Hi and welcome to this Yoga Nidra practice.
My name is Diane,
And I'm so glad that you're taking this time for yourself.
Whether your intention is sleep or just relaxation.
They say that 30 minutes of a yoga nidra practice is equal to 3 hours of deep sleep.
So I invite you now to find the most comfortable position in which your body can be completely and utterly held.
Let the floor,
Your bed the earth beneath you.
Just receive your full weight.
Making any adjustments that you need to make to feel fully held and supported.
Begin to just allow your eyes to soften.
If you're not ready to close them yet,
That is perfectly fine.
You may want to begin by rubbing your palms together to create a little warmth.
And when you feel that warmth beginning to happen,
Just gently rest your palms over your closed eyes.
Allowing the muscles behind your eyes to soften and release.
Those tiny muscles that have been tracking and scanning and reading the world all day.
For many days.
They can just rest now.
Let the space behind your eyes fill with this warmth from your hands.
In the quiet darkness beneath your palms.
Just like the way a forest fills with quiet.
Just after sunset.
And I invite you now to take one full breath.
And arriving breath in through your nose.
And release it slowly.
As though you are releasing.
A day's worth of effort.
Out through the soles of your feet.
As you exhale back into the earth.
Let's take a second one again.
Breathe in.
And slowly breathe out.
Not pushing.
Not performing.
Just consciously breathing.
Right here.
Together.
And you have arrived.
There's nowhere else to go right now.
There's nothing you have to fix or figure out.
Your only task for the remaining time together.
Is just received.
Before we travel deeper,
We're going to plant a seed.
And in Sanskrit,
The word is sankalpa.
Which means intention and this isn't a goal.
It's not a command.
A tiny little,
Short,
Luminous intention.
Just like a seed.
So letting a single phrase or feeling Just bubble up from your heart now as you breathe into the center of your chest.
And let it be something easy and simple.
But something that feels true to you.
And this could be just something like I'm at peace,
Or I am held.
Or just the felt sense of rest or safety.
Or even just coming home to yourself.
I'll give you just a moment to feel into what your personal intention for this practice and sleep.
So whatever arose Just hold it gently.
Perhaps the way you would hold a small,
Maybe warm stone in your palm.
And feel it drop down through the chest,
This intention.
Through your belly.
Just as if you were tossing that stone into a pool of clear water and watching it settle all the way to the bottom.
Be down into.
A deep listening place.
Within your being And we'll return back here,
But for now,
Just let this rest in the soil of your being,
Your intention.
We're going to begin by connecting with the body.
And if you've never practiced yoga nidra before Nidra means sleep so the practice is Sleep of the Yogi.
And even if you don't fall asleep.
Again just by practicing yoga nidra your body will receive rest equal to that of deep sleep.
I'm going to guide your awareness through each region of your body.
And as I name each place.
Just simply bring your gentle attention there not moving any body parts.
And not to change or shift anything.
But as I name them,
You're just gonna arrive.
As if to say hello.
To each place.
So we'll begin now again by taking a centering breath in and a grounding breath out Becoming aware now of your right hand.
And the tips of the fingers on your right hand.
Your index finger your middle finger your ring finger.
Your pinky finger and your thumbs.
Now become aware of the palm of your right hand.
And the back of your hand.
And your wrist.
Becoming aware.
Of any warmth there.
Perhaps just the subtle pulse of life moving through your right hand And now moving to your right forearm.
Your elbow.
Right upper arm.
Your inner upper arm.
Your right armpit.
The whole right arm.
Feeling warm and feeling heavy.
Just releasing against the support underneath it.
Moving your awareness now to your left hand.
Your left fingertips.
Index finger middle finger.
Ring finger.
Pinky finger left thumb.
Palm of your left hand.
In the back of your hand.
Your left wrist.
Notice if you're experiencing any pulsing or tingling And there's no right or wrong.
You're just becoming aware of your body.
Aware of your left forearm.
And your elbow.
Your upper left arm.
Your left armpit.
In your whole left arm.
Soft and heavy.
Surrendering into this moment.
Moving your awareness now up to the crown of your head the very top of your head and now your forehead and the space between your brows.
The bridge of your nose.
Both nostrils.
Just sensing the subtle movement of your breath.
Becoming aware of your cheeks.
Your ears.
Your jaw.
Releasing and softening your jaw now.
I'm clenching your teeth and just allowing the tongue to float gently to the lower palate of your mouth.
Bringing awareness now to your throat.
Back of your neck.
Down along each side of your cervical spine.
The neck often carries so much.
Just letting it be held now and releasing whatever it's been holding onto.
Perhaps with your next exhale,
Letting go of any tension.
In the back of your neck.
Sides of your neck.
Base of your skull.
Release Awareness now to your right shoulder.
In your left shoulder.
The whole landscape of your upper back.
And your shoulder blades gently moving apart as you breathe.
Like the wings of a sleeping bird just resting against the earth awareness now to the front the chest.
Feeling into the gentle rise.
And fall.
And you're just.
.
.
Noticing your body automatically breathing on your behalf.
Your ribcage expanding.
Your sternum's soft.
And your heart beneath it.
At rest.
Bringing your awareness now to your abdomen.
Your belly.
A space that's often held so tight against the world.
Just let it go.
Let it be soft.
Let it be as round and soft and unheld.
Unclenched.
As the belly of the earth itself.
Rising.
And falling.
As you fully receive.
And release your breath awareness now.
To your lower back.
The gentle curve in your lumbar spine.
Your sacrum the base of the spine.
Feeling into the sacrum as if it's like a broad stone just resting on the ground.
Heavy.
And still.
As if it's something ancient,
Precious,
And rooted.
Connecting you to Mother Earth.
Noticing your hips now,
Your right hip.
And your left hip.
Together the pelvis.
And the great bowl of the body.
Just let this bowl be empty now.
Let everything you've been carrying in your pelvis tension.
Emotion.
Memories held deep in your tissues.
And fighting and softness now.
Bringing your awareness now to your right thigh.
In your left thigh.
Your right knee.
In your left knee.
The right calf.
And the left calf.
Your right ankle your left ankle your right foot.
Heel of your right foot.
The arch.
Ball of your right foot.
Your right big toe.
Second toe.
Middle toe.
Fourth tone.
And baby toe.
And now your left foot.
The heel of your left foot.
The arch.
A bow.
All five toes.
Big toe.
Second toe middle toe.
Fourth toe.
And baby toe.
And just acknowledging how these feet of yours have carried you.
So many miles over so many years.
Becoming aware of your whole body now.
From the crown of your head.
All the way down to the soles of your feet.
This is just a continuous field of gentle awareness.
Like sunlight moving through water Just touching everything.
But disturbing nothing.
Notice how the body has become heavier How the ground is rising to meet you.
Now I invite you into the subtle body.
The luminous field that extends just beyond the skin.
That breathes.
And vibrates and receives.
This is your energy body.
Sense into the field around your hands first.
Perhaps noticing a warm breeze.
Tingling.
Fullness.
The palms of your hands.
This is life force.
Prana.
Change.
The intelligent energy that animates all living things.
You don't need to manufacture it because it is already here.
And it always was here.
It is part of you.
Perhaps you feel that warmth spreading up through your arms.
Gently moving like a soft wave across your chest.
A warmth spreading.
Moving down through the belly.
Into the legs.
All the way down to your feet.
And then again like that wave moving back up all the way up your body through and out the crown of your head And I invite you now to sense.
Perhaps you can feel or just simply imagine.
And gentle.
Golden green light gathering above the crown of your head.
The color similar to new leaves on a tree when light passes through them healing light intelligent light the light that glows through the forest in the morning.
And with each inhale.
.
.
Draw that light down through.
Crown of your head.
Down into the brainstem.
Moving it with your awareness all the way down your spine.
Filling your torso with warmth.
With each exhale.
But anything.
That no longer serves.
Any held tension.
Any stagnant energy.
Any old grief stored in your tissues.
Allowing this beautiful vibrant golden green light to soften.
And release.
What's ready to be released.
Moving it into the earth beneath you.
For the Earth receives it all.
And the Earth transforms it all.
This is her gift to us.
And it's her nature.
And you don't even need to process,
Think about,
Analyze what you're releasing.
Just trust that whatever's coming up for you to release Just simply give it to the earth.
To Gaia.
As she knows what to do.
Feel now.
Into the energy centers of your body.
There's seven main ones from the base of your spine up to the crown of your head I can imagine them as if they were a string of lights,
Gently brightening.
Each one finding its own pace.
Its own rhythm.
You are a living system.
Finding its own resonance.
Its own balance.
And its own coherence.
Just trusting in the wisdom.
Of your own energetic field.
And resting in this luminous body of yours.
A body that is never broken.
Never lost.
Only sometimes forgotten.
But you are remembering now.
In ee-ya-toh-ree-ah-shah-kah-tah-ree ee-ee-ee-nah-koh-toh-ree-ah.
Yantar yantar so yeshe k'tere yenay se k'te.
I'm going to invite you now into a place You may find it in your imagination or in your memory.
Or somewhere between the two and just know that there is no wrong way to arrive.
You are standing.
At the threshold.
At the edge of a forest.
It is early morning.
And that golden.
Quiet hour.
Before the world fully wakes.
The light is soft.
Slanted.
Moving through the trees in long warm shafts and the air is cool.
And carries the scent of damp earth and moss.
And pine.
And green growing plants Every breath here is nourishment.
You can feel the ground beneath your bare feet.
The soft floor of the forest.
Yielding.
Than alive.
Roots and leaves.
And a thousand years of composted life beneath the soles of your feet.
You are held here.
You belong here.
And you are made of the same things this forest is made of.
You begin to walk now.
Slowly as if the forest has asked you to slow down.
And you have gladly agreed.
And your breath deepens with each step.
And your shoulders drop.
And your mind begins to quiet.
The way.
A stream quiets as it widens into a pool.
Begin to notice what surrounds you.
The textures of bark.
Rough.
Ridged.
Perhaps silver and rust red in color.
Seeing the way ferns unfurl in the soft light.
And the sound of birdsong moving through the canopy,
Just waking up not demanding anything from you.
They're just singing their morning song and they're just beings.
And as you continue to slowly walk through the woods.
You notice a head.
The sound of water.
A river.
It was quiet and steady and unhurried.
You follow the sound.
The forest opens gently to reveal a clearing beside the river's edge.
The water is clear.
Yet dark and moving with a slow,
Continuous confidence.
It has been flowing here for longer than you can imagine.
And will continue flowing here long after you have returned.
Back to your day or night.
See yourself sitting down now on a flat stone right at the edge of the river.
The stone is warm from the morning light.
Letting your hands gently rest in your lap.
And you are doing nothing.
You are needed for nothing.
You are simply here.
On this rock.
A living creature that you are.
Resting beside a river.
On the edge of a forest.
Connecting to the earth and you're just watching the water moving through the riverbeds.
Observing how it moves around every obstacle without struggle.
It doesn't fight any of the stones within it.
It simply just flows around it.
Not asking to be different than it is not questioning the direction that it's moving It simply just moves with the shape of what is.
Allow your system.
Your nervous system.
Let it receive this image.
Let the river teach your body what the river knows.
That ease is not laziness.
That yielding.
Is not weakness.
That rest is how we become the river again.
Deep and continuous.
And clear.
You may feel sleep approaching from the edges of your awareness.
And just like mist moving across the water at dawn.
And just let it come.
You may still hear my voice following it when I call you back.
But for now,
Just sink into this place.
Letting the river hold the sound.
Letting the forest hold the light.
And letting the earth hold you Coming softly back,
Awareness,
Bringing awareness back to your body now.
Hearing my voice.
You are still held.
Still on the edge of the forest.
Are also in your body.
These two places are not as far apart as we sometimes think.
Begin to sense your body from the inside.
Not from above.
Not from outside.
But from within the felt sense of being alive in your body.
Warmth.
Subtle movement of breath.
The weight and temperature of your hands.
And from this place just notice if there is any parts of your body calling you for attention.
Not urgently,
But perhaps just a gentle tap on the shoulder of your awareness.
Maybe it's a slight tightness.
Or fullness.
Or a place that feels slightly different from the rest of you just simply acknowledging it.
By placing your inner attention there.
As you replace a gentle hand.
And if that place that perhaps is calling for your attention if it were to have a texture.
Or a color.
Or temperature.
What might it be?
You don't need to analyze,
But just simply let the body speak in its own language with any images,
Sensations.
.
.
Impressions.
This is all just subtle energetic information.
Letting it arise and pass.
Just like the weather.
Comes and goes.
And if that sensation that's calling your attention,
If there is one,
If it had a voice What might be the message that it wants to share with you?
And now just a small invitation from the Soma.
The living,
Sensing body.
Without effort.
Without agenda.
Let there now just be the tiniest movement possible.
Perhaps just the tip of one finger gently curls.
Or the spreading between two toes.
Maybe your breath just deepens a bit on its own,
Just letting your body choose its own small gesture.
Of the beginnings of returning back from this practice.
This is the intelligence of your body.
It knows the way home.
And it has always known the way home.
Our only task is to listen.
To what it's trying to tell us.
And to trust.
Those inner knowings.
Those inner voices.
When our bodies are speaking.
We're going to return now to the seed that we planted at the beginning of this practice.
Your sankalpa.
Intention.
Quiet,
True intention of your heart.
Just let it arise again now.
Not as a thought,
But as a felt sense.
Bringing your awareness to your chest.
The landscape that this seed was planted in has been watered and softened.
Soil is ready to receive.
Go ahead now and repeat your intention internally,
Three times,
Slowly.
.
.
As if.
Gently pressing each repetition into the earth of your being.
And feeling it land.
Feeling it take root and feeling it as already true.
It is done.
You do not need to tend it with effort or willpower.
A seed does not force itself to grow.
It simply receives what is given.
Light,
Water,
Soil.
And it grows because that is its nature.
So trust in the nature of what you have planted.
Deep within your being.
We're going to gently return,
Not rushing.
Not startling.
But the way the tide turns naturally.
And perceptibly.
And with a deep sense of rightness.
Becoming aware of any other sounds besides my voice around you.
And sounds in the space you are in.
Perhaps outside of the space you were in.
Whatever sounds arise,
Just simply notice them.
Letting them welcome you back.
Feeling into the weight of your body.
The points of your body where you're touching the support underneath you and how it has held you this entire time,
Asking nothing.
But giving everything Go ahead and begin to deepen your breath.
A long,
Slow breath in through the nose.
Filling your lungs,
Your belly,
And the back body.
And a full,
Releasing exhale out through the mouth,
Just like the sigh of trees.
In a gentle wind.
And again,
Breathing in.
And releasing through the mouth.
And slowly just bringing gentle movements back into your body.
Gently wiggling your fingers Awakening your tones.
Circling your ankles and perhaps your wrists.
And maybe even just stretching your arms overhead.
Long and luxurious,
Like a cat waking in a patch of sunlight.
Letting your whole body stretch into aliveness and then gently rolling to one side And just hold your posture there for a moment in a curl.
In the warm.
Before you're ready to open again There's no rush,
Only when you're ready.
Letting your eyes remain soft or closed.
There's no need to rush them open.
Just letting your world come back to you gently and easily Perhaps you're just gonna drift right off into sleep,
And you don't need to sit up And that's perfect but wherever you are,
Welcome back when you're ready.
And only when you're ready.
Just making sure.
Your way to a comfortable place.
Seated position.
Unless of course you are transitioning into sleep but if you are rising for the rest of your day just letting your eyes remain soft No need to rush them open.
Allowing the world to come to you gently you have just given your nervous system one of the most profound gifts available to a human being.
The gift of conscious rest.
The kind of rest that brings you back to yourself more wholly.
Than before.
And your body knows how to heal.
Your nervous system knows how to regulate.
Your soul knows how to orient towards what is true and nourishing.
You only just have to get out of the way.
And you just did that.
So beautifully I'm so glad you joined me.
Come back again.
And take good care.
