Welcome to your yoga nidra practice.
Just take a moment,
A slow moment to do all that you need to do so that you can feel comfortable to simply be inviting the body into a shape of comfort.
Perhaps closing the eyes and breathing the weight of your body down into your support.
Bringing in the medicine of the moment,
Breathing out an invitation to settle.
Your whole being now,
Welcome into this space.
All of those parts of you that just before this practice were not heard can now be heard.
All of you welcome into the nidra nest.
And how might it be to sense the ground or the support that you lay on and to sense the support beneath your support,
The ground of this building.
And how might it be to sense the earth as the ground,
The very ground of it all,
Always holding you,
Holding you now,
Holding you so that you may release all effort.
How might that be?
Sense the very ground which supports you in the very ground of your being.
As if awareness could settle in a quiet and still place within you,
A place where there is steadiness,
A place where you can rest your bones and have the space to just sense and look around at all that is present here.
Space to witness.
And how might it be to visualize your body as if you were up above from a bird's eye view.
Looking down at you.
How might that be?
Perhaps your awareness up above you now could shine down over your body like sunshine shining over a wild landscape.
And if you were a landscape,
What sort of wild landscape might you be?
Perhaps a field of rolling grasses swaying in the wind.
Perhaps there are flowers in your landscape blooming in vibrant colors.
Perhaps there are waters in your landscape or big powerful trees surrounding this landscape.
What sort of landscape might you be in this moment?
What might that look like?
What might that feel like?
What season might you be in?
What's the temperature of this landscape?
What's the weather for today?
What time of day or night?
Just allowing whatever naturally arises to arise.
Even if it defies physics,
Even perhaps especially if this were an imaginative place.
What might that be like to be a wild landscape?
And as if awareness could shine over this landscape like the gentle rays of the sun.
Whatever time of day feels best for you.
Perhaps the vibrant bright sun of noon.
Perhaps the gentle golden rays of sunrise or sunset.
Allowing the awareness to shine down now over the crown of the head,
The forehead,
Over the slope of the nose,
The valleys of the cheeks and eyes.
Shining over ears and inside the ears like two little caves in this landscape.
Shining over the whole of the scalp.
Bathing every hair on this head.
Every root follicle on this head and awareness shines down over the top lip and the bottom lip,
Tip of chin and the hollow of this throat.
Bathing the whole of this throat and head in the light of awareness.
Over this head and face and even through this head right through to the back of the head resting.
And from face awareness shines down now over the expanse of this chest,
Over the slopes of the shoulders,
Running down the upper arms and elbows,
Forearms and wrists.
Bathing the palms of these hands,
Backs of hands,
The two thumbs left and right,
Four fingers right and left,
Middle finger left,
Right,
Ring fingers right,
Left and the little finger shining from fingers through palms and wrists,
Forearms,
Elbows,
Upper arms and shoulders,
Shining even through the armpits and along the side ribs.
Bathing the whole of this rib cage,
Sides,
Front,
Right through to the back of the heart.
Shining down over the belly and through the belly to the lower back,
Length of spine,
Shining over the pubic bones and all through the pelvis.
Bathing the pelvic organs right through to the buttock.
Awareness shines through the two hips and thighs,
Over the two mountains of knee,
Shin bones,
Calf muscles and ankles,
Hops of feet and soles of feet and big toes,
Second toes,
Third toes,
Fourth toes,
Fifth toe.
The whole of this landscape from toes all the way up to top of head,
Touched by the light of awareness,
The whole landscape.
And just as the sun shines down over all beings,
Over all places,
Unconditionally,
Over the whole of this earth,
So too does the light of awareness shine unconditionally with warmth,
Over the whole of this body land.
Let every place seen and unseen touched with awareness and every space seen and unseen held in awareness.
How might that be?
In this wild landscape that is you,
The very essence of order and creativity,
Perfect creativity and freshness,
But also the steadiness of order and design.
How is it to be a perfectly ordered and perfectly creative being?
Welcome home to yourself,
Lovely one.
Welcome home to your nature.
And the invitation now is to settle awareness,
Home inside the heart,
Just to be present with the intuitive heart for a spacious moment.
Just to be here is the whole thing.
And after being with the heart in this way,
The invitation is to become aware of your breathing,
Aware of the body breathing,
Allowing these breezes of breath to roll through you and gently stir and awaken.
And as this breath weaves through body land,
There's an invitation for intuitive listening,
A spacious moment to receive intuitive guidance from the intelligence of this body,
The intelligence of this heart.
And it could be as simple as knowing exactly how the body would love to breathe in this moment,
Or perhaps knowing exactly how the body would love to move or be in this moment.
Following those calls and breathing or yawning,
Stretching yourself awake,
Trusting yourself.
Whatever arises,
Give it life.
And as this practice of yoga nidra comes toward a close,
Know that you have rested well and all is well.
All is just as it should be.
And you are so welcome now to continue resting if that is the flavor for you,
Or to emerge now and be on your way if that is what you would love to be doing.
I thank you so much for listening.
Jai Ma Jagatambay Mata Ki Jai She whose body is the earth,
We honor her and I honor you.
Thank you.
The practice is now complete.
