Welcome to this practice of yoga nidra.
As you start to settle in and get cozy,
I invite you to just notice what it feels like to shift from the vertical to the horizontal.
Notice energetically how your body feels.
Maybe even notice the feeling of having a body.
So we have this vessel that carries us around all day.
So what's it like to pause and ask the earth to carry you for a little while?
So surrendering the weight of your body over to the earth,
Letting all the parts that are making contact with the support beneath you feel heavy and rooted.
Trusting that there's nowhere else you need to be at this moment.
And there's nothing you need to do here.
Just being here and listening to the sounds around you.
It's enough.
Even if you drift off or you don't hear every word I'm saying,
It's enough.
Know that this is your practice,
So if you need to shift or move in any way to get comfortable,
Feel free.
So tuning into all the sounds that you can hear around you,
Letting your body feel heavy and at the same time bringing awareness to the front side of your body.
So backside of the body rooting into the earth,
Front side of the body,
Maybe there's a feeling of lightness.
And I wonder what it might be like to imagine your body as a body of water.
Like an ocean or a lake.
And the front side of your body is like the surface of the water.
And just like the surface of the ocean,
There's depth beneath it.
So welcoming in every sensation beneath the surface of your skin.
Deep in your body and organs and muscle.
Bring awareness now to the center of your forehead.
And I'd like you to imagine that there's a little boat hovering right on the surface of the water.
Maybe it's a sailboat,
Maybe it's a kayak or a canoe or a paddleboard,
You can choose.
But a little boat right on the surface,
Representing the light of mental awareness.
So we're shining a little light on the water.
And we'll be a little playful as we go around the body today.
At each point we come to,
It's like this boat is seeing it for the first time.
Welcoming in everything that it sees and feels.
Starting with the eyes.
Sailing over the right and left.
And the eyelids and the space between the eyes and the space behind the eyes.
And the temples.
Ears.
And sailing in a spiral into the ear.
And imagining that you're sailing to the space between the ears.
Inside the head.
And coming back to the surface along the bridge of the nose to the nostrils right and left.
Over the upper lip and the lower lip and the space between the lips.
And to the inside of the mouth between the rows of teeth.
Over the tongue and under the tongue.
And sailing out of the mouth down the throat.
To the little pool at the base of the throat and over the collarbones to the shoulders and the elbows and the wrists right and left.
And to the palm of the left hand.
And sailing to the tip of each finger.
Thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And pinky finger on the left hand and the space between the fingers.
And sailing in the right palm and tips of each of the fingers on the right hand,
Right thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger,
And all the spaces in between.
And sailing up the arms.
Up to the shoulders,
Back to the chest.
Sailing over the right chest bone and the left.
And down underneath the ribs to the belly and around the navel.
Deep into the groin and the buttocks and the pelvis.
Sailing through sensation over the legs and the knees.
Behind the knees,
Over the shins and calves to the ankles and the feet.
And all ten toes and the spaces between the toes.
Sailing through the ocean of your body and bringing the light of mental awareness with.
And maybe allowing yourself now to feel a heaviness through the backside of the body once again.
And at the same time feeling a lightness through the surface of the water.
Maybe even imagining the sky above your body.
And again noticing everything that's below the surface.
This time your body but then all the way deep into the earth.
Welcoming in all sensation.
Including maybe even emotional sensations.
So are there any emotions that maybe arise with these opposites?
So the feeling of heaviness,
Maybe a feeling of being a little stuck.
Stuck in the mud.
But then that surface of the water,
It's almost like a buoyancy,
A lightness.
Maybe a feeling of joy.
And maybe that joy is so light it's almost like you're floating a little bit and get a little ungrounded.
So then you come back to that feeling of groundedness.
And you feel stuck once again but grounded.
And then you get a little buoyant again and you start to drift up to the surface of the water.
Maybe a little too buoyant up into the sky and then you come back down to the ground.
So feeling all of these sensations at the same time.
That feeling of groundedness and that feeling of buoyancy.
And with it maybe a feeling of being stuck but also a feeling of being free.
Of unbridled joy.
And feeling the weight of your body on the floor once again.
And feeling the contact of your body with the earth.
And taking a moment just to be here in this space.
In this openness of awareness which is yoga nidra.
And listening to all that you can hear.
And then as this practice of yoga nidra comes to a close.
If you feel like you have somewhere to be at this moment you can start to wiggle the fingers and toes.
Otherwise if you'd like you can stay here resting a little bit longer.
But whichever you choose,
Thank you for sharing your practice.
And namaste.
