Welcome to a yoga nidra,
A form of guided meditation for deep rest,
Translated as yogic sleep.
For this guided meditation,
You can either do it lying down,
Get all cozy,
Bring any layers you may want,
Or you can also do this seated.
Whatever is comfortable for you,
Whatever position you can be in to relax your body is great.
And once you find that position,
Either a soft gaze or close your eyes,
And we'll take a couple of deep breaths,
Making a conscious effort to arrive into this place,
Into this space.
Take an inhale,
And exhale it out.
And two more like that,
Inhaling,
And out it goes.
Last one.
And then if you can,
Close your eyes,
And know that you can open them at any point in time.
As we go through this guided meditation,
To the best of your ability,
Try to stay awake and aware of my voice.
That being said,
If you do fall asleep,
That's also okay.
Trust that your body and your subconscious are receiving the information that they need.
Bring your awareness into the parts of your body that are touching either the ground,
Or the chair,
Whatever it is that you are leaning into.
And with each exhale,
See if you can get a little bit heavier,
Feeling that support underneath you.
We're going to start with a body scan,
Bringing awareness into different parts of our body,
And just quite simply noting them as I say the name.
So,
Bring your awareness into your hands,
Both of them.
Bring your awareness into your wrists,
Both of them.
Forearms,
Upper arms.
Shoulders,
Chest,
Upper abdomen,
Lower abdomen,
Pelvis,
Upper thighs,
Upper thighs,
Lower legs,
Ankles,
Feet.
Take the awareness up the body,
To your neck,
To the sides of your head,
To your face,
And to the top of your head.
Take a deep breath in,
And envision your whole body softening down into the ground,
Getting a little bit heavier with each breath.
Bring your awareness to your skin,
To the parts of you that are touching either the ground,
That can feel the air around you.
And observe the temperature of your skin.
Observe the temperature in the room.
Now widen the scope and observe if there are any sounds happening around you.
Imagine the room around you.
As if you were looking at it.
Observe the objects,
The colors and shapes.
And now bring your awareness back into your own body.
And allow your body to sink,
To get a little bit heavier.
Bring your awareness down into your pelvis.
And imagine that the base of the pelvis,
Up to your hip bones,
Is a bowl.
It's a container.
A container for your creativity.
That lives in the middle of your pelvis.
And imagine this bowl is holding a ball of light.
The energy of the second chakra,
Svaristhana,
Which is the chakra of creativity.
Envision with each breath that you're feeding this ball of light.
That you're igniting it.
Keeping that ball of light where it is.
Take your awareness through your torso,
Up your neck and into your head.
And envision that your head is also a bowl.
A container.
A container for your consciousness,
For your wisdom,
Your deep knowing.
That lives in the middle of your head,
In the center of the sixth chakra,
Ajna or Ajna.
And I want you to envision a ball of light here,
Being contained,
Being held in the center of your head.
And with each breath,
Feed this ball of light.
Now bring your awareness into your chest,
Into your ribcage.
The last container we're going to work with.
The container that holds our heart center.
The place where compassion,
Empathy and understanding live.
And I want you to envision a ball of light here within this container.
And with the next couple breaths,
Feed this light.
Starting at the heart center,
I just want you to observe what color is this light and what quality of this light.
And keeping that light going,
Take your awareness back into your pelvis,
Our first bowl.
What color is the light here?
What's the quality of the light here?
Of our creativity.
This is also the place that governs our emotions,
Our relationships.
And then coming back to the third ball,
The one in our heads,
At our inner knowing,
Our wisdom.
What color is that?
With these three balls of light glowing within us,
Being contained within our body.
And we're going to breathe into each one,
Inhaling from the basin or from the pelvis into the heart and then up into the third eye.
We're going to hold the breath there for a couple seconds and then go back down and hold the breath in the pelvis.
We'll do that a couple of times and then we'll rest in the heart.
So bringing your awareness into your pelvis,
Take a deep breath and draw the awareness up the center of you through the heart.
Feed it as you move through and then up to the third eye,
The middle of the head and hold the breath there,
Contain it.
And then when it feels like it's time,
Exhale and take the awareness from the third eye back into the heart center,
The middle of the chest and down into your pelvis.
And then if you can,
Hold the breath out there for a couple seconds,
Containing now the emptiness in your pelvis and then begin to fill,
Inhaling into the pelvis,
Into the ribs,
Into the head and hold the breath if you can there.
And then exhale,
Take it down from the head into the heart,
The heart into the pelvis.
Hold the breath out.
And then bring your awareness into your heart as you inhale,
Breathe right into your heart,
Breathe wide out into the left,
Into the right,
Fill up your chest and then hold the breath if you can for a couple seconds right there.
And then as we did at the beginning,
Just exhaling out your mouth.
These three places,
These three spaces,
These three parts of us,
Is there any one of these three that you're particularly drawn to right now that you'd like to rest in for a little while?
The pelvis,
The chest,
The head.
Whichever you choose,
Bring your awareness there.
And for the next couple of breaths,
We'll quite simply breathe into that space as we did earlier.
There's a question that you've been sitting with that you would like to ask your body wisdom.
Ask it now.
Now soften a little bit more into the ground and to what's supporting you.
And we'll just quite simply rest right here.
And slowly begin to deepen your breath,
Drawing your awareness back inside your physical body.
Start to wiggle the fingers and the toes,
Bringing a little bit of movement.
If you're comfortable where you are,
I would like to close as you are,
Feel free.
If you're coming out with me at your own pace and in your own way,
Come upright,
Come on up to sit.
And then rub your palms together and create a little heat in between your hands.
And place your hands onto your heart center,
The middle of your chest.
Deep gratitude to all the practices that bring us home to ourselves.
Have a beautiful rest of your day.
