Welcome to this yoga nidra practice for supporting your nervous system to become more flexible so that you can move through your day in balance and return to a state of calm regulation instead of becoming stuck in a stressed out nervous system state.
Before we start,
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Whenever you're ready,
Make yourself comfortable and take a few moments to move into a position that feels restful and cosy that you can stay in stillness for the remainder of this practice.
Notice if there is any tension or discomfort in your body and now you've located a potential area of discomfort.
See if you can make a small adjustment to your position to ease the sensation and make it just a little more comfortable.
There is no need for perfection here but just get as comfortable as you can be today in this moment.
Whenever you're comfortable and you're ready to rest back in stillness,
Close down the eyes or you could take a soft gaze.
Now take a moment to gently sense into where your attention is currently placed.
Without changing it,
Simply notice with curiosity where your attention is mostly placed.
You may feel a lot of attention in your thoughts or emotions.
You may be scanning your external environment through your senses.
Just notice and allow your attention to be wherever it is.
Now you've gathered the sense of where your attention is at,
Imagine you could gather that attention and gently guide it to move down into your body,
Away from the thinking mind for a moment and resting your attention onto your body and the sensations rippling around your body.
Just imagining here.
Notice now where you feel the breath in your body,
Without changing anything,
You may notice your breath is predominantly in your nostrils or your chest or stomach.
Gently rest back in stillness with this sensation of your body being breathed.
Just noticing here.
We're going to do a physiological sigh to further calm your nervous system and move into safety.
You can use this throughout your waking life to bring balance back to your nervous system and signal that it's okay,
You're safe and it's time to rest.
Take a deep inhale through your nostril and at the top of your inhale take another sharp inhale only until where's comfortable and then exhale once in a deep sigh out through your mouth.
Again on the next inhale,
Inhale twice through your nose and then a deep exhale through your mouth.
You may wish to lift your shoulders with your double inhale and then on the exhale release your shoulders.
Let's try this one more time.
Inhale through your nose and then a short second inhale and then exhale sighing out the mouth allowing your shoulders to drop down and relax back.
Now drift your focus from your breath onto your mind's eye,
Resting your attention on your third eye centre and allow a word to come to your mind's eye that represents trust and ease.
There is no need to refine this word,
Just trust whatever your intuition is guiding you to.
It could be a mantra word that you've been using,
Could simply be the word ease.
Simply allow your intuition to guide you.
And as you are aware of this word in your mind's eye,
Allow yourself to let go of any expectations for this practice or any attachments you may have to a particular outcome.
Allow this word to signify trusting in the inherent wisdom of your inner being and allow yourself to be restful and still for this practice.
There is nothing more you need to do,
There is no efforting required now for your practice today,
You can simply be as you are in the here and the now.
As you rest here,
Ask yourself a question and allow your intuition to answer.
Ask yourself,
What has led me to this practice today?
If an answer doesn't come forward straight away,
That is okay,
Trust that your intuition will guide you when you need it and if you have an answer to what brought you here today,
This is your sankalpa,
Your intention for the practice,
If it isn't already you may wish to translate this to a supportive I or I am statement.
An example that you can use is,
I am allowing my nervous system to regulate itself with deep rest and now rest your attention back on your third eye centre,
Allowing your intention to absorb into your entire being,
Know that your entire being has accepted your intention and it is yours.
As you rotate your consciousness around each body part,
Place your attention on the sensations and the energy at each part that you notice,
Feel into a sense of curiosity about the experience your body is offering you,
Without changing or judging anything,
Begin at the crown of the head,
Feeling into the sensations at the crown of your head,
Now your forehead,
Third eye centre,
Your right eyebrow,
The space between your eyebrows,
Your left eyebrow,
Your right eye,
Your left eye,
Both eyelids together,
Relaxing down any creases in your eyelids,
Imagining your eyelids could become completely smooth as they softly rest down,
Now your right ear,
All the way through the ear canal,
And now sense into the space between your ears,
Moving your attention from the space from your right ear all the way through to your left ear,
Move your attention through the ear canal and towards the outer of your left ear,
Allowing the radiance of sensation to be in your awareness,
Drift your attention now to the right nostril,
Feeling the breath through your right nostril,
And now your left nostril,
Sensing into the breath,
The natural breath,
There's no need to change anything about the way you're breathing,
Simply notice the sensations in both nostrils together,
The right cheek,
The left cheek,
Upper lip,
Lower lip,
And now the space between your lips,
The inside of your mouth,
Feeling into the sensations and temperature on the inside of your mouth,
Allow the experience of your teeth to move into your awareness,
Now move down from the tip of the tongue to the base of the tongue,
The middle of the throat,
The pit of the throat,
Feeling the energy here without changing anything,
The heart centre,
And feel the pulse of light streaming pure energy through your body as you rest here in stillness,
And now the left shoulder,
Upper arm,
Elbow,
Lower arm,
Palm of the left hand,
Thumb,
First finger,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
The navel centre,
Now drift your awareness back up to your heart centre,
Becoming aware again of the pulse of life,
Nourishing your body like water feeds the ecosystem of the world,
Imagining you have an ecosystem,
Your whole body working together to feed and nourish your soul,
Now drift your attention to the right shoulder,
Upper arm,
Elbow,
Lower arm,
Palm of the hand,
The right thumb,
First finger,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Now drift your attention to the right of your pelvic bowl,
And feel your attention spreading from the right of your pelvic bowl all the way over to the left of your pelvic bowl,
And now feel into the tip of your tailbone at the base of your spine,
And sense into the rooted groundedness here at the base of your spine,
Imagining roots like tree roots are spreading out from your body through the ground,
Keeping you supported by the earth and allowing the earth to nourish you as you rest here in stillness,
Knowing that deep rest is nourishing and you are part of the ecosystem,
And now drift your attention to the left thigh,
Knee,
Calf,
Top of the foot,
Base of the foot,
All toes together,
Now drift your attention to the right thigh,
Knee,
Calf,
Top of the foot,
Base of the foot,
All toes together,
On your right foot,
Your lower abdomen,
Navel centre,
Heart centre,
Pit of your throat,
Middle of your throat,
Eyebrow centre,
The crown of the head,
Now imagine that you could sense into the space just above the crown of your head,
And now imagine that you could expand your awareness beyond your body and sense into the vast sky above you,
Stretching endlessly above you,
And at the same time feeling like you could almost reach out and grasp it with your hand,
Visualise in your mind's eye a beautiful sky where clouds are free to drift and change shape just as thoughts float and change as they move through the sky of your mind,
Sense into the spaces between these clouds,
Feeling the support of the sky allowing the clouds to float by without judgement,
Simply holding them for what they are,
Which is fleeting elements of existence and of your very human experience,
As thoughts move in here through your mind,
Remind yourself of the cloud-like nature of your thoughts and your sky-like nature of the mind,
And rest here feeling into the deep connection with all that is,
Bask in this stillness of deep rest,
Knowing that you are supported by the earth beneath you and all that is,
Feel into the sense of being deeply grounded here,
Bring back the sense of the supportive roots reaching out from the base of your spine down through the earth,
Keeping your body supported and stable there may be a particular body part that you feel most grounded,
Sense into that part or an area of your body and really feel into how it's being supported by the earth beneath you know that this support is always available whenever you need it,
The earth is always beneath you as you feel into this groundedness of the earth beneath your body begin to shift the feeling into a sensation of lightness,
Imagine that your entire body as you rest here could hover slightly above the ground as you bring in the sensation of lightness into your body imagine your body is softened and soothed by this freedom of lightness allow your body to enjoy this sensation of lightness in the same way as stretching your body in the morning feels good,
This is like stretching for your nervous system as you rest here deeply in stillness now at the same time as sensing this sensation of lightness,
Bring back the feeling of groundedness and simultaneously hold the feelings of lightness together with groundedness almost like you're a balloon that is being held down to the earth by a string and a weight so you have freedom but you also have the luxury of grounding so try and simultaneously hold the feelings of lightness and groundedness together,
Allowing your nervous system to show you how to do this and now release that and rest your attention once more onto your third eye centre,
The space between your eyebrows bask in this space as you integrate the experience that you created for your nervous system,
As you rest back here regenerating and recharging your mind and your body be reminded now of your sankalpa,
Your intention for the practice today and repeat it in your mind's eye twice and rest your attention now on your heart centre,
Feeling as if your intention is resting also at your heart centre feel the experience of the intention absorbing into your heart centre,
You may be met with imagery or a simple feeling of acceptance allow your mind to integrate this experience however it needs to,
Simply watching what you are offered here as your heart accepts your intention for today and now we're going to begin to re-centre and bring our awareness back into the external world and readjust to our waking life so in your mind's eye whisper,
I am practicing yoga nidra and feel into the support of the earth beneath you focus in on any sounds around you and become aware of my voice as you focus back in on your surroundings take a deep breath in through the nose and sigh out through the mouth,
You may wish to make an audible sigh as you take one more deep breath in through the nose and audibly exhale out through the mouth,
Extending the exhale as long as you feel is comfortable and soothing and whenever you're ready you can open your eyes and allow yourself to be awake and present,
Your yoga nidra practice is now complete and I hope that you have enjoyed this practice today,
I'd love to hear about your experience and anything that came up for you in the comments and it would be great to know how your nervous system is feeling following this practice you may wish to take a moment to check in with yourself and see how you're feeling now compared to how you were feeling at the start of the practice and if you have really felt the benefits of this practice today,
I'd be grateful if you could subscribe so I can help bring the practices to support more and more people all around the world thank you so much for sharing this space with me today and whenever you're ready to practice yoga nidra again,
I am here on the wellness words
