Yoga Nidra, The Gift Of Guided Rest
Enjoy this time to relax and reset with a guided non-sleep deep rest Yoga Nidra meditation by Susan Watkins. This session offers a deeply relaxing and restorative Yoga Nidra guided meditation practice to help you release the chaos and busyness of daily life to journey to the blissful inner space between being awake and asleep; deeply relaxed yet aware. Give yourself permission to rest. Your space to heal, restore and reset your energy is here.
Transcript
As we begin our practice of Yoga Nidra,
Invite yourself to become comfortable,
Perhaps lying down with a warm blanket over top,
An eye pillow,
Blocking out the light,
Inviting the brain to relax,
Putting something under the knees,
Releasing the low back,
Reminding yourself there is no perfect way to do this meditation.
Invite yourself to become comfortable.
Trust that you'll receive what you need to and let go of the rest.
Inviting yourself just to listen and follow my voice as best you can.
And if you lose me,
That's okay.
Invite your intention to return to my voice.
There's nothing to catch up or remember.
Invite yourself to just settle in,
Reminding yourself I do not need to deliberately relax anything.
I don't need to analyze or work at understanding the instructions.
I only need to follow her voice as best I can.
Begin to invite a feeling of inner relaxation through your whole body.
Invite it on the body as a whole,
Becoming aware of its stillness and its breath.
As we move through this practice,
Invite yourself to remember I am awake,
I am aware,
I am practicing Yoga Nidra.
Becoming aware of any sounds that you hear in this moment,
Nothing else but what you can hear without strain.
Begin to focus on the most distant sound that you can hear.
Let your sense of hearing radiate outward,
Searching out these distant sounds and following them for a few moments,
One by one,
Moving your attention from sound to sound without labeling the source or preferring one sound over another.
Just notice.
Gradually bring your attention to closer sounds,
To sounds inside of the building,
To sounds inside of the room,
Inviting the awareness deeper,
Becoming aware of sounds with the sight of your body.
Without opening your eyes,
Visualize the four walls of the room,
The ceiling,
The floor,
Your body lying relaxed on the floor,
Feeling all the points of contact where your body rests within this current time and place and inviting your awareness to your breath.
Becoming aware of your natural and spontaneous flow of breath as it moves in and out of your body without any effort,
The natural breath flows in through both nostrils.
Notice the feeling of the breath as it comes in and out.
Perhaps you notice a sense of coolness as you inhale the breath,
Followed by a sense of warmth as you exhale.
Noticing this natural flow of breath,
Allowing your breath to become longer and slower,
Inviting a deepening of the breath,
Taking a long,
Slow inhalation,
Followed by a longer,
Slower exhalation,
Inviting your exhale to be even longer,
Even slower.
Taking a long,
Slow inhale,
And a longer,
Slower exhale,
Taking a deep breath in,
Bringing your breath to your heart,
And as you inhale,
Feeling that heart space open and expand,
Inviting in an intention,
A message from your heart just to you.
What does your heart want you to know?
Allowing this message,
This intention to arrive naturally,
Something positive,
Stated in the current moment,
I am,
Repeating this message three times,
And as you exhale,
Letting it go,
Trust that you have planted this seed of intention,
Allowing it to unfold and transform,
To arrive in a sense of healing,
Inviting your awareness back to your breath,
Feeling a sense of ease and relaxation through your whole body and mind.
We're going to begin a journey through the body.
I'm going to name a number of different body parts,
And as I do,
I invite you to move your awareness to each part as soon as you hear it named.
There is no need to move that body part,
Just become aware of it,
Keeping yourself awake but not concentrating too intently,
Becoming aware of the right side,
Moving down to the right hand,
The right hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
The palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Armpit,
Side,
Waist,
The right hip,
Hamstring,
Right thigh,
Kneecap,
Calf muscle,
Ankle,
Heel,
Sole of the right foot,
Top of the right foot,
The right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Moving now to the left side,
Becoming aware of the left hand,
Left thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
The palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Armpit,
Side,
Waist,
The left hip,
Hamstring,
Thigh,
Kneecap,
Calf muscle,
Ankle,
Heel,
The sole of the left foot,
The top of the left foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Moving now to the top of the head,
Bringing your awareness to the forehead,
The right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow,
The space between the eyebrows,
The right eyelid,
Left eyelid,
Right eye,
Left eye,
Right ear,
Left ear,
The nose,
The right cheek,
The left cheek,
The upper lip,
Lower lip,
Both lips together,
Chin,
Jaw,
Throat,
Right collarbone,
Left collarbone,
Right chest,
Left chest,
Middle of the chest,
Upper abdomen,
Navel,
Lower abdomen,
Right hip,
Left hip,
Right thigh,
Left thigh,
Right knee,
Left knee,
Right ankle,
Left ankle,
All the right toes,
All the left toes.
Moving now to the back of the body,
Becoming aware of the back of the right toes,
The back of the left toes,
The sole of the right foot,
Sole of the left foot,
Right heel,
Left heel,
Right ankle,
Left ankle,
Right calf muscle,
Left calf muscle,
The back of the right knee,
Back of the left knee,
Right hamstring,
Left hamstring,
Right buttock,
Left buttock,
Right hip,
Left hip,
The whole spine,
Right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
The back of the neck,
The back of the head,
The top of the head,
The whole right side,
The whole left side,
The whole arm,
The whole left arm,
The whole right leg,
The whole left leg,
The whole torso,
The whole face,
The whole head,
The whole body,
The whole body,
The whole body.
Reminding yourself,
I am awake,
I am aware,
I am practicing yoga nidra,
Awareness of the whole body.
And now imagine the whole body becoming light as though your body could float away from the floor toward the ceiling,
Light and weightless like a feather.
The whole head is light and weightless,
The torso is light and weightless,
The arms,
The limbs light,
Weightless,
The whole body light,
Weightless,
Drifting,
Floating higher,
Higher away from the floor,
Effortlessly floating,
Weightless.
Now imagine your body becoming heavy,
Feeling the heaviness in all the parts of the body,
Each part becoming heavier and heavier and heavier.
The head is heavy,
The limbs are heavy,
The torso is heavy,
The whole body so heavy,
Sinking down into the floor,
Heavy through all the parts of the body,
Heavy,
Getting breath and awareness through the whole body,
Feeling your entire body breathing,
The breath coming in and out without any intention to manipulate it or change it in any way,
Just becoming conscious of your breath and nothing else.
Gradually invite your awareness and your breath to move to your eyebrow center,
To that space between the eyes,
That place of inner wisdom and knowing,
Intuition and inner guidance.
Imagine that you are breathing through this space,
That the breath flows and moves in and out from the forehead.
Imagine that your breath moves through the eyebrow center to a point in the back,
The center of the head,
Maintaining your awareness of the breath,
Your breath moving through the forehead into the center of the back of the head,
And bringing your awareness to this mind's eye,
To the space between the forehead.
Envision before you there a large screen,
As high and as wide as the mind's eye can see.
The screen is one that you might find in a movie theater.
Bringing your awareness to this mind screen and inviting anything that manifests within it,
Becoming aware of any colors,
Shapes,
Patterns,
Light,
Whatever you see.
Observing,
Noticing,
Without becoming too involved,
Without labeling an image,
Guiding or directing what you see,
Or preferring one image over another.
Just notice and observe,
Keeping your awareness on this mind screen.
I'm now going to name a number of different things,
And as I do,
I invite you to envision them on this screen.
Again,
Invite each image to shine on its own.
If something doesn't appear,
That's okay.
Simply move on to the next.
Imagine before you on this large screen,
A red desert,
A peacock feather,
A Buddha meditating,
A full moon,
A foggy morning,
The sun shining overhead,
A large bouquet of colorful flowers,
Laughing with friends,
Laughing with friends,
A warm embrace,
A burning candle,
A temple on a mountain,
Path in the woods,
A vibrant sunset,
Taking a deep breath,
A cat stretching,
A beautiful garden path,
Your favorite song,
Your body lying on the floor,
Darkness,
A pink rose,
Waves on the ocean,
A dark night,
Tiny shining stars,
A high mountain range with snow-capped peaks,
A sailing ship on the high seas,
A white sandy beach,
A grey dove,
A black galloping horse,
A stormy night,
A full moon,
A big garden of blooming flowers,
A large lake with pink lotus flowers,
People swimming,
A high mountain range with snow-capped peaks,
A beautiful sunset,
Chirping birds,
Tiger in the forest,
An elephant,
Cobra,
The sound of a ringing bell,
Waves on the ocean,
A full moon,
A cool refreshing mountain stream,
The feeling of pure joy,
The sun rising red like a tomato,
Drizzling rain,
Fog all around,
A pink rose,
A yellow sunflower,
A red apple,
A green lettuce leaf,
A cluster of purple grapes,
A high mountain range with snow-capped peaks,
A large lake with white lotus flowers.
Consider this idea,
I have emotions,
But I am not these emotions.
My emotions manifest conditions from love to anger,
From calmness to agitation,
From joy to sorrow,
But these states change.
I am the unchanging awareness in which these changing emotions arise.
I value my emotions,
But I am not just my emotions.
I have a mind,
But I am not my mind.
My mind manifests thoughts and images which are constantly changing.
I am the unchanging awareness in which these thoughts and images arise.
I value my mind,
But I am not just my mind.
I have a body,
But I am not my body.
I have emotions,
But I am not my emotions.
I have a mind,
But I am not my thoughts.
What am I then?
What remains after having disidentified from body,
Sensations,
Feelings,
And thoughts?
I am.
I am a center of pure awareness.
Bringing your awareness to the breath,
It is now time to remember that heartfelt intention message from your soul to you,
Repeating it to yourself three times as a fact and truth.
And as you exhale,
Releasing all efforts and bringing your attention just to the natural breath,
Becoming aware of the natural breath flowing in and out of the nose,
Maintaining your awareness of the breath,
And inviting in an awareness of the physical body,
Feeling through the heels,
The backs of the legs,
The hips,
Shoulders,
The back of the head,
Down the arms,
Taking a deep breath in and inviting movement and breath back into the body,
Perhaps gently wiggling fingers,
Toes,
Maybe circling ankles and wrists,
About opening the eyes,
Visualizing the surrounding room,
The walls,
The ceiling,
The floor,
Feeling your body within that space,
Gently perhaps reaching arms up and overhead,
Inviting a full body stretch,
Waking up from your yoga nap,
Taking your time,
There is no hurry.
And as you're ready,
Gently roll on to your side,
Taking a moment to ground and connect there.
Once again,
Feeling all the points of contact where your body is supported within its present time and place.
As you exhale,
Slowly begin to rise and sit up,
Maybe keeping the eyes closed or the gaze soft,
Gently shrugging your shoulders down and away from your ears,
Sliding them down the back,
Taking a deep breath into that heart,
Opening the chest,
Gently tucking the chin,
Exhaling,
Resting the hands or the thumbs on your heart,
Bowing and sealing this time,
Honoring your practice of yoga nidra,
Honoring your time of self-care to connect to you,
To connect to your heart,
To invite in rest.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May the love and the light that is within you surround you and shine back to you.
Namaste.
