Yoga Nidra: Transformation

Hi,

My name is Lynette and I invite you into this practice of yoga and nidra,

A practice of deep relaxation.

Please find a warm and private space in the most comfortable position you can be in.

Research yourself.

You are the only one who knows what you need.

Give yourself permission to rest now and just let the practice do the work.

If it feels nourishing for you,

You can cover your eyes with something light to induce the feeling of darkness and to signify a time for rest.

When you are ready,

Take three deep clearing breaths.

Feel the breath fill up to the edges of your body.

And as you exhale,

Let the sound come out through the mouth,

Welcoming any sound that arises to be released.

A sigh,

A moan,

A flutter of your lips.

When you've finished your three breaths,

Scan the body,

Right and left side,

Front and back,

Top and bottom.

Are you supported?

Bring your attention to your hands and feet,

Your toes and fingers,

And allow them to fall open as you drop down into this present moment.

As we move through our transformative journey today,

You may feel that your body gets sleepy and that's okay.

Let it happen.

Let go of resisting.

Allow the surrender to happen.

And we now begin the practice of yoga nidra.

As you take a few more breaths,

The illusion of time falls away with each exhale.

As you relax your whole body more and more,

The past,

The present,

And the future all become one.

Allow and relax your whole body.

Imagine now that you are standing in front of a beautiful body of water and you're holding a smooth stone in the palms of your hands.

The water is calm,

The air is calm,

And you feel at peace.

You are feeling whole and complete.

You know the road you have been on to get here has been full of ups and downs,

Lots of emotion,

Grief,

Anger,

Joy,

And love.

It was always supposed to be this way.

You know that now as you stare out towards the stillness of the water.

Then to ask yourself,

What were the qualities that I cultivated to get here?

And what are the qualities that I would like to create more of to move forward?

What intentions will develop within myself resilience,

Strength,

Happiness,

Peacefulness?

What allows you to accept the unfolding of life?

What are these intentions or resolves that have carried you to this place?

And what would you like more of for where you're going?

Start to feel this in your body and let the feelings turn into words as you start to create a few short phrases,

Maybe,

I am valuable.

I am worthy of receiving.

It is safe for me to be happy.

Or maybe I trust myself.

Just let these phrases roll in and out like gentle ocean waves.

And notice does something stand out for you?

Does one of these statements that arises within you make your skin tingle?

What is arising for you right now in this moment?

Once your inner voice guides you to the words you need to hear,

Start to repeat this short,

Positive present moment phrase to yourself at least three times.

Feeling the energy of the words wash over your whole body like a soft breeze.

And then start to put all of this energy from these words,

This phrase into the stone you are holding.

Let the words soak into this stone.

And when you're ready,

Throw the stone into the calm water in front of you.

As it splashes and sinks down deep into the water,

You watch the ripples pulsate out into wider and wider circles.

You watch your words resonating throughout the water.

And then if you want to,

You can sit down or lay down on the ground and close your eyes and take a deep breath in and a deep breath out.

And relax your whole body.

Listen to the sound of my voice as we continue and imagine ripples in the water each time I mention a body part,

As though this golden stone,

This energized stone is landing on each spot gently.

First,

Awareness to the center of your chest.

Feeling this throughout your heart and your lungs.

The center of your throat ripples out through your neck and jaw.

The center of your head between your ears.

Feeling the currents of light throughout your whole head,

The space between your eyebrows.

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow.

Right eye,

Left eye.

Right eye socket,

Left eye socket.

And both eyes and eyebrows together.

Your forehead and all the lines in the forehead.

Top of the head.

Back of the head.

The whole face and head together.

Diving down the back of the neck to your right shoulder,

Right shoulder blade,

Right arm,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

And all four fingers and thumb on the right hand.

Left shoulder.

Left shoulder blade.

Left arm.

Palm of the hand and back of the hand.

And all of your fingers and thumb on the left hand.

Both arms and hands together.

Both shoulders and shoulder blades together.

Back of the heart and lungs.

Back of the rib cage.

Feeling the ripples out around your whole rib cage.

Down the spine to your right kidney and adrenal gland.

Left kidney and adrenal gland.

Both kidneys and adrenal glands together just at the bottom of the back of your ribs.

Down the spine to your sacrum,

The back of the pelvis.

Right hip.

Left hip.

And feel the ripples throughout your whole pelvis and pelvic bowl.

Back of the right thigh.

Crease behind the right knee.

Right calf.

Back of the left thigh.

Crease behind the left knee.

And your left calf.

And the back of both legs together.

Right heel.

Soul of the right foot.

Top of the foot.

And all five toes.

Left heel.

Soul of the left foot.

Top of the foot.

And all five toes.

And both feet together.

Right shin.

Right knee.

Right thigh muscles.

Left shin.

Left knee.

Left thigh muscles.

Front of both legs together.

The whole of the pelvis.

The navel point.

Feeling the ripples throughout the whole belly area.

Your solar plexus area.

The space between your ribs and your belly button.

Back up to the space of your heart.

Feeling the ripples of divine love throughout your whole heart.

And then your whole body starts to feel these ripples.

The whole body.

The front body.

The back body.

The right side.

The left side.

The top and the bottom.

The whole body together.

The whole body.

Relax the whole body.

Begin to notice your body breathing.

You are not controlling your breath in any way.

You just accept that your body is breathing and you observe.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Rise and fall.

There is no need to manipulate or control the breath.

Accept and observe your breathing.

With each exhale dropping deeper and deeper down into the unknown.

Deeper into darkness.

Now start to inhale into your heart center.

Filling the heart.

And as you exhale move the breath down into the bowl of your pelvis.

Inhale into the heart.

Exhale breath down into the pelvis.

Watch the breath fill the heart on the inhale and then flow down to the bowl of the pelvis as you exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Now stay there in your pelvis and start to inhale into the pelvic bowl.

Filling up.

And as you exhale send the breath all the way down to the soles of the feet.

Inhale filling the pelvis with breath.

And exhale breath travels down your legs and out through the bottoms of your feet.

Inhale pelvis.

Exhale down through your feet.

Inhale.

Now keep your attention at the soles of your feet.

And as you inhale next time start to draw the inhale up through your feet,

Up the legs,

Up through the pelvis,

Up to the heart and all the way up to the space between your ears in the middle of your head.

And as you exhale all the way back down again through the feet.

Inhale up,

Up,

Up all the way to the space between your ears in the middle of your head.

And exhale down,

Down,

Down to your feet.

Inhale.

Exhale.

As you inhale now keep drawing the breath up to the very top of your head,

Even up into the space above your head.

And exhale dropping down through the bottoms of your feet.

Inhale breath all the way up above the top of your head.

And exhale drop down,

Down through your feet.

Top of your head through your feet.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Doing like this for seven more times counting backwards from seven.

You can stop counting.

You are no longer controlling your breath.

Watch your body breathing.

Just watch yourself breathing with freedom.

Your whole body is relaxed.

Your whole body.

Your whole body is relaxed.

You are supported and safe.

Your body is breathing.

Trust this breath.

And I invite you to imagine that you are surrounded by light.

There is a glowing warmth around your whole body.

Your body feels so light.

You are bright and spacious and free.

It feels like you're floating in iridescent water.

And exhale.

The light is now gone and you imagine darkness.

Imagine you are surrounded by darkness.

Black.

You are resting in the space of dark.

A dark illumination around your whole body.

You cannot see anything but dark space.

You are nowhere and in no time.

Floating in dark space.

And exhale.

You're back in the light where you feel the flow of a loving conversation.

A healthy exchange of energy between two people.

The process of talking openly with someone.

Maybe there's laughter.

Maybe smiles.

Communicating with lightness,

With faith,

And with trust.

Relaxation circulates throughout your whole body.

Sensations of connection,

Of joy.

Freedom like an open window on a sunny day.

Exhale.

Now bringing into your awareness the feeling of a secret.

There is a secret.

A shadow.

Something unsaid.

A story that is not being shared.

Guarding a secret.

What does that feel like in your body?

Unknown.

Unspoken.

Heaviness like a closed door.

Exhale.

And once again you are surrounded by light.

There is a glowing warmth around your whole body.

You are floating on the water.

Listening to the ripples of the water.

You are relaxed here.

Your body feels so light and warm.

The water gently rocking you as you close your eyes.

Peacefully floating in the light.

Watch your body breathing.

Relax your whole body as you follow my voice.

Behind your closed eyes you see only darkness once again.

You are floating in this dark space.

You notice you are attached to a golden cord of light.

You trust the security of this golden cord anchoring you in the present moment.

You are attached to the golden cord as you start to dive deeper into the dark space.

You know you are being guided somewhere important,

But unknown.

You trust yourself.

You trust the journey.

You know you can always follow the illuminated cord back to the light as you move into the darkness.

Your eyes closed.

Floating in the dark space.

Dark in front of you.

Dark behind you.

Dark to both sides of you.

No past.

No future.

Only here and now.

Floating in this dark space.

No place.

No time.

Your eyes are closed,

But your senses are awake.

Feel the darkness with your hands,

Like a heavy velvet blanket.

Taste the darkness,

Like a piece of smooth dark chocolate melting in your mouth.

See the darkness with closed eyes,

Like the deep dark navy blue at the bottom of the ocean.

Smell the darkness,

Like damp dark soil ready for planting seeds.

Hear the darkness.

A slow,

Low cello melody.

Feel the darkness illuminating your whole body.

Up ahead in the darkness,

You see a doorway filled with light.

You start to move towards this glowing doorway,

And a shadow appears beside you.

You sense that this shadow is a version of you that feels alone and not good enough.

You take their arm and say,

I am enough,

And you walk towards the doorway.

You go through the bright door.

On the other side,

The shadow is gone,

And you are once again in the dark.

You take a breath.

You see another doorway ahead of you,

Shining brightly.

Beside you,

Another shadow appears.

You sense that this is a version of you that feels guilty or ashamed about a secret.

You link arms and say,

I trust you,

And you go through the glowing doorway.

On the other side,

The shadow is gone,

And you are submerged in the darkness once again.

You take another breath.

One more time,

A brightly lit doorway appears in front of you.

You can feel the warmth of the light.

It's so bright.

Beside you,

Another shadow outline appears.

You sense that this is a version of you that is abandoning yourself to please others.

You take their arm and say,

I respect you,

And you go through the white light of the doorway.

This time,

When you move through the doorway,

The shadows disappear.

The darkness disappears.

You find yourself once again floating in the light on the surface of the calm water.

Darkness to light,

Floating.

Feel the warmth of the light as you say to yourself,

I welcome back all parts of myself into my heart.

I am whole and complete.

You have emerged from the darkness,

Floating on the clear water,

Surrounded by light.

You are supported and safe.

You feel light and free.

Relax here.

Floating on the water,

You start to remember your samkalpa,

The intention you created at the start of your journey.

Feel your samkalpa resonate throughout your whole body.

As you repeat it to yourself at least three times,

Feel the ripples of these words move around your whole body wider and wider and wider.

The rippling water disappears,

And you feel yourself start to rest on the ground,

The solid ground once again.

You start to feel the support beneath you as you land back to the ground,

Back to your space,

Back to this time,

This place,

This present moment.

The practice of yoga nidra is now over.

As you land back in this space,

Listening to my voice,

Just take a few deep breaths in and out on purpose as you begin to feel the stability beneath your body holding you up.

Start to feel the temperature of the air on your skin.

Start to listen to the sounds around you.

Take your time as you transition into the here and now.

Take a few intentional breaths,

Feeling the power of your deep breaths.

And when you feel ready,

You can roll over to one side and just pause,

Steeping in the sensations of the present moment wherever you find yourself.

You're welcome to stay here,

Or you can slowly return to a seated position.

And take another purposeful breath in and out,

Feeling the power of your inhale and exhale.

You can slowly flutter your eyes open.

Just glancing from object to object in your room to ground yourself into the here and now in the present moment.

If you want,

You can place your hands to your heart.

Thank you so much for taking time for yourself today and sharing your practice with me.

Have a beautiful rest of your day.

Namaste.