Yoga Nidra For Grounding

Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation that helps to calm and ease the body, mind, and spirit. Though Yoga Nidra is described as yogic sleep, it actually cultivates internal awakening and can contribute to a deeper understanding of yourself and your divinity. This Yoga Nidra is designed to support you when you are feeling anxious by gently guiding you toward feeling grounded, supported, and connected.

It's recommended that you practice this Yoga Nidra lying down in a comfortable and quiet place where you won't be disturbed.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to your Yoga Nidra practice.

You can begin by finding a quiet place where you won't be disturbed.

Yoga Nidra is best practiced laying down and you are welcome to do that on a yoga mat or on your bed.

I invite you to have with you anything you need to feel extra cozy and comfortable.

Maybe that's a cushion or a bolster for beneath your knees,

A pillow for under your head,

Or a blanket for over your body.

A lightweight cover for the eyes can be helpful too to block out the light.

So take a moment to create your nest using all of your soft goodies to make this space as comfortable and supportive and welcoming as possible.

When you feel ready,

Slowly and gently come to lay on your back.

Your practice space is a place where your whole body feels completely supported and where you can deeply land into stillness and peace.

So with that in mind,

I invite you to make any last small movements that you need here.

Bring your arms by your sides,

Palms facing up and your legs slightly apart.

As and when you feel ready,

Begin to close down the eyes and land into the quiet and dark of the back of your eyelids.

Take a few deep breaths here to settle your body.

Allow your attention to land in your whole body here.

Feel the loving support of the earth beneath your body.

Notice all parts of you held by the earth and with your breath allow your body to relax deeper and further into that feeling of being supported,

Safe and nourished by the abundant earth beneath you.

Begin to notice the natural rhythm of your breath as it flows through your being.

Let each exhale soften you from the inside out,

Releasing any tension in the body.

Allow the nourishment of each breath serve as a gift from you to you.

Feel the breath slowly navigating through your cells and touching each fingertip,

Each toe,

The crown of your head,

Your belly,

Your pelvis,

Your heart.

As you take this position of awareness of your body and of your breath,

Come to a loving stillness.

The practice of yoga nidra begins now.

Today we work with a sankalpa.

Sankalpa is a word from Sanskrit with san meaning truth and kalpa meaning vow.

A vow of truth.

Your sankalpa is a seed vow of your highest truth.

It's a personal mantra of intention to support you and to guide you.

Begin your sankalpa with I am.

For example,

Feel into the following statements.

I am supported.

I am held.

I am free.

Listen deeply for your highest truth in this moment and trust in your own powerful wisdom to unearth your unique sankalpa.

Your vow of truth to yourself.

Repeat your sankalpa to yourself three times with clarity,

Focus and your full heart.

Allow the earth beneath you to receive your sankalpa with love and understanding and notice your sankalpa trickling into all the tiniest parts of your being,

Lighting your body and your spirit up with intention.

Now let's go on a journey of awareness through the body together.

Beginning on the right side of your body,

Allow your awareness to relax into your right thumb,

Index finger,

Right middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

The palm of your right hand,

The back of your right hand,

Your wrist,

Forearm,

Your right elbow.

Sink your awareness into your upper arm,

Your shoulder,

Your underarm,

The right side of your ribcage and lung,

Your waistline,

Your thigh,

Your right knee,

Your lower leg,

Your right ankle,

The top of your right foot,

The sole of your right foot.

Your awareness now in your big toe,

Your second toe,

Your third toe,

Your fourth toe and your right baby toe.

Softly hold the entire right side of your body in your awareness.

Fill your right side with your awareness now.

Moving your awareness to the left side of your body,

Starting with your left hand,

Allow your awareness to settle into your left thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

The palm of your left hand,

The back of your hand,

Your wrist,

Your forearm,

Your elbow.

Your elbow,

Your awareness deeply landing now into your left upper arm,

Your shoulder,

Your underarm,

The left side of your ribcage and lung,

Your waistline,

Your thigh,

Your kneecap,

Your left shin,

Ankle,

The top of your left foot,

The sole of your left foot.

Your awareness now gently in your left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

And your left baby toe.

Wash the entire left side of your body with your awareness.

Feel the entire left side of your body now.

Now to explore the back of your body moving from right to left.

Feel the sole of your right foot,

The sole of your left foot,

The soles of both of your feet together,

The back of your right heel,

The back of your left heel,

Both heels together,

The right calf,

The left calf,

Both calves together,

The back of your right knee,

The back of your left knee,

The backs of both knees together,

Your right hamstrings,

Left hamstrings,

Both sets of hamstrings together.

Now feel the right buttocks,

The left buttocks,

Both sides of your buttocks,

Back of your pelvis,

Lower back,

Middle back,

Upper back.

Feel your right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Both shoulder blades together.

Feel your right arm,

Left arm,

Both arms together,

The back of your neck,

Back of your head,

The crown of your head.

Feel your entire back body.

Now allow your awareness to come to the crown of your head,

Your forehead,

Your right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Both brows together,

Right eyelid,

Left eyelid,

Both eyelids together,

Right eyeball,

Left eyeball,

Both eyes together.

Feel your right nostril,

Left nostril,

Both nostrils together.

The bridge of your nose,

Tip of your nose,

Your whole entire nose.

Feel your awareness in your upper lip,

Lower lip,

Both lips together.

Feel your chin,

Feel the right side of your jaw,

The left side of your jaw.

Feel both sides of your jaw together and feel your whole face.

Notice the right side of your head,

The left side of your head.

Now feel both sides of your head together.

Feel the right side of your throat,

The left side of your throat.

Feel your whole neck and throat together.

Feel your right collarbone,

Your left collarbone,

And both collarbones together.

The right side of your chest,

The left side of your chest,

Both sides of your chest together.

Your whole chest all together.

Feel the area of your abdomen from your ribs to your bellybutton,

Low belly,

Pelvis,

Root of your pelvic floor,

Both thighs,

Both kneecaps,

Both shins,

Both ankles,

Tops of both of your feet.

Feel your right leg from your toes to your hip.

Feel your right leg from your toes to your hip.

Feel your left leg from your toes to your hip.

Feel the entirety of both of your legs together.

Feel your right arm from your fingertips to your shoulder,

Your left arm from fingertips to shoulder.

Now feel both arms together.

Keep your arms and your legs in your awareness and add your entire torso and your head to your feeling experience.

Feel and sense your entire body now.

Your whole body.

Feel your whole body together simultaneously right now.

This is whole body awareness.

Begin now to follow your breath as it moves in and through and out of your body in its perpetual life-giving cycle.

Allow the breath to fill the space at the base of your spine.

Expanding to meet the boundaries of your pelvis.

With that breath moving ever so slowly up through the base of your body and into your creation center,

Linger here for a moment and notice the qualities and the textures of your initiatory power that lives here.

Allow that breath to travel through to your belly and into the center of your body.

From your cauldron of confidence to your fire home.

Let the breath expand your chest,

This home of your full heart.

Into your neck,

Your throat and your mouth.

Giving loving energy to your words and to your thoughts.

Your eyebrows,

Your forehead,

Your third eye space.

Clarity of thought.

Clarity of wisdom.

Clarity of wisdom.

Allowing breath now to rest at the crown of your head.

You are open,

Welcoming,

Trusting and wise.

As the breath moves in and out of your body,

Witness it give life,

Movement and love to all facets of you.

Allow it to connect you to your deep and knowing parts.

Allow it to light you up.

Rest your awareness in your heart.

Rest your awareness now at your third eye.

This space of openness,

Of intuition,

The center between your eyebrows.

From here,

Maintain your open channels and perceive the paradox of life with grace and humility.

Without going into any story,

Invite the feeling of fear into your body.

Allow it to gently enter your awareness.

Sink into the texture of fear.

What does fear feel like?

Breathe and allow fear to move in and through you.

Breathe here.

This is fear.

This is fear.

This is fear.

This is fear.

This is fear.

This is fear.

And now,

Witness that fear dissolve and float away in space.

Return home to your third eye.

There is space here.

From this spacious place,

Invite safety.

Without story,

Without thinking,

Just feel.

How does safety feel different?

What is the quality of safety?

How does it occur to your senses?

Breathe here and be with safety.

Breathe.

This is safety.

This is safety.

Allow safety to settle here before you return to your third eye space.

And rest here for a moment between your eyebrows.

Now come back to fear.

The density of fear.

Where is fear living in your body now?

Investigate the texture of it and witness it without making a story.

Witness fear here.

Allow fear to dissipate.

Allow fear to leave your awareness.

Allow fear to leave your awareness and leave your body.

Come back to your third eye space.

Time now for safety once again.

Allow any lingering fear to disappear and in its place land safety.

How does your body change?

How does your heart settle now in safety?

Come back now to the sweetness of the stillness of your third eye.

Here and now.

Breathing into the quiet.

Breathing into the quiet.

As you notice the expanse of nothing in your awareness,

Allow your mind's eye to conjure the following images.

You are walking.

One foot after the other.

Gently trotting on the soft earth.

You are barefoot.

And though you feel the warmth of the sun shining,

The rain must have just come.

The moisture of the ground comes up to meet your foot in a cold sensation.

Allow your mind's eye to conjure this lush world around you.

Maybe it's a meadow with grasses dancing in the breeze.

Maybe it's a forest humming with animal and plant life.

Maybe you're in a familiar place.

Or maybe this is somewhere you've never been.

No matter where,

There is a comfort here.

A safety.

You know that this is where you need to be.

You know that this is where you need to be.

As your inner world continues its creative adventure,

Building this world around you,

Allow a vibrant and abundant tree friend to appear.

Take this friend in.

It is calling to you.

And why?

Is it the way it looks?

Is it the way it makes you feel?

Does it remind you of a favourite tree?

Maybe from childhood or perhaps from the present day.

You feel nothing but a deep desire to be with the tree a moment.

And as you reach the tree,

You feel its ancient wisdom pulsing through each leaf,

Each strip of bark.

The invitation is strong.

This beloved being has something for you.

You place a hand on the bark.

The wrinkles,

The troughs,

The harsh and hard skin of the tree meet your soft hand with love.

This is familiar.

You know this feeling.

You've met this being before in some place and time.

You are connected and you're coming back together again.

You crouch to sit at the tree's roots with the back of your heart resting on its safe,

Sturdy trunk.

You're relieved to have this time to pause.

And as you finally rest on this long-standing being,

You bring your eyes to a close and you listen.

In the embrace of this tree,

Thousands of years of presence come together in a symphony of wisdom.

You feel it as it comes through your clothes to meet your skin,

Your cells,

Your bones,

Your blood.

Your body begins to hum gently with the tree's presence merging into yours and as it does,

A soft and sweet message travels through roots off this tree,

Through the trunk,

Through its bark and into your awareness.

This is the wisdom you've been seeking of late.

The answer to that question,

That signpost on how to move forward.

You allow this message,

This nugget of inspiration,

This sweet gift to settle into your heart.

In gratitude,

You expand your love from the front and the back of your heart.

You pulse with the divine rhythm of life as it moves through the tree,

Through you and between you both before drifting in awareness.

In your mind's eye,

The surrounding area dissolves into nothingness and you're back where you began.

Back to stillness,

Slowly.

Back to quiet,

Slowly.

Slowly,

Just as you are now.

Quiet,

Slowly.

Slowly,

Gently.

Silence.

Recall where you left your sankalpa.

In your awareness,

Allow it to arise from its resting place.

As you quietly bring your sankalpa back in,

Let it resonate with your heart and your whole being three times.

The practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.

Rest here for a moment and receive that wisdom from your tree friend.

Let it permeate into your body,

Your mind and your spirit.

With your eyes still closed,

Begin to bring your awareness back to this space that you're in.

Notice the color of your heart,

The color of your mind,

The color of your body.

The color of the back of your eyelids.

Hear the sounds in the room.

Hear the sounds outside the room.

Feel the room's air on your skin,

The air moving in and out of your nose.

Allow your body to settle once more into the earth.

Before slowly and gently coming to one side.

When it feels natural and you feel ready,

Gently press your way into a seat.

And with love and reverence for your body,

Mind and spirit,

Place one hand over your heart and one hand over your low belly.

Take one deep breath into your hands.

And with a gentle sigh,

Release the breath and gently open the eyes.

Hari Om Tat Sat.

Reviews

Thank you so much! This was a very relaxing and valuable yoga nidra to put me at ease in the middle of the night.

I was pretty wound up from working out too late and with an early morning ahead, I was worried nothing would help me fall asleep quickly. I hadn’t done Yoga Nidra in a bit, and chose this one of Karen’s after seeing her on a live session earlier that day. Her lovely voice and easy guidance had me ready to fall asleep in less than 10 minutes. So grateful!!! In spite of four and a half hours of sleep, I woke refreshed. Thank you Karen✨✨✨ 🧘‍♀️ 🙏 ✨✨✨

Thank you for this yoga Nedra meditation . That would be perfect to put me to sleep tonight. Much love and gratitude !❤️🙏🕊️