Welcome to the practice of yoga nidra.
To prepare,
Lie down on your back.
Place a small towel or blanket under your head.
Prop up the backs of your knees with a rolled blanket or pillow.
Cover your body with a blanket so that you stay warm.
Close your eyes or cover them with an eye pillow.
Get yourself comfortable and just observe your body in the way that it settles.
Get yourself comfortable and just observe your body in the way that it settles.
Rest your arms on either side of your body,
Palms facing up or in.
Create a space that is loving for yourself and allow yourself the experience of deep rest.
Begin to observe the body settling,
The mind settling.
The mind settling.
Yoga nidra,
Also known as yoga nidra,
Yoga Nidra,
Also known as yogic sleep,
Is a form of guided meditation that lulls you into a state of deep relaxation.
Yoga Nidra is also an opportunity to connect with your inner knowing.
There's a deep knowing in your body that is calling to be expressed.
This Yoga Nidra is a journey into the realms that hold that knowing.
It is meant to serve you with access to your own inner wisdom as you revise,
Revisit,
Remember,
And return home to yourself.
Your only job is to simply be with what is.
Observe,
Get curious,
Meet whatever arises with deep compassion and love,
And allow the inherent intelligence of your own body to guide you.
Let this Yoga Nidra spark a sense of reverence for your own body.
Now let's begin.
Welcome a long deep breath in through your belly,
And let it out through parted lips with ease.
And again,
Take a big breath into your belly.
And notice that as you exhale the breath,
Your body becomes heavier as you settle into the earth.
On your next inhale,
Allow your breath to travel in through your belly,
Filling up your chest,
Collarbones,
All the way up to your third eye center.
Exhale your breath out through your nose.
Once again,
Send your breath into your belly,
Ribs,
Chest,
Clavicles,
Third eye center,
And exhale all your air out.
Continue breathing slow,
Deep,
And controlled.
Allow your breath to guide you from the external world to the internal world.
Surrender your thinking mind into your feeling body.
Release any control of your breath now.
For the remainder of this practice,
Let yourself be breathed.
We now begin the practice of yoga nidra.
You can let your awareness rest in your belly.
Bring yourself into your center and recall the last time you tapped into your center,
Your wisdom body.
Paying attention to the felt experience.
Soak in every detail you can and feel the body awaken.
Curiosity,
Wonder,
Gratitude,
Love.
This practice of yoga nidra is rooted in an intention.
Your personal intention represents your body's deepest longing.
What does your body long for?
What does your body want you to remember?
Listen for your statement of truth,
For your intention.
This personal vow begins with I and is followed by a positive present moment statement of that which you would like to become.
For example,
I am free.
I am valid.
I am whole.
I am loved.
If nothing comes for you,
Simply use I am safe.
Silently,
Slowly,
And with great conviction,
Speak your intention to yourself three times.
The echoes of your intention will vibrate within you.
There's already a deep knowing when you come to a place of stillness.
And from this place of stillness,
Allow yourself to take up space as we begin to go through a body scan.
This is the rotation of consciousness throughout your body.
Try rotating your consciousness through the different parts and with each area that you go into,
There's a clearing of what no longer serves you and an alignment of your highest potential.
And your attention magnetizes that space within you with your desire.
As I mentioned,
Each of the body parts named pay attention.
And if your mind is active,
Silently repeat the name of the body part.
Feel into each part and allow your sensory systems all to turn on and become aware.
We will begin with your right hand.
Give all your attention to your right thumb.
Now move this awareness to your index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger,
The palm of your hand,
The back of your hand,
Wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm and shoulder.
Feel the right side of your ribs,
Waistline and hip.
Feel your right thigh,
Knee,
Lower leg,
Right ankle,
Heel,
Sole of your right foot,
The top of your right foot and all five toes.
Now focus your awareness into the whole right side of your body now,
The whole right side of your body.
Now move your awareness to your left hand.
Give all your attention to your left thumb.
Give this awareness to your left index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger,
Palm of your left hand,
The back of your hand,
Wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm and shoulder.
Feel the left side of your ribs,
Waistline and hip.
Feel your left thigh,
Knee,
Lower leg,
Left ankle,
Heel,
The sole of your left foot,
Top of your left foot and all five toes.
And flood attention into the whole entire left side of your body.
Feel your awareness into the whole left side.
Then we will begin to move through the back plane of the body,
Beginning with the soles of the feet together.
Feel the backs of your heels,
Your calves,
The backs of the knees.
Feel both sets of hamstrings together.
Feel both sides of the buttocks together and the back of the pelvis.
Feel your low back,
Mid back and upper back.
Feel your shoulder blades,
The back of the neck,
The back of the skull and the crown of the head.
Now feel the space just above the crown of the head.
Then draw your awareness forward and down into the forehead,
Into the brow center and out from there into both the right and left eyebrows.
Move down into the eyeballs deep within the sockets of the eyes and back into the sinuses behind the nose.
From the sinuses,
Draw all the awareness through them and forward into the nostrils.
Feel your entire nose together.
Feel out into the cheekbones and from the cheekbones,
Feel out into the ears together.
From your ears,
Can you begin to feel the space between your ears,
The very center of the skull where the pineal gland lives?
And you can now ask your pineal gland to activate and feel what happens upon that request.
And from the pineal gland,
Could you follow your brainstem down through the spine into the neck?
Feel your throat and as you move down from the throat,
Move into the center of your chest.
Feel both lungs,
The right and left lung together.
Feel the heart at the center of the chest between the lungs.
Noticing with every breath,
The heart is massaged in and out.
And you can now ask your heart to open even further and feel what happens upon that request.
Feel your entire ribcage,
Your upper abdomen,
Lower abdomen and pelvic floor.
Feel the front of the thighs together,
Kneecaps and shins.
Feel the tops of both feet and all 10 toes.
Feel your whole entire right leg,
Then feel your whole entire left leg.
And now feel both of the legs together.
Continue feeling your legs and now add in your whole torso.
Feel your legs and your torso together and now add in your right arm from shoulder to fingertips.
Then add your left arm from shoulder to fingertips.
So that now you feel everything from your shoulders down to the fingertips and toes.
Now begin to add your neck and your head and your face so that you feel the whole entire body as one unit.
Add in your awareness into your whole entire body.
And notice how spacious your inner world truly is.
And in this spacious field of frequency and information,
The body moves back towards balance.
In this new state,
You become more energy,
More light,
More open-hearted by allowing yourself to be fully present right here and now.
And now settle back into being the observer of self with a sense of wonder and compassion.
And now imagine a mountain living inside of you.
This can be a mountain that you've seen before that is familiar to you or you can imagine your own mountain.
Noticing the shape of your mountain and how the base of your mountain sweeps across your feet rooted in the earth.
And the peak of your mountain forms at the crown of your head connected to the ethers above.
Your shoulders and arms become the slopes of the mountain.
Noticing any trees or animals that live within your mountain.
Maybe there are streams running into rivers and lakes,
Valleys of flowers across your mountain.
Getting a sense of how vast and expansive your mountain is as well.
How still and grounded.
Just breathing with your image of your mountain.
And take a deep breath in from your feet,
The base of your mountain.
Gathering nourishment,
Wisdom,
And strength from the earth to feed your mountain.
And breathe light,
Trust,
Beauty,
Love,
And guidance from the ethers above you to shine down onto your mountain.
Continue this cycle for a few breaths,
Breathing as mountain.
Inhaling from your feet all the healing offerings of Mother Earth.
And from the ethers,
Infinite wisdom and healing streams of light,
Grace,
Ease.
And now envision a sunrise shining out from the top of your mountain.
Visualize and feel the pink and gold light traveling as far and wide as your mind can imagine.
See how far this light can expand into the space around you.
Feeling the light travel out to the right.
And then into the infinite space out to the left of you.
Feel both directions simultaneously.
Feel this light expand out in front of you as far as your imagination allows.
And now,
Behind you.
And now this light enveloping your entire body and emanating out into the infinite space all around you.
Feeling a deep sense of warmth and light and centeredness.
And from this place of expanding light and centeredness,
We will begin a tonglen practice.
This is a powerful tool for shifting your energy.
A process of drawing into your mountain what you do want and releasing what you don't.
This is a process of simply breathing in and releasing back out.
So take a deep breath in of energy to your mountain.
And release the energy back out.
Now breathe in stillness.
And release turbulence.
Breathe in lightness.
And release heaviness.
Breathe in soothing.
And release pain.
Breathe in surrender.
And release resistance.
Breathe in acceptance.
And release judgment.
Breathe in forgiveness.
And release grievance.
Breathe in tolerance.
And release anger.
Breathe in expansion.
And release constriction.
Breathe in clarity.
And release confusion.
Breathe in peace.
And release conflict.
Breathe in wholeness.
And release separation.
Breathe in compassion.
And release sadness.
Breathe in joy.
And release suffering.
Breathe in ease.
And release struggle.
Breathe in flow.
And release effort.
Breathe in love.
And let go of fear.
Breathe in love.
And release love back out.
And now just watch.
Just witness as love flows in and out of your mountain with each breath you take.
Breathe love in.
And release love out.
And you realize the mountain within you is not separate from you.
This connection between you and mountain has always been there.
And as the seasons and storms of your life come and go,
Your mountain remains.
It may at times become obscured by worry or doubt.
But it is never lost and neither are you.
And as you begin to embody this mountain,
You become one with it and together you are home.
An inner strength and quiet dignity.
A stillness and safety.
A groundedness and sense of ease.
A quiet confidence.
The beauty of your journey is finding this safety within yourself,
Your center,
Your mountain.
And you realize that it is just a matter of remembering.
And your breath comes alive again.
And you recognize that it's this breath that connects you to your mountain.
And so you intentionally begin to animate your body with this breath as the practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
Turn your heart towards the earth.
Bring your knees to your chest.
And allow yourself to feel your mountain alive within you.
Keep your eyes closed and gently make your way to your seat.
And as you sit here for a moment,
Recognize your center.
That truly everything you need to feel safe lives within.
That you can trust yourself.
Our work is to make this space to be able to remember.
Bring your palms to meet up in front of your heart.
From this space set an intention for you.
How you want to show up.
The kind of energy you want to fill your spaces with and feel that here and now.
Have faith in the process.
Hold on to your center for that is the only way.
Hari Om Tat Sat.
Namaste.
