Lie down on your back and get really nice and comfortable,
Which could involve extra layers on your body or a bolster underneath your knees,
Pillow underneath your head.
Once you get comfortable,
Put your arms either by your sides or you can do as I've done here,
One hand on the belly,
One hand on the heart.
Traditionally in yoga nidra,
Your arms go out to the side without anything touching your fingertips to create less stimulation,
But I find for myself,
Putting my hands on my body,
Especially when I need to kind of ground or land here quicker,
I put my hands on myself.
So I leave it to you.
And know that you can always shift positions at any point in time if you either get uncomfortable or there is a need or a desire to shift.
Let's begin the practice of yoga nidra.
Lying here on your back,
Allow your whole body to get just a little bit heavier.
Envision that your head,
Your torso,
Your arms,
And your legs are softening down into the ground just a little bit more.
And we'll just take a short body scan to release any residual tension we may be feeling from our day.
And so starting at the top of the head and taking the awareness down through the forehead,
The temples,
And the eyes,
Relaxing the jaw and the tongue,
Feeling the muscles in the shoulders soften,
The chest and the abdomen soften.
Arms,
Upper arm and lower arm,
All ten of your fingers just softening.
Taking the awareness into your pelvis and feeling that get just a little bit heavier.
Taking the awareness down into your legs,
Your hips,
Your thighs,
Your knees,
Your calves,
Your ankles and feet.
Relaxing all ten of your toes.
Soften and get a little bit heavier in your whole body.
Quite simply,
We're going to scan our bodies now back up again.
All ten toes,
Heels,
And ankles get a little heavier.
Calves,
Knees,
And thighs become a little bit heavier.
All sides of the pelvis relax and become a little bit heavier.
All ten fingers,
Palms,
Forearms,
And upper arms become heavier.
Abdomen softens.
Torso becomes heavier.
Shoulders soften and melt a little bit deeper into the ground.
Jaw,
Tongue,
Temples,
And eyes soften.
Head becomes a little bit heavier.
Whole body relaxes.
Begin to deepen your inhales and exhales just a little bit more.
And envision that as you do so,
You're not only inhaling into your lungs,
But envision that you're filling this whole body with breath,
This whole body with energy.
And then as you exhale,
Envision that you're exhaling out tension.
Do a couple more breaths like that.
Now let go of that pranayama,
Let go of that breathing.
Allow yourself to go back to normal breath.
And I want you to envision a ball of light in your belly.
In the Indian tradition,
Or the yoga tradition,
Our solar plexus,
Our upper abdomen,
Is where our power center is.
There are other schools of thought that believe your lower abdomen,
Where your belly button is,
Is your power source.
And we're going to experiment,
Or explore that today in this practice.
So with your awareness in your belly button,
I want you to envision a ball of light.
This is your power center.
And as you breathe and continue to keep your awareness in this area,
This ball of light begins to become brighter and bigger.
And as it becomes brighter and bigger,
It starts to illuminate the rest of your body.
Envision this light spreading to the rest of you from the core outwards.
Now envision this light illuminating your mind.
Envision it burning away any thoughts that are no longer serving.
This light has become so bright that you can no longer see or feel your physical body.
You are just,
Quite simply,
Bright light.
Continue to breathe into this bright light.
From this place,
I'd love you to create an affirmation,
Something in the present moment.
And it could be,
Quite simply,
I am light.
I am a positive force.
I am strong.
Or any other word or feeling that comes to the surface of your awareness.
Start the affirmation with I am,
And then fill in the blank.
And just breathe into that affirmation.
Allow the light to feed this affirmation.
Hold on to that affirmation.
And bring your awareness back into your belly.
Allow the light to begin to become smaller,
So that it's just filling the belly again.
And then as the light begins to become more concentrated in the abdomen,
You become more aware of your physical body.
And then,
If you are not already there,
Place one hand on your abdomen and one hand on your chest,
If it feels comfortable to do so.
Breathe that affirmation into your hands,
From your torso into your hands.
Breathe the light that is in your torso into your hands.
For the next portion,
You're either going to keep your hands on your body,
Or take your arms out by your sides,
Palms facing up.
Again,
Whichever instinctually feels like the right move,
You make it,
Or you don't move.
Stay as you are,
If that feels like the right move.
Rest in the understanding that you are light,
That you have the ability to heal yourself,
And that your affirmation will come to pass.
Breathe into those truths.
Slowly bringing awareness back into your physical body,
Perhaps wiggling the fingers and the toes,
Bending the knees and placing the feet on the ground.
Rolling over to one side,
Lying in the fetal position for a couple breaths.
If you can,
Keeping your eyes closed.
Making your way up to sit,
And placing your hands wherever they instinctively want to go,
Either on your lap,
Or in your hands in prayer,
Or resting on your thighs.
Quite simply,
Breathing into what you feel,
The effects of the practice.
Bow the chin softly towards the chest,
Thanking your body and your breath for this practice.
The practice of yoga nidra is complete.
