Inhabit Your Inner Universe With Yoga Nidra

This Yoga Nidra practice will guide you into inhabiting the inner universe of your physical manifestation. It is a practice to discover the inner depth and wisdom that we carry right here in our own bodies. When we learn to live from that place we can enrich our lifes through authentic embodied experience. This Yoga Nidra practice was inspired by embodied awakening teachings and particularly Judith Blackstone's realization process.

Transcript

Welcome to this practice of Yoga Nidra to inhabit your inner universe.

So to begin,

Settle yourself into the shape of Savasana as you lay down on your back.

Let your legs fall slightly apart,

The arms are resting on your sides and the palms are facing up.

Perhaps you want to place a small pillow under your head and cover yourself with a blanket so that you remain warm for the duration of this practice.

In this Yoga Nidra practice we will give particular attention to the internal universe and the internal space of your body.

And as we do so,

We can experience the inherent depth of our physical manifestation with all the richness and wisdom it carries.

In our active lives our awareness often remains in the mind,

Our focus on enormous amounts of thinking does not really leave space for internal body sensing and in that an embodied experience of our existence is simply left aside.

Yet when we tune in with the body and its internal dimensions with an enormous amount of intuition and understanding,

We can learn to live from that place.

And living from that place means inhabiting our inner space,

Our inner universe.

And as you settle into your shape and into the practice,

Allow yourself to fully relax.

There is nothing you need to do apart from keeping your ears open to the sound of my voice.

So allow yourself to relax and to simply be.

And then before we begin,

See if you can be 5 to 10% more comfortable.

Perhaps you want to move your body a little bit,

Perhaps you want to change the blanket,

Any slight adjustment,

Now is the time for that.

And once that is complete,

Make a commitment to stay alert and also to stay still for the duration of this practice.

And for that you can simply say to yourself,

I will not sleep and I will move at the end.

We will begin today's practice by formulating our sankalpa.

And sankalpa is an intention,

A deep felt wish that you have at this moment in time,

Something you want to incorporate in your life,

You want to bring to life.

And that is something that goes beyond this yoga and intra practice.

So it can be something like,

I am free,

I am at peace.

Or if you wish for something a little bit more specific,

Such as your health,

You can say,

I am healthy.

Or if you long for connection you can say,

I am connected.

So take a moment to feel into your heart space.

Listen deeply into your heart space and give it all the space it deserves to express itself,

Out of itself,

Without you actually doing anything.

So you are simply inviting your offering space and then see if there is a wish,

A longing your heart is wanting to express.

What is that longing?

What is your heart yearning for?

It might be something particular today or it might be something you have been longing for a while.

Just see what comes up first.

And then formulate your sankalpa,

Starting with the words,

I am.

And then take a deep breath in,

Repeat your sankalpa three times.

And then with the next exhale,

Give thanks and let it go.

And it has now been given the permission to do its work.

And I will now circulate your awareness through your physical body,

Through Anamayya Kosha.

And we will bring awareness to different parts of your physical manifestation.

And in the spirit of the topic of this yoga nidra practice,

I want to invite you to not only bring awareness to the body parts mentioned,

But to fully be inside them.

It is as if you would slip inside them,

You would pour your entire being into the inside of the body parts mentioned.

And let your consciousness merge with all that is there,

With the muscles,

The bones,

The tendons,

The fascia,

The fluids,

The energies and so on.

Start to fully inhabit your inner universe.

So we will begin with the right hand thumb.

Immerse yourself fully into your right hand thumb.

You can become aware of your right hand thumb or you can be fully in your right hand thumb.

Notice the difference.

And then be in the entire internal space of your right hand thumb.

So you can sense sensations,

Temperature,

Fluids,

Pulse.

And all that is you in the internal space of your right hand thumb.

And then extend that experience to all fingers,

All fingers on the right side.

Your consciousness submerges with the inner space of all fingers.

And then with the palm of the right hand.

And then your entire hand.

And then you come to the internal space of your wrist.

The internal space of your forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Right shoulder.

You are fully in your entire right arm,

Your entire right arm.

And then the right side body merging with the inner space of the right side of the chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Into your right foot.

And into all five toes,

All five toes.

You are fully in your right foot.

You inhabit your foot with all five toes.

Then come back to the entire right side of your body at once.

Being in the entire right side.

We now move to the left hand thumb.

And again,

Immerse yourself fully into your left hand thumb.

Be in your left hand thumb.

Consummate the inner space with all the sensations you can notice.

And then extend that experience to all fingers,

All fingers on the left side at the same time.

Your consciousness submerges with the inner space of all fingers.

And then with the palm of the left hand.

And then the entire hand.

And then move into the internal space of your wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder.

And you are fully in your entire left arm.

Your entire arm.

Then merge with the inner space of the left side of the chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Into your left foot and into all five toes.

All five toes.

You inhabit your foot with all five toes.

And then come back to the entire left side of your body at once.

Being in the entire left side.

And now fully be in the entire left side body and the entire right side body at the same time.

Let the space of left and right side body merge,

Marry,

Become one.

So that inner universe of your body becomes a unified field of consciousness.

And then bring your awareness to the top of your head.

Now explore the inner space of your head.

The mind becomes more spacious,

The hemispheres of the brain relax.

The eyes fall back into their sockets.

And then abide in the space between the ears.

The space inside the nostrils.

The entire mouth.

The entire face is laying softly on the tender inner space of your head.

And then take a moment to find the center of your head.

Locate yourself in your pineal gland,

Which is the inner space between the two hemispheres of the brain.

You can simply silently say,

Pineal gland and your consciousness will guide you there.

The pineal gland is associated with our third eye,

Our inner perception beyond ordinary sight and our access door to inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness.

And simply stay in that space of your pineal gland for a moment.

And then move down to the space inside your throat,

The energy center in the middle of it.

This is the energy center of your communicative expression.

And then move to the middle of the chest,

The energy center of the heart.

Pour yourself into that inner space.

Pour yourself into your heart.

And move to the navel and the inner space below your navel.

This is the energy center of determination,

Of fire,

Of emotional expression.

And then move to the field between the navel and the pubic bone,

The inner space between the navel and the pubic bone.

Your energy center of creation.

And allow all your power of creation to find a home here.

And expands in which it can express itself.

And then move on and inhabit the inner space,

The energy center at the bottom of the pelvis.

This is where we are deeply connected to Mother Earth,

Where we feel rooted,

Where we feel safe.

And as your inner space comes more and more to the fore,

Include in that your legs,

Your feet and toes,

And then include your arms,

And again the right side of the body and the left side of the body.

So you become aware of the entire internal space of your whole body,

The wide,

Expansive inner landscape of your whole body.

You are fully embodied now.

Your inner cosmos is tender,

Is spacious,

Is peaceful.

Your body in its completion,

In its wholesomeness,

In its perfection,

Is laying on the floor,

Deeply at rest and practicing yoga nidra.

As your physical body is resting,

Remain embodied,

Connected to your inner landscape and bring your attention to your energy body and your breath.

Notice your breath.

Notice it as you inhale and exhale.

And let it be completely natural.

There is no effort,

No change.

And as you are still aware of the entire inner landscape of your body,

Let that breath flow through all the alivies,

Through all the cells,

Through the entirety of your inner cosmos.

Your body might start to feel more transparent as the breath continues to flow uninhibited and unresisted through the entirety of your body.

Stay with your breath in that inner space.

And now,

At the same time as you fully embrace your inner space with your breath,

Start to perceive the outer space,

The circumference around your body,

The air,

The space.

The inner space of your body rests in the outer space around you.

And perhaps you want to expand the perception of that outer space a few centimeters or even to the walls of the room you're in.

But just go as far as you can remain with the inner and outer space at the same time.

And now notice that inner and outer space are a continuous field.

Become aware that the essence of these two spaces is actually the same.

In their quality,

In their nature,

In their core,

They are the same pure form of consciousness.

Perhaps you can even notice how they merge,

How they become one as they are in the essence already one.

And then slowly come back to your individual form,

To the boundaries of your physical body.

Now it is time to move into the mental emotional body.

For this,

Connect once more with the space of your pineal gland between the two hemispheres of the brain.

I will mention different scenarios and they will start to arise in your experience.

Remain relaxed and at ease and let those scenarios arrive,

Give them space.

You can remain quiet,

You can remain still and be a witness of it all.

So first invite sensations of heaviness into your body.

All the particles,

All the bones,

Muscles,

Cells,

Fascia start to become very,

Very heavy and are pulled towards the earth simply by the means of gravity.

Your legs,

Your arms,

The torso,

The head,

All are becoming heavy,

Like lead,

Immovable.

And give way to gravity as all those hardy parts surrender to the weight and density of their existence.

Sense of heaviness.

Then move to the opposite,

Invite sensations of lightness.

The space between all the trillions of cells in your body is opening up and lightness,

Literally a sense of light is coming in.

And the same body that seemed so dense a moment ago is now transitioning into an experience of transparency,

Almost airiness and spaciousness.

It's a sense of floating,

Of easefulness,

Sensations of lightness in your body in this moment.

And then invite both,

Heaviness and lightness at the same time.

Density and spaciousness,

Gravity and a sense of floating merging with each other.

Don't think about it,

Let your body's wisdom show you heaviness and lightness at the same time.

Notice your experience in this moment.

What can you witness?

How is it to be you?

How is it to inhabit your inner universe at this moment?

And then come back to the neutral space of your pineal gland.

You are relaxed,

You are awake,

You are practicing yoga nidra.

And we will continue to explore the internal universe of your body.

And at this point notice any area in your body where it might feel challenging to sense the internal space.

Perhaps you became aware of such part earlier as part of the rotation of consciousness or perhaps you can notice something now.

There might be an area which carries contraction,

Tension.

It might even feel a little numb or simply less accessible.

And look at this place and look at it from the place of your pineal gland.

Your pineal gland is looking at that area you identified.

Create all the sensations you can perceive in this area of your body.

Allow it to be and simply give your loving attention.

Stay connected to this area of your body and stay connected to your pineal gland at the same time.

Now notice that this area which seems less accessible is actually surrounded by open space on the inside of your body.

It is embraced,

It is held.

It is encircled by healthy free flowing space around it.

Simply bring your awareness to that and notice that all of it is part of you.

And then,

Similar as we did before,

Notice that the essence of these two apparently different spaces is the same.

The consciousness is of the same form,

Of the same nature.

They are made of the same fundamental consciousness in the core,

Yet have manifested in different forms.

Notice that,

Feel that.

And this insight might perhaps help you to access the space that seemed contracted or numb a little bit more.

Allow a little softening,

Perhaps a gentle opening.

Simply allow it.

And if it does not happen at this moment in time,

It is totally fine.

Allow whatever is possible at this moment and be your experience as it is.

Then let go of these sensations,

Visualizations and experiences in the body.

Let it all merge with a space of stillness,

Of deep rest and deep ease.

And stay in a state of meditation for a few moments.

And in this state of meditation,

In this state of deep peace and quiet,

Bring back to mind your sankapa.

Repeat the same sankapa you made at the beginning of this practice in the same words and from a whole hearted space.

So repeat your sankapa now three times clearly and let that seed be planted in your being.

And then slowly,

Slowly come back to your physical body.

Become aware of deep relaxation.

Become aware of the body laying on the surface you chose,

Practicing yoga nidra.

Notice the peace in you and around you.

You are an expression of universal consciousness manifesting in this individual form.

You are a soul inhabiting the space of this body for the duration of this lifetime.

Moving,

Expressing,

Living in this form,

Yet part of an oceanic space of consciousness that is inhabiting your internal universe and the beautiful being you are.

And with this the practice of yoga nidra is complete.

Hari Om Tat Sat.

Hari Om Tat Sat.

Hari Om Tat Sat.

Reviews

Very wholesome practice- I felt like I was floating! Thank you 💙

Lovely inner visiting (inside, downwards, and beyond...!) I only wish there were a twice longer version to stay more time there... mmm wait... the landscape stays there 24/7, right? oh!

Absolutely loved this. A lovely pace and a very soothing voice. Thank you 🙏

Much thanks and appreciation for your beautiful nidra practice. The words and your voice are so calming and peaceful.

I love this so much, such a soothing voice. Thank you.

Lovely practice♾️⚘️☄️
Thank you so kindly✨️
Namaste🙏🏼✨️💕🧡🏵

The most extraordinary relaxation I've experienced to date! Wow...so needed that!

It was early in the morning. 5:00
am, and fell asleep until 7:00 am. I’m happy. I remember inhabiting my whole left side….

Top notch nidra
Calm and clear voice. Soothing and centering soundscape and perfect guidance (as well as informative details about nidra practice). Thank you
Bookmarked

I loved this practice! Your guidance is very effective. Lovely background music and a soothing gentle voice. Thank you very much 🙏💕

I really enjoyed the way you incorporated the chakras in this practice. Very relaxing. Thank you so much for a beautiful practice this morning! Namaste 🙏💚

Amazing!!! Thank you so much 🙌🏼💫⭐️🌈🙏🏼❤️

A beautiful practice—I feel so peaceful and grounded now. Thank you so much, Katharina 🙏🏻💚

So lovely and deeply felt. Thank you.

You're simply the best! Love what you bring, your perspective. Also the music and your voice is perfectly soothing.
I'm gonna look up pineal gland and what Tat sat means now...

Delightful.

Lovely. Will definitely be doing again. I'm so glad I found you. Thank you for sharing your gift with us ❤️

I like all Katherina’s yoga nidras. I think my fave is the ‘cell healing’, or maybe ‘light of the universe’ or maybe...

A very peaceful yet awesome session, and a beautiful rhythm, thank you for your kind guidance today 🙏🏻