61-Point Yoga Nidra Practice

Yoga Nidra is a practice for deep relaxation. This recording is intended to help you quiet the chattering mind and rest in a place of pure awareness. Yoga Nidra is best practiced lying down in a space without distractions. Utilize props to support your body and blankets for your comfort.

Transcript

So as you're ready we'll lie down in Shavasana and just making yourself as comfortable as possible.

As you make your way to lay on your back allow yourself some space to get the body into a position where you can rest down comfortably.

A few moments to make those adjustments,

Adjusting your props as you need and then start to settle the body into stillness.

Bringing your attention to your breathing,

We'll start by creating some conscious elongation of the breath.

So inhaling four to six counts in,

Exhaling four to six counts out,

Expanding and deepening the way that you're breathing,

Finding that with every inhale you're bringing more of your conscious attention to the present moment and the environment that you're in.

And with every exhale another layer of surrender,

This opportunity to come more deeply into the environment,

More deeply into the present moment.

Inhales,

Gathering your attention and feeling the earth beneath you,

Your connection your body has to the floor and as you exhale you're softening into that experience,

Body,

Earth and stillness.

Let's take a few more cycles like this.

And last intentional cycle of breath.

And then let your breath come back to the natural way of breathing.

So don't try to control the breath at all,

Just let the breath flow naturally into the nose and out through the nose.

Letting the waves of the natural flow of your prana just washing over your entire being,

Staying connected to the experience of being gently held by the earth beneath you.

Set your intention now to not fall asleep.

We're letting the body go to sleep and the chattering mind go to sleep.

But hold your intention that awareness will stay awake and witnessing throughout the duration of practice.

And so as you begin to let the body rest deeper and the thinking mind fall to the background,

Let your awareness rise.

The witness and the observer in you that can see the body or see the thoughts that takes in your environment and sees it all as more,

Sees it all as this divine mother,

This nature unfolding.

Without getting distracted,

Let awareness take in your environment.

And so if there are sounds where you are or smell or feeling sensation from the environment that you're in,

Let that come in.

And so rather than trying to cocoon the self to be silent and still,

Let the natural motion or fluctuations of the environment around you bring you deeper inside.

If you find the mind starts to have a dialogue about what you're experiencing,

Just gently return your attention back to your breath and the sensation of your body resting still on the earth.

Come back and be the witness,

Your inner eyes of loving awareness,

Taking in everything in your environment.

And in all the ways we might separate and categorize these sounds or smells or sensations as like it or dislike it or good or bad,

All of that separation dissolves.

And as you take in the multifaceted elements that make up the experience of now,

All of it resolves back into one as it comes in you.

We call that this moment,

This experience with the divine.

So you might imagine each smell or each sound,

Each vibration that comes in.

You're dropping it into that inner well,

That inner ocean of wholeness,

Of oneness.

And it ceases to be a separate experience,

Allowing all elements of right now to dissolve back into the ocean of one.

You And then rising from this oneness in you,

The swirling combinations of all things that make up now.

A one point of light arises,

Resting right at third eye center.

We'll follow this point of light,

Rotation of consciousness through the body.

So you'll hear me speak a point on the body and just imagine that point of light illuminating there.

Body stays asleep and still.

Chattering mind stays resting.

Awareness follows the point of light.

So seeing this point of light illuminating at third eye center.

Throat.

Heart,

Center of the chest.

Right side of the chest.

Right shoulder.

Per arm.

Elbow.

Forearm.

Wrist.

Back of the hand.

Palm of the hand.

Tip of the right thumb.

Inner finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Pinky finger.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Right shoulder.

Right side of the chest.

Heart center.

Left side of the chest.

Left shoulder.

Upper arm.

Elbow.

Forearm.

Wrist.

Back of the hand.

Palm of the hand.

Tip of the left thumb.

Pointer finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Pinky finger.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Left shoulder.

Left side of the chest.

Heart center.

Rest your attention on heart center.

Let the breath flow.

Body stays asleep and still.

Mind stays asleep.

Awareness watches the point of light at heart center.

Moving the point of light to the top of the right hip.

Right thigh.

Right knee.

Chin.

Ankle.

Top of the foot.

Right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

Sole of the foot.

Heel.

Ankle.

Calf.

Back of the knee.

Back of the thigh.

Right glute.

Top of the right hip.

Top of the left hip.

Left thigh.

Left knee.

Chin.

Top of the foot.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

Sole of the foot.

Heel.

Ankle.

Calf.

Back of the knee.

Back of the thigh.

Right buttock.

Top of the hip.

Pelvic floor.

Naval center.

Solar plexus.

Heart center.

Pit of the throat.

Tip of the chin.

Bottom lip.

Top lip.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Right nostril.

Left nostril.

Tip of the nose.

Right eye.

Left eye.

Right ear.

Left ear.

Right temple.

Left temple.

Third eye center.

Space between the eyebrows.

Crown of the head.

Come back to the heart center.

Body asleep.

Mind at rest.

Awareness sees a point of light.

Center of the chest.

Now experience all points of light at the same time.

These points of light making up a sacred matrix of your physical body.

All seemingly individual components come together in one form.

Like all little components that make up the experience of now come together in one moment.

See all points of light at the same time.

As if you were hovering above your body and gazing down.

Perhaps noticing the similarity between all points of light illuminated on the body now.

And the night sky.

You are sacred constellation.

Resting in the wholeness of the entire universe.

Open yourself to feel the expansiveness of the sky.

Breathing from the inside of you and radiating out.

Dispelling all confines of the structure and form of your body.

Allow yourself to be these sacred points of light.

Breathing in the sky of right now.

Blue moon.

And start to let your vision see the points of light now that make up your individual body.

And draw a line of connection between all points of light that are you to see the structure of your form illuminated again.

Being aware of your connection to the infinite and also to your sacred individuality in this moment.

Be aware of where the body rests on the earth.

Feeling the gentle pull of gravity start to notice the points of contact that you have back of the head,

Shoulders,

Spine,

Hips and heels.

Here now,

The sensation drawing you into the present moment.

A conscious deepening of your breath gathers your attention back into the room where you are.

You are being aware again of sounds and smells and vibration.

As you gently start to awaken to your environment and the breath consciously deepens,

Find some gentle movement reawakening the body.

Taking your time to move slow and when you're ready rolling onto either side for fetal position and rest.

Stay close as you find a comfortable seat facing the front of your mat back towards your direction of practice.

Just sitting for a moment here with the spine long and the eyes resting close perhaps palms resting in your lap or on top of your thighs.

And soaking in the experience of peace.

Soaking in the experience of all of the components that make up right now.

Realizing how you gather all of these elements and they resolve into one moment.

The divine in you and the divine in right now is awakened and reawakened again and again.

Infinite little particles that seemingly are separate gather together and we remember the one.

Palms coming to press together at heart center.

And with deep respect and gratitude we lift almost third eye center.