An Evening Yoga Nidra For Deep Peace & Stillness

After a long day, let go of all thoughts and experiences with this deeply relaxing yoga nidra. Nidra means sleep with a trace of awareness. It's designed to help you release stress in body and mind so you can relax into your evening or to prepare you for a healthy nights sleep. Enjoy.

Transcript

So just taking a few moments. We can never really begin meditation by just lying down, Switching off and just expecting everything to stop with us. It just takes some time. So if you've had a really busy day and you're just tuning in, Give yourself a few moments to settle wherever you happen to be. So if you're in the UK maybe you're lying on your bed or you're lying in your space that you designate for your meditation practice, Just take a few moments to get yourself comfortable. So Nidra, Yoga Nidra, Nidra is a trace of awareness. It's sleep with a trace of awareness. So the zone for meditation really is sometimes you fall asleep and you go deeper and sometimes you feel quite awake. And that zone of meditation is kind of between sleep, Sleeping and awake and you just sometimes have very lucid thoughts and very clear directions about things in your life or you might have a very creative idea. Sometimes I find these moments of lucidity very, It's like I've got an instant answer to things that I might have been trying to sort out in my mind. So it's quite a powerful place to be and it's not always easy to catch. So if you find yourself drifting into sleep during this meditation, Never worry. So making sure your head is supported, Maybe the backs of your knees and some people find that lying down the lumbar arch of your back, The low back, Needs a support. So you might need to just place a small roll of blanket or a towel under your low back and getting yourself comfortable. Swami Satyananda had a saying that the physical body and the posture of Yoga Nidra should be so comfortable that you forget the existence of the body so that it can be almost regarded as merely a shell or a husk of the mind. To begin our practice it's quite nice to do some tension and release for the body. So if you've had a busy day and some of you might have energy this evening so you might find it easy, Difficult to switch off instantly. Let's just tense the body beginning at the toes, Just pulling up the toes, Tightening the ankles and the calves and the thighs and buttocks, Pulling in the belly muscles, Tensing up the arms and the hands, All the way up to the shoulders, The face, Even scrunching up the face and the forehead and then take a long breath in and as you exhale just release the whole body to be supported by the floor, The bed, Wherever you are lying. And let's do one more of those, Just tensing up the toes, Pulling up the shins, The calves, Tightening the thighs, The buttocks, The belly, All the way up to the body, Really tensing up even the fists, Fingers into the middle of the fists, Tensing up the neck and the face and even the scalp and taking a long breath in and as you exhale feel your body unwinding and relaxing into the floor, The mat, The bed, Wherever you are. So being a guided meditation just allow your mind to drift, So there's no efforting required, No real focus, It's all about the willingness to go with the flow, Making yourself just that 5% more comfortable, Making some small adjustments to the body. Focusing on yoga nidra is really about hearing and feeling and these are the only things that matter during your practice. Just be aware without effort. So welcome home to the space of your body, Welcome home to yourself, This inner being, Always the inner noticing and inner seer who's always watching all of what's happening in your life and then there's the physical body that we use as the vehicle to move us around the planet. Really allow yourself to be and noticing the breath, The subtle breath coming into the body and leaving the body, Rising the chest and lowering the chest, Rising the belly and lowering the belly. Just really noticing the breath as a form of being able to bring your awareness down into the body. Become aware that the breathing is quiet and slow. Just with the background awareness I am breathing in now, I am breathing out now, I am breathing in now, I am breathing out now, I am breathing in now, I am breathing out now. So Yoga Nidra is the form of awareness so reminding ourselves throughout this practice I am practicing Yoga Nidra, I am practicing Yoga Nidra, I am practicing Yoga Nidra which is the form of awareness in this safe vessel in which I rest. So let's set an intention, A sankalpa or a resolve for this practice and maybe this week. What will be your intention for this week? Maybe it's an intention just to find more time for you or more time to rest or more time to just be more efficient rather than do too many things. Whatever your intention is just allow it to bubble to the surface and repeating it three times in your internal inner space so that the whole of your body can hear it. Allowing your sankalpa to dissolve away just for this time. As you begin to meditate always just be aware of the background sounds, The sense of feeling of the touch of your body where you're lying. And just really being aware of this present moment where you're lying and the heaviness of the body, The comfort of the body and the breath coming in and going out. Now in your mind's eye the Chidakash bring your awareness to a tiny blue star. In this tiny blue star we're going to move around the body to all of the different parts of the body just to become even more aware of our physical body. Tiny blue star visualising this tiny blue star at the top of your head and then in the centre of the forehead placing another tiny blue star and then between the eyebrows and the tip of the nose and the left nostril and the right nostril and a tiny blue star where the lips meet and another little blue star on the chin and the left cheek and the right cheek and the right eye and the left eye and the left ear and the right ear. The whole of the jaw, Imagine little blue stars lining the outline of your jaw. A little blue star at the notch of the neck and the throat and a little blue star at the back of the neck, The top bone in the spine and the right shoulder and the right shoulder blade and the collarbone and the top of the right arm and the right armpit. A tiny blue star at the inner elbow and at the tip of the elbow joint and the right wrist and at the tip of the right thumb, Index finger, Middle finger, Ring finger, Little finger, Palm of the hand and back of the hand and all the way over to the left shoulder, Shoulder blade, Collarbone, Top of the left arm and left armpit. A tiny blue star in the inner elbow and the left elbow joint and the wrist and the tip of the left thumb, Index finger, Middle finger, Ring finger, Little finger and a tiny blue star in the middle of the chest and the lower left rib and the right rib and in the solar plexus, The belly button, The belly and the pubic bone, Left hip and right hip and a tiny blue star placed at the base of your spine at the coccyx and moving up the spine placing little blue stars on each vertebra of the spine going all the way to the top and a blue star at the left side of the body and the right side of the body. A tiny blue star on the right thigh, The back of the knee, The knee, The shin and calf, Ankle, Heel, Sole of the foot, Top of the foot, The right big toe, Second toe, Third toe, Fourth toe and little toe, The left thigh and the back of the left knee and a little blue star on the left kneecap, Shin, Calf, Ankle, Heel, Sole of the foot, Top of the foot, The left big toe, Second toe, Third toe, Fourth toe and little toe. And now seeing all of these little blue stars brightly lit on all of these areas of your body, The left leg, Right leg, Left arm, Right arm, Front of the body, Back of the body, Your head and now the whole body. And visualizing that each of these little blue stars is an anchor for the stillness in your whole being, Anchoring the stillness in your physical body, Mental body, Emotional body and spiritual body, Feeling the whole being anchored and integrated in stillness. And just wait a while with this still space, The whole body illuminated, Integrated and still. Be aware I am practicing Yoga Nidra, I am practicing Yoga Nidra, I am practicing Yoga Nidra which is the form of awareness in this safe vessel where I lie. And now bringing your attention back to your breath and visualize the breath just coming in through the left nostril. You might visualize the left nostril or feel a sense of the breath moving in and out of the left nostril only, Balancing the eidanadi, Balancing the mental energies. Breath in and out on the left side. Again becoming aware of that mantra I am breathing in now, I am breathing out now just on the left side of your nose, The left nostril. And now switching your attention to the right nostril as you visualize or sense the breath just coming in through the right nostril only, Cleansing the pingalanadi, Your physical energies, Balancing, Supporting, Cleansing. Inhaling through the right, Exhaling through the right, Inhaling through the right, Exhaling through the right. Just be aware I am breathing in now, I am breathing out now, I am breathing in now, I am breathing out now. And then bringing the balance of the breath back to both nostrils, Breathing in through both and out through both, Feeling that your mental and physical energies are being balanced as you breathe in and out. And become aware once more I am practicing yoga nidra, I am practicing yoga nidra, I am practicing yoga nidra which is the form of awareness in this safe vessel in which I rest. And in your mind's eye imagine that you are opening your eyes and seated cross-legged in a golden temple. You're seated on a sumptuous velvet cushion that's supporting your whole weight and inside this golden temple the first thing you notice is the intense stillness, The faint sound of life occurring outside the building. But inside this temple of stillness you notice with every fiber of your being in every cell just how still this is. And as you breathe you allow that stillness to absorb into the center and the fabric of your very being. The stillness coming into your physical body right in the center of your physical body you feel this intense stillness along with deep peace. You allow this stillness to absorb into your mental body. You must feel your thoughts emptying and becoming less important. Everything becoming much more balanced and easeful. Allowing this stillness to radiate and permeate your very mental body. And allow this stillness into your emotional body. Balancing and calming any emotions that may have disturbed the very peace and stillness at the center of your being. You feel a deep sense of connection with your soul, Your source, The very deep core of your being. This stillness is very present. And here there is nothing to worry about, Nothing to fear. All is well and so it is. It is. You you And becoming aware once more I am practicing Yoga Nidra. I am practicing Yoga Nidra. I am practicing Yoga Nidra which is the form of awareness in this safe vessel in which I rest. Now let's irrigate the seed of intention that you set at the beginning of this meditation. What is it that you intend for this week or maybe this month or maybe this year and repeating your intention three times. Now somewhere deep inside bring yourself to a calling that we are to prepare for the end of this meditation. Maybe first of all just taking some deeper breaths. So really full breaths that allow you to rise the belly, Rise the chest and the breath all the way up to the collarbones. Become aware once more of that soft glow of light maybe through the eyelids for this time and as you breathe the breath noticing the familiar sense of smell around you. Maybe moving the tongue in your mouth just to pick up the sense of taste. And the deeper breath enlivening a little energy to move the fingers and the toes. Also knowing that this deep inner stillness sits like an inner Buddha inside. You can always be accessed whenever you need throughout this week, This month, This year. This quiet inner seer that's always watching and guiding but always ready for you to come and sit and be present to this stillness. So if you are moving on into the rest of your day take a slow movement from where you're lying down and if you are continuing on to bedtime then I wish you a beautiful nourishing and nurturing sleep. For now until next time may peace, Love and happiness be always with you. Namaste.

Reviews

Gina, beautiful nidra practice. Thank you so very, very much.