Welcome to this Yoga Nidra practice for cultivating radical acceptance in your life.
No matter what circumstance has drawn you to this practice,
Moving towards radical acceptance is about fully acknowledging your reality for what it is,
Without resistance.
The practice of radical acceptance isn't about being passive or defeated,
Rather it enables you to move on towards aligned action in your life from a place of empowerment rather than getting stuck in a cycle of denial and resistance which creates suffering and apathy.
So whenever you're ready,
Begin to settle in.
When you're settling in,
Feel free to bring in any props or accessories that may support you,
An eye pillow can block out the light,
Or a cushion under the knees or at the ankles can help support your joints so that you can remain still and at ease throughout this practice.
Make sure that you are as comfortable as you can be today,
And whenever you're ready,
Close down the eyes and begin to notice the sounds around you in your environment.
You may notice sounds that are close to you,
Or notice sounds that are far away.
Simply take note of the sounds you hear,
You may find it supportive to label them close,
Distant,
Without judgement simply label the sounds if that's supportive.
Invite in the experience of merging with the sounds around you in your environment.
And as you feel a sense of becoming one with everything around you and all you can hear,
Imagine the spaciousness that that brings to your body,
As you rest here deeply at one with your surroundings and feel supported by the earth,
Notice the support beneath you and how it feels to be supported.
And now bring your attention to your breath,
Notice where you feel the breath,
Maybe your chest,
Your nostrils,
The throat,
Or deep in the abdomen,
Allowing your breath to retain its natural rhythm,
As you watch as the observer of your breath,
Allowing it to flow in and out at its own pace.
And as you welcome your next exhale,
Extend your exhale for just a beat longer,
You may find it supportive to count an extra count of one or two as you exhale,
But whether you count or not,
Just simply allow your exhale to be slightly longer than your inhale,
There is no right or wrong way to do this,
Just do what feels right for your body today.
With each exhale,
Imagine that you are dropping any expectations on yourself or this practice today,
You may notice that you've come to the practice with some baggage of how you should or how you want to feel and experience,
But simply allow them to float on your exhale out of your body and into the air,
You don't need these expectations today,
Simply allow your mind and body to process the way they need to,
This requires no striving,
Simply listening to the instructions as you rest here deeper and deeper,
Now place your awareness at your third eye center in the center of your eyebrows,
And allow your mind to be absorbed into this vast supportive space,
Notice whatever you notice here,
Maybe lights or darkness,
Simply notice as you experience your third eye center,
Remind yourself of what brought you to this practice today,
Whatever comes to mind,
Whether it's words,
Phrase or just a sense of knowing why you chose this practice,
This is your sankalpa,
Your intention,
Allow your intention to form a supportive I or I am statement,
A statement that's supportive and hopeful,
But without the expectation or the pressure to achieve,
The sankalpa simply is,
Whether you try and strive or not,
It is supportive,
You may wish to use this sankalpa and make it more specific to why you're here,
I release resistance and embrace acceptance,
Once you have your sankalpa formed,
Imagine sending it to your third eye center,
And allow it to be accepted into this space as knowledge and knowing that your sankalpa is fully accepted by your body,
There's nothing more you need to do,
Simply allow it to be,
And now drift your awareness to your left eyebrow,
Now your right eyebrow,
Left eye,
Left ear,
The ear canal all the way down to the center and towards your right ear,
The ear canal and then the outside of your right ear,
Your left cheek,
Your nose and both nostrils,
Your right cheek,
Top lip,
Bottom lip,
The inside of your mouth,
Notice the quality of the inside of your mouth,
It might be humid,
Just notice what you notice here about the quality of the inside of your mouth,
Allow your tongue to rest back,
And now drift your awareness down to the center of the throat,
Now the base of your throat in between your collarbones,
Left collarbone,
Left shoulder,
Elbow,
Right elbow,
First finger,
Second finger,
Your little finger,
Drift your attention now from your left hand all the way up,
Your left arm back to the collarbone,
Feeling the sensations as you go,
And now rest your awareness at your heart center in the middle of your chest,
Notice with curiosity the sensations you feel here at your heart center,
Right collarbone,
Right shoulder,
Elbow,
Lower arm,
Feel all the sensations in your right hand,
Right thumb,
First finger,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Little finger,
Move your awareness from your right hand all the way up your right arm,
Feeling the sensations as your attention drifts all the way up your right arm to your collarbone,
And rest your awareness back at your heart center,
Feel the grounding of your heart center,
Notice how it nourishes your entire body,
Beating life and energy all the way through your body,
And now allow your awareness to absorb in,
At your solar plexus,
Your navel center,
The left of your pelvic pole,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Your little toe,
Allow your awareness to move up from your left foot all the way up your leg to your pelvic pole,
Noticing the sensations on your left leg as your awareness slowly drifts up to your pelvic bowl,
Allow your awareness to absorb in to the right of your pelvic bowl,
Your right foot and all the sensations on your right foot,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Your little toe,
Allow your awareness to drift back up from your foot,
Feeling the sensations as you go,
Feel the sensations all the way up your right leg and back to the right of your pelvic bowl,
Allow your awareness to settle at the base of your spine,
Feel in to the base of your spine and notice it as another grounding point in your body,
Specifically connecting you to the earth at the base of your spine,
This space connects you to the support and all that is,
Allowing you to be at one with your surroundings,
Feel in to the groundingness at the base of your spine and now allow your awareness to creep up your spine vertebrae by vertebrae,
Feeling any sensations as you go,
Allow your awareness to reach the top of your spine at the base of your neck,
Now feel the back of your neck,
Back of your head,
Top of your head,
Allow your awareness now to cascade down your body,
Slowly but intentionally,
Feeling in to the sensation of your body as a whole,
Resting here as your awareness cascades down through your body,
Down to your feet,
Feel as this cascading awareness massages your entire being and softens each limb,
Drift further and further in to the support beneath you,
Allowing yourself to rest deeper and deeper,
Take a moment to bask in this deep restorative rest,
You have created this experience of deep rest for yourself,
Allow yourself to bask in the ease of this,
Now imagine yourself sitting on soft earth in a peaceful surrounding,
This surrounding may be outdoors or indoors with a large window where you're immersed in the outdoor environment,
Notice where you are in these peaceful surroundings and feel completely supported and at ease,
Notice your position,
Are you sitting,
Are you laying down,
Are you standing,
Notice how all the contact points you have in this visualization are being cradled by the earth and now as you rest here in your peaceful surrounding,
Notice a light but misty fog surrounding you,
This fog represents resistance,
Uncertainty and the frustration that clouds your mind,
Just notice how this fog behaves,
There's no need to resist,
Simply observe with curiosity,
What does this fog feel like,
Is it thick or is it light and translucent,
Does it move around or is it staying still,
Is the fog close or far away,
Simply observe with curiosity and openness to the experience of this fog of uncertainty and resistance,
You may wish to bring something into the visualization to support you,
Maybe you'd like the support of a thick coat,
A warm embrace of a loved one or the warmest most comforting blanket,
Notice if you need anything to support you here as you experience the fog around you with curiosity,
If you don't need anything that's okay,
Simply notice,
Your intuition will guide you and will process this in whatever way it needs to,
There's no need to force,
Simply immerse yourself in the experience and notice if there's a message that this fog has for you,
Allow your intuition to bring this to mind,
It may be that the fog is protecting you,
Or it may be something that you're just used to,
Simply notice what you notice here,
And now notice as the fog begins to shift and it's starting to clear and moving away from you now,
Now notice how it moves with curiosity and ease,
Has a gust of wind moved it or is it simply going on its own,
Notice how it's moving away not because you forced it or tried to resist or moved,
Instead you gave it space,
You resourced yourself and you waited until it began to shift all on its own,
This is similar to how we move into radical acceptance,
Simply allowing the fog in our life to clear as we resource ourselves,
Notice in this visualization clear skies now,
Maybe the sun has come out,
You may notice a rainbow,
This represents the natural weather of your life,
And as you notice this rainbow or clear skies,
Can you feel any sky-like or rainbow-like nature in your body,
You may notice some ease in a part of your body,
Even if it's in your little toe,
Just notice the sky-like nature within your own body,
Feel your body's expansiveness,
And with each inhale imagine your body is expanding all the way around,
And then on your next exhale,
Your natural exhale,
Imagine it contracting and settling back into itself,
Inhale and allow expansion,
Exhale allowing your body to settle,
Feel the expansion on your inhale,
And the contraction and ease as you settle back on your exhale,
And now bring your awareness back to your third eye centre,
And rest here deeply,
There's nothing you need to do here,
Simply rest in the experience you've created for yourself,
You've given yourself the gift of deep restorative rest,
And now bring back your sankalpa into your mind's eye,
And repeat it in your head,
I release resistance and embrace acceptance,
And take a moment now to notice any shifts or anything in your body or mind,
Compared to when you started,
You may not notice anything and that's completely okay,
You're simply being mindful of how you feel now,
And now place your hands on your chest at your heart centre,
And make a movement that feels supportive,
You may wish to lightly tap or make circles with both hands,
Whatever feels most supportive and soothing for you,
And whenever you're ready begin to make bigger movements,
You may feel you want to stretch or roll your shoulders,
Or move your ankles and your toes,
And allow yourself to begin to awaken the body again,
As you transition back into your waking life,
Notice the sounds around you again,
And allow yourself to separate from the sounds that you merged with,
And whenever you're ready you can open your eyes as the practice of yoga nidra is now complete,
And take a moment before you move back into your day to adjust,
As you may be feeling relaxed and rested as your brainwaves have slowed right down during rest,
And so you may wish to take a little longer before you go back into your day,
And that's okay,
I hope that you have enjoyed this practice for acceptance today,
If you have enjoyed the practice I would be really interested to hear your experience and what you noticed in the visualization portion,
And has it helped you to move even if it's just a little closer to radically accepting whatever circumstance that you've come here for today,
I'd be really interested to know if you wish to share with myself and the community,
And yeah,
Thank you so much for practicing here today,
Whenever you're ready to practice next,
I'm here on the wellness words,
Take care.
