Hello and welcome to your practice of Yoga Nidra.
I am Jen.
This practice uses the image of leaves floating on a stream as a gentle invitation to loosen the grip of identification with physical tension.
Breath patterns,
Thoughts,
Or habits.
And here we allow the mind to soften and witness what's present.
During this practice,
There's no need to achieve anything.
Nothing must be pushed away.
You're welcomed to observe and choose what you might decide to listen to.
And I offer you.
A neutral anchor.
A neutral anchor.
Is a person.
Place,
Animal.
Symbol.
That makes you feel safe and secure.
You can.
Add all of the senses to this place or to the place where you are with this individual or being.
From smells.
Sights and tastes.
Anything that brings you comfort.
If you need a timeout.
You can return to your neutral anchor.
And now you're invited once again to settle into the position that feels most supportive for you today.
You may lie down.
Recline or rest in a chair.
Lying on your side or on your back.
Arrange your blankets,
Cushions,
Or any other support so the body does not need to work to remain comfortable.
Know that you're always free to shift,
Move.
Have your eyes open or closed.
Or return your attention to the room or your neutral anchor.
There is nothing to accomplish.
Yoga Nidra is a practice of listening.
A gradual resting back into what is already here.
If you are comfortable closing your eyes,
Perhaps you might like a soft eye covering to just allow the eyes to rest from the world of looking and bringing them into your internal world.
And feel the support beneath you.
Notice the places where your body meets the floor.
The contact points.
The chair.
The props.
Allow yourself to be received by the earth.
And listen now to the sounds around you.
Sounds nearby.
Sounds farther away.
Without needing to name or follow them.
Notice the simple fact that you're aware of sound entering your inner ears.
Bring to mind your Sankalpa.
Your heartfelt resolve.
Or intention.
An intention is an energy that you align with again and again.
You're saying,
This is what I'm coming back to.
And now ask your heart,
What would be most helpful right now?
What do you need?
For this practice.
For this day.
Trusting your inner wisdom.
You can choose what is useful and form that intention.
Present centered.
Positive.
It could be something like.
.
.
I trust the wisdom within me.
I am whole and free.
Repeat your intention now.
With love and sincerity.
Placing it into your heart like a small seed planted in receptive earth.
And now bring awareness to your physical body.
Formed and nourished by the earth.
Feel the weight and shape of your body exactly as it is in this moment.
Imagine that you are resting beside a quiet stream.
The air is gentle.
The Earth beneath you is steady.
Above the water.
Leave sway.
And drift from the branches.
Landing softly upon the moving surface.
Let awareness move through your body.
There's no need to make the body relax.
Simply notice.
Sense and allow each place to be held within awareness.
Awareness of the right hand.
The whole right hand.
Right hand thumb.
First finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Little finger.
Palm.
Back of the hand.
Wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
And shoulder.
Awareness of the left hand.
The whole left hand.
Left hand thumb.
First finger,
Second finger.
Third finger.
Little finger.
Palm.
Back of your hand.
Rest.
Forearm.
Elbow upper arm.
Shoulder.
Now feel both arms together.
Both hands.
Both arms.
Right arm and left arm.
Both arms resting.
Awareness of your right foot.
The whole right foot.
Big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Little toe.
Sole of your foot.
Heal.
Ankle.
Calf.
Knee.
Thigh.
Awareness of the left foot.
The whole left foot.
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe.
Sole of your foot.
Heal.
ANKLE calf.
Knee,
Bye.
And hip.
Now feel both legs together.
Both feet.
Right leg and left leg.
Both legs resting.
Awareness of the back body.
Back of the head.
Back of the neck.
Shoulder blades,
Right side and left side.
The length of the spine.
Back of the pelvis.
And awareness of the front of the body.
Forehead.
Eyebrows.
Eyes and eye sockets.
Your jaw.
Mouth.
Gums and cheeks.
Your teeth.
Throat.
Chest.
Belly.
And pelvis.
Feel the whole body at once.
Your whole physical form resting in support.
Your whole physical form resting.
Whole physical form resting.
If you notice a place of tension.
Imagine placing that sensation gently onto a leaf.
Not rejecting it.
Not demanding that it disappear.
Simply allowing it to be carried for a little while.
A tight jaw may rest on a leaf.
Heaviness in the shoulders on another.
Effort in your hands.
Holding in the belly.
One by one.
Leaves meet the current.
The stream knows how to carry what you no longer need to hold so closely.
Perhaps some sensations remain.
And let them remain.
You are practicing relationships.
Not force.
The body may soften in its own time.
You're now invited to move your awareness toward the breath.
The breath is a gentle waterway.
The living current of breath and energy.
Without changing the breath.
Feel it arriving and leaving.
Imagine the breath is the waterway beneath the leaves.
Inhalation widens the stream.
The exhalation carries the current onward.
Inhale,
The water gathers.
Exhale,
The water flows.
Inhale,
Receiving.
Exhale,
Releasing.
No breath needs to be deeper than it is.
Feel the breath at your nostrils.
Subtle touch of air.
And feel the breath moving through the throat.
Chest.
The ribs,
The belly.
Sense and feel the wave of breath traveling through your whole body.
You might silently hear.
Breathing in,
I receive this moment.
Breathing out,
I allow movement.
Breathing in nourishment.
Breathing out space.
Breathing in,
I receive.
Breathing out,
I allow.
Breathing in nourishment.
Breathing out space.
The breath does not cling to the body.
The stream does not cling to the leaves.
Each breath completes itself.
And then makes room for the next.
You're now welcomed to bring your awareness.
To the mental and emotional body.
A field of thoughts,
Feelings,
Memories,
And familiar patterns.
Your mind may be active or quiet.
Both are welcome.
Imagine sitting beside the stream,
Watching leaves appear and pass.
A thought arises and place it on a leaf.
An image arises.
Let it have a leaf.
A plan,
A worry.
A remembered conversation.
Each may float through awareness without needing to be solved right now.
Some habits and thought patterns.
They once have protected you.
Or helped you belong.
You do not need to judge them.
You may acknowledge their purpose.
And ask gently.
Is this still needed now?
If something is ready to move.
Allow the stream to carry it.
If it is not ready.
Let it rest safely on the bank.
Choice remains with you.
Now we'll explore opposites.
Allowing your mind to experience two truths without becoming fixed on either one.
Sense and feel heaviness.
Imagine the body pleasantly heavy.
Supported by the Earth.
Dense,
Settled.
And held.
Heaviness in your arms.
Heaviness in your torso.
And both legs and your heels and feet.
Heaviness in the head.
Noting heaviness in the body.
Allowing gravity to bring you closer to the earth.
Now sense lightness.
Imagine the body spacious and light.
As effortless as a leaf held upon the surface of water.
Lightness in the body.
Lightness in the arms and hands.
Lightness in your torso.
Lightness in both legs and feet.
Your head is very light.
So light,
Like a leaf.
Floating through the air,
Meeting the water.
Move between heaviness and lightness.
Grounded and spacious.
And then allow both.
To work together simultaneously.
Dissolve into a simple sensation.
Heaviness and lightness.
You may release that sensation.
And then sense warmth.
The comforting warmth of sunlight.
Touching the stream.
Touching your skin.
Warmth within the chest.
Sense warmth.
Sense coolness.
Clear coolness of the water.
Coolness of fresh air moving over your face.
Quiet and awake.
Now move between warmth and coolness.
Letting both of these to reside together simultaneously.
Both known within your awareness.
Recall the feeling now of holding on.
Holding on.
Not the story.
Only the sense of gripping protecting.
Containing.
Notice where holding lives in the body.
You may always return to your neutral anchor.
At any time during this practice.
Now recall the feeling of letting go.
Not losing.
Not abandoning.
But loosening the hand.
Sense space here around what has been held.
Holding and releasing.
Protection and freedom.
Both may belong.
Rest now in the space that can hold each opposite.
Without being limited by either one.
Watch the stream again.
Thoughts and feelings move like leaves.
You are not required to enter the water and chase them.
You are the one who notices their arrival,
Their movement.
And they're passing.
And now your awareness is invited to turn towards the wisdom layer of your body.
Or discernment.
Quiet intelligence,
Clarity of purpose.
Lie beneath Here we have the capacity to witness,
To discern,
And to know.
Imagine following the stream until it widens into a still,
Clear pool.
And the surface becomes smooth.
What was blurred by movement begins to settle.
You do not need to search for an answer.
Simply become available to what may be revealed.
Ask inwardly.
What is ready?
To be seen clearly.
What quality wishes to guide me now?
What is mine to tend?
And what is mind to release?
A word may arise.
An image.
A felt sense,
Or perhaps nothing at all.
Clarity does not always arrive as a sentence.
Trusting the form in which your deepest knowing speaks to you.
See,
Sense,
Or imagine yourself living in alignment with this inner wisdom.
Notice one small expression of that alignment.
How you breathe.
How you may stand.
What you choose.
What you no longer carry.
Now recall your Sun Kelpa.
Repeat it inwardly to yourself three times.
Allow it to meet the clear water of awareness.
Study.
Alive.
And already taking root within you.
I trust my inner wisdom.
Release the questions now.
Release the need for an image,
Insight,
Or an outcome.
We move toward the quiet ease of being.
Setting yourself free into being awareness.
The layer nearest to the unconditioned self.
The stream continues,
But you no longer need to follow each leaf.
Sensation moves.
Breath moves.
Thoughts move.
Awareness remains.
Rest in the awareness in which the body is known.
The awareness in which breath is known.
The awareness in which thought and feeling are known.
The awareness in which wisdom appears.
Nothing to hold.
Nothing to push away.
Nothing to become.
You are not the leaf.
You are not the stream.
You are the open awareness in which leaf,
Water,
Sky,
And stillness are all known.
For these next few moments,
Allow yourself to be set free.
Into being awareness.
Being the witness.
Spacious.
Whole and quietly present.
Begin to notice the natural movement of breath again.
Feel your body being breathed.
Feel the weight and shape of your physical form resting here.
Witness your body resting here.
Become aware of sounds in the room.
Sounds nearby.
And sounds further away.
Sense the temperature of air on your skin.
And the support beneath you.
Recall your sankalpa one final time.
Repeat it inwardly three times.
Not as something you must make happen,
But as a truth you are willing to remember.
Imagine one final leaf floating along the stream.
Upon it rests anything that may continue without your attention for now.
Watch it move at its own pace,
Held by the current.
Your clarity does not require you to have every answer.
Your freedom does not require every difficulty to disappear.
You may return carrying only what is yours to tend in this moment.
Invite small movements into your fingers and toes.
Take a deeper breath in.
Perhaps begin to circle your wrists and ankles.
If it feels welcome,
Stretch or bend your knees.
Take your time.
You may continue to rest just as you are.
Or if you are ready,
You may roll to one side.
Or find another transition that feels supportive.
Resting there.
Notice the quiet after your practice.
You may remain resting.
You may allow your eyes to open softly.
If they were closed.
Leaves continue to move upon the stream.
Breath continues to move through you.
Beneath all movement,
Awareness remains.
May you move forward with clarity.
May you release with compassion.
May you remember the freedom of simply being.
Peace be with you.
