practice space in closer proximity of the body again just picking up each sound without attachment letting it go and moving to the next finally hear the subtle sounds of the internal body such as the breath the heart beating or the digestive system working shift away from sound now and now is the time where you can set the mental resolve to remain awake and aware during this practice of yoga nidra mentally repeating to yourself I will remain awake and aware during the practice move now to sankalpa this is a positive statement of intense or a rule a quality that you wish to embody above all else in life if there's a sankalpa that you are working with now will be the time to call it in and if sankalpa is new to you use this time to see what arises and with full feeling in the voice and conviction mentally repeats your sankalpa three times now knowing that a seed has been planted and allow that seed to grow throughout the practice leaving sankalpa now and shift to the body rotation different body parts will be named as each body part is named simply feel that body part and mentally repeat the name of that body part beginning with awareness at the right hand thumb right hand thumb index finger middle finger ring finger little finger palm of the hand back of the hand wrist forearm elbow upper arm shoulder armpit right side waist hip upper leg knee lower leg ankle top of the foot bottom of the foot right big toe second toe third toe fourth and fifth move attention to the left hand thumb index finger middle finger ring finger little finger palm of the hand back of the hand wrist forearm elbow upper arm shoulder armpit left side waist hip upper leg knee lower leg ankle top of the foot bottom of the foot left big toe second toe third fourth and fifth remaining awake and aware attention to the back of the body both heels calves back of the knees back of the thighs buttocks low back middle back upper back back of the neck back of the head top of the head right side of the head left side of the head forehead right ear left ear right temple left temple right eyebrow left eyebrow eyebrow center right eye left eye right cheek left cheek right nostril left nostril both nostrils together upper lip lower lip teeth tongue palate both jaw lines together chin center of the neck right side of the chest left side of the chest center of the chest upper abdomen lower abdomen pelvic region maintaining awareness now on full body parts feeling the whole right leg the whole left leg the whole right arm the whole left arm the entire torso the entire head the whole front of the body the whole back of the body the whole body integrated as one unit the whole body shift from the body to the effortless flow of the breath without the need to bring any effort to the breath simply notice the subtle effect the breath has at the abdomen the effortless subtle rise and fall that the breath creates at the abdomen with the intention of remaining the witness with the next inhale mentally repeating body breathing in and with the exhale body breathing out body breathing in body breathing out bring in now a mental count to the breath counting down from 27 to 0 body breathing in 27 body breathing out 27 body breathing in 26 body breathing out 26 continue like this the aim is not to reach zero the aim is to maintain awareness if the count is lost start again at 27 if zero is reached start again at 27 with the next effortless as exhale shift away from the breath and to the experience of opposites in the body feel or use visualization or imagination of past memory to invoke a feeling of heaviness in the body the body feeling heavy like a stone resting on the earth creating an imprint the body is heavy heavy leave the feeling of heaviness and call in the feeling of lightness in the body the body feeling light like a feather floating just off of the earth body feeling light light leave lightness in the body and invoke a feeling of warmth body feeling warm as though standing in the rays of morning Sun body feeling warm warm release warm and feel the body as cool cool as if standing outside on a crisp winter's morning body feeling cool cool leave coolness and the experience of opposites and bring the attention now to the blank screen of the mind behind the eyelids experience this black space as a sort of movie screen remaining in the seat of the witness as each visualization is heard simply notice any images or feelings that appear on this blank screen of the mind a setting Sun a setting Sun mountains mountains roots of a tree roots of a tree clouds clouds the feeling of feet on the earth the feeling of feet on the earth raindrops raindrops a clear night sky a clear night sky a full moon a full moon a single candle flame a single candle flame shift away from the blank screen of the mind and hear the subtle sounds of the body the breath as it appears at the nostrils or the subtle internal beat of the heart and with this sense of hearing tune into any other sounds in the practice space that help yourself reorient to where you are and as though you were looking down on the physical body remember the shape and trace the body with a golden line remembering once again the color of clothing and the natural expression on your face and feel the connection point of your body onto the earth feeling grounded and here as you feel the sensation of air on the open skin and how that differs to the feeling of your clothes as it touches your skin and reorientate yourself with the practice space remembering any features of the room you are in remembering the positioning of your body as you lie and the time of day in which you are practicing begin now to reactivate the breath allowing the next inhale and exhale to carry a little bit more efforts as you continue to feel your body here and with that increased vigor in the breaths begin to bring gentle movement into the body wiggling the fingers the toes possibly rocking the head side to side ultimately any movement that feels helpful here is encouraged maybe a full body stretch like you're waking up from a deep sleep and with a knowing that this yoga nidra practice is coming towards an end I invite you to roll off to one side and take a few breaths to pause in the recovery fetal like position on your side and ultimately in the next couple of rounds of breath coming up to a comfortable seated position to close down the practice taking a moment to notice the effects of this practice on the physical body mental body thoughts and feelings and on the energetic body the nervous system and the emotions and know that you're able to take this feeling with you into the rest of your day bringing the hands together in front of the heart and taking an internal bow as a sort of internal piece of gratitude for giving the body the mind the nervous system deep rest this practice of yoga nidra is now complete Hari Om Namaste

Reviews

That was a really nice yoga nidra, thank you 😊