Cleanse And Ground: Yoga Nidra

Embrace autumnal energy, returning to the soils just as the leaves do as they fall from the trees. Allow yourself to lay down, be still, and relax into the realm of non-doing. This practice is designed to clear your energy channels, cleanse away debris and provide a deeply grounding sensation. A perfect practice for frenetic mornings or cozy evenings. Enjoy!

Transcript

Laying on your back with your legs stretched out in front of you,

Heels about hip's width or even wider,

Toes fully relaxed,

Maybe flopping out to the sides,

Legs fully relaxed,

And your arms by your sides,

Not touching your body,

A few inches from either side of your hips,

And your palms can be facing up or inwards,

Your chest open and your neck and head aligned with the rest of your body,

So you're in one straight line with your arms and legs fully relaxed,

And you can let any fidgets do their thing,

Make any adjustments that you need to so that you can get extremely comfortable,

And so that you can ideally remain still for the duration of this practice.

Welcome to the practice of yoga nidra.

This is an ancient technique of yoga that lives in the art of stillness.

It's known as yogic sleep because the conscious mind and your body go to sleep,

But your subconscious mind comes alive,

And we can tap into realms that we normally don't have access to in our waking lives,

And at minimum we get a really big dose of deep rest,

The equivalent often of multiple hours of sleep or nap.

So do your best to remain online,

Remain awake.

All you have to do is listen to the sound of my voice.

I will guide you through this experience,

And release any sort of expectation that you might have.

There is no right or wrong in this,

And every practice is different,

Even if you were to repeat this exact same track tomorrow.

So surrender to whatever comes,

And know that whatever you might receive,

Visuals you may see,

Revelations you may have,

It's all safe for you to receive right now.

Otherwise your psyche wouldn't allow it.

So take a couple consciously bigger breaths,

Seeing if you can send the inhalation to the back plane of your body,

So that the breath gently presses the back plane of your body into the earth beneath you,

Feeling the support that's holding you,

No matter how many floors above the earth you may be,

Knowing that the soils of the earth are holding you,

Like a bed that's welcoming you down to rest and to be in the quiet darkness just long enough so that you're ready to re-emerge back into the light,

The activities of the day when it's time.

And see if you can invite all the cells of your body now to relax just 1% more,

Even if you think you're already relaxed,

Invite your entire body to relax just 1% more,

And notice how your body responds.

And now imagining that whatever room or space you're in right now,

Seeing that space for your mind's eye or feeling its atmosphere,

The temperature of the room,

The humidity of the air,

Noticing what the atmosphere that cocoons your body feels like,

And imagining the atmosphere that cocoons you right now is a soft pale blue hue,

This calming,

Healing light that fills the entire room that you lay within right now.

Providing you with everything that you need to make the most of this experience,

Giving you permission to enter the zone of nothingness,

Where there's nothing that you need to do or think or achieve.

You simply allow yourself to be.

And as you take your next breaths,

Seeing the soft blue healing light entering the channels of your body,

As you breathe in,

Filling your lungs with this healing light,

Soothing the cells of your body,

And intuitively concentrating around any areas that might be injured or needing some extra attention and love these days.

Drawing your awareness with your next breath in,

Following the path of your breath down your throat and into the center of your chest.

Once again,

Visualizing and feeling your lungs expanding,

Filling with this healing blue light.

And then drawing your awareness between your lungs to the space that surrounds your heart.

And can you feel or maybe even hear your heart beating?

And just like your lungs being coated with this healing blue light,

It's protective.

Field that surrounds your heart and enters its chambers,

Clearing out any gunk and residues,

Like an oil change for a car.

This fresh energy and uplift,

Filling and surrounding your heart.

And as this happens,

You may see and feel the field,

The radiance around your heart expanding,

Growing bigger within your chest.

And here in the home of your heart is where we begin the practice of yoga nidra.

So with your awareness placed as close to your heart that feels safe,

Ask into the question of what your heart needs most right now.

What do you need most right now?

And with the innocence of a child,

Listen to any words or images or hints that your heart gives you in response.

What is your heart asking for?

What does it need more of or less of to feel most alive?

And as you receive any messages,

And none at all is absolutely fine as well.

If you're receiving anything,

Then you can craft whatever messages you hear into a positive I am statement of intent.

This is known as the sankalpa,

Which means vow of truth.

In Sanskrit.

So craft an aligned statement,

A vow of truth to your heart that begins with I am,

And it needs to be of a positive nature and present tense.

So if your heart said,

I'm lonely,

And I need to feel belonging,

Or I need to feel supported,

Then you may try on different statements such as,

I am surrounded with a loving community.

Or something as simple as,

I am supported.

There are countless variations.

And the trick is to try on several.

If you're new to creating a sankalpa,

And feel which one resonates the most in your body.

And that's simply your body saying yes.

And that's the one to work with.

And you continue working with it again and again.

And every yoga nidra practice,

Until that belief is fully embedded into your reality.

Because it is what you experience and no longer something that you want.

And sankalpas can also be powerful antidotes to your greatest limiting belief that you're facing at the moment.

So if you're struggling with feeling like you're not enough,

Imposter syndrome,

You could try sankalpas like,

I am capable,

I am qualified,

I am enough.

And your sankalpa may spontaneously change during this practice,

And that's okay.

If nothing is coming to you,

Then I offer the sankalpa of,

I am rested and grounded.

I am rested and grounded.

And repeat your sankalpa silently to yourself.

So its echoes travel through your entire inner world.

Repeating it again and again,

At least three times.

So you feel the resonance throughout your entire body.

And the blue light,

That field of blue light surrounding your heart becomes even more vibrant,

As if it's being fed by the statement.

Now we'll carry this vibrational frequency,

This belief,

And we'll code it into your nervous system by tracing the body in a rotation of consciousness.

So I will name different body parts,

And you simply land your awareness there.

So carry your sankalpa and a blue star to the palm of your right hand,

Placing that blue star in the palm of your right hand.

Repeating your sankalpa again.

Then drawing a line from your right hand to your left foot,

Placing a blue star in the sole of your left foot.

And then tracing up to the crown of your head,

Placing a blue star at the crown of your head.

And repeating your sankalpa again.

And then tracing down the right side of your body,

And placing a blue star in the sole of your right foot.

And then tracing diagonally across the left side of your body,

And placing a star in the palm of your left hand.

And we'll go like this again,

Starting from the beginning,

And placing a blue star in the palm of your right hand.

Travels diagonally down to the sole of your left foot,

Up to the crown of your head,

Down to your right foot,

And then back up to the left hand.

And then the blue star lands in the center of your chest,

Right on your heart.

And you repeat your sankalpa once more.

You feel all of these blue stars and all of these points of your body glowing vibrantly now in the palms of your hands,

The soles of your feet,

The crown of your head,

And your heart.

And they illuminate to the rhythm of your heart's beat.

Each beat,

They light up with this gentle blue light,

Sending healing energy into those parts of your body.

And then drawing your awareness back to the star in the center of your chest.

And can you feel or see in your mind's eye the star in the center of your chest and the star at the crown of your head as they illuminate in synchronicity to your heartbeat?

Your heart and brain in coherent harmony.

And your heart leading the show,

Orchestrating to its beat.

And as that happens,

An upwell of energy intuitively moves through the channel of your throat to your brain.

And your awareness fills the inside of your skull.

And your brain being cleansed with this healing blue light.

Just like earlier with your heart,

It's clearing all the debris,

The clutter that's not yours to carry,

The worries,

Anxieties,

Everything that feels old.

It's like you're dusting it all up.

It's being swept away.

This gentle current of healing blue light.

That surrounds and protects all parts of the world that lives in your skull.

And then a very tiny blue star appears.

And it lands in the midbrain,

The point between your ears.

And this is the home of your pineal gland.

And can you feel that gentle pulsing of this blue star as it too illuminates to the rhythm of your heartbeat?

Cleansing and taking care of this master gland.

And perhaps you can even feel that part of you lighting up,

Being activated,

Connecting with your third eye center,

Your pineal gland,

Which sits between your eyebrows,

Roughly,

Or a few centimeters above.

And a duplicate of that tiny blue star in the center of your brain appears now at your third eye center.

And it too illuminates in a gentle pulsing fashion according to the beat of your heart.

Cleansing,

Rinsing,

And opening your third eye,

Your pineal gland.

This is your portal of inner vision,

Ability to see with your eyes closed.

So keep your awareness there in your third eye.

And from here,

We'll move through pairs of opposites.

So I will name different emotions.

With each one I name,

Allow any sensations that are associated with this emotional state to appear in your inner landscape.

And know that they will process and disappear naturally.

And this helps us practice moving between emotions and building those neurological pathways.

What does it feel like to be lonely?

To feel like it's just you out there,

Lonely?

And allow any associated emotions,

Feeling tones,

Images,

Sounds,

Anything at all,

To fill your inner experience now.

And do your best not to interrupt whatever experience you're having.

Feel loneliness in its fullest expression,

As though it was happening now.

And then release that experience.

Let loneliness wash away.

And then allow the experience of being alone and of community to fill your inner landscape now.

What does it feel like to be in community,

To be supported?

It's not just you,

But many who've got your back.

Community.

Once again,

Feel this experience in its fullest expression through all your senses.

And then let it go.

Let that experience clear away.

Back to a blank canvas of nothingness.

Now,

What does it feel like to be untethered?

To be like a balloon,

A helium balloon that's been let go of and floating up into the sky,

Ungrounded?

What does it feel like to be untethered?

Now,

Let that go.

Empty yourself back out.

And now replace it with the experience of feeling grounded,

Both feet on the ground,

Connected and certain.

What does it feel like to be grounded?

Fill yourself up with that experience now.

Feel your most grounded self.

Grounded.

And now clear that away.

And let your next exhalations,

When they naturally appear,

To clear out your inner world,

Wash away all of those experiences and different emotions and states that we just moved through.

Let them all pass through you.

Let them pass through you like clouds in the sky.

Coming back to a place of emptiness within you.

Emptiness and space.

The darkness.

The place where all creation emerges out of.

And now let yourself let yourself linger in the mystery for a little longer as we move into the realm of visualization.

So if your awareness has drifted,

Bring it back gently to your third eye center,

To that blue star that's still there.

And now bring it back.

From this place,

I'll begin to name different objects.

And as I name them,

Imagine seeing them on a movie screen as they flash up in the cinema of your mind.

A tiny red apple.

An antique mirror.

A golden plated pen.

An empty cardboard box.

Your hands.

Your hands.

Your hands.

A green jungle frog.

A white lily.

An old willow tree.

A loaf of freshly baked bread.

Your hands.

Your hands.

Your hands.

A crystal clear,

But cool in temperature,

Stream.

A stream running.

A stream flowing.

A stream flowing in an alpine setting.

You feel the crispness of the air.

You see the blue sky reflected in this stream.

The iridescent colors that you watch pass by as it flows downhill.

And leaning over the stream,

You look into it and you see a reflection.

A moving reflection as the stream flows.

And you place your hands in the stream,

Feeling the cool temperature.

Like it's cleansing the debris from your hands.

And you cup your hands together and gather some of the water.

And you know that it's safe to drink.

And you take a sip.

And you feel it as it passes over your tongue.

The smoothest cool water that you've ever drunk.

And as it enters your body,

This gentle blue light begins to expand and fill all parts of your body.

The core of your center.

All the way out to the tips of your fingers and toes.

And it's the best feeling in the world.

It feels like the tributaries of your body.

All these rivers and their rivers being filled with this refreshing blue light.

That's cleansing you.

It's clearing.

And it collects any of these residues that were lingering,

That were clogging you up.

Any of your channels that were blocked.

At least some of these residues are being collected.

This gray matter that you see being carried up through all the rivers of your body.

And as you exhale,

Your exhalations,

These gray clouds transmuting the debris that doesn't belong,

Doesn't belong to you.

Out of your body,

Dissipating into the atmosphere.

And this happens again and again,

And it's natural way.

These channels of blue light weaving their way through your body,

Finding any of this debris that wants to be carried out.

Slowly but surely,

Gently washing it up along the banks of your inner body.

And you're filling your inner rivers so that it can be exhaled.

And your exhales,

Once a darker gray,

Grow lighter and lighter.

So now they're pale gray clouds as you exhale,

And dissipate into the atmosphere beyond you.

And eventually,

The exhalation becomes crystal clear.

This crystalline cloud that emerges out of you as you exhale.

Pure,

Clean air coming into you and leaving you.

So all the residues,

All the debris that was in you has been lifted and washed out of you.

And you feel crystalline inside now.

Like you've had this big,

Deep inner cleaning.

And even though you're not moving,

You feel lighter.

You almost feel as though you're floating.

And at the same time,

You feel so steady.

So grounded and in your human form.

But light.

And expansive.

And in this state of complete expansion and uplift,

You hear the words of your sankalpa,

Your I am statement of intent being spoken to you several times.

And you feel it to be true.

You know that it lives within you already.

You breathe this into the cells of your body,

Into your heart,

In your head,

Into all of those blue stars that remain.

And you feel the light in different parts of your body that we visited earlier.

And you feel the palms of your hands,

The soles of your feet,

And the crown of your head.

And you come back to your heart beating.

That central blue star beating in tune with your heart.

And you take a few breaths here.

Creating space in your chest with every inhalation.

Feeling the ribs,

The back of your ribcage pressing against the earth.

And the release on every exhalation.

And this is where the practice of yoga nidra completes.

So remain with your eyes closed.

If you fell asleep,

This is your cue to come back.

Come back online.

Wherever you are,

Come back into your body.

Taking a few more consciously bigger breaths.

And then starting with your fingers,

Just beginning to wriggle them a little bit.

Or maybe even squeeze your hands into gentle fists.

Flop your toes in and out.

Waking up your feet and your legs,

Your hips.

And then taking the palms of your hands and gently brushing them over your chest towards your hips.

Doing that a couple times.

Bring your torso back to life.

Maybe rocking your chin from side to side.

And then bring some movement into your neck and your head.

And taking whatever movements your body wants to wake itself up.

To wake up for perhaps the second time today.

And eventually when you're ready,

You can roll onto your left side.

And you can bring your knees in towards your chin and tuck yourself into a little ball.

Say the words of your sankalpa once more silently to yourself.

Allowing any other messages or visions,

Words that came through in today's practice.

And allow those thoughts to rise up into your conscious mind now.

So that you can remember it.

And then use your hands to press yourself lazily up into a seat once again.

Or if that feels like way too much,

You can continue laying down.

And if you want to come up into a seat,

We'll close our practice.

Find your hands on your low belly.

And send a couple breaths down into the palms,

Feeling the warmth radiating from your hands into your low belly.

Feeling the support of the ground beneath your tailbone.

When bringing your hands together and rubbing them gently to create a little bit of warmth.

And then when you're ready,

You can place them either over your heart or anywhere that your body is asking for a little extra love.

And sending gratitude to your heart for guiding you through this practice,

For whatever came through.

For your body for holding you through it.

And for the ground beneath you that carried you along.

Thank you so much for practicing with me today.

It's always an honor to guide you.

Harriyam Tatsa.