Hi,
I'm Christy Kelley and welcome to the practice of Yoga Nidra,
An invitation to return home,
Home to your heart.
Come to lie with the earth and allow the back body to be draped restfully over any support you may need.
A pillow beneath the head,
A bolster beneath the knees and a blanket over the body.
The head,
The neck and the spine are gracefully aligned and you allow yourself the grace to find comfort,
Adjusting as you need.
Change and movement are always present and at times it can feel as though we're carrying the weight of the world,
Both collectively and within our own lives.
Our sense of orientation may shift,
It might slip and we might find that we're holding on a little more tightly.
This Yoga Nidra is an invitation to gently release all that you have been holding,
Known and unknown.
To soften the grip on what is no longer needed,
To let go of outdated ways of being and to call your energy home.
You are invited toward rest,
Into presence,
Into stillness and into the quiet depth of wisdom that reveals itself when nothing more is required of you.
And so you land and you call yourself back from everywhere and anywhere you've left traces and remnants of yourself.
From all of those places and spaces where you've seeded your truth to a narrative that does not hold you as whole.
You call your energy back and it lands as a soft glow within the center of the chest.
And this glow illuminates your entire physical being,
A sacred field of self-sustaining energy.
And this light enveloping you,
Creating a protective cocoon.
And you consciously ball the hands into fists,
Squeezing the shoulders toward the ears,
Clamping the jaw shut,
Scrunching the features of your face,
Squeezing the belly in,
Snap locking the legs.
And you squeeze in a little more air,
A little more air and you hold and you hold.
Whereas the breath turns to leave,
You release,
Unfurling the hands,
Softening the shoulders,
Relaxing the jaw,
Smoothing the features of the face,
Allowing the belly to soften,
The legs to become heavy,
The breath fluid.
And once more you consciously ball the hands into fists,
Squeezing your shoulders toward your ears,
Clamping the jaw shut,
Scrunching the features of your face,
Squeezing the belly in,
Snap locking the legs.
Squeezing in a little more breath,
A little more,
Where you hold and you hold.
And then you release,
The breath leaves the body,
Perhaps with an audible sigh and the hands unfurl.
The legs soften toward the weight of the support beneath you,
The belly softens,
The shoulders move away from the ears,
The palms soften,
The features of the face smooth.
And you land,
Softening into this experience and softening into the support.
And you invite the seeing eyes to descend toward the cave of the skull and the features of the forehead soften further.
The jaw is lightly parted,
Yet the lips softly meet and the tongue spreads within the mouth.
The channel of the throat is free to flow with energy,
The busyness,
The fullness of life dissolves and you welcome the potential to come alive to your inner realm.
The practice of yoga nidra begins now.
Throughout this practice of yoga nidra,
Your body and mind are asleep,
Yet your consciousness is awake.
You're invited to follow the sound of my voice,
But if at any time you feel that you no longer wish to follow my voice,
You might like to follow your breath and come back to my guidance when you're ready.
And know that it is the nature of the mind to think,
So allow yourself to acknowledge the thoughts as they arise,
Thereby sinking toward a deeper seat of awareness that arises from within.
This is your experience,
There is no need to make anything happen.
Held within the soft glow of light emanating from the very center of your chest,
You might sense if there is a quiet intention alive within you,
A sankalpa,
A sacred vow.
Not as something to strive for,
Rather a soft inner whisper that reflects the state you wish to embody.
And this is stated silently to yourself within the present moment,
As if it is already so.
And in setting this sankalpa,
This sacred vow,
You use the powerful prefix I,
Framed in positive language,
For the universe doesn't understand I don't want.
It only understands the I and what you place after it,
What it is that you're placing your attention upon,
Which is invariably what you bring forth into your reality.
This sankalpa is a remembering of who you are.
It could perhaps be something like,
I trust myself.
Or I am in the flow.
I am valuable.
It is personal.
It is yours.
And once you hear your sankalpa,
You repeat this to yourself three times,
With conviction.
And you feel it to be true.
And if nothing arises,
Trust that this is perfect,
And the magic of yoga nidra will invariably weave its way throughout the residue of your cells.
Your sensory awareness lands within the glow of your heart,
Where I'll guide you on a tour of your physical landscape.
As each region of you is mentioned,
Visualize a soft glow of light.
If visualization doesn't come easily,
Sense into the space as it is named.
And the glow of light lands within the right hand,
Where it illuminates the right thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger,
The palm of the right hand,
The back of the right hand,
The right wrist,
The right forearm,
The right elbow.
The right upper arm.
The right shoulder.
The right side of the chest.
The waist.
The hip.
The thigh.
The knee.
Shin.
Ankle.
The top of the right foot.
The sole of the right foot.
The big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
And the glow of light illuminates the left hand,
Where it illuminates the left thumb,
The left index finger,
The left middle finger,
The left ring finger,
The left little finger,
The palm of the left hand.
The back of the left hand.
The left wrist.
Left forearm.
Left elbow.
Left upper arm.
Left shoulder.
The left side of the chest.
The waist.
The left hip.
The thigh.
Knee.
Shin.
Ankle.
The left top of the foot.
The sole of the left foot.
The big toe.
The first toe.
The second toe.
The third toe.
The fourth toe.
And the soft glow of light illuminates the back body.
The back of the head.
The shoulder blades.
The spine.
The lower back.
The back of the pelvis.
Both legs together.
Heavy.
Resting.
And the soft glow of light illuminates the front body.
The forehead.
The eyes.
The cheeks.
The jaw.
The throat.
The chest.
The heart.
The heart glows.
And the belly.
Soft.
Receptive.
And you feel the whole body.
The whole body.
Softening.
Held in a field of quiet awareness.
A soft cocoon of light.
The whole body.
A luminous sensory experience.
And you witness the breath.
The same way you might witness a baby breathing.
A lover sleeping.
And tenderly you're being breathed.
The glow of light dancing with the fluency of breath.
And we introduce the breathing technique of Samarvritti.
The equanimous breath.
And you trace the path of the incoming breath to a count of four.
Following the incoming breath to a count of four.
And as this comes online you expand the light of your awareness to include the fall of the outgoing breath to a count of four.
And the outgoing breath moving to the rhythm of four.
And you receive the fullness of the incoming breath.
And you release to the fall of the outgoing breath to a count of four.
My voice fades so you can experience the balancing essence of the equanimous breath.
Led by the body.
And your deep inner knowing.
Gracefully you release the tide of the equanimous breath.
And meet the natural rhythm.
Nourished with this life giving energy.
And you stay with the movement of the sensations.
Merging with the effortless flow of sensation.
And in this quiet space an autumnal landscape arises.
And the air is cool.
Clear.
And golden light filters through the trees.
And leaves drift toward the earth.
And you are both the observer and the tree.
With each fall of the outgoing breath.
And you allow yourself to let go.
And you feel yourself releasing layers that no longer belong.
Feel.
Roles.
Expectations.
And the effort of holding it all together.
And you let all that you hold fall away.
Like leaves being released from the trees.
Without force.
And without urgency.
And beneath all that falls away.
You notice what remains.
A quiet presence.
And the essence of who you are.
Beyond the roles.
Beyond the doing.
And you sink the entirety of your awareness into the mystery of this space.
And the glow of light from within the altar of your heart.
Throws a luminous glow around your entire physical being.
And this sacred field that exists within everything and everyone.
And you attune to the soft beat of your heart.
And the rhythm of the pulse as it moves throughout the body.
And you merge with the heart.
And the glow.
And the rhythm.
And you allow yourself to float within this quiet space.
Alive to the felt sense that you are the only one in the entire universe that can be as intimate with the feeling that is unfolding from within.
And you rest into this frequency.
And resting into the heart of being.
Allowing.
And receiving.
And you're welcomed home.
Sankalpa.
Sankalpa.
Sankalpa.
And you hold this vision within the body-mind.
Not to push or repeat forcefully.
But to simply feel it.
And you allow your sankalpa to emanate from within the glow of your heart.
Where it echoes throughout the body.
Throughout the breath.
And silently you repeat your sankalpa three times.
And so be it.
And so it is.
And you're drawn toward the glow of light that emanates from the very center of your chest.
And you sense into the vibration of the heart.
Connecting with the vibration of the heart.
And you listen to the wisdom that arises from within.
And listening without expectation.
And trust that you are always receiving.
And what matters is that you're creating space to begin to feel how it is to listen.
And the practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
And the light that envelopes the body begins to soften and fade.
However,
The residue of your practice remains deeply woven into every cell of your being.
And your kind awareness floats toward the space behind the veil of the eyelids.
And quietly you scan your body.
And your breath comes online.
And as you move your awareness and consciousness into the home of your body,
You bring with it your frequency.
And you offer a little movement through the fingers and the toes.
And perhaps you allow a stretch to move you from within.
And you roll to your side,
Hugging your knees in.
And you turn your heart toward the earth.
And you lead with the back of the heart toward an upright seat.
And as you become comfy within the body,
Seated,
You maintain the connection with your heart.
And you bring your hands to your heart.
And in this moment,
You honour all that you were,
All that you are,
And all that you're yet to become.
Hari Om Tat Sat.
Hari Om Tat Sat.
Hari Om Tat Sat.
