Yoga Nidra For Healing

Work actively with your heartfelt desire for healing and wholeness in this 45-minute Yoga Nidra practice.

You will be guided to make your affirmation of Sankalpa before being ushered into a state of relaxation where your body, mind & spirit can access deep healing and rest. The magic happens through your parasympathetic state. All you need to do is make yourself comfortable and listen to Emmalene guiding you into Yoga Nidra.

Transcript

Thanks for joining me and welcome to this practice of yoga nidra for healing.

Before we begin our practice of yoga nidra,

In preparation,

I invite you to take a few moments to move your body.

Move your body in ways that might feel natural or intuitive before we come to lie down for our practice of yoga nidra.

So this might be coming to all fours and taking a cat cow movement,

Arching and scooping the spine.

You might like to make snake movements through the spine or wag your tail.

You might like to lay on your back and pull your knees in towards your chest.

Maybe take a twist.

Or you could spread your arms wide and stretch out through your shoulders.

Whatever movements you'd like to make,

Just take a few more moments and then we will come to lay down comfortably for our practice of yoga nidra.

And now find a comfortable position to lie down.

Support yourself with cushions.

You can maybe use a yoga bolster if you have one or a blanket under your head and shoulders.

You might also like to have a blanket over your body.

Use whatever you need to feel comfortable for our practice.

And take your time setting things up.

If you need to pause,

That's fine.

Maybe as a final touch,

You might like to place an eye pillow or an eye mask over your eyes,

If you feel comfortable with that.

And then just begin relaxing in and settling down.

So now we come to the practice of yoga nidra itself.

You may repeat to yourself internally,

I am practicing yoga nidra.

I am practicing yoga nidra.

During this practice of yoga nidra,

You need to only follow my voice and my instructions.

If for any reason you do need to end the practice,

You can do so by simply disregarding my instructions,

Gently opening your eyes and carefully sitting up.

In this practice,

We will work with our sankalpa.

We will work with visualization.

We will take the rotation of consciousness,

Moving awareness around the physical body.

We will notice opposite sensations in the body and we will find awareness with the breath.

So in yoga nidra,

The body becomes very still whilst the mind is still active.

If for any reason you do need to move,

Give yourself permission to do so.

But if you can sink into stillness,

This is helpful for your practice of yoga nidra.

If you do find yourself drifting off,

See if you can consciously return to the sound of my voice.

If you do fall asleep,

Don't worry,

I will gently guide you out at the end of our practice.

For now,

Let your attention just gently settle on the sounds that you can hear around you.

Listen to the sounds around without needing to follow them too closely.

See if you can let them filter through into your awareness.

Now you draw your attention closer in.

And start to feel into the outsides of your body.

Perhaps you notice the feeling of the clothes against your skin,

Or the temperature of the air around you.

Begin to notice what's you and what's not you.

Now draw your attention further in still.

You may take your attention through and around your physical body.

Notice if you're holding any tension that you don't need to.

And see if you can consciously release it as you find it.

Relax your buttocks,

Your hands,

Your shoulders,

Your jaw,

And the sides of your eyes.

Now I invite you to make your affirmation for the practice.

Say this is your sankalpa.

Your sankalpa is a vow to your highest self.

It's a positive affirmation in the present tense,

Because everything that you can be is already part of you.

A sankalpa is the seed that allows that to grow and to blossom.

A sankalpa for healing could be I am healthy,

Well,

And my recovery is a success.

Inwardly,

Repeat your sankalpa to yourself now.

Bring your attention now to your breath.

To begin with,

Just bring your attention to where you find your breath and where you notice it the most.

Just stay with the breath.

And now we will begin counting with the breath.

We will count down from 50.

So on your next inhale,

Count 50.

Then your exhale will also be 50.

Inhale,

49.

Exhale,

49.

Inhale,

48.

Exhale,

48.

And continue like this.

At the pace of your own breath.

If you get lost,

Just begin again at 50.

If you reach zero,

Begin again at 50.

And now you may stop counting with the breath.

Let your attention melt away from the breath.

Allow your body to be soft and your breath gentle.

So we will next take the rotation of consciousness around the body.

When I name a body part,

Take your attention there.

When I move to the next part,

Take your attention there.

And so on.

You only need to listen to the sound of my voice and move around the body with your attention.

Notice your left hand thumb.

Left hand index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

And little finger.

The palm of your left hand.

And the back of your left hand.

Your left wrist.

Lower arm.

And elbow.

Left upper arm.

And left shoulder.

Your left armpit.

Ribs.

And your left waist.

Now take your attention to your right hand thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

And right little finger.

The palm of your right hand.

And the back of your right hand.

Your right wrist.

Lower arm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

And your right shoulder.

Notice your right armpit.

Your right ribs.

And your right waist.

Notice your left hip.

Left thigh.

Knee.

Lower leg.

Your left ankle.

The top of your left foot.

And the sole of your left foot.

Your left big toe.

And second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

And your left little toe.

Notice your right hip.

Right thigh.

Knee.

Lower leg.

Your right ankle.

And the top of your right foot.

The sole of your right foot.

Your right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

And your right little toe.

Now notice your abdomen below your navel.

And your abdomen above your navel.

Your left chest.

And your right chest.

Notice your lower back.

And your mid-back.

Your left shoulder blade.

And your right shoulder blade.

Take your attention to your throat.

And the back of your neck.

Your jaw.

Your cheekbones.

Nose.

The back of your head.

Your eyebrows.

And your forehead.

Notice the crown of your head.

Now see if you can notice your whole left leg.

And your whole right leg.

Your whole left arm.

And your whole right arm.

Notice your whole left leg.

And your whole left side.

And your whole right side.

Notice your whole body.

Your whole body.

Notice your whole body.

Your whole body.

Lying here peacefully.

Resting softly.

Breathing gently.

Begin now to notice a feeling of heat in your body.

Feel the heat as if you are lying next to a great roaring fire.

Notice a sensation of heat spreading throughout.

A sensation of great heat.

Spreading from the tips of your toes to the crown of your head.

This great heat penetrates your skin.

All the way through to your bones.

Feel the heat intensifying.

You start to sweat.

It's that hot.

Feel yourself beginning to radiate with the heat.

Let go of the sensation of heat.

And begin to feel the heat.

Begin to notice a strong sensation of cold.

Feel yourself lying in the snow.

And the cold is seeping into every part of your body.

And your awareness.

Notice the chill on your skin.

Feel the cold on the soles of your feet.

Feel the cold on the backs of your hands.

Notice the icy coldness.

Drawing down the back of your neck.

And into your core.

You start to shiver.

It's that cold.

You feel the intense sensation of cold throughout your body.

Let go of the sensation of cold.

And notice yourself begin to expand.

Feel the edges of your body begin to dissolve.

You become more and more aware.

You become more and more expansive.

Feel yourself growing upwards.

Growing outwards.

You continue to expand.

Notice the feeling of expansion.

Spreading throughout your physical body.

You may notice other parts of yourself begin to lose their edges.

As more of you becomes more and more expansive.

Feel what it is like to become very big.

Very open.

Huge.

Let go now of the sensation of expansion.

And notice yourself drawing back in.

Into your centre.

Feel the pull of contraction.

Feel the sense of contraction pulling you smaller and smaller into your centre.

Notice your physical body contracting to its core.

Feel your arms and legs get smaller and tighter as they contract towards your centre.

Notice your energetic body pull in and contract and condense.

Feel the sense of balance at your core.

Feel your mind and emotions draw in and become very tightly wrapped at the centre of yourself.

Now let go of the sensations and allow yourself once again to become very gentle and relaxed.

Settle your awareness on the blank space in front of your eyes as they are closed.

This is the screen of your mind.

For the next part of our yoga nidra I will name various objects and you can visualise them on this screen.

Simply let an object appear and when I name the next one let that appear immediately.

A door.

A glowing red jewel.

A white butterfly.

A flight of stairs.

A starry night sky.

A tree in the winter.

A busy street.

A chair.

A lit candle.

A blossoming cherry tree.

A book.

The mouth of a cave.

The sun shining.

A shoe.

A smiling woman.

A blade of grass.

Sunset over a city.

A goalpost.

A loaf of bread.

Flags fluttering in the breeze.

Let the screen of your mind go blank once more.

Feel a softness settling through you as you become more and more relaxed.

Visualise yourself lying in yoga nidra.

See your body lying here gentle and relaxed.

Now see a soft golden light shining down on your body.

The golden light is tumbling down and pouring out and flowing right over you.

Notice the golden light begin to suffuse into your body.

It sinks in and soaks right through your whole body.

Watch yourself absorb all of this beautiful nurturing golden light.

Notice how abundant and complete your body is as you absorb the golden light.

Once you have absorbed all the golden light keep visualising your body lying softly in yoga nidra.

Now begin to see a white light passing through your body from left to right and from right to left.

As this light washes through your body in yoga nidra it sweeps away any pain and discomfort.

Keep seeing the white light passing through your body.

Notice your body become gentler and softer.

Finally as you watch yourself lying here in yoga nidra notice the white light rise up and create a bubble around your body.

See the bubble shining white all around you protecting you.

Notice how it extends above and below your body.

Notice how safe and at ease your body is within it.

Return your focus once more to your breath.

Feel your breath moving through your body with ease.

Feel your breath energising you softly with each inhale and relaxing you gently with each exhale.

Begin to count up to three with each inhale.

The whole inhale takes the count of three.

Begin to count up to four with each exhale.

Each exhale takes the count of four.

And then simply continue like this.

With a count of three and four for the whole of each breath.

Release the counting of the breath and gently let your breath and body settle.

I invite you to come back to the affirmation of sankalpa that you made at the start of the practice.

Remind yourself of your vow to your highest self.

Silently repeat your affirmation.

Now it is time to end our practice of yoga nidra.

Start once again to notice the sounds around you.

Start once again to become aware of your own body.

Feel into the outsides of your body.

You may like to make some small movements and then work into some larger movements.

You could give yourself a hug.

You could have a stretch.

Being aware of any props you have around you gently roll over to the right side and pause there.

You may remove your eye mask or eye pillow and softly open your eyes if they were still closed.

Gently pressing up with your hands come to a seated position and press your palms together at your heart space.

We will take three chants of om.

If you want to you can join in with the om or you can simply experience the om.

We'll take an inhale and then begin.

Take a moment to bow your head and thank yourself for practicing yoga nidra.

Our practice is now complete.

Thank you for practicing with me.