Yoga Nidra Finding Calm & Clarity

This practice is for anyone who wishes to feel anchored into a sense of calm and safety as a home base to explore whatever truth is arising. Join me for a gentle yet enlightening journey into your own sense of awareness and well-being.

Transcript

Welcome to this opportunity to explore a deeper sense of rest and feeling more settled.

A comfortable place for self-inquiry,

Ultimately connecting with awareness itself like a trusted friend.

A constant companion that connects you and guides you in everyday life.

Perhaps asking,

How would you like to feel at the end of this practice?

Is there an intention you would like to carry with you through your practice today and into everyday life?

Perhaps to remain alert as the body settles into a state of rest or to remain grounded and present through the process of self-inquiry.

Whatever it is,

Take the time to affirm your intention now as if it is a true fact in this moment and now setting it aside to how it returns at the end of the practice or in your daily life.

Dialing down your focus from the external environment and turning your attention towards yourself within the room.

Your eyes can remain open or gently closed.

Starting the process of arriving for this practice with both body and mind.

Asking yourself,

Are there any movements or adjustments you would like to make now to feel even more settled into your environment?

Stretching,

Readjusting,

Adding any pillows or blankets for support to wherever you feel you need it to feel even more comfortable and secure.

And as you make these adjustments,

You may also start to become aware of the surface your body is resting upon.

Allowing yourself to accept the full support of this surface everywhere along the back of your body where it meets the surface that supports you.

And with each exhale,

Sinking a little deeper into this support.

Letting go into gravity and with the rest of your body noticing the feeling of your clothes and the air that is contacting your skin.

Opening your senses to the sounds around you.

Any colors that you see around you or behind your eyelids if your eyes are gently closed.

Noticing the residue of any taste in your mouth and the rhythm of the air as it passes in and out of the nose.

Caressing the inner walls of the throat.

The rise and release of the breath at the belly and the chest.

A slow comfortable inhale and a relaxed exhale.

No need to rush here.

And in this grounded presence of being,

You may notice a feeling of okayness.

A growing sense of ease.

Knowing that you have set aside this time for this practice.

That there's nothing else you need to tend to in this moment.

Everything is taken care of.

Noticing where and how in your body you feel even slightly more comfortable or calm.

Perhaps supporting this with an image or memory in your mind that brings a greater sense of ease,

Safety and security in your body.

And placing yourself within this scene as you notice the colors and lighting that meet your gaze here.

Welcoming in any hypnotic sounds in this peaceful scene.

Aware of the temperatures that meet your skin in this place.

Fully marinating in the warmth or the coolness.

Noticing if there's any sense that tends to draw this sense of calm deeper into the body.

Taking note of your own power sense which serves as a more potent or direct portal to your inner resource.

This embodied sense of peace and ease.

Naming where and how this felt sense of ease arises in your body.

A warmth.

A heaviness.

A lightness.

A pulsing.

However it arises for you.

Welcome it fully now as an inner resource place of ease and well-being that is always available to you.

And now rotating attention to sensations throughout your body.

Noticing sensations first at the jaw,

Mouth,

Cheeks,

Ears,

Nose.

Sensation as the air enters and leaves the nostrils.

Nothing to fix or deny just noticing sensation at the eyes,

Forehead,

Scalp,

Neck,

Inner walls of the throat,

The whole neck and head flowing with sensation.

Now the shoulders,

Upper arms,

Elbows,

Forearms,

Wrists,

Palms of the hands,

And fingers.

Both arms vibrant with sensation from shoulders to fingers.

And where they meet at the torso animated with the breath,

Chest,

Upper back,

Stomach,

And lower back.

The whole torso now purely as sensation.

And where it meets the hips,

Thighs,

Knees,

Forelegs,

Ankles,

Feet,

And toes.

The whole left leg from hip to toes purely as sensation.

And the whole right leg from hip to toes purely as sensation.

And noticing the whole body now.

The whole body.

The left side,

The right side,

The front of the body,

Back of the body,

Even the area out beyond the physical body.

In front of you,

Behind you,

Above you,

And below you.

This place of awareness always with you.

And yourself resting as being.

Lingering here a moment with an inhale and an exhale.

Aware of the breath moving in and out.

Noticing the pace,

The depth,

Or shallowness.

Being with the truth of the moment just as it is.

Awareness on where in the body you feel the breath most strongly.

At the belly,

The chest,

The throat,

The nostrils.

Perhaps feeling the flow of the breath even out into the extremities themselves.

The breath as a colorful mist,

Moving freely,

Effortlessly throughout the whole body.

Scanning your internal landscape now.

Noticing feelings throughout the body and where your body may feel restless.

Like it wants to move,

Needs to move.

Not stifling anything that wants to surface,

But allowing it to be so.

Noticing places in the body that feel restless and allowing movement to happen if that feels right.

And now curious about areas that feel still.

From a place of safety and curiosity.

Perhaps conjuring up a scene or a memory that brings the felt sense of stillness into the body.

A peaceful stillness.

A heavy stillness.

Possibly even a movement,

A rocking or a rhythm of the breath towards stillness.

The quiet calm after a snowstorm.

The moon's reflection on a midnight lake.

What does stillness look like to you?

Using your own sensations,

Feelings,

Words or images to describe stillness.

Open and curious.

Knowing you have all the time you need to linger here.

And from here,

Feeling out into being awareness.

Feeling your way.

Suspending thought.

The outermost boundaries of awareness.

A floating place that holds you.

Effortless,

Open,

And aware.

Welcoming in any visitors here.

Even challenging thoughts or emotions that are present at this time or that you're working with in your everyday life.

Inviting them into this open,

Effortless place of awareness.

Knowing your inner resource place is always available.

And in as much as you can,

Allowing the sticky residue of a thought or emotion to take shape spontaneously.

What sensations arise in the body as an expression of this thought or emotion?

Putting it a safe distance away from you so that you can look at it.

Watching it as it shows up as sensation in the body.

Stripping away the layers to see what is underneath.

Sensations,

Images,

Co-arising emotions.

First,

Simply watching.

Perhaps feeling some power and staying with it.

Staring it down.

And now listening.

What does the body want when these sensations,

Images,

Or feelings arise?

What does it want?

What does it need?

And now imagine giving the body all that it wants and needs in this moment.

Just noticing what might shift or change as you imagine this to be so.

Is there a new knowing that arises with staying what is uncomfortable?

Perhaps something to bring with you into your everyday life.

Either way,

Taking a moment to feel grateful for taking this time for yourself.

No right or wrong way to practice.

Noticing what feeling grateful feels like in the body.

Perhaps calling to mind a scene or memory that brings a sense of contentment,

Gratitude,

Or happiness.

Letting it unfold fully.

A smile,

A laugh,

A sigh of contentment.

Where does it light up in your body?

A warmth,

A smile,

An expansion in the torso.

Welcoming whatever it is for you.

Spreading down into the legs and feet.

Flowing or expanding out into the arms.

Up into the face.

Eyes,

Cheeks,

And mouth Smiling.

The body alive with a sense of contentment.

Each breath spreading a sense of gratitude or contentment and the sense of yourself expanding out beyond the physical body.

The interconnected field of all that's around you.

Awareness itself.

Not something you're searching for,

But a reconnecting with this old place of inner knowing.

Like meeting an old friend.

It feels familiar,

Easy,

Supportive.

Linger here a moment.

Taking the time to integrate any meaningful insight to take with you into your daily life.

Now once again,

Sensing the room around you.

The surface underneath you.

Beginning to come back with a sense of well-being.

Gently opening and closing your eyes.

Stretching,

Readjusting as you see fit.

And taking all the time you need here to come to the conclusion of your practice.

Thank you so much for joining me today.