Welcome to this short yoga nidra practice,
A great way to refresh your mind and body when you're a little bit low on time.
Traditionally yoga nidra is done lying down,
However you're welcome to do this sitting up as well.
Take a couple of moments now to get comfortable,
Make any final adjustments within your body,
Within your position so that you can remain completely still for the remainder of the practice.
Begin by taking three deep breaths,
Inhaling fully and exhaling fully,
Allowing a sense of softening,
Of relaxation to roll through your physical body.
Begin to notice the different sounds going on around you right now,
Like a radar trying to detect the faintest,
The most distant sound that you can hear.
Keep moving your attention from sound to sound,
Listening for sounds happening beyond the building that you're in.
Moving the awareness a little closer now,
Listening for sounds happening in or around the room that you're in.
Moving the awareness even closer,
Listening for sounds happening in or around your body.
The sound of your own breath,
The sound of your heartbeat,
Moving on into the body rotation now.
Simply feel each part of the body as I name it,
Beginning now with your right hand thumb,
All your attention,
All your awareness in your right hand thumb.
Moving on to the index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Little finger,
Palm of the right hand,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Armpit,
Right side of the waist,
Right hip,
Upper leg,
Knee,
Lower leg,
Ankle,
Heel,
Sole of the foot,
Top of the foot,
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third,
Fourth and fifth toe.
Like there is a line dividing you down the centre,
Feel the whole right side of your body.
To the left side now,
Beginning with the left hand thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Little finger,
Palm of the left hand,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Armpit,
Left side of the waist,
Left hip,
Upper leg,
Knee,
Lower leg,
Ankle,
Heel,
Sole of the foot,
Top of the foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third,
Fourth and fifth toe.
Like there is a line dividing you down the centre,
Feel the whole left side of your body.
Feeling whole body parts all at once,
Feel the whole right arm and hand,
The whole left arm and hand,
The whole right leg and foot,
The whole left leg and foot,
The torso,
Front,
Back and sides,
The whole face and head.
Feeling both arms,
Both hands,
Both legs,
Both feet,
The torso,
The face and the head.
Have an awareness of your whole body all at once,
Total body awareness.
Notice that even though your physical body is completely still,
You can still feel the movement of breathing,
Of respiration.
Notice how the ribcage expands as you breathe in and contracts back towards the centre as you breathe out.
Feeling this outward expansion growing bigger as you breathe in and contracting inwards growing smaller as you breathe out.
Keeping the awareness on the expansion and contraction of the ribcage,
Begin to count the breath starting at the number 10 and working your way backwards down to zero.
So breathing in count 10,
Breathing out 10,
Breathing in 9,
Breathing out 9,
Breathing in 8 and so on.
Keep counting backwards,
Your own normal natural breath,
Counting back from 10 down to zero.
If you reach zero,
You'll start again from 10.
If you lose count,
You'll start again from 10.
Letting go of the breath,
Letting go of the count,
Becoming aware once again of the sounds going on around you.
Feel your body laying on the floor or sitting on your chair or cushion.
Notice how the body is feeling.
Begin to breathe a little more deeply,
Taking those same three deep breaths that we took at the start of the practice.
Bring a little bit of movement back to your fingers and your toes and begin to move and stretch your body any way you need to.
Hariyom Tatsat,
The practice of yoga nidra,
Is now complete.
Move,
Stretch,
Open the eyes and continue with your day.
