Prepare for yoga nidra by coming to rest in shavasana.
Lie on your back with your legs stretched out and your feet about a foot apart.
Allow your arms to rest alongside your body.
Perhaps a few inches or so away with palms facing upward.
Make sure that you will be warm and completely comfortable so that you can settle into a sustained posture of stillness.
Finalize your preparations and now let your body begin to settle completely.
Release all physical effort and let go into being fully supported.
During this practice,
Stay connected to my voice,
Intent to remain aware.
If you lose awareness at any point,
Once you become aware again,
Continue the practice from there.
Release all mental effort and feel the transition from action to rest,
From inner and outer motion to complete stillness.
Take a deep breath in,
Filling your lungs completely.
Then exhale slowly while simultaneously relaxing your whole body.
Repeat this two more times.
A deep breath in and a complete release of muscular tension through the exhale.
Let the third round go completely.
In yoga nidra,
Shift from efforting to becoming effortless.
From making things happen to allowing what is to be,
Just as it is.
We merely rest as the observer to all of the contents of experience,
Whether inner or outer.
Let every sensation come to you.
Let any potential distractions take you even deeper to the seat of the non-reactive witness.
Now it is time for your body to rest deeply.
Let go of all doing and rest in a simple state of being.
Bring your attention to the gentle flow of breath.
Begin to slightly deepen your breath and allow your exhales to become longer than your inhales.
Slow down the outgoing breath and adjust the pace of your breath so that you breathe in for a count of four and you breathe out for a count of eight.
If possible,
Letting your exhale become twice as long as your inhale.
Each time you're experiencing the prolonged exhale,
Feel that there's more time to sink into the quality of letting go.
Over the course of each exhale,
The whole body sinks deeper and deeper into a state of complete effortlessness.
A sense of all inner tensions spontaneously unraveling.
As the whole body releases,
The mind is pulled into a deepening sense of inner calm and quiet.
Now release all influence over the breath.
Let it become completely involuntary.
Lastly,
Be the observer of the breath,
Watching as it finds the most optimal rhythm and depth that is perfect for this moment.
Notice how it naturally becomes quiet and subtle.
Now,
Sink back into a calm and quiet sense of well-being as you let gravity and the floor beneath you fully hold the weight of your body.
Rest back into a part of you that is neither seeking nor resisting.
Just be present,
The part that's simply being.
If it's helpful,
You can cultivate feelings of well-being,
Peace,
Or ease by recalling a person or an environment that helps support your connection to this feeling.
The feeling may unfold as a sense of security,
Groundedness,
Or stability,
Or a general sense of calm and well-being.
The feeling of being okay in this moment.
Allow yourself to connect to this sense of well-being,
Calm or peace.
Let it expand and grow as a direct feeling in your body.
Recognize that even if you use a memory or image to invoke this feeling,
This feeling is coming from within you.
Even if at first it seems that this feeling is flowing from another person or a place,
It is arising from within.
It lives within you and can be sourced at any time,
In any experience,
Or throughout this practice,
Whenever you feel the need.
Bring your attention to your eyebrow center.
Let all of the currents of mind gather there.
When the mind becomes focused,
You can unleash its true creative potential to deliberately shape our destiny.
Into this single stream of attention,
Invoke a sankalpa,
An intention.
It can relate to anything that you wish to call forth in your life,
Something you wish to attain,
Embody,
Or even release.
Keep your statement simple and frame it in the present tense so that it affirms the very thing you're calling forth is already a reality in this moment.
Immerse yourself into the potent feelings of this reality starting to emerge as you repeat your intention mentally three times.
Now,
You will direct attention sequentially through different parts of the body.
As each part is named,
Connect to the felt sense of that part,
Perhaps as a subtle intention,
A feeling of warmth,
Or an inner quality of stillness.
Let go of thinking and just feel what is present.
Start by sensing your right thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Little finger,
Palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Right armpit,
Right side ribs,
Right waist,
Hip,
Thigh,
Knee,
Lower leg,
Ankle,
Heel,
Top of the foot,
Sole of the foot,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Continue to release all thoughts and just simply feel.
Bring attention to your left thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Little finger,
Palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Left armpit,
Side ribs,
Waist,
Left hip,
Thigh,
Knee,
Lower leg,
Ankle,
Heel,
Top of the foot,
Sole of the foot,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Relax into the effortless experience of sensing.
Shift attention now to the crown of the head,
Forehead,
Right temple,
Left temple,
Right ear,
Left ear,
Right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow,
Eyebrow center,
Right eyelid,
Left eyelid,
Right eye,
Left eye,
Right cheek,
Left cheek,
Right nostril,
Left nostril,
Tip of the nose,
Upper lip,
Lower lip,
Chin,
Jaw,
Throat,
Right side of the chest,
Left side of the chest,
Middle of the chest,
Upper abdomen,
Navel center,
Lower abdomen,
Right groin,
Left groin,
Right buttock,
Left buttock,
Back of the right hip,
Back of the left hip,
Back of the right waist,
Back of the left waist,
Back of the right ribs,
Back of the left ribs,
Right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
Whole spine,
Back of the head,
Top of the head.
Now sense the whole right leg as a field of sensation,
The whole left leg,
Both legs together,
The whole right arm,
The whole left arm,
Both arms together,
The entire right side of the body,
From the crown of the head to the toes,
The whole left side of the body,
From the crown of the head to toes,
The whole body at once.
Sense now the whole body as one single field of sensation,
A field of sensation suspended in a silent field in awareness.
Notice how sensation is a movement within awareness.
Awareness is the container of space and sensation is a vibrating current that moves through it.
Bring attention to rest in the eyebrow center from the quiet abode of the third eye.
Observe the soft flow of air in and out of the nostrils.
Feel how the air flowing in is slightly cooler and the air flowing out has a warmer quality to it.
Now localize your attention in the right nostril.
Feel the flow of air in the right nostril only.
Now localize your attention in the left nostril.
Feel the flow of air in the left nostril only.
Now envision the practice of alternate nostril breathing by simply using your mind.
Mentally perceive the air as though flowing in through the left nostril only and then flowing out through the right nostril.
Then sense the air flowing in through the right nostril and out through the left nostril.
Continue following this practice.
In through the left,
Out through the right.
In through the right,
Out through the left.
See and sense the current of breath rising and reaching the eyebrow center in the moment between each inhale and exhale.
The movement of breath meets the point of attention in the third eye and the current continues to alternate back and forth.
Now release the practice of mental alternate nostril breathing.
Sense the breath flowing equally in both nostrils.
Awareness and breath occupies the space in both nostrils.
Notice the breath effortlessly coming and going,
Coming and going within the field of awareness.
Breath constantly changing while awareness remains continuous.
Neither coming nor going.
Awareness is ever present.
Let's sense how awareness is the link between the inhale and exhale.
Take your attention deep into the body.
Connect to the feeling of heaviness.
Feel the pull of gravity and the natural feeling of heaviness.
A sense of the body sinking,
Sinking deeper into the earth.
Now shift your attention and find the experience of lightness in the body.
Sense the heaviness draining away and connect to the feeling of lightness.
A weightlessness in the body.
Feel the whole body becoming weightless as light as a cloud drifting through the sky.
Now return to the feeling of heaviness.
Reconnect with an encompassing experience of heaviness.
Return to lightness,
Weightlessness through the body.
Now hold both heaviness and lightness in your awareness at the same time.
Awareness of both simultaneously.
Notice how both of these experiences represent the polarity,
Each of which are transient,
Coming and going.
Neither permanent,
Both changing.
Can you sense how these experiences come and go within the field of awareness?
The feelings and sensation change,
Yet awareness remains changeless,
Ever present,
Undisturbed,
And unmarked by the contents of experience.
Rest back into this field of awareness.
Rest back as this feeling of awareness.
Unchanging,
Open,
Allowing.
Pay attention to rest in the eyebrow center.
In that space,
Sense the spontaneous presence of thought forms or impressions,
And sense the space through which they move.
Remain a witness to whatever arises without comment or judgment.
Rest observing.
Allow these images to arise in this inner space of mind.
Either see or sense them coalesce in the silent mental space.
A yellow square.
Silvery white crescent moon.
Red triangle,
Shelled with flames.
Blue-gray six-pointed star.
Full moon against the night sky.
Silent clouds of mental impressions passing in front the moon.
Observe the passing clouds,
Letting them silently drift by,
Just witnessing.
All that I see is coming and going.
How could I be what's coming or going?
I am that which is always present.
Sink completely into this field of silent awareness.
Release all doing and establish yourself in the unchanging,
Unmanifest part of your being.
Allow the duality of mind to merge into the oneness of awareness.
Notice that awareness has no boundary.
It's all-pervading.
Let go completely into this formless,
Timeless,
Omnipresence of awareness.
Allow yourself to receive these words as though your own.
I am the ever-present thread that links all experiences together.
As experiences come and go,
I,
As awareness,
Remain present and changeless.
From this expansive space of awareness,
Sense the coalescence of a thought in the form of your sankalpa.
Remember your sankalpa clearly and repeat it mentally three times.
Feel the words evoke the rich,
Felt experience that they are calling forth.
Begin to feel the natural rise and fall of the breath in the body,
Gentle and nourishing.
Feel the quality of peace and deep rest in the body.
With your eyes closed,
Let awareness flow into the channels of the five senses.
Begin to sense all of the edges of your body,
Where your body meets the floor beneath and where it meets the surrounding space.
Beginning with your extremities,
Start to explore small and gentle movements.
Keep your eyes closed.
Eventually bend your knees and roll onto your side.
Continue to rest deeply in the fetal position.
Feel the nourishing essence of yoga nidra.
Continue to saturate your experience.
Notice all that you are aware of.
Body,
Breath,
Sensation,
Thoughts.
As you notice all of the contents of experience that are present,
Notice also the awareness is present.
Sense as though awareness is emanating from the background,
Silently shining onto and throughout all experience.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Slowly make your way to a seated position.
Again,
Sense the presence of experiencing and the presence of awareness.
Drawing your palms together and rub them rhythmically to generate heat.
Once warmed,
Place your palms directly over your eyes,
Feeling the transfer of heat awaken the eyes and mind.
Open your eyes inside of your palms,
Allowing filtered light to shine.
Finally,
Remove your hands and return to full,
Wakeful awareness.
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