Finding your way into a comfortable stillness.
Gathering your attention to the sensations in your body.
Beginning to sense the weight of your body.
A sense of the space you inhabit.
And noticing if there is any adjustment you could make to become even more comfortable.
Creating support so your physical body can become effortless.
And so you may lift and lower the shoulders,
Shift your hips,
Add or remove a prop.
And the invitation is to remain still.
But please know that you're welcome to shift and move your body.
Just be intentional and slow with any movements you make during this practice.
And affirm to yourself,
I am practicing yoga nidra.
I invite my body to rest.
I invite my mind to slow down.
Yet I remain awake and aware.
We'll begin our meditation today with the physiological sigh.
Two inhales through the nose and a sigh out through the mouth.
In,
In,
And sigh it out.
Ah.
Again.
We'll repeat three times with each sigh.
Could you welcome a release through your entire being?
One more.
And I invite you to connect to an intention for this practice.
So if you are working with a personal sankalpa,
Bring that in now.
And if you don't have a particular intention,
You might use the statement,
I am open to receiving wisdom.
I connect to each aspect of myself.
I am open to receiving wisdom.
I connect to each aspect of myself.
I'm connecting to any personal intention.
Speaking it to yourself.
Welcoming the echo of these words to your mind,
To your heart.
Settling into the core of your being.
And I'd like you to gather your focus the center of the forehead.
Noticing sensation across the forehead.
Taking a breath to relax.
Your exhale,
Smoothing any lines of tension.
Your next breath,
Smoothing tension across the eyes.
Letting the eyes rest back into here.
Healing darkness.
With your next exhale,
All of the little muscles around the temple,
Behind the eyes,
Begin to soften.
Noticing sensation across the scalp.
Your next exhale brings relaxation to the back of the head.
Sensing the right ear and the left ear.
Noticing the space between the ears.
Gathering our awareness to the space of the mind.
I'd like you to visualize our planet Earth as observed from outer space.
Seeing this beautiful globe.
Blues of the ocean,
Green,
Brown of the land.
Swirling clouds.
Seeing yourself as the observer.
Watching day turn to night.
And that as you inhale,
Sensing all of the colors,
Visualizing this beautiful Earth.
And as you exhale,
Seeing the Earth fall into darkness.
Inhaling the colors and light.
Exhaling the globe in darkness.
Observing the flow of time,
Day to night,
Light to dark.
And begin to zoom in.
Getting closer and closer to Earth.
Finding your country,
Your city or town.
Zooming in to see your street,
Your house.
Zooming in the sense of your room,
Observing your space.
So you could see your body resting on the floor,
Resting on the bed.
Seeing the container of your walls,
Floor and ceiling.
And zooming in even further and shifting from this witness consciousness into sensation.
And that you could observe your body from the outside.
You can also sense it and experience it from the inside.
So now bringing our attention to physical sensations in the body.
Feeling your heartbeat.
Feeling your breath flow through the nostrils.
Feeling the movement of your torso expanding and softening with each breath.
Bringing your attention around the body as I name a body part.
Notice any sensation present here.
It could be temperature,
Tingling,
Pulsing or even the absence of a sensation.
And this rotation of awareness around the body allows us to be curious and strengthen our connection with our body.
Beginning with the right hand thumb,
The first finger,
The second finger,
Third finger and the little finger.
The palm of the right hand drawing all of your awareness here,
Experiencing your body from the inside out.
The right elbow,
The right shoulder,
The right side of the chest,
Sensing the ribcage,
The right side of the waist,
The right hip,
The right knee,
The right ankle,
The sole of the right foot,
Bringing awareness to the tip of each of the toes,
The right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the little toe.
Could you welcome your awareness to expand through the right side of the body,
A unified sensation of the right side of the body perhaps imagining the right side of the body filled with light,
The left side quiet in darkness,
The sense of breath flowing freely through the right side of the body,
Connecting the right side of the body and the left hemisphere of the brain and taking a few breaths to shift focus to the left side of your body,
Gathering focus and awareness in the left hand thumb noticing sensation in the left hand,
The tip of the thumb,
Tip of the first finger,
Tip of the second finger,
Tip of the third finger,
And tip of the small finger,
The center of the left hand,
The left elbow,
The left shoulder,
Bringing awareness to the left side of the chest,
Sensing the ribcage,
The left side of the waist,
The left hip,
The left knee,
The left ankle,
The sole of the left foot,
Awareness reaching the tips of the toes,
The left big toe,
The second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
And the little toe.
And could you welcome awareness through the entire left side of the body,
Imagining the left leg,
The left side of the chest,
The left arm illuminated with a soft light,
And sensing the left side of the body,
Bringing this light to the right hemisphere of the brain,
Sensing the connection between the left side of the body and the right hemisphere of the brain.
Welcoming now this light and your awareness to infuse the right side of the body,
Welcoming right and left together,
Unified sensation of your whole body,
And sensing the front and the back side of your body,
Sensing the crown of the head,
The soles of the feet,
Welcoming your whole body together,
And a gentle awareness on the rhythm of your breath.
I'd like you to count your breath from 10 down to one,
With each breath,
Sensing your physical body,
Begin to blur and dissolve,
As you become a being of pure consciousness,
A being of light.
Inhaling 10,
Exhaling 10,
Inhaling nine,
Exhaling nine,
Continuing at your own pace,
We dissolve into a being of bliss,
This aspect of ourselves that is fully connected to all of life,
This journey may draw you inward,
This journey may allow you to be expansive,
Perhaps returning to that space in the universe,
Where we began this meditation,
And as you reach one,
Letting go of the count,
And be here now,
Returning to your sankalpa,
I'm borrowing my intention for this practice,
I am open to receive wisdom,
I connect to each aspect of myself,
I am open to receiving wisdom,
I connect with each aspect of myself,
And we'll rest in silence until you hear my voice again,
Let's take four equalizing breaths,
In for a count of four,
And out for a count of four,
In two,
Three,
Four,
Release two,
Three,
Four,
In and out,
In two,
Three,
Four,
Release two,
Three,
Four,
In,
You're returning to the sensations along the back of your body,
Feeling the connection between your heels and the surface beneath you,
Sensing the shape and the weight of your legs,
Feeling the connection between your pelvis,
The sacrum,
The weight,
The back of the hips,
Feeling the back of the shoulders,
The shoulder blades,
The shape and the weight of your arms,
Feeling the connection between the back of the head and the surface beneath you,
Remembering the shape of our bodies,
Reorienting to the space around us,
The sense of containment,
The walls,
Floor,
And ceiling,
Listening for sounds near you,
Sounds in the distance,
Taking a long inhale through the nose,
Aware of any scents,
Fragrances in your space,
Aware of the sensation of temperature across your skin,
And slowly welcoming movement back,
Wiggling the fingers,
And toes,
Closing the hands into fists,
Stretching the fingers out,
Perhaps flexing and pointing the feet,
And sweeping your arms up overhead,
Taking a nice long inhale,
And sighing it out or yawning it out,
Releasing there,
Begin to draw your legs up one knee at a time,
You might let them rock slowly from side to side,
And perhaps coming in to a side twist,
And perhaps you feel like squeezing the knees up towards your chest,
Perhaps alternating squeezing in and stretching out,
And this is your practice,
So bringing in any movements that help you wake up,
And let the movement bring you on to one side,
Taking a moment in a fetal position,
This marks symbolically our return from rest,
Reborn as the newest version of ourselves,
Bringing with us any insights,
Any wisdom that we have gathered through this practice of yoga nidra today,
And as you're ready,
Using your hands to press you up into a seated position,
Letting hands rest in front of the heart,
Thank you for joining me in practice today,
The light within me bows and honors the light within you,
Namaste.
