Welcome to your practice today.
My name is Em and I will be guiding you through some yoga nidra meditation techniques that bring your body mind into a state of deep yogic rest.
Yoga nidra is traditionally practiced on your back with your arms long and outstretched with your palms facing upwards but you might choose to rest on your side or with your palms on your abdomen and you might want to support your body with cushions under your knees,
Your lower back or the neck,
Whatever feels most comfortable for you today.
So take a few moments to get into a comfortable position and whenever you're ready begin to land your body into stillness and close down the windows of your eyes.
Take a deep inhale in through the nose and see if you can pick up any aromas or the texture of the air being drawn up through your nostrils and then exhale deeply with a sigh out through the mouth.
Inhale through the nose two more times with a deep exhale through the mouth picking up any aromas on the inhale and now allow yourself to land in this moment of non-doing.
All you need to do is simply listen and receive the guidance and rest back in the knowledge that you don't need to do anything here.
Simply feel into your body being supported by the surface you're resting on and sense into the feeling of being held and supported by earth and ether.
Feel the space around you supporting your stillness and rest.
You might wish to consciously relax your body back even more here and notice the sanctuary that you're receiving here from the space around you.
The space or ether with its immediate purpose to support your rest.
Allow your body to completely release its weight to the support beneath you now and notice how it feels for your physical body to be at ease here.
And now in your mind's eye,
Mentally repeat the name of each part of the body I name,
Feeling into the sensations that arise in and out of your awareness with each body part as your awareness is rotated throughout the body.
So,
Bring your mind's eye to notice your right thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
The palm of the right hand,
Back of the hand,
Awareness to the right side of the waist,
The right hip,
Awareness to the right ankle,
Heel,
Sole of the foot,
Top of the foot,
Awareness to the right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe,
All five toes in your awareness,
Awareness to the whole right leg,
The right side of the torso,
Awareness to the left thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
The palm of the hand,
Awareness to the left side of the waist,
The lower leg,
Awareness to the left ankle,
Heel,
Sole of the foot,
Top of the foot,
The left big toe,
Second toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe,
All five toes in your awareness,
Awareness to the whole left leg,
The left side of the torso,
Awareness to the right shoulder,
The left shoulder,
The right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
The top of the spine,
Middle of the spine,
Base of the spine,
The glutes,
Back of the lower legs,
The whole back of the body together,
Awareness to the top of the head,
Forehead,
Left eyebrow,
Eyebrow center,
Right ear,
The left cheek,
The tip of the nose,
Right nostril,
Left nostril,
The upper lip,
The chin,
The jaw,
The throat,
The nose,
The right collarbone,
Left collarbone,
Right side of the chest,
Left side of the chest,
The center of the chest,
Your heart space,
Awareness to the navel center,
Abdomen,
Lower pelvis,
Awareness to the whole right leg,
Awareness to the whole left leg,
Awareness to the whole right leg,
To both legs together,
Awareness to the whole right arm,
Awareness to the whole left arm,
Both arms together,
The whole head,
Awareness to the whole body together,
The whole body resting deeply,
Notice your whole body in relation to the support beneath you,
Notice the subtle physical meeting points between your body and the ground,
Sense the subtle meeting points between the back of your head and the ground,
The shoulder blades and the ground,
The arms meeting the ground,
Back of the legs meeting the ground,
The heels and the ground,
Awareness to the whole body and the ground,
The sensation of all points meeting the ground evenly,
Bring your awareness now to your natural breath,
Just observing the breath as it is in the body,
Breathing in and out wherever you notice the breath,
And now intentionally notice the breath in and out through the nostrils,
In and out through the nostrils,
And now notice your breath moving in and out through the heart space,
In and out through the heart space,
And now notice the breath moving in and out through the navel center,
In and out through the navel center,
And now notice the breath in and out through the mind's eye,
And out through the mind's eye,
Maintaining your awareness at your mind's eye,
Imagine a safe container for your sensations and your emotions to reside,
Allow your intuition to guide you without effort,
This safe container could be a nest,
A cocoon,
A container,
And notice what it is placed in the nest that brings extra safety and comfort,
It may be soft furnishings,
Something from nature,
It may not make much sense to your conscious mind but that's okay,
Just noticing without force what is contained that brings extra safety and comfort here,
This is the safe container for your body's sensations to be nurtured,
They don't need to be changed,
They simply need to be supported and cared for until they decide to move and drift away,
Bring your awareness now to a neutral sensation in your body,
And noticing a part of the body that feels still,
Quiet,
Unassuming,
Invite this sensation into the container,
This may seem abstract but allow your intuition to work it out,
There's no need for force or to make any effort here,
Simply watch what your intuition presents to you,
Almost like watching tv,
And allow your neutral sensation to feel supported here,
Thank your sensation for being here,
And now imagine that with your next inhale,
The container could expand to be spacious and inviting,
On your next exhale imagine that your container contracts like a warm hug supportive of your experience,
Inhale again the expansion of the container,
And now the contraction of the container with your exhale,
Inhaling expansion,
Exhaling contraction and settling,
Allow the visual of the supportive container to drift out of your mind and simply be here with the expansion of your inhale,
And the contraction of the exhale,
Simply notice the sensation of expansion and contraction to settle,
Continuing this way in your own rhythm,
And now notice your awareness at your third eye center,
And simply receive rest in this moment exactly as you are,
In this moment you are experiencing your true self,
Just as you are,
Bask in this experience of resting in your true wholeness,
And notice your body being supported by the ground beneath you,
And once more sensing into the feeling of being supported by earth and ether around you,
The space around you supporting your stillness and rest,
And expand your awareness to beyond the body and into the environment around you,
In your mind's eye just noticing the space that you're in,
And now take a deep inhale through the nose and see if you can pick up any fragrance in your environment,
However subtle just noticing,
And then exhale a sigh out through the mouth,
Inhaling once more taking another deep breath in through the nose picking up any fragrances,
And one more deep exhale out through the mouth,
You might be noticing some sounds in your environment beyond my voice,
And you might wish to bring some small movements into the body,
You may wish to circle the ankles or the wrists,
Or even to bring your hands to the center of your chest and feel into a sense of gratitude to yourself for practicing here today,
This may feel like joy,
Noticing the joy of stillness,
Or it may be whispering in your mind's eye thank you to yourself for practicing today,
And when you're ready bring some bigger movements into your body,
And whenever you're ready open your eyes and adjust back into your waking life,
And allow your vision to adjust back,
And when your eyes have adjusted,
Allow your vision to soften,
Your focus to slightly soften noticing anything in your peripheral vision,
This just allows your parasympathetic nervous system to maintain its dominance for a moment whilst you're adjusting back to being awake,
And you can release that now because your practice is now complete,
And whenever you're ready just take your time to ease back into your day taking it as slowly as needed,
And I'd like to thank you for practicing with me today,
I hope you found the benefits of this practice and if you wish to share please do comment how you're feeling after the practice or what shifts you've noticed and how your body mind has received this experience of receiving yoga nidra today,
And just know that you can return to this feeling in your daily life whenever it feels like stress,
Expectations or even anxiety is building,
The sensation of containment and sanctuary is yours,
And with practice it will get stronger and easier to call upon as your inner ally,
And whenever you're ready to practice next I'll be here,
Until then take care.
