Welcome to this yoga nidra practice for grounding and stability.
My name is Em and I will be guiding you today through a sequence that connects you to the earth beneath you and will support you to develop a grounding resource that you can return to even in your waking life.
So begin to settle in and find anything that might make your experience today more comfortable and more settling.
So now you're settled in,
I'd like to invite you if it feels supportive to do so,
To close your eyes and allow yourself to give the weight of your body to the earth beneath you.
It may be supportive if you whisper to your body,
It's okay to settle now in your mind's eye.
It's okay to settle.
Notice if any parts of your body are feeling energized or restless.
There's nothing you need to do here,
Simply allow them to be exactly as they are and provide a supportive space for this restlessness and this movement and simply allow them and give them permission in their own time to settle back.
It's okay to settle now and guide your awareness to the sounds in the environment around you now.
Notice any sounds that are close to you,
Notice the quality of the sounds that are maybe more distant notice what words or thoughts come into your mind as you think about these sounds without judgment,
Just simply allow yourself to notice them and now place your awareness onto your mind's eye at your third eye center and notice any shapes or colors experienced behind your third eye center here and connect with the part of yourself that has some expectations for yourself or for this practice today.
Whatever way your intuition guides you,
Communicate with this part of yourself that it's okay to drop or hold the expectations for this practice today,
To release anything that you think you should feel,
Experience and simply allow yourself to experience the practice in whatever way your mind and body need.
It's okay if you don't completely settle or even if you fall asleep,
If that's what your body and your mind need today,
That's okay and with this expectation dropping,
Allow yourself to feel the release and allow your body to rest back even deeper,
Pressing more of your weight into the earth beneath you,
Allowing the cradling feeling to wash through your whole body,
Feeling supported and cradled as you rest even deeper and simply notice that you are open to receiving the practice today without any expectation on yourself and know that as you practice your mind will pick up on some subconscious grounding cues in my voice and from my nervous system,
This is called nervous system co-regulation and it will allow you to connect even when you are simply listening and experiencing the practice in whatever way you need to today.
So take an inhale through your nose and then take an intentional sigh of an exhale one more time,
Inhale through your nose and sigh out your exhale through your mouth and rest your awareness back to your third eye center and ask yourself the question,
What led me to this practice today?
Whatever has led you to this practice today is your guiding intention or your sankalpa whatever came to mind,
It may have been a word or a phrase or simply a feeling translate this into a supportive I or I am statement you may wish to incorporate this one into your statement I am open to trusting my inner stability and groundedness take a moment to formulate your unique intention for the practice today and imagine this intention absorbing through your third eye center on your next inhale imagine your third eye center accepting your intention and nurturing it for the duration of the practice today and now notice any sensation in the left eyebrow just noticing as you drift your attention now to your right eyebrow both nostrils both cheeks,
Noticing the sensations as you experience both cheeks separately but together in your awareness notice now the inside of your mouth and any sensations or temperature that you can sense as you experience the inside of your mouth notice your tongue and move it into a relaxed position and now drift your awareness to the center of your throat simply noticing without judgment any sensation or quality here at the center of your throat the pits of your throat the heart center come aware and you may wish to label any descriptive words that you can feel at your heart center this might be energy pulsing whatever it is just notice without judgment what words come to mind as you experience your heart center now imagine your awareness could split into two halves and experience both shoulders together but experience them with this split attention and now experience both elbows wrists and all your fingers on both hands now allow your awareness to come back into one space at your navel center noticing the sensations or energy at your navel center notice behind your navel center the base of your spine at your tailbone and sense into any grounding energy you feel here at your tailbone the base of the spine notice the feeling of your spine on the earth beneath you and how it tethers you to this grounding energy you're receiving from the earth and once again split your awareness into two halves and experience both thighs both knees both ankles and the soles of your feet notice all your toes as one and on the next inhale imagine you're drawing your inhale up from the soles of both feet all the way up to your third eye center and on the next exhale imagine your breath flowing from the third eye center back down and out through the soles of both of your feet inhale through the soles of both of your feet drawing your inhale up and out through your third eye center exhale again back out the third eye center and down through the soles of your feet continue breathing this way in your own time allowing yourself to receive the breath in this way and now release the awareness from your breath and instead in your mind's eye imagine that you could zoom out almost as if you're watching yourself as you rest here deeply simply noticing yourself resting and feeling your body as a whole sensing into your body as one piece resting allowing yourself to go deeper into a deep restorative rest here and from this zoomed out sensory perspective notice where you feel the most grounded in your body maybe your chest,
Your abdomen,
Or your third eye center simply notice where you feel grounded the most and within that grounded area visualize a compass resting in that space this is your unique internal compass your own center of stability notice any symbols on the dial of your compass these may be unrelated to physical directions they may be stars,
Circle,
Infinity symbol anything that feels grounding allow your intuition to guide you here and now notice a symbol on your compass that feels the most grounding notice its shape,
Its position on the compass this is your grounded center no matter what uncertainty exists outside you can always guide yourself back to your grounded center a place of balance and compassion for whatever it is that you're experiencing externally to you this grounded center will guide you back to your equilibrium,
Your balance bring to mind a time where you felt more balanced and grounded in your life this may be a moment simply watching nature or maybe surrounded by a grounding presence simply notice what your intuition guides you to here this is a time where you were in your grounded center you may find it supportive to imagine your internal compass shifting as you imagine this experience when you were in your grounded center this shift of your compass may be in sensations,
Visualization or a felt sense however your intuition guides you,
Simply allow it and it's okay if maybe visualization of balanced time feels hazy or not so clear,
That's okay too,
This is a practice that when you return to in your waking life or return to this one again you'll strengthen your ability to guide back to your grounded center on your compass but allow yourself to fill up with this sensation of groundedness,
It may be a settling deeply in the core,
Emotionally or physically simply invite in your intuition to allow a sense of groundedness in your whole body as your compass guides you back to your grounded center feel gratitude for the experience that you have created for yourself here this settled experience of groundedness as you rest here deeply in regulation and ease and take a moment to rest your awareness in the part of your body where your compass resides within you and simply rest here,
Basking in this experience of deep grounded restfulness there is nothing for you to do here,
Simply rest,
Allowing yourself to process the experience of today and this practice in whatever way your intuition needs to simply rest here for just a moment more and see if you can connect to a really settled part of yourself that is contented and at ease,
Just resting here in stillness invite that part forward in your awareness,
With your mind still rested at your internal compass and just allow yourself to rest in the presence of this settled and grounded part of yourself it's okay if it feels like this part may be distant,
Simply the invitation allows this part of you to show up whenever it's ready there's no need to rush or force anything,
Simply rest here allowing yourself to experience the deep restorative grounding rest now rest your awareness on your third eye center and invite back your intention,
Your sankalpa for the practice allow this to be extracted from your third eye center where it rests and repeat the statement in your mind's eye,
I am open to trusting my inner stability and groundedness
