To prepare for yoga nidra,
Lie down comfortably on your back in shavasana.
Your feet can be a foot or more apart with your toes turned outward.
Your arms can rest a comfortable distance from your sides with your palms turned upward and fingers relaxed.
Do your best to eliminate all possibility of physical discomfort so that you won't be distracted by the body and can then sink easily into subtler states of awareness.
It's helpful to make a gentle commitment to remain awake and connected to my voice.
Know however that it is natural to drift in and out of awareness during the practice and you can't practice incorrectly.
Keeping the body still will allow you to sink deeper into an inner quiet and increased level of relaxation.
Give your body permission now to settle into complete stillness.
Let go of all need to tend to the external world.
During this practice,
Settle into the effortless seat of the observer,
Just watching and witnessing whatever is present,
Allowing the flow of experience to move through like a passing river.
Sense your breath flowing gently in and out of the body.
As your natural breath continues,
Bring your attention to the corresponding rise and fall of the abdomen.
A subtle and effortless action.
Through a gentle deepening of your breath,
Begin practicing diaphragmatic abdominal breathing.
Localize the expansion of the breath in the abdomen while allowing the chest to remain still.
Feel the swelling of each inhale expand into the belly and the soft emptying of the belly when you breathe out.
With each exhale,
Your body naturally releases muscular tensions.
With each inhale,
All of the cells of your body are nourished.
With each exhale,
The mind is slowly emptying of all unnecessary activity.
With each inhale,
The mind is refreshed with a sense of space and calm presence.
Now release the practice of abdominal breathing and let the breath become involuntary.
Watching as the breath is restored to the most natural and optimal rhythm,
Release all effort.
Let the body completely yield to the subtle force of gravity.
Release all holding and let the earth hold your body.
Allow yourself to settle completely into the experience of being held.
Again,
Watch the flow of your breath,
Now even softer and subtler.
The breath comes and goes and you watch it.
Have the sense,
I am not the breather.
Sense the link between inhale and exhale and between exhale and inhale.
What links them together is awareness.
As the breath comes and goes,
Awareness remains present,
Watching,
Silent and still.
Bring your attention to the eyebrow center as the flows of attention coalesce there.
See or feel the emergence of a blue point of light.
Shift attention to the throat.
There,
See or feel a blue point of light.
The right shoulder joint.
Point of light.
Elbow.
Wrist.
Tip of the right thumb.
Tip of the index finger.
Tip of the middle finger.
Tip of the ring finger.
Tip of the little finger.
Wrist.
Elbow.
Shoulder.
Throat.
Left shoulder joint.
Point of blue light.
Elbow.
Wrist.
Tip of the thumb.
Tip of the index finger.
Tip of the middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
Wrist.
Elbow.
Shoulder.
Throat.
Deep within the center of the chest,
A blue point of light.
In the right side of the chest.
Center.
Left side of the chest.
Center and the navel.
Center of the pelvis.
Right hip.
Knee.
Ankle.
Tip of the big toe.
Tip of the second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth toe.
Ankle.
Knee.
Hip.
Pelvis.
Left hip.
Knee.
Ankle.
Tip of the big toe.
Second toe.
Third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
Ankle.
Knee.
Hip.
Pelvis.
Navel.
Center of the chest.
Throat center.
Eyebrow center.
Let attention become fully absorbed into stillness in the eyebrow center.
See all of these points of light suspended in the inner space of the body.
A twinkling of blue lights suspended within space.
Bring your attention to rest at the crown of your head.
Let's sense this point of the uppermost part of your skull.
Shift attention to sense the soles of your feet.
Feel the soles of the feet from your heels to the tips of your toes.
Begin to feel the breath as an internal flow,
A wave.
And as you breathe in,
Feel the breath rise from the toes through the body to the crown.
As you exhale,
Feel the breath descend from the crown of your head to the tips of your toes.
Continue to follow this inner path of breath as a broad sweeping from one end of the body to the other.
Inhaling to the crown,
Exhaling to the toes.
Now,
Feel the breath begin at the ankles.
As you breathe in,
The breath ascends from the ankle to the crown.
And as you exhale,
The breath descends from the crown to the ankles.
Now sense the breath as a wave that ascends from the knees to the crown and descends from the crown to the knees.
Feel the breath ascend from the base of the spine to the crown and descend from the crown to the base of the spine.
Inhale from the navel to the crown.
Exhale from the crown to the navel.
Inhale from the center of the chest to the crown.
Exhale crown to center of the chest.
Inhale throat to crown.
Exhale crown to throat.
Inhale from the eyebrow center to the crown.
Exhale crown to eyebrow center.
Now,
Inhale from the point just below the nostrils to a point just above the crown.
Inhale from the point above the crown to the point below the nostrils.
Bring your attention to rest in the silent stillness of the eyebrow center.
Rest attention now in the throat center.
See or sense a sky at night and the full moon glowing.
The radiant white moon luminous against a backdrop of night.
Rest attention now in the heart center.
Go deep into the heart center into a vast spaciousness.
Go into a space that's beyond form,
Beyond all thought,
Beyond the deep inertia of mind.
There,
Experience a peaceful emptiness,
An unwavering calm beyond time.
Feel into this vastness,
Merge with it.
Rest in the unchanging ground of being.
Silent,
Still,
All pervading awareness.
Return to restful awareness in the heart center.
Let attention once again rest in the throat.
Bring attention again to the third eye center.
From the eyebrow center,
Let awareness slowly expand and re-emerge into the waking state,
Surfacing from the inner stillness of yoga nidra.
Feel the natural breath coming and going with perfect ease.
Develop awareness of the entire body from head to toe and begin to sense the space around you.
As you feel inclined,
Start initiating tiny movements in your fingers and toes.
Stretch and awaken the whole body while allowing the eyes to remain closed.
Slowly bend your knees and gently make your way onto your side.
Resting in fetal position with eyes closed.
Remain deeply restful and continue to be nourished by the practice.
Sense the quiet behind thoughts,
The presence of awareness,
That which shines through the waking state,
The dreaming state,
And even in deep sleep.
The part of you that silently watches all of the events of your life unfold.
Staying connected to this inner seat of awareness,
Complete the journey slowly and mindfully to a seated position.
Continue to feel the presence of an inner quiet behind the flow of all experience.
Connecting your palms together,
Start rubbing them to create heat between them.
Once warmed,
Place them gently over your eyes.
Feel a current of warmth and energy flowing into your eyes and mind.
Let your palms remain there as you slowly open your eyes.
Finally,
Remove your hands and return wakefully to this moment.
