Yoga Nidra To Balance The Vata Dosha

This Yoga Nidra practice includes visualisations designed to balance the Ayurvedic Vata Dosha. Vata is composed of the air and ether elements and is responsible for movement in the body. When Vata is out of balance, symptoms can include excessive feelings of coldness and dryness, anxiety, worry and overwhelm. Vata is balanced by steadiness, warmth, moisture and heaviness. The practice includes exploration of the opposites moist/dry and fear/courage, and visualisation of warm golden light in the vata areas of the body - the pelvis, hips and lower back, and throughout the whole of the body. Make an extra effort to stay warm for this practice to further assist its Vata balancing qualitites.

Photo by Michael Schwarzenberger

Transcript

Welcome to your Yoga Nidra practice.

To begin with,

Make sure that you are warm and comfortable.

Your body temperature is likely to drop as you practice,

So put on any extra layers that you need and cover yourself with a blanket.

Make sure that you're in a comfortable position so that your body is unlikely to disturb you as you practice.

Support yourself with cushions or pillows if you need to.

See if you can make your body so comfortable that you might even forget that it's there at all as you practice.

And once you've made yourself as warm and comfortable as you can possibly be,

Give your body permission to enter into deep relaxation.

Feel your body gently letting go and surrendering into the surface beneath you.

And now send your awareness out to any sounds that you can hear in your environment.

Without getting too involved in any one sound,

Just notice the different sounds that are there.

Acknowledge them.

Now bring your awareness into closer sounds,

To any sounds that you can hear in the room around you.

And bring your awareness in closer to the sounds in your body,

The sound of your beating heart,

The sound of your breath.

And as you listen to the sound of your breath,

Watch the gentle movement of your chest as the air enters and leaves your body.

And notice how with every exhalation,

The whole of your body relaxes a little more deeply.

Now bring your awareness down into your feet and feel all of the muscles in your feet relaxing,

Your toes and your ankles relaxing.

Feel the muscles in your legs relaxing,

The muscles in your calves,

The muscles around your knees,

The muscles in your thighs.

Feel your hips relaxing and your lower back.

And send your awareness up your spine,

Feeling every part of the spine relaxing.

Feel your shoulders relaxing,

Your upper arms,

Your elbows,

Your lower arms,

Your hands and all of your fingers.

Feel your head becoming heavier as your brain relaxes inside your skull.

Feel your forehead relaxing,

Your jaw relaxing.

And with every exhalation,

The whole of your body becomes more peaceful,

More deeply relaxed.

Now imagine yourself to be in a place where you feel completely safe,

Secure and well.

You might like to imagine that you are in a place that you know,

Where you know you are safe and secure.

Or you might like to imagine that you're surrounded by everything you need to feel safe and well.

You could visualise a quiet,

Safe place in nature.

Or you may like to visualise yourself surrounded by a safe bubble of coloured light.

Whatever it is that you need to feel safe,

Secure and well,

See that forming all around you now.

And welcome that feeling of safety and security into your body.

Feel that feeling of safety,

Security and well-being entering into your body.

Feel it entering into every cell.

Intensify the feeling.

Feel it vividly.

Safety.

Security.

Absolute well-being.

This is your feeling that you have created for yourself.

And it's yours to come back to at any time if you need to during the practice.

Now we'll begin the rotation of consciousness around the body.

Bring the awareness to rest at the right hand thumb.

At the right index finger.

The right middle finger.

The ring finger.

And the little 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 right side of the abdomen.

The right waist.

The right hip.

The right knee.

The lower leg.

The right ankle.

The right heel.

The sole of the right foot.

The top of the right foot.

Each of the right toes.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

And bring the awareness to the left hand thumb.

The left index finger.

The left middle finger.

The ring finger.

And the little finger.

The palm of the left hand.

The back of the left hand.

The left wrist.

The left forearm.

The left elbow.

The upper arm.

The left shoulder.

The left side of the chest.

The left side of the abdomen.

The left waist.

The left hip.

The left thigh.

The left knee.

The lower leg.

The left ankle.

The left heel.

The sole of the left foot.

The top of the left foot.

The left toes.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Now move the awareness up the back of the body.

Bring the awareness to the right heel.

And the left heel.

The back of the right knee.

The back of the left knee.

The right buttock.

The left buttock.

The spine.

Send the awareness up the spine.

The right shoulder blade.

The left shoulder blade.

The back of the head.

The top of the head.

And bring the awareness down the front of the body.

Rest the awareness at the forehead.

The right eyebrow.

The left eyebrow.

The eyebrow centre.

The right eye.

The left eye.

The right ear.

The left ear.

The right cheek.

The left cheek.

The nose.

The tip of the nose.

The upper lip.

The lower lip.

The chin.

The jaw.

The right collarbone.

The left collarbone.

The space between the collarbone.

The right side of the chest.

The left side of the chest.

The centre of the chest.

The navel.

The lower abdomen.

The right hip.

The left hip.

The right knee.

The left knee.

The right ankle.

The left ankle.

The right toes.

The left toes.

The whole of the right foot.

Bring the awareness to the whole of the right foot.

The whole of the right leg.

The whole of the right arm.

The whole of the right side of the body.

Bring the awareness to the whole of the left foot.

The whole of the left leg.

The whole of the left arm.

The whole of the left side of the body.

And the whole of the body together.

Rest the awareness on the whole of the body together.

The whole of the body together.

Feel into your body.

And feel into the places in your body that feel damp or moist.

Feel into your mouth.

The feeling of saliva inside your mouth.

Feel the moisture inside your nose and your eyes.

Feel into your blood.

Your lymphatic fluids.

The mucous membranes inside your body.

Feel the feeling of dampness,

Of moisture throughout the whole of your body.

Feel into those places as vividly as possible.

And now feel into the places in your body that feel dry.

Feel any areas of dryness in your body.

Feel into any dryness on the outside of your body.

In your skin,

Hair or nails.

And feel any feelings of dryness inside your body.

Intensify this feeling of dryness.

Feel it vividly.

The feeling of dryness inside your body.

And are you able to feel both of those at the same time?

Are you able to feel the areas of your body that are damp or moist?

And the areas of your body that are dry at the same time?

Are you able to feel moisture and dryness together?

Now invite the feeling of fear to arise.

The feeling of fear.

Feel the feeling of fear as it arises inside your body.

If it helps you to access the feeling,

You might like to remember a time when you felt afraid.

Or to imagine a situation that would evoke a feeling of fear inside you.

Or you can simply allow the feeling to come by itself.

Feel the feeling of fear as it arises inside your body.

Feel into the sensations that come with the feeling of fear.

Feel it vividly.

The feeling of fear.

And now the feeling of courage.

Invite the feeling of courage to arise.

Feel the feeling of courage throughout your body.

If it helps you can remember a time when you felt brave and courageous.

Or imagine yourself in a situation that would evoke that feeling of courage inside you.

Or you can simply allow the feeling to come by itself.

The feeling of courage.

Welcome the feeling into every cell of your body.

The feeling of courage.

Feel it vividly.

Feel into all of the sensations that arise with the feeling of courage.

The feeling of courage.

And now are you able to feel both of those at the same time?

Can you feel the feeling of fear and the feeling of courage inside your body together?

The feelings of fear and courage together.

Feel them vividly.

Simultaneously.

Fear and courage together.

Bring the awareness to the breath.

Follow the flow of the breath as the air flows into the body.

Into the chest.

And back out again.

Picture a warm golden light flowing into the body with the breath.

With each inhalation the breath draws warm golden light into the body.

Now breathe the golden light down to the centre of the pelvis.

With each inhalation breathe the warm golden light into the centre of the pelvis.

And see a ball of warm golden light forming at the pelvis.

With each inhalation the ball of light grows bigger.

See the ball of light expanding into the whole of the pelvic area.

So that the whole of the pelvis glows with warm golden light.

See the light expanding into the hips.

Into the lower back.

The pelvis,

Hips and lower back glowing warmly with golden light.

See the light expanding up inside the body into the intestines.

Into the large intestine.

Into the kidneys and the bladder.

And with every breath see the warm golden light spreading out into the whole of the body.

Bathing all of the internal organs with golden light.

Bathing the limbs and the hands and the feet with golden light.

Bathing the head and the face with golden light.

The whole of the body bathed in warm golden light.

Invite the feeling of safety that you created at the beginning of the practice to arise once again.

Welcome your feeling of safety and security.

See your safe secure space arising all around you.

And welcome it back into your body.

Welcome it into every cell.

The feeling of safety,

Security and well-being.

This is your feeling that you have created for yourself.

And you can always return to it at any time that you need to.

In your practice and also in your life.

Absolute safety,

Security and well-being.

And now slowly begin to send your awareness back outwards.

Send your awareness out to the sounds that you can hear in your environment.

And just let the awareness jump between the different sounds.

Without remaining too long at any one sound.

Feel into the feeling of your body resting into the surface beneath you.

Feel the feeling of your clothing against your skin.

Of your blanket against your skin.

And in your mind can you create a picture of the room that you're in?

Can you picture the walls,

The floor and the ceiling?

Can you picture the furniture and all of the different objects?

Now take a long deep breath as you prepare to end the practice.

Start to make some small movements with your fingers and your toes.

Make some circles with your wrists and your ankles.

And give yourself a stretch in any way that feels good for you.

When you feel ready,

Slowly open your eyes.

Your practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

Thank you for listening.