Yoga Nidra For Creative Potential

For this yoga nidra meditation practice, an inner resolve is offered to focus on your creative potential. It is designed for anyone who may need a reminder of their inner creative powers. The practice will begin with sensation observation, followed by body scan, breath awareness, visualization, resolve, and transition back through the aforementioned layers. The recording was conducted outdoors in Sedona, Arizona along a creek, so there are some nature sounds and movements.

Transcript

Welcome to the practice of yoga nidra.

During this practice,

We'll work through several layers to begin to plant the seed of resolve.

The resolve that we'll focus on in this practice is on creative potential.

Each of us has within us an endless creative power,

Limitless powers of creation that we bring into the world through whichever mode of art we have chosen,

Whether that is painting or writing,

Whether that is through any vocation that you have chosen in your own path in life.

Sometimes along our life path,

However,

We can forget that we have this limitless potential within us.

We can become distracted or stuck or maybe a little jaded.

All this is normal.

The practice of yoga nidra,

We can start to go within and remind ourselves of this inner truth,

This inner creative power that we hold within ourselves.

So to begin the practice,

Get comfortable by lying down,

Allowing yourself to be covered by a blanket.

You might put a pillow behind your head or if your low back tends to bother you while you lay on the floor,

You can put a bolster pillow underneath your knees to support your low back.

So take a few moments here to become completely comfortable and find that resting position.

Once you're there,

Close your eyes.

Begin to turn your gaze within for the remainder of practice.

Understand that during yoga nidra,

You may not be conscious of each and every word that I say.

Simply let the cues fall over you.

Become aware and focus on the instruction as you hear it and know that the work is happening on its own.

In order to drop fully into the practice of yoga nidra,

It's important to remain awake throughout the practice.

So as we begin,

Repeat the following sentence to yourself three times.

Throughout this practice,

I will remain awake.

Throughout this practice,

I will remain awake.

The first layer of yoga nidra that we will explore is the sensory level.

Become aware of the space around you.

Begin with the sensation of touch.

Feel the quality of the air,

The temperature,

The feeling of your clothing,

The feeling of gravity's pull in the floor below.

Allow each sensation to wash over you and then leaving that sensation before moving on to the next.

Becoming aware of any sounds that you hear.

Various layers of sound.

Sound and close.

Notice each sound.

Resisting the urge to form a narrative around anything that you notice.

Any smells of the air that are present.

Any tastes.

And lastly observing any visual sensation.

Colors behind the eyelids.

Shapes that form.

The absence of visual.

Making a note of anything that you observe.

And then leaving it by itself.

Become like a neutral vessel for observation.

Sounds,

Visuals,

Tastes,

Smells,

Touch.

Each passes through you.

Each passes on its own time.

Transitioning to body scan.

Taking attention to your right toes.

Allow your mind's eye to focus on each part as it's aimed.

And then let it go before moving on to the next.

Right toes,

The space between each of the toes.

Involve the right foot.

The arch of right foot.

Right heel.

Top of the foot.

Right ankle.

Right shin.

Right calf.

Knee.

Right glute.

Quad.

Inner thigh.

Visualize the entire right leg.

Feel the whole leg pouring your awareness like liquid filling.

And then letting it go.

Left toes.

The space between the toes.

Ball of left foot.

Arch of the foot.

Left heel.

Top of left foot.

Ankle.

The shin.

Calf.

Left knee.

Left glute.

Quad.

Inner thigh.

The whole left leg completely releases.

Your awareness pouring like water to fill the whole left leg and then letting it go.

Bringing awareness to the right hand palm.

Right pinky.

Fourth finger.

Third finger.

Second finger.

And the thumb.

Space between the fingers.

Back of hand.

Front hand.

Whole right hand.

Right wrist.

Right forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Right shoulder.

Noticing your whole right arm,

Seeing the arm,

Pouring your awareness like liquid to fill the arm completely and then release.

Let it go.

Noticing left hand palm.

Left pinky.

Fourth finger.

Third finger.

Second finger.

Thumb.

Left back of hand.

Palm of the hand.

Whole left hand.

Left wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

And shoulder.

Pouring your awareness like liquid into the whole left arm.

And then softly releasing,

Letting it go.

Voice of spine.

Sacrum.

Mid spine.

Upper spine.

Shoulder blades.

Tops of shoulders.

Back of the neck.

Base of the skull.

Back of the head.

Just above the crown of your head.

Pouring your awareness like liquid into the whole back of torso.

Releasing completely.

Letting the body be held.

Navel.

Lower abdomen.

Ribcage.

Chest.

Collarbone.

Top shoulders.

Throat space.

Chin.

Lips.

Tongue falls from roof to mouth.

Nostrils.

Ears.

Inner ear.

Cheekbones.

Eyelids.

Brow.

Forehead.

Top of head.

Just above the crown of head.

Pouring your awareness like liquid to the whole front of the torso.

Letting the front space of the body be light-filled and softly surrendering.

A lightness emanates from all of the edges of the body.

And the heaviness grounds you firmly through each point of contact around.

All tension,

All fatigue is nonexistent.

Leaving body by itself completely here.

In stillness.

Become aware of the breath transitioning to breath awareness,

Layer of practice.

Seeing where the air enters through the nose,

Travels through throat space,

Upper part of lungs,

Lower part of lungs.

Back out,

Similar pathway,

Upper lungs,

Chest,

Throat space,

Nostrils.

Let the flow of your breath bring life force energy into the body.

A steady rhythm that grounds your practice.

Filling with light.

On inhale.

Releasing all that doesn't serve on exhale.

Continue to follow your breath.

Inhale,

Repeat to yourself,

Receive.

As you exhale,

Repeat to yourself,

Let go.

Inhale,

Receive.

Exhale,

Let go.

Inhale,

Receive.

Exhale,

Let go.

Just as though the body is like a cup,

A vessel.

For inspiration from the world around.

If that cup becomes overfilled,

It simply pours out along the edges.

Take in more breath than you can exhale on the other side.

The body is a constantly regulating vessel.

We fill to our edge.

We empty.

Let your breath be a reminder.

That on the other side of each inspiration.

The letting go is what allows you to make space.

Continue to make space for that breath.

Continue to follow the inhalation and the exhalation.

Continue to follow the exhalation.

Continue to follow the exhalation.

Dropping into visualization,

Layer of practice.

Shifting your mind's eye.

Arriving at the edge of a body of water.

You watch along the surface of the water for some time.

Seeing the gentle ripples,

The movement,

The reflection.

The gentle wave crashes along the surface.

Bubbles of air.

Continue to watch as the water moves along at its pace.

Is it smooth and slow moving?

Is it crashing?

Continue to observe the water for some time.

Notice the quality of the water.

The smells,

The sounds are created.

The shapes.

Any smells being emitted from the air.

Imagine what the water might taste like on the tongue.

Beginning to set yourself down to dip your toes within the surface of the water,

Submerging your feet.

Cold,

Cold water.

Feeling the feet surrounded by that cold,

Cold water.

And as you close your eyes,

Allowing the warmth of the sunshine to break through clouds above,

Beaming down on your face.

Warm,

Warm sunshine.

Noticing the cool,

Cool water along your feet.

Noticing the warm,

Warm sunshine against your skin,

The face,

The crown of head.

Cool,

Cool water.

Warm,

Warm sun.

Eventually holding both at the same time,

Cool and warm.

Cool and warm together.

Begin to step further into the water.

Wading out into its deepest parts until your waist deep in the water.

Outstretching your arms to lean back.

And beginning to float along the surface of the water.

Held by its movement.

Held by gravity and water's self.

You begin to float along the surface of the water for some time.

And eventually allowing the eyes to open,

Reveal the clouds above.

And in the clouds you notice shapes begin to form along the clouds.

As you see in the shapes of the clouds that form.

And as the shapes of the clouds begin to rearrange themselves,

A message is received.

Wading sankalpa,

Your inner resolve to yourself here three times.

I have limitless creative power.

I have limitless creative power.

Continue to float along the surface of the water arriving finally at the edge of a bank.

Feel yourself along the edge and support yourself to sit up and take in the space around you.

The masses and rocks,

Blue sky around the sunshine and clouds.

Birds in the distance.

The water continuing to move along at its own pace.

The wind gently rustling leaves.

Tiny creatures off in the distance.

Collecting acorns,

Building nests.

And as you take in the sound of a distant bird,

Almost straining your ears to hear the chirping,

The tweeting,

The sounds of the birds.

And then suddenly,

A crow sweeps down quite close.

The distant birds chirping.

And the squawking of the crow up close.

The distant birds.

The crow quite near.

Eventually holding both sounds at the same time,

Distant and close.

Distant and close at the same time.

Begin to walk.

Lifting yourself on up and following a path that you find leads away from the edge of the water.

And along the way,

You notice the foul odor of a skunk.

Noticing that smell fills the nostrils.

Have a strong reaction to that smell.

It is so potent and strong.

As you begin to continue along your walk,

You notice a bright colored flower.

What color might it be?

It catches your eye and you walk up to the flower to notice what aroma it might have,

What scent it might offer.

Filling the nostrils with that floral scent.

Sweet and strong.

Suddenly you notice that skunk odor again.

And then the flower.

And the foul.

And then the flower.

Both at the same time,

Flower and foul together.

You begin to continue along the path.

Eventually,

Noticing the feeling of the earth beneath your feet.

Moments,

The rocks beneath the feet,

Bumpy and jagged.

And then finally making your way to softer,

More buoyant earth.

It almost seems to give softly beneath the weight of your body.

A few more steps.

Hard.

Jagged.

Firm.

A few more steps.

Soft.

Bouncing.

Giving way.

Eventually finding earth where you stand.

Rooting down through feet,

Feeling both soft and firm.

Soft and firm at the same time.

Continuing along your path.

Allowing this scene to fill your senses.

Eventually the smell draws you towards a bush full of berries,

Different colors of berries.

Red berries,

Blue berries,

Yellow berries,

Purple,

Green.

Eventually you settle on the color of a berry you'd like to try to taste.

Reaching for the berry.

Placing it in your mouth.

Let's see what it might taste like.

When you do,

It is so tart.

So tart.

Taste of tartness fills your mouth.

Sweeps across the whole tongue,

Your lips,

Your teeth.

Mouth waters.

And eventually you decide to try another berry.

You reach for a different color.

What color?

Finding that color and then trying that other berry.

And this one is very sweet.

Relaxes the mouth.

Tastes quite lovely.

And eventually,

Holding both tastes,

A sweet and a tart in your mouth at the same time.

Sweet and tart.

And eventually making your way back along the path.

Until you find a clearing,

It calls out to you.

You decide to return there.

Take rest,

Lying down to feel the soft whispers of the breeze around you.

Soft whispers of the breeze.

And the message needs to come through.

You hear with your ears,

With your soul,

With your entirety of your being.

Arriving at your sankopo once again.

I have limitless creative power.

I have limitless creative power.

As you fix your gaze on the clouds moving above and overhead,

Taking shape.

And then dissolving.

Constantly moving on their own time,

Their own pace.

All of the movement of the scene around you that continues.

Noticing what remains still,

What remains unchanged.

The hover between inhalation and exhalation.

Dropping back into your breath.

Awareness of breath.

And receiving.

And letting go.

Receiving.

And letting go.

Receive.

Let go.

Arriving into the edges of your body.

With your breath noticing as each round of inhalation and exhalation awakens soft awareness of those edges.

A vessel for the breath,

A vessel for this practice.

A vessel for creation.

All of the breath and energy that exists simply flows through you.

Nothing remains.

It arrives and then it goes on its own time.

Be unconcerned.

Be unconcerned with the pace.

Be unconcerned of the content of ideas.

Simply notice.

Arrive into limbs.

Soft awareness of space around.

Notice the quality of the air.

Become aware of your immediate environment.

Temperature.

Sounds.

Tastes.

Smells.

And seeing visuals on the islands.

Deepening your breath to awaken softly into the space around you.

Continuing to hold that sense of peace in your heart.

And finally,

Support yourself to arrive toward a comfortable seat.

In the moments as much as possible following your practice,

Try to remain quiet.

Try to remain in some part of you within that edge of stillness within.

That hovering point between inhalation and exhalation.

That inner wisdom and discernment.

And that inner knowledge of your creative powers.

And the inner knowledge that all is unfolding at the pace that it is meant to be.

The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.