Yoga Nidra For The Authentic Self

To connect to the authentic self is to know your higher self, but also to acknowledge your human projections without judging them. Empowering your true self can help to counter many of the challenges and complexities that face us in life today. To see and accept the truth in yourself in all its light and shadow, can assist you in navigating your path and connecting authentically with others.

Transcript

Welcome,

Inner Space Journeyers.

This is a yoga nidra for connecting with your authentic self.

So prepare to relax into the next 30 or so minutes,

Gathering everything you need to be at your utmost comfort for this session.

And then come into Savasana,

Flat on the back,

Palms of the hands facing up,

Arms by the sides,

With the feet gently dropping open.

And then settle into a rhythmic breath.

And then start to feel into the length of the spine,

From the head all the way to the pelvis,

Feeling that lengthening of the neck,

And weighing each side of the body,

Making sure that everything feels distributed evenly.

Taking these next few moments to make any last adjustments.

And then closing the eyes and the mouth,

Settling in,

Starting to feel the connection between the back of the body and the ground,

Feeling into every point of the body that touches the surface below,

Whether it's the back of the head,

The back itself,

Calf muscles,

Or heels.

And then doing the same with any point of the body that touches clothing or blankets,

The front of the legs,

For instance,

Or the chest.

Feel the knees and the toes.

And now bring to mind your sankalpa.

This is your personal resolve or intention for this practice.

And you can craft it around anything that you wish to have,

Change,

Or achieve.

Formulate it in the positive,

With as precise and clear language as possible,

And making sure that there is a feeling associated with it.

Format your sankalpa in the present tense.

And then once you do,

Repeat it to yourself three times so that you can recall it later in this practice.

And now moving your awareness to sounds outside of the room,

Letting your awareness wander far and close,

Paying attention to sounds that are louder and then sounds that are quieter,

Moving your awareness from each sound to the next without analyzing them,

Simply observing.

Continue this practice on your own.

And now shifting your awareness to sounds just outside of the room,

Finding and noticing any subtle sounds just outside of the room.

And now shifting your awareness to sounds within the room,

Finding and noticing any subtle sounds within the room.

And now letting go of this,

Letting go of the sound awareness,

Letting it go,

And moving your awareness to the body,

The whole body,

Lying across your space.

I will now ask you to rotate your awareness around parts of the body.

No need to move,

Just as I name a part,

Picture it in the mind.

And keep following my voice with full awareness.

And we'll begin with the right hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Right palm of the hand,

The back of the hand,

The right wrist,

The lower arm,

The elbow,

Upper arm,

Armpit,

Shoulder,

Collarbone,

Right side of the chest,

Right upper abdomen,

Navel center,

Right lower abdomen,

Hip bone,

The right front of the thigh,

The kneecap,

Shin,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe.

Making sure to follow my voice with full awareness as we move to the left hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Armpit,

Shoulder,

Collarbone,

Left side of the chest,

Left upper abdomen,

The navel center,

Left lower abdomen,

Hip bone,

Front of the thigh,

Kneecap,

Shin,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe.

Feel into both heels as they press into the floor,

Feeling both calf muscles,

The backs of the knees,

The backs of the thighs,

The buttocks,

The lower back,

The middle of the back,

The upper back,

The entire spine from the tailbone to the top of the head between the ears,

And the right shoulder blade and left shoulder blade,

Space between shoulder blades,

Back of the neck,

Back of the head,

And then the crown of the head,

The forehead,

The right temple,

The left temple,

The right ear,

And the left ear,

The right eyebrow,

The left eyebrow,

The middle of the eyebrows,

The eyebrow center,

The right eye,

And left eye,

The bridge of the nose,

The nose tip,

The right nostril,

The left nostril,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Chin,

Jaw,

The whole of the head,

The whole of the torso,

The whole right side,

The whole left side,

And then the whole body,

The whole body,

The whole body.

Take your awareness to the natural flow of the breath as it enters and leaves through the nostrils.

On your next inhale,

Feel every single cell of the body expand,

And on the next exhale,

Feel every single cell of the body relax.

Inhaling,

Feeling every single cell of the body expanding,

Exhale to feel every single cell relaxing,

And continue this on your own.

And now,

Shift your awareness to imagine that with every breath in,

The body expands out to cosmic proportions,

And with every breath out,

This awareness is drawn back into a tiny point of light in the center of the body.

Breathing in to expand the body out to cosmic proportions,

And then as you breathe out,

Drawing the awareness back to a tiny point of light in the center of the body.

Continue this on your own.

Breathing in to expand the body out to cosmic proportions,

Breathing out to draw the awareness back to a tiny point of light in the center of the body.

And on your next exhalation,

Letting this go,

Letting go of the awareness of the breath,

Letting it go and returning to a natural rhythm in the nostrils.

I will now go through feelings and sensations.

These are all things you have felt before.

As I name each feeling,

Feel it and then let it go.

First,

Bringing about the sensation of coldness throughout the whole body.

Feeling coldness throughout the whole body.

Coldness.

And then bringing about the sensation of warmth throughout the whole body.

Feeling warmth throughout the whole body.

Warmth.

Now bringing in the sensation of reason throughout the whole body.

Feeling reason throughout the whole body.

Reason.

Now bringing in the sensation of intuition throughout the whole body.

Feeling intuition throughout the whole body.

Intuition.

Bringing in now the sensation of cynicism throughout the whole body.

Feeling cynicism throughout the whole body.

Cynicism.

And now bringing in the sensation of optimism throughout the whole body.

Feeling optimism throughout the whole body.

Optimism.

Bringing about now the sensation of uniqueness throughout the whole body.

Feeling uniqueness throughout the whole body.

Uniqueness.

Bringing in now the sensation of conventionality throughout the whole body.

Feeling conventionality throughout the whole body.

Conventionality.

And now bringing in the sensation of being a hindrance throughout the whole body.

Feeling hindrance throughout the whole body.

Hindrance.

And now bringing in the sensation of being of service throughout the whole body.

Feeling of service throughout the whole body.

Service.

Now bringing in the sensation of material materiality throughout the whole body.

Feeling materiality throughout the whole body.

Materiality.

And then bringing in the sensation of spirituality throughout the whole body.

Feeling spirituality throughout the whole body.

Spirituality.

Bringing in now the sensation of grounding throughout the whole body.

Feeling grounding throughout the whole body.

Grounding.

Now bringing in the sensation of ascension throughout the whole body.

Feeling ascension throughout the whole body.

Ascension.

And now letting go of these feelings and sensations.

Letting them go.

We will now go through a series of symbols.

As I name each one,

Picture it in the mind,

And then move on to the next symbol that I name.

A wall of books.

A wall of books.

A wall of books.

A grassy green meadow.

A grassy green meadow.

A grassy green meadow.

A pair of bells.

A pair of bells.

A pair of bells.

An amethyst crystal.

An amethyst crystal.

An amethyst crystal.

An amethyst crystal.

An amethyst crystal.

An amethyst crystal.

A golden crown.

A golden crown.

A golden crown.

And now,

Visualize yourself in a wide green valley.

It's morning,

And the soft breeze creates waves of oceanic motion in the wild grass.

You wander in the direction of the sun and its warmth.

It is bright and blinding without a cloud in the sky.

As the sun gradually moves out of your line of vision,

You notice that the earth before you is gently inclining to become a small hill.

The sun shines directly through an opaque crystal temple perched on the hill's gentle form.

You continue toward it,

Walking through brush and rocks on your way to this temple.

The hill becomes steeper,

And you often lean forward onto the land to help yourself up the slope with your hands,

Receiving help from the steady rocks and branches.

Reaching the temple gate,

You notice that the base of the building is shaped as an inverted triangle.

Two more gates flank the other two sides of the triangular glass temple,

But you enter through this first one.

Its interior is bright and spacious.

A hall with high ceilings and an unlit hearth in the center of the room,

Next to a clear see-through bench.

Despite the abundance of light,

The temperature in the temple is surprisingly cool.

The unique construction of the temple and its crystalline layers invites the sunlight into the space in beautifully geometric ways.

The patterned shapes shift with every quiet movement of the sun across the sky.

It's as if you're in the center of a soft kaleidoscope,

And you spend some time admiring the geometry that the morning sunbeams create on the floors and the walls as they bounce and play in the space.

While meditating on the moving light,

The sun shifts itself over a part of the temple ceiling that concentrates the light over the center of the hearth,

Lighting it on fire.

You walk over to the glass bench by the hearth,

Feeling the warmth,

And then taking a seat on the bench,

Feeling yourself become part of this solid crystalline structure built all around you.

You turn your attention to the fire and begin to gaze into the steady center of the flame before closing your eyes.

You awaken as the fire begins to crackle and open your eyes.

Light is dancing across the temple hall again as the sun continues its path through space.

You stand up and exit the temple from the gate that you entered,

Feeling the fire's warmth on your back.

In front of you is a grand view of the sunny valley from above.

From here,

The wild grass looks almost like a bright green ocean as it moves rhythmically with the soft breeze.

And now,

Letting go of this visualization,

Letting it go.

Now bringing your awareness up to the mind space,

The deep,

Dark,

Infinite space of the mind behind the forehead.

This is known as Chittakashana Yoga,

The deep,

Infinite space of the mind.

Look deeply into the space now,

Observing any thoughts,

Feelings,

Colors,

Patterns,

Or pictures.

Remaining as a witness without becoming involved.

Now withdraw from the mind space.

Withdrawing from the mind space,

Keep withdrawing your awareness from the mind space and bring your awareness back to the breath.

Feel the breath on the nostrils and deepen the breath.

And now bringing to mind your sankalpa from the beginning and repeat it to yourself three times.

And now bring your awareness back to the body,

The whole body,

The whole physical body.

Be sure you're aware of your whole physical body and your surroundings,

Bringing movement back into the body,

Moving the fingers,

The toes,

Stretching your arms.

The yoga nidra is now complete.

When you're ready,

Come back up to a seated position.