Practice of Yoga Nidra.
If this is your first experience of Yoga Nidra,
Yoga Nidra is an ancient meditation technique that guides you through the layers of being from the physical to the subtlest of the subtlest.
Nidra means sleep with a trace of awareness,
Also known as psychic sleep.
To prepare for your practice,
Lie restfully on your back where your spine can be flat and supported.
It is usually received in the posture of Shavasana or corpse pose,
Where the body is fully released onto the support of the ground.
Received,
Held fully so that you feel free and safe to completely let go.
Lie down,
Let your body stretch out,
Have your feet point outwards about hip distance or a little wider than hip distance apart.
Let your arms stretch out alongside your body with the palms of your hands turned upwards.
And if it feels ready,
Close your eyes.
Make all necessary adjustments and movements.
Get your fidgeting out so that you are comfortable and can remain still for the duration of the practice.
Throughout the practice,
You only need to maintain awareness just enough to hear my voice as I guide you through the journey.
Your whole body relaxes,
Your mind and awareness stay just enough to follow the voice.
If you doze off,
Enjoy your nap.
You will still benefit from this journey.
Relax your whole body completely.
Make any final adjustments and see if you can get cozy,
More comfortable and be warm.
The practice of Yoga Nidra begins.
Take a deep breath and as you breathe in,
Feel the coolness and calmness of your inhale spreading throughout the body.
And as you breathe out,
Feel your exhale carry out all worries,
Stories and thoughts.
See them flow out of the mind,
Flow out of the body with every exhale.
Stay connected to my voice and become aware of your body relaxing completely with every round of breath as you exhale.
Feel your legs relax.
Feel your hips relax.
Feel your pelvis and your buttocks relax.
Your whole lower body relaxes all tension flowing out from the toes and the tips of the toes.
Feel your belly and your low back relax.
Your ribs and your mid back relax.
Feel your chest,
Your upper back,
Your shoulders,
Your arms all the way down through the palms,
Through the fingers.
All tension flowing out through the tips of the fingers.
Relax your throat and your neck.
Relax your whole face and the whole head.
Relax your whole body.
Relax yourself physically.
Relax yourself mentally.
Relax yourself by breathing and observing the breath as it moves in and out.
See your breath moving between your nose and your belly,
Round by round,
Breath by breath.
Just observe your natural breath rhythm.
No need to manipulate it or control it or change it.
Just become aware of the breath as it moves between the nose and your belly.
With every round breathe and feel yourself becoming more relaxed with every exhale you drop into a deeper layer of relaxation.
Allow every exhale to sink you deeper into stillness.
Keeping your eyes closed deepen your inner vision and experience what bubbles up and what is invoked during the practice of this meditation.
Become aware of your room.
With your eyes closed remember all objects,
Colors.
Become aware of all sounds around you.
Remain completely still.
Notice how your sense of hearing and your ears can act like a sophisticated radar like a microphone that can pick up all sounds within the range.
Sound to sound move your attention from the furthest sounds outside the room to sounds inside the room until you can hear the sounds that are closest to you.
Sounds of your own breath.
Your heartbeat.
Your blood flowing through your veins.
Just listening to the sound.
Now become aware of the process of your natural breathing.
Feel the expansion of the whole body as you breathe in and the relaxation of your whole body as you breathe out.
Experience the expansion of your body as you breathe in and the total relaxation of your body as you breathe out.
With each inhalation the body expands more and more.
With each exhalation the body relaxes more deeply.
Now experience the sound of your breath and at the same time experience the expansion of your body as you breathe in.
Continue to allow your breath to be natural and free.
Continue to experience your body expanding to receive your inhale and relaxing hugging back in to release your exhale.
In yoga nidra we practice sankalpa.
Sankalpa is a Sanskrit word which translates into true resolve or deep resolve.
Sankalpa is your heart's deepest utmost desire.
To practice sankalpa ask yourself in your life right now what needs more support,
More charge?
In your life right now what is your heart's truest deepest desire?
Allow your heart to answer the question and formulate it in a language and words that are true to you.
Repeat your sankalpa three times as a statement in the present tense as if it is already happening.
What would your life look like?
What would your life smell feel and taste like?
What would your life sound like if this heart desire was a reality?
Repeat the same phrase three times silently from your heart to your heart feeling and being aware of this desire coming true and then release it with faith and gratitude and trust that it's already been received.
We're going to move your consciousness through different parts of the body.
Move your awareness around the body as I suggest the part.
Do not stay in one part for too long.
Continue to flow as I guide you through these points in your body.
Allow your mind to move freely from one part to the next.
We start with the right hand thumb.
Bring your awareness to the right hand thumb.
First finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
Palm of the right hand.
Back of the right hand.
Right wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Shoulder.
The right side of the body.
The right waist.
Hip.
Thigh.
Knee.
Calves.
Shins.
Ankles.
Heel.
Sole of the foot.
The right big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth toe.
The whole right side.
The whole right side.
The whole right side.
Bring your awareness to the whole right side of the body.
Now bring your attention to the left side starting in the left hand thumb.
Awareness in the left hand thumb.
First finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
Palm of the left hand.
Back of the left hand.
Left wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Left shoulder.
Left ribs.
Left waist.
Hip.
Thigh.
Knee.
Calf.
Shin.
Ankle.
Left heel.
Sole of the foot.
Left big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
And pinky toe.
The whole left side.
The whole left side.
The whole left side.
Bring your awareness to the whole left side of your body.
Now bring your attention to the back of the body.
Your right seat.
Left seat.
Right lower back.
Left lower back.
Right shoulder blade.
Left shoulder blade.
The entire right side of your back.
The entire left side of the back body.
Bring your awareness to the whole length of your spine.
Back of the neck.
Back of the head.
The entire back body.
The entire back body.
The entire back body.
Bring your awareness to the entire back body.
Crown of the head.
Forehead.
Right temple.
Left temple.
Right ear.
Left ear.
Right eyebrow.
Left eyebrow.
Bring your attention to the center of your eyebrows.
Right eye.
Left eye.
The nose and the bridge of the nose.
Right cheek.
Left cheek.
Upper lip.
Lower lip.
Teeth.
Tongue.
Chin.
Throat.
The right collarbone.
The left collarbone.
Your right chest.
Left chest.
Right abdomen.
Left abdomen.
Navel.
The whole torso.
The whole torso.
The whole torso.
Bring your awareness to the whole front of the body.
Bring your attention and visualize the entire front and side of the body in one sensation.
Bring your awareness and visualize the entire back of the body in one sensation.
See and sweep the whole body.
Now develop the feeling of heaviness in your body.
Awaken the feeling of heaviness in the body.
Each part of your body becoming heavier and heavier.
Legs and arms heavy and sinking deeper into the earth.
Head and torso heavy and sinking into the earth.
Feel your whole body becoming heavier.
Sinking into the floor.
Intensify the feeling of heaviness in your body.
Intensify the feeling of your body merging into the floor beneath you.
Now develop the sensation of lightness in your body.
Experience lightness in the body.
Legs and arms becoming lighter and lighter.
Head and torso light floating in space with every breath.
Experience lightness and weightlessness in your body like a feather.
Absolute lightness in your whole body.
Experience total and absolute lightness in your whole body.
Now become aware of both.
Lightness and heaviness merging into one global sensation in your body.
You don't have to think about this.
Just feel heaviness and lightness simultaneously in your body merging into one sensation.
Body heavy and light at the same time.
We're going to visualize the psychic symbol representing the energetic centers in your energy body,
The pranic body,
The chakras.
Feel the position of each of these centers starting with the root chakra,
Right at the tip of the tailbone.
Traveling up the spine to the second chakra located at the sacrum.
Up the spine to the third chakra at the level of your navel.
Up to the fourth chakra behind your heart center,
Behind the sternum.
Bring your awareness to the fifth chakra located in the neck at the throat area.
Bring your awareness to the center of your forehead,
Between the eyebrows to the sixth chakra.
Take a breath back and forth in a straight line from your eyebrow center to the center of the brain into your bindu at the top of the back of the skull.
And then allow your awareness to float up through the crown of your head,
Bringing your awareness to the seventh chakra.
As you are lying on the floor,
Become aware and allow your awareness to be in your spine.
See yourself flying down and imagine you are floating above your body,
Seeing the spine and looking down at your spine.
See a lotus flower blooming and flourishing at each of the psychic centers.
A dark lotus flower at your root.
A beautiful bright orange at your sacrum.
A bright yellow lotus at your navel.
Emerald green lotus at your heart center.
Visualize a purple lotus at your throat.
A blue two petal lotus at your third eye.
See the moon at your bindu.
And a thousand petaled lotus at your crown.
Illuminous,
Transparent.
Continue to look down at your body lying on the floor.
Be the witness of your physical body lying in a relaxed state,
Supported and held by the floor.
Now see your body as transparent.
It is clear and light.
Illuminous.
See your body as transparent.
See the body on the floor clear and light.
Completely transparent and illuminous.
Now see a cord connecting your transparent body to your physical body at the navel center of each body.
See a cord connecting your transparent body to your physical body at the navel of each.
And allow your transparent body to float upwards.
Completely light,
Unaffected by gravity.
Your transparent body can fly to any place that you wish.
And it will continue to remain connected to your physical body through the navel cord.
Float and travel freely in your transparent body now.
You are limitless.
You are free.
You are boundless in your transparent body.
Now repeat your sankalpa,
Your deep resolve that you set at the start of your practice.
Repeat your sankalpa three times with awareness,
With pure intention and trust.
Feel your sankalpa resonate as if it's already manifested.
And allow yourself to enter into the deep stillness of yoga nidra and rest in bliss.
Now become aware of your breath,
The natural breath.
Allow your inhalations to bring you back to the surface and awaken your body slowly with every inhale.
Just observe your inhalations and the exhalations.
Staying aware of each and every inhale for the full length of your inhale and deep and complete exhalations.
Feel the movement of the body to receive and release your breath.
Experience the movement of the body at the time of inhalation and exhalation.
Allowing your mind to float back to the surface gently with every round of breath.
Without opening your eyes,
Start to externalize your mind.
And when you feel the impulse of movement,
Start to move your toes.
Very small movements into your feet,
Your fingers,
Tips of the fingers.
Until you can move your hands,
Your arms,
Your legs.
And very slowly and very gently allow yourself to bring a big stretch to your whole body.
Become aware of the whole body.
Become aware of your whole physical body.
And stretch your whole body completely.
And as you feel ready,
Roll onto your side and support yourself with your arms to press yourself up into a seat.
Keep your eyes closed.
And when you have arrived into a fully relaxed seated posture,
Rub the palms of your hands together.
And allow your palms to slowly rest in front of your closed eyes.
Feeling the heat from your palms,
Touch the eyelids and allow this gesture of warmth to fill your whole face.
And then slowly remove the hands and open your eyes.
Welcome back.
Namaste.
