Welcome to your yoga nidra practice for today.
My name is M Leverett and I will be your guide.
I will be taking you through a deep breath practice that can help restore your energy from the inside out and bring you into a state of nervous system homeostasis.
Whenever you're ready,
Begin to settle in.
You may wish to bring an eye pillow or some supports for your body and you might wish to support the backs of your knees or the back of your neck with cushions or pillows.
Whatever feels the most comfortable for you today.
When you're all settled in,
You may close your eyes or take a soft gaze and begin to bring your awareness inwards.
Take two sharp inhales through your nose and then exhale out through the mouth.
Once more,
Two inhales,
One full inhale and then a second sharp inhale at the top of your breath and then a long exhale sighing out through your mouth.
Do this one more time in your own pace and you may find it supportive to sigh out audibly through your mouth and with your sigh releasing any tension from your day and begin to notice the sounds of your environment around you.
Imagining that you could listen globally from your whole body,
Listening to the layers of sound in a sort of 360 environment way.
Imagine that your whole body could listen and begin to notice where you feel your natural breath in the body.
It may be your nostrils,
Chest or your abdomen.
Just notice and allow your natural breath to be as it is.
Tune in to the rhythm of your natural breath,
This inner rhythm that is uniquely yours today and bring your awareness up to your mind's eye now.
Tuning in to this vast space between your eyebrows,
You may notice light or darkness in this vast open space of possibility and whilst you have your awareness here at your mind's eye center,
Ask yourself what do I want to cultivate from this practice?
What is it that I wish to have clarity on?
And just allow your intuition to guide you here.
This is your sankalpa or intention for the practice.
You may wish to translate this into a statement of I am or a may I be statement,
Just like this one which is mine.
May I be spacious and clear with my desires.
Just repeat yours in your mind's eye and now bring your awareness to your left thumb and imagine that your awareness is like a soft breeze clearing anything stagnant or unwanted at your left thumb,
Your left finger,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Little finger.
Move your awareness to your palm of your hand,
Allowing your awareness to open up each point that I name here at the palm of your hand,
Breeze like awareness,
Back of your hand,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Your left collarbone,
Your heart space,
Feeling the clearing energy at your heart space,
Your solar plexus,
Navel center,
Right thumb,
First finger,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Little finger,
Moving your breeze like awareness to the palm of your right hand,
Feeling spacious at the palm of your hand,
The back of your hand,
Wrist,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
The collarbone,
Your heart space,
Feeling spaciousness and openness with your breeze like awareness here at your heart space in the center of your chest.
Now bring your awareness to the back of your upper chest,
Just behind the heart,
Allowing clarity and openness to spread here as you drift your awareness down to your mid-back,
Lower back,
Back of your pelvis,
The right side of your pelvis,
The whole of the thigh,
Right knee,
Ankle,
Top of the foot,
Bottom of the foot,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Little toe,
Drift your awareness up to the left of your pelvis,
The whole of your left thigh,
The base of your left foot,
Top of your left foot,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Little toe,
Drift your awareness up to your pelvic center,
Feeling into the space here in your pelvis,
Allowing your breeze like awareness to clear out any stagnant energy here.
Now bring your awareness now to your navel center,
Your heart center,
Base of the throat,
Center of the throat,
The inside of your mouth and any sensation here,
Both cheeks,
Relaxing the eyes back with feather-like awareness,
Forehead center,
And the top of your head,
Allowing the breeze like awareness at the top of your head,
And now sense into your whole body resting here,
The whole body resting in stillness,
And now notice a point in your body allowing your awareness to bring you to a point in your body where you feel a block or stagnation,
This may feel like heaviness or restlessness,
Just noticing,
And allow your awareness,
The simple act of noticing,
To soothe the energy here at this part of your body with no expectations,
Simply allow the sensation to be as it is,
Your awareness is enough,
And now bring your awareness to a part that feels spacious or open,
It may be a space like the back of your heart,
Or the vastness of the space behind your eyes at your third eye center,
Just notice what part feels spacious and open for you,
And now imagine a golden thread flowing from the spacious part to the heavy or blocked part,
Imagining this golden thread connecting from the spacious part to the block,
And begin to notice your natural breath,
Imagining that this breath is connecting these parts via the golden thread,
Each breath in and out is building the connection,
Sending vital breath and spaciousness from your spacious part to your blocked part,
On your next natural inhale,
Draw that clear,
Spacious energy in from your spacious part all the way to your blocked part,
And on your next inhale,
Allow the spaciousness to open the blocked part,
And on your next exhale,
Release any stagnation back to the earth,
It is no longer yours,
Breathing naturally,
Inhale openness and clarity via the golden thread,
Exhale imagining all stagnation is released back to the earth,
Continue breathing this way in your own time,
Using the natural breath that's already happening,
And just notice how this is feeling in your body,
Just noticing as you rest back deeper,
Noticing how each part is responding to the golden thread of spaciousness,
If you wish,
You may wish to connect this imaginary thread to other blocked parts,
Allowing more spaciousness to other blockers within your body that you may or may not have noticed,
Just allowing your intuition to guide you as you rest deeper and deeper,
And now rest your awareness back to your third eye center,
Releasing awareness of the breath now,
And just rest here for a moment without doing anything,
Basking in this experience that you have created for yourself,
Allowing the experience to be as it is in this moment,
And trusting that you have everything that you need here,
As you rest,
Resting in the third eye space,
And now imagine that you could retrieve your sankalpa effortlessly from your third eye,
And repeat it in your mind,
As you are reminded of your intention for today,
For this month,
May I be spacious and clear with my desires,
Feel as if your sankalpa has been thoroughly accepted by your subconscious and your higher self,
Knowing that it is true in this moment,
And now take a deep,
Restorative breath in through your nose,
And exhale through your mouth,
With a deep exhale,
Once more,
Deep breath in through your nose,
And a long exhale out through your mouth,
And now breathing through the nose,
See if you can pick up any aromas or scents in your environment,
They may be faint,
But just notice what you notice,
And with your next exhale,
You may wish to affirm to yourself that you are choosing clarity and ease,
I choose to take clarity and ease with me throughout the week,
And now begin to notice the sound of my voice,
Or the sounds of your environment,
Begin to build a sense of the walls or the environment around you,
And you may begin to make some small movements with your body,
You may wish to place your hands at the center of your chest,
And bring in some gratitude for yourself,
For practicing today,
And for creating this experience for yourself,
Gratitude for giving yourself this space today to become truly rested,
And when you're ready,
You can make bigger movements,
You may wish to stretch,
You may wish to stretch your toes and your feet,
And when you're ready,
Not a moment before,
You may open your eyes,
Or remove your eye pillow,
And let your mind and your eyes just get used to the light in your room,
Or your environment,
Allowing yourself a moment to adjust back into your waking life,
And the practice is now complete,
So thank you so much for practicing with me today,
I hope you have felt the benefits for your nervous system,
Please let me know in the comments how you feel now,
I love to read each unique experience of the practice,
Everyone is so different,
And it's great to connect with you all in this community,
And whenever you're ready to practice next,
I'll be here,
Take care.
