Yoga Nidra For Inner Peace & Healing

When the world around demands your time and attention all. the. time. Find your “home” within and be reminded that inner peace and healing are always within you. We start with a guided visualization before going through a somatic body scan with a twist to help energize the physical body and then we progressively relax.

Yoga Nidra is my favorite practice for inner peace and healing - I hope this practice brings you a little rest.

Transcript

Thank you for joining me in this yoga nidra for inner peace and healing.

I'm Jamie Tan at Light and Spoon and it's my honor to share this practice that's helped bring a little rest into my full on busy days.

Inner peace can seem so elusive,

Especially when it feels like everyone and everything around you is screaming for your attention now.

But what if you gave up that striving?

What if you gave up that wanting to achieve inner peace,

Healing?

What if you just allowed it all to be?

Tuning in and perhaps opening into the deep peace that's already within you.

So take this little rest with me and allow yourself to get as comfortable as you can.

You might like to lie down for this practice or sit up,

Whatever feels available to you right now.

You might like to close your eyes if that feels comfortable,

Otherwise you could keep your eyes open with a lowered gaze and simply look at one spot in front of you with a very gentle gaze.

Now wherever you are,

If you could make yourself just a little bit more comfortable,

Go ahead and adjust yourself to get that last few bits of juicy comfort.

I'd love to invite you to set an intention for this practice.

Now sometimes the phrase inner peace or healing could bring up a little resistance.

So if it's helpful,

You might like to start with the intention to stay curious to whatever arises in today's practice.

Now notice if this intention of staying curious to whatever arises today also supports a deeper heartfelt desire you might have for this life.

Perhaps it's an ease or an openness you're moving towards.

Now state this desire in the present tense.

For example,

I move through life with an ease and openness.

Now you might well have a completely different desire,

And that's of course okay,

So go ahead and give yourself these next few moments to feel into this desire you might have for this life.

If nothing arises,

This too is your experience.

Just once again,

Staying open and curious and feeling into,

If I had a deep desire for this life,

What might it be?

Now is there a place you like to go to,

Whether in real life or in your imagination?

Some place that brings about feelings of ease and openness,

Perhaps a deeper sense of well-being and being.

You might already have some images or recollections starting to form in your mind.

And if so,

I'd love to invite you to really step into the scene right in front of you.

Perhaps it's a beach somewhere that you grew up near to.

Perhaps somewhere else in nature,

By the mountains,

A lake,

Or the river or forest.

Now as you start to sense yourself in this space,

Really look around you and take in all of the sights.

What do you see?

The color of the sky,

The clouds,

Or maybe it's a cloudless sky.

What else is around you?

Is the sun shining?

Is there a rainbow?

Perhaps birds flying past?

Then what are you hearing?

Really bring these sounds to life.

Now rather than straining to hear,

Could you allow the sounds around you to simply come towards you?

What are the smells around you?

Are there aromas?

Is it pungent or fresh,

Crispy?

Now if you're walking or even if you're sitting down,

What is the sensation beneath you,

Beneath your feet?

What are the sensations beneath you if you're sitting down in this space?

Feeling the contact between the surface beneath you and your body.

Is there a taste in the air,

In your mouth?

Now notice what are the sensations that are also arising as you are in this space.

Perhaps noticing if you have a smile on your face or a smile from within.

And also perhaps noticing if there is a slight softening and ease in your body,

A sense of well-being and being.

Now staying with these physical sensations and allow the sights,

Sounds,

Smells to slowly fade away but notice these sensations nurtured within you.

This ease and openness.

Know that you can always bring yourself back to these sensations of open,

Ease and calm.

This well-being and being is always within you.

Now bringing attention to the jaw and noticing all the sensations in the jaw.

Notice if there might be some tension,

Some clenching somewhere.

Allowing all of these sensations to be exactly as they are.

There's no need to fix or change.

And then now notice if you were to take a deep breath in through the nose and exhale deeply through the mouth with a big wide open jaw.

And as you close your mouth,

Notice the sensations in the jaw and the mouth.

Let's try that one more time.

Deep inhale through the nose.

And as you exhale through the mouth,

Let's stick the tongue out all the way and open that mouth wide and exhale.

Now close the mouth and notice the sensations present in the jaw,

The tongue,

The mouth.

This aliveness.

Let's do this one last time.

Deep inhale through the nose.

And as you exhale through the mouth,

Deep wide open of the mouth and stick that tongue out as you exhale.

And then relax the jaw,

The tongue,

Close the mouth.

And then notice the sensations now in the jaw and the mouth.

Just noticing an aliveness also present.

This energy moving,

Not just through the jaw,

Perhaps noticing this flow through the cheeks and noticing this flow moving down all the way through the neck,

Sensing this energy flowing down across the tops of the shoulders,

All the way down through the arms and out into 10 fingers.

Now let's try this one more time.

Deep inhale through the nose.

And tense up all of the arms and your fingers into a tight ball and as you exhale,

Stretch the 10 fingers open and shoot the energy out through your fingers.

Beautiful now.

Deep inhale through the nose one more time.

And as you exhale through the mouth,

Just imagine all this energy shooting out through the arms all the way down through the fingers.

Now one last time,

Deep inhale through the nose.

Now clenching the fists and the fingers into a ball and then as you exhale,

Opening up all 10 fingers and shooting all the energy out.

Now take the next few moments and notice all of the sensations present.

Notice the aliveness through the tops of the shoulders,

Through the arms and the hands and the fingers.

And notice even through all of these shifting sensations,

A deeper peace perhaps also present.

Now bringing attention to the base of your throat.

Traveling sensation all the way down from the chest to the belly to the hips.

Shifting sensations all the way down through the legs and down into both feet and all 10 toes.

This time,

Let's take a deep inhale as we stretch the arms up overhead.

Give yourself a nice big stretch as you deeply inhale and as you exhale,

Draw the knees into your chest.

Give yourself a nice big squeeze.

Now if it's helpful,

Tuck the chin into the chest,

Lift your head up off the floor or the bed.

Give yourself a nice squeeze as you exhale.

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze and release.

Straighten out the arms and the legs.

Let's do this a couple more times.

So deep inhale through the arms,

Stretching the arms up overhead.

You might like to even point the feet,

Hands and feet moving in opposite directions as you deeply inhale and as you exhale,

Draw the knees into your chest,

Wrap the arms around your thighs and give yourself a nice big squeeze.

Tuck chin into the chest and curl yourself into a nice ball.

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze and release.

One last time.

Deep inhale,

Drawing the arms up overhead,

Pointing the feet,

Stretching out the entire body as you inhale and as you exhale,

Wrap yourself in that ball.

And squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Tuck the chin into the chest and then release.

Now palms facing up to the sky,

Relaxing the body and noticing all of the sensations coursing through the body,

This energy and aliveness that's present.

Noticing if you can sense and feel into the breath,

Your beating heart.

Noticing perhaps any emotions or thoughts that might also be present.

If it's helpful,

You might like to weave in the feelings of wellbeing and being from your happy place.

If you notice these sensations moving through the body,

Perhaps a vibration,

Perhaps some heat,

All of these changing sensations,

Emotions and thoughts arising out of a deeper peace is also present.

This deep peace,

This deep inner peace is always present.

This aliveness,

This energy that's coursing through you is always here to nurture,

Support and heal you.

Touching back into your deepest desire for this life,

Stating it one more time in the present tense.

For example,

I move through life with an ease and openness.

And notice how that shows up in the body as a felt sense.

Touching back into the intention you set at the start of this session,

Staying a little curious to whatever arises in today's practice.

Is there one takeaway from today's session that you might like to hold close to you for the rest of today?

A gentle acknowledgement and thank yourself for taking this time for you.

This yoga nidra is now complete.

Thank you so much for joining me.

If you would like to share your experience,

I'd love to read about it in the comments.

I hope this helps you find more grace,

Ease and flow in your busy life.

And I'll see you in the next one.

Reviews

This meditation was a real help in opening up and moving into the beginning of the day. It helped clear away cloudy, sticky feelings from the day before, and assisted flowing into a brighter state of being. Thank you.