Welcome to the practice of yoga nidra.
Welcome home to your heart.
Lay flat like a star web.
Your hands and heels like celestial anchor points.
Your limbs are like threads leading to the centre.
Close your eyes.
Exhale and allow your body to settle.
Feel your breath becoming spacious.
Observe the spacious,
Effortless breath settling your body deeper into stillness.
Be aware.
I am practicing yoga nidra.
I am practicing yoga nidra.
I am practicing yoga nidra.
Let this be the form of awareness and be held by this state of consciousness.
Feel safe within the vessel of this form of awareness which is yoga nidra.
Exhale and drop your mind down into your heart.
Let your awareness be deep in your heart.
I am my heart.
I am my own true heart and my heart is open.
Welcome any feelings or insights that arise in your heart.
Welcome the voice of the inner teacher.
Guide now the light of conscious awareness around your body.
Your body remains still but your awareness moves from point to point.
It is as if your body is a night sky and your light of mental attention shines at each point.
Awakening the shining presence of a twinkling star so that your body becomes a constellation of shining stars in the night sky.
Inhale and as you exhale let a star shine bright at each point.
We begin at the crown of your head.
Can you place a shining star there?
One for your right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow,
Your right eye,
Left eye.
One on the tip of your nose.
Two twinkling stars.
One for your upper lip,
Lower lip.
One for the edge of your chin and a string of twinkling stars all around your jawline.
Can you place a star in the center between your collarbones?
Now one on your right arm,
Right elbow,
Right forearm,
Right wrist,
Right center of the palm.
And one for each of your fingers on your right hand,
Your right thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Fourth finger and your little finger.
Now the whole of your right arm is covered with a constellation of stars.
Gently begin to guide this light of mental awareness to your left arm.
Place a twinkling shining star there.
Your left elbow,
Left forearm,
Left wrist,
Center of the palm and five twinkling stars on your left hand.
Your left thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger and your little finger.
Now the whole of your left arm is covered with a constellation of stars.
Guide your awareness to place two twinkling stars.
One for your left shoulder and your right shoulder.
One in the center of your chest.
One right below your navel.
One for your right hip,
Your left hip.
One for your right thigh,
Your knee,
Your calf,
Your ankle,
For your foot.
And five twinkling stars for each of your toes of your right leg.
Starting with your right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and your little toe.
Now the whole of your right leg is covered with a constellation of stars.
Continue to guide your light of mental attention to your left thigh and place a twinkling star there.
Left knee,
Left calf,
Left ankle,
Foot and five twinkling stars.
One for each of your toes of your left leg.
Your big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and your little toe.
Now the whole of your left leg is covered with a constellation of stars.
Begin to raise your awareness back to the star shining in your heart space.
Be aware,
I am practicing yoga nidra.
I am practicing yoga nidra.
I am practicing yoga nidra.
Be aware of the whole constellation of your body shining in the night sky.
So many stars,
Your whole body.
With your next inhale,
Allow the space between the stars to open so the stars fill the full expanse of the night sky.
As you exhale,
Let the stars fall to earth settling on the web of your body.
Inhale,
Let the stars rise and spread,
Spacious,
Open and dark between them.
Exhale,
The starlight like drops of rain they descend,
Landing on the star web that is your body resting on the earth.
Inhale,
Stars up to heaven.
Exhale,
Stars down to earth.
Inhale,
Up to heaven.
Exhale,
Down to earth.
Continue to repeat this visualization,
Pausing between your breaths with the awareness in the bright star in the center of your heart for the next three breaths.
Now draw awareness in the anchor points,
Your heels and your hands.
Now draw awareness in the anchor threads,
Your legs and your arms.
Awareness now in your spine and your head.
Breathing on the web,
Anchored in the stars,
You are breathing stars to earth.
Let the bright light of consciousness travel the triangles in your body web.
With your next exhale,
Let your breath move from your lower body to your heels.
With your next inhale,
Let your breath move up from your heels to your lower belly,
Forming an upward pointing triangle.
Pause here to exhale.
Draw awareness to your lower belly.
As you inhale,
Let your breath move up from belly to your left and right lungs.
Exhale,
Allow your breath to move down from your lungs to your lower belly.
Inhale,
Guide your breath to return to your left and right lungs.
Pause to exhale,
Awareness at your lungs,
Forming a downward pointing triangle.
Inhale,
Your breath moves up from your lungs to your eyebrow center.
Exhale,
Your breath moves down from your eyebrow center to your lungs.
Inhale,
Your breath moves up to your eyebrow center,
Forming an upward pointing triangle.
Let your conscious awareness join the upward pointing triangle with the downward pointing triangle.
They meet at your heart.
Let your breath begin to move in the diamond of your body star web.
A shining diamond.
With your next exhale,
From your eyebrow center,
Breathe out to your heart and pause to inhale.
With your next exhale,
From your heart,
Breathe out down to your lower belly area.
Now inhale from your lower belly to your heart and pause to exhale.
Inhale from your heart to your eyebrow center and exhale back to your heart.
Your breath awakens consciousness in the diamond.
Diamond breath makes the shape vivid,
A shining diamond of awareness.
I am practicing yoga nidra.
Yoga nidra is the form of awareness.
Now with your next exhale,
Allow all awareness from the edges of your diamond to move into your heart space in the center of the diamond.
Inhale,
Allow awareness to spread out to the edges of the diamond and then exhale back into your heart space.
Continue to repeat this for the next three breaths.
Exhale all awareness from the edges of the diamond back into your heart space.
Inhale awareness out to the edges of the diamond.
Being in your heart space,
In the diamond of your web,
Feeling the stars shine.
I am my heart.
I am my true heart and my heart is open.
Breathe awareness into your heart space.
Welcome the insights of your inner teacher.
Listen to the silent voice of your heart.
You are your heart,
Lying on your web of dreams,
Integrated.
Laying like a star,
Safe in the consciousness that is yoga nidra.
Securely held by this state of awareness,
Safe within the vessel of the form of awareness which is yoga nidra.
Now this practice of yoga nidra is coming to an end.
Carry the blessings of this practice and the awareness of connection out with you.
The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
You may wish to stretch and yawn and open your eyes.
Let your breath be a bridge as you transition into a more everyday state of consciousness.
Yet continue to savour still the shining presence of awareness and the wisdom of your heart.
