
Restoring Vital Energy Yoga Nidra
by Beth Lewis
This 30-minute Yoga Nidra practice offers a deeply restful space to replenish your vital energy and gently restore balance. Through a guided body scan, breath awareness, and visualisation, you’ll be invited to reconnect with Prana, the vital energy that flows through your subtle energy channels (Nadis) and connects with the Chakras, our energy centres. When this energy flows freely, we feel more balanced, vibrant, and at ease.
Transcript
Hello and welcome to this yoga nidra to restore your vital energy.
Take as much time as you need to settle and get comfortable,
Finding a supportive position for you to rest in today and maybe bringing blankets and cushions in to create your cozy nidra nest.
As you settle in,
I will briefly introduce the practice.
As I do so,
Feel free to let the eyes gently soften and close,
And just let your body be held by the earth beneath you.
This practice will be around 30 minutes and will include some moments of silence.
During the practice,
You might find yourself drifting off to sleep,
Or maybe my voice becomes a soft murmur in the background.
That is okay,
This is often a sign you are going into a nidric state,
The state between wakefulness and sleep.
So just flow with your experience,
Let go of any expectations and know that you will receive whatever you need to today.
If at any point you need to move or adjust or open the eyes,
Know that you can,
This is your practice,
Your experience,
But it might bring you out of that nidric state.
In this nidra,
We will be focusing on restoring your prana,
Your vital energy source.
Prana is the subtle energy that flows through our bodies and sustains us physically,
Mentally and spiritually.
It is energy that fuels vitality,
Creativity and presence.
Our prana is believed to flow through channels in the body called nadis.
It connects to our chakras,
Our energy centres.
When prana flows freely,
We feel balanced,
Vibrant,
We feel alive.
But if our pranic energy flow is out of balance,
Sometimes due to stress or daily habits,
It can affect our wellbeing and sense of ease.
In this practice,
We will create space to recharge,
Reconnect and allow the energy to flow freely,
Helping to release what no longer serves us and nourish where we might be feeling depleted.
Near the end of the practice,
I'll guide you to visualise where your energy flows through your body and guide you through the chakras.
If anything I say doesn't resonate with you today,
That's okay,
Feel free to ignore the words in themselves and just let my voice be a safe sound in the background.
As we arrive and start to begin our practice,
I invite you to notice the surface beneath you,
Noticing the parts of your body that are in contact with this surface and allowing yourself to be held and to be supported,
To truly arrive here in this moment.
And maybe taking some time to check in,
To just simply observe how you're feeling today,
Noticing how your body feels,
How your mind and your energy feel,
Knowing there is no right or wrong answer,
But checking in without judgement and instead starting to hold space for yourself with kindness and with compassion.
When you're ready,
Gently bring in the awareness to your breath,
No need to change it or control it,
But can you start to simply observe?
Notice how your body is breathing for you,
Taking care of you,
With each breath allowing yourself to soften a little bit more.
If it feels comfortable,
You might breathe in and out through the nose and observe the sensations that come with your breath.
Breathing in,
You might feel a coolness at the tip of the nostrils or the back of the throat.
As you exhale,
The sensations might change slightly,
Maybe feeling a little bit warmer or softer.
Maybe observing the gentle rise and fall of the chest and the stomach.
Observing how the breath flows through your body.
With each exhale,
Allow yourself to let go of the outside world,
Allow yourself to feel supported and held and to move from doing into simply being.
If it feels right,
I invite you to set a sankalpa.
This is a simple,
Heartfelt intention.
It might be something like my energy flows freely,
I allow myself to receive rest and vitality,
I am balanced and calm.
Or you may even choose a sankalpa of your own.
But repeating this a few times,
Just silently in your mind.
With each breath,
You could imagine this intention planting itself in your heart.
We are now going to take a gentle rotation of awareness around the body.
As I name a body part,
Simply bring your attention there,
Nothing to change or fix,
Just imagine the area softening.
Bringing the awareness to the crown of your head,
The forehead,
The left eye,
The right eye,
The nose,
The lips,
The tongue,
The left cheek,
The right cheek,
The entire face,
The left ear,
The right ear,
The back of the head,
The neck,
Throat,
Collarbones.
Bringing the awareness to the left shoulder,
The bicep,
Elbow,
Forearm,
Wrist,
Back of the left hand,
Palm of the left hand,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Fourth and little finger,
All five fingers,
The whole left hand,
The whole left arm,
Softening,
The left armpit,
The left side of the ribcage,
The waist,
The left hip,
Left thigh,
Lower leg,
Ankle,
Foot,
The whole left leg,
The left side of the pelvis,
The left lower back,
Middle of the back,
Left shoulder blade,
The entire left side of the body,
The entire left arm,
The entire left leg,
Softening.
Maybe observing any difference between the left and the right side,
Any sensations present.
And then bringing the awareness to the right shoulder,
The right bicep,
Elbow,
Right wrist,
Back of the right hand,
Palm of the right hand,
Thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Fourth and little finger,
All five fingers,
The whole right hand,
The whole right arm,
Right armpit,
Right side of the ribcage,
Waist,
Right hip and toes,
The entire right leg,
The right side of the pelvis,
Right lower back,
Middle of the back,
Right shoulder blade,
The entire right side of the body,
The entire right arm,
The entire right leg.
And noticing any sensations.
And then bringing the awareness to the entire body,
The entire right side,
The entire left side,
Just completely softening,
Held by the surface beneath you,
Simply resting and at ease.
And bringing the awareness back to your breath,
Just observing its natural rhythm again,
Observing that gentle wave-like motion as you breathe,
As you inhale and feel that expansion through the stomach and through the chest,
And as you exhale and soften a little bit more.
And then I invite you to imagine a radiant light above your head,
A golden glow of energy.
This is your prana,
Your life force.
Now I invite you to imagine a radiant light above your head,
A golden glow of energy,
Representing prana,
Life force energy.
As you inhale,
Can you imagine this light entering the crown and starting to fill the body,
With each exhale allowing your body to soften and create space for this energy to flow freely.
Taking deep,
Steady breaths,
Nothing to force,
But gently inviting the energy in with each inhale and softening with each exhale.
You might begin to visualize this light,
This energy,
Flowing down through the body.
As it moves,
Imagine it flowing through your nadis,
Subtle energy channels in the body.
You might visualize this as gentle rivers,
Or golden threads of light,
Winding their way through every part of you,
Winding down from the crown of your head,
All the way to the tips of the toes and back again.
This energy flowing around the body,
Along the spine,
And weaving around the arms and the legs.
And then I invite you to start visualizing your energy gently flowing towards the base of your spine and meeting a soft red light,
This light representing your root chakra.
You might see the light as a ball,
Swirling or pulsing,
And as your energy flows here,
Can you invite in a sense of grounding?
Feeling the warmth and the glow of this light,
And allowing yourself to be anchored in this present moment,
Bringing in a feeling of safety and calm.
From here,
Observe your energy beginning to rise slightly,
Moving towards your lower abdomen,
And beginning to visualize an orange light,
Swirling gently.
Start to connect to a sense of creativity and joy.
Let your energy here grow softly,
Awakening this joy within you,
The joy in the simple act of being and existing exactly as you are in this moment.
From the lower abdomen,
Let your prana,
Your energy rise up into the stomach,
Visualizing a bright yellow light,
Or a soft flame glowing warmly,
Radiating personal power,
Confidence,
Your inner strength and fire.
Sense this expanding with each breath,
Filling you with strength and with courage.
This energy is steady,
Empowering and yet calm.
A sun glowing within you,
Glowing from your center outwards.
As your energy moves upwards into your chest,
Can you begin to see a soft green light,
Allowing this light to bloom like a flower and to open slowly around your heart space.
Can you start to invite in love and compassion for yourself as you rest here?
Let the light radiate gently,
Touching every part of your chest and your back.
Allow your prana to flow here naturally,
Softening tension,
Bringing ease,
And nourishing your capacity to give and to receive love.
Now guiding your energy towards your throat,
Starting to visualize a gentle blue light.
Visualize this light flowing softly through your throat and clearing the space here,
Opening pathways for honest communication and truth.
The energy moves freely,
Bringing ease and clarity to your voice,
To your words and to your inner knowing.
And then gently drawing your energy up to the space between your eyebrows,
Your third eye.
Picture a soft indigo light,
Maybe like a clear night sky or a deep pool of water.
But feel it awaken,
Awaken insight,
Intuition,
Clarity.
Expanding your inner vision,
Connecting to yourself.
Allow the energy here to move with ease,
To soften the mind,
To deepen your awareness and open your understanding.
Finally,
Allowing your energy to rise to the crown of your head,
Imagining a golden halo of light,
Radiant and expansive,
Connecting you to universal energy,
Connecting you to your highest,
Most abundant self.
Take a moment to feel the full circulation of prana through every nadi and chakra in your being.
If there's any areas where your energy feels blocked or depleted,
Maybe taking the awareness there for a few moments.
Imagining the warm light of your prana gently moving towards it,
Helping to dissolve the tension,
Dissolve the blocks.
Where our awareness goes,
Our energy flows.
And then feeling your entire body glowing with vitality,
Your mind,
Body and spirit balanced and replenished.
Your prana flowing freely,
Feeling restored and nourished.
When it feels right to do so,
I invite you to bring your sankalpa,
That heartfelt intention,
Back to mind.
Silently repeat it three times.
Let it echo through the body,
Carried on the breath,
Carried by your prana.
In a moment we are going to start our gentle return.
But just observing how you feel as we come towards the end of our practice.
Checking in once again without judgement,
But noticing how your body feels.
How your mind feels and how your energy feels.
When you're ready you can maybe take a few deeper inhalations,
Just welcoming in that fresh energy.
You might even take a few sighs out through the mouth.
Maybe then inviting in some gentle movement,
A wiggle of fingers and toes,
A roll of the head side to side.
Knowing that you can stay exactly as you are for a little bit longer,
Really enjoying this rest,
This stillness.
When you are ready you can start to open the eyes.
Thank you so so much for choosing to practice with me,
Sending you lots of love and beautiful energy.
