So lying wherever you normally lie and maybe you want to just do three tension and releases.
So lying wherever you're lying,
Take a few moments to get your body in a position that is comfortable,
Supported as well so that you can forget about your body during the meditation.
And tense and release the muscles in the body three times.
So what I find is I can just take a couple of breaths to tense up all the muscles in the body.
Starting at the feet,
Tensing up through the calves,
Shins,
Thighs,
Knees,
All the way up to the buttocks and then clenching the fists,
Arms all the way up to the top of the neck and head,
Scrunching the face and taking a long breath in.
And then exhaling,
Releasing.
Really good way to relax the body at night,
Particularly if you feel a bit jumpy.
And then another tension and release,
So really tensing up all the muscles in the body,
Including really scrunching the eyes and kissing the lips really tight,
Taking a long breath in and then exhaling and releasing.
And once more just scrunching up all of the muscles in the body,
Tightening everything,
Taking a long breath in and then releasing.
Take a few moments to,
If you're familiar with yoga,
To come into sabasana,
Which is palms turning up,
The arms relaxed out away from the body,
Your feet hip width apart and letting the little toe sides of the feet relax towards the floor or the bed or wherever you happen to be lying.
So yogi nidra is sleep with a trace of awareness.
Don't worry if you fall asleep because what we tend to do is the thinking mind will always be listening to my voice,
But your body will be able to relax.
Maybe you will go into sleep and then come out,
But I'll be talking you through the whole process.
So allow yourself to be guided.
Really just allow yourself first of all to listen to any sound that might be coming.
It might be a sound this end,
Because we can't be completely in silence all the time and a sound's your end,
Maybe the sound in the room,
Around and outside the building.
Just be aware of any sound.
Just noticing the sounds of the present moment.
Also noticing that there is a sense of smell and a sense of taste.
And as you close your eyes and relax your face,
That sense of just looking out into the blank space behind your eyes.
Maybe it's dark in the room or maybe there's some shadows coming across the eye space.
Just becoming aware of the body connected to wherever you're lying and the touch of fabric supporting you,
Cushions and pillows wherever you happen to be lying.
So when I guide you,
It might be what works for you is a sense of visualising picture in your mind's eye.
Or maybe you're a sensory person and will feel and sense parts of the body or sense the meditation.
Or maybe what works for you is to actually visualise another person or something touching a part of your body to connect you to yourself.
So just work with whatever feels good for you.
And then now imagine a sense that as you breathe,
The breath becomes the bridge from your mind to your body.
And that with every breath,
You're leading your mind across the bridge into the body.
And noticing the precious human body,
Your precious human body.
Seeing what you can feel this evening,
Checking in with your physical body,
Noticing how you're feeling after a long day.
Notice what shows up as being density in the body,
Maybe there's an ache or a pain.
Noticing where there feels like there's flow,
Maybe areas that you just can't feel.
Just becoming aware of the whole body.
That's what you can tune into.
Also sensing how you're feeling and also the quality of your thoughts.
Imagine that you were an observer of your thoughts.
Watching those thoughts arising,
Passing,
Arising and passing.
Just noticing.
Maybe taking a few nice big deep breaths.
As you breathe deeply,
You're nourishing the whole of your body with the flow of the breath.
And as you breathe almost as though the whole body is breathing.
Seeing that I am breathing in now.
I am breathing out now.
I am breathing in now.
And I am breathing out now.
Continue to notice the breath as it flows from the in breath to the out breath.
To the in breath and the out breath.
And the in breath and the out breath.
And allowing bubbling to the surface.
Something that is in the way of flow.
Maybe it's something physical,
Emotional,
Mental.
Maybe it's something that's a temporary today thing.
Something that's been with you for a long time.
Imagine this thing as though it were a big rock or boulder in a river.
You can see that the flow is rushing over it and around it,
Maybe even under it.
But it's still there,
Creating a disturbance to your flow.
Allowing this block to your flow.
And surrounded by a circular ball of energy.
And the curved edges of that ball of energy just allow the softening of this block.
Notice that that block starts to turn in a circle and begins to move.
Imagine the current and the flow of your life,
Be it through the breath or the blood or the fluids in the body.
Just unblocking this block and allowing the energy surrounding it to roll it away.
And this block just rolling away from your body,
From your mind,
From your emotions.
Just letting go.
Letting go of all of the energy that it's taken to keep it in this place.
And be aware I am practicing Yoga Nidra.
I am practicing Yoga Nidra.
I am practicing Yoga Nidra which is a form of awareness.
Bringing your awareness now to the very top of the head.
You can even imagine just a tip of energy touching the top of your head or sensing the top of your head or even visualizing the very top of your head.
And then drawing your awareness to your forehead and the expanse of the forehead from the left side to the right side.
And then touching your pure awareness even,
Almost maybe even with the tip of a paintbrush of energy.
Just something that takes your awareness to the left eyelid,
Right eyelid and the length of the nose to the tip of the nose and the left nostril and right nostril.
The left cheek,
The left ear,
Left side of the jaw and the right cheek,
The right ear and the right side of the jaw.
The right lip meeting the bottom lip.
The whole of your chin and the whole of your scalp and your hair flowing,
Touching the pillow and the floor.
The front of your throat and the notch of the throat between the collarbone on the left and the right.
The back of the neck and the curve of the back of the neck and the right shoulder,
Right armpit and the flow of the arm to the elbow and the inner elbow.
The forearm and the wrist spreading to the palm of the hand and the back of the hand and the right thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger and little finger.
Feeling the whole of the weight of the right arm,
Left shoulder,
Armpit flowing to the elbow and the inner elbow and the forearm and the wrist and the expanse of the palm of the left hand,
Back of the hand,
Left thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Little finger.
Whole of the weight of the left arm.
The whole of the rib cage,
The front and the back.
The softness of the belly and the belly button and the left hip and the right hip.
Pubic bone,
Left buttock and right buttock.
The lower back,
The bony plate at the lower back and travelling your awareness from the coccyx all the way up the spine.
Vertebra by vertebra to the top of the spine and into the neck.
Feeling the flatness of the left shoulder blade and the right shoulder blade and the right thigh and the back of the thigh and the knee and the whole of the chin and the calf and the curve of the ankle and the heel and the sole of the right foot,
Top of the right foot and the right big toe.
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the little toe.
Feeling the whole of the weight of the right leg and the left thigh and the back of the thigh and the back of the knee and the knee and the shin and the calf and the curve of the left ankle and the heel,
Sole of the foot and the top of the foot.
The left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the little toe.
Feeling the weight of the left leg and now feeling the whole body,
The whole body and the flow of peace throughout the whole body.
Breath rising the chest,
Rising the belly and lowering the chest and the belly.
The flow of the air coming from the outside to the inside through the nostrils and out and the flow of the breath in once more and out.
Be aware I am practicing yoga nidra,
I'm practicing yoga nidra,
I'm practicing yoga nidra which is the form of awareness.
Allowing your mind to flow from one object to the next.
A red beach ball,
A green leaf,
A white flower,
Blue shirt,
Red car,
A white feather,
Sunrise,
Moon rise,
A smiling face,
Blue eyes,
Brown eyes,
Green eyes,
Buddha,
A meandering river,
A fast car,
A red hot air balloon soaring in a blue cloudless sky,
Waves breaking on a sandy shore,
The tide flowing in,
The tide going out,
Heavy rain on a lake,
A reflection of your face in the water,
Jagged snowy mountain tops,
A skier skiing through virgin snow,
A boiling hot day,
White clouds meandering slowly,
Paddling along a sea shore,
Walking through autumn leaves,
Feeling the sand between your toes,
A glorious red sunset,
Wild flowers in a meadow,
A loved one's smile,
Your smile,
Your radiance,
Your perfect health.
I am practicing yoga nidra.
I am practicing yoga nidra.
I am practicing yoga nidra which is the form of awareness.
Bringing your attention to a flowing river and on this flowing river,
You're lying in a boat,
The oars pulled into the inside of the boat and the boat turns so that the nose of the boat just floats of its own accord down the river of your life.
In this flow,
There is no effort for everything that you want to manifest in life is downstream.
The art of life simply to pull in the oars,
Relax and think yourself towards the flow of all that you desire.
Lying down in this little boat,
Letting the boat of your life meander slowly down the river towards everything that you desire.
All of those little rockets of desire of the things that you would like in life,
Everything is downstream.
Allowing yourself to go with the flow.
And all of the experiences of life just passing by on the shores.
Knowing that this boat is the universe that's holding the comfort and support and you can just let go and go with the flow,
Trusting and easing your mind of worries and burdens,
Concerns,
Fears.
Just let your breath move you and the boat downstream.
The boat is moving at a pace that really is perfect for you.
Going with the flow mentally,
Emotionally,
Spiritually and physically.
Be aware I am practicing yoga nidra.
I am practicing yoga nidra.
I am practicing yoga nidra which is the form of awareness.
Bringing your attention back to the body and the flow of the breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And breathing in and breathing out.
Become once more aware of that blockage that you perceived at the beginning of the meditation.
We surrounded that blockage with a ball of energy to allow it to roll away.
Maybe it was physical or mental or emotional.
Checking in with that energy and seeing whether the block,
Even if it is in the psyche,
Just to see whether it's rolled away.
And just allowing the breath to flow in and out.
All of these aspects of your life to just be in flow.
And somewhere deep inside there is a calling now to bring you back from this meditation.
Maybe you notice the temperature in the room,
The temperature of your body and where you're lying.
Noticing the temperature of your skin or the air touching your skin.
And gently just noticing are there any sounds.
Might be a sound this end.
Might be a sound your end.
In the room,
Outside the room.
Just noticing this present moment and the sound.
And then beginning to take a deeper breath as you begin to enliven the body.
Feeling that energy moving into the fingers and toes.
And feel the connection of the body and where you're lying.
Maybe the blanket or pillows supporting you.
And once more the sense of taste and smell to join you.
And taking some more deep breaths.
And if you're moving on into the rest of your day then take some time just to be still until you're ready to leave this place of meditation.
If you're continuing on to bed then keeping this flow of mental,
Emotional,
Physical and spiritual energy flowing into the rest of your night.
Into a deeply peaceful and nourishing sleep.
If you're in the northern hemisphere thank you for joining me on this journey of yoga nidra and I hope you found some pleasure and some benefit from it.
Hariyom tat sat,
Hariyom tat sat,
Hariyom tat sat.
This yoga nidra meditation is now at an end.
Have a great night's sleep or a great rest of the day and may peace,
Love and happiness be always with you.
Namaste.
