Yoga Nidra For Dealing With Difficult Emotions

This is a 43-minute deep relaxation to help ease the grip of difficult emotions. You will be guided through a body scan, breath awareness, and consciousness awareness to help relieve deep-seated tension. Let yourself be in a comfortable place to begin this practice and enjoy.

Transcript

We'll begin by just letting your body settle a bit.

During the practice,

You may find yourself falling asleep.

You may be fully and completely awake the whole time,

Or you may find yourself in a state between asleep and awake,

Where you hear the sound of my voice,

But you're not necessarily following everything that I'm saying.

Whatever happens during the practice is just fine.

There's no right or wrong way to practice yoga nidra.

So let yourself be free to experience whatever happens with a real sense of openness and curiosity.

If you haven't already,

You may close your eyes and begin to settle into your practice,

Making any final adjustments that you need.

And take a couple of long,

Slow,

Deep breaths.

Imagine that you're breathing in from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet,

And then breathing out through the body from the soles of your feet up through the crown of your head.

Exhale down through the body,

The torso,

The legs,

To the soles of the feet.

Exhale up through the body and out through the crown of your head.

Take several more of these full body breaths,

Feeling as though each breath is helping you settle even more deeply into your practice.

Know that if at any point in the practice you feel uncomfortable,

You're welcome to roll to your side or adjust your body in any way that you need.

This is a practice of deep restoration and nurturing.

So let yourself have all of the creature comforts or anything else that you need to feel fully at ease and peaceful.

Begin to observe the feeling of the body just as it is.

Become aware of your surroundings,

Feeling the temperature of the air on your skin,

Listening to any sounds or notice any smells around you,

The sense of taste.

Let all of the five senses be wide open,

Receiving whatever is present in this moment as you are reclined on your back.

Bring to mind a place where you feel very calm,

Nourished and safe.

Your inner resource.

It could be a real place,

Perhaps a place in nature,

Or it could be a totally imaginary place like floating on a cloud.

Whatever place you select,

Let all of your senses open up to this place.

What does this inner resource,

This special calm,

Nourishing place look like for you?

Is anything present that brings you a sense of comfort and safety?

Notice how as you open up to this place,

The body may start to feel more warm,

More relaxed,

More comfortable.

Breathing may start to become easy and rhythmic,

Belly and hands warm and relaxed.

Know that you can return to this safe place,

This inner resource at any time,

Either during the practice or even once you return to day to day life.

Now,

Feel your heart for a moment.

Ask yourself the question,

How does my heart feel in this moment?

What does my heart need to feel peaceful and at ease?

Cultivate a sense of gratitude that whatever you need is already with you,

Revealed yet or not,

You have everything you need to be healthy,

Happy and complete.

Suggest to yourself,

I am happy,

Healthy and complete,

Just as I am.

Really feel this statement in the body as if it is in the process of becoming a reality.

I am happy,

Healthy and complete,

Just as I am.

Now let the sound of my voice become the sound of your own voice as we move our attention through the physical body.

As I name each area of the body,

Bring your awareness there and experience this sensation.

You may feel something or nothing at all,

But whatever your experience is your manifesting state of consciousness and it is just right as it is.

Start by becoming aware of the mouth,

Feeling the lips,

The teeth,

The gums,

The soft tongue widening and floating in the mouth.

Observe any sense of taste that is present.

Feel the ears,

Sound arriving at the ears.

Feel the nose,

The air flowing in and out of the nose.

Observe any sense of smell that may be present.

Feel the eyes resting back in the head.

Imagine your eyeballs resting back just like they are floating in little pools of water at the back of the eyes.

Feel the skin around the eyes.

Feel the eyelids becoming one with the rest of your face.

Feel the forehead cool and alive with sensation.

Your brow settling downward.

Feel all the sensations in the head at once.

The whole head,

Your entire head.

Breathing down to the neck and the throat,

Feel the shoulders.

The shoulders pure sensation in the tops of the shoulders down into the shoulder blades.

And then observe how sensation changes as you move up past the tops of the shoulders and down into the arms.

Notice just how the upper arms feel compared to the lower arms.

Just how the wrists feel compared to the hands.

Feel the palms of the hands and the fingers.

Moving your awareness to the torso,

Feel into the chest and the upper back.

What is present?

Can you feel the heart beating in the chest?

Can you feel the heart in places you don't normally associate with the heart?

Perhaps down into the palms of the hands or in the face or wherever your awareness is spontaneously drawn.

Moving back into the chest now,

Observe how sensation changes as you move down into the lower back and the abdomen.

Noticing any sensation in the abdomen.

Perhaps a feeling of fullness or a tinge of hunger.

Feeling the hips,

The pelvis.

Observe sensation change as you move from the upper legs down into the knees.

Notice how the knees feel different than the lower legs.

Feel down into the ankles and the feet.

Feel the soles of the feet,

Perhaps touching the sock or blanket or the air.

Become aware of the back plane of your body.

Begin with the sole of the right foot,

Sole of the left foot.

Right heel,

Left heel,

Right calf muscle,

Left calf muscle,

Back of the right knee,

Back of the left knee,

Back of the right thigh,

Back of the left thigh,

Right buttock,

Left buttock,

The right hip,

The left hip,

The back side of the waistline,

The back ribs,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Your whole spine from the tailbone to the back of the neck,

Even into the back of the head,

To the top of the head,

The fontanel.

And now towards the front body,

Notice sensation in your forehead,

Both sides of the head,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

The point between the eyebrows,

The eyebrow center,

Right eyelids,

Including the lashes,

Left eyelids,

Including the lashes,

Your right eye,

Left eye,

Left eye,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Right nostril,

Left nostril.

Slide your awareness from the eyebrow center down the bridge of the nose to the tip of your nose,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Your chin,

Jaw,

Throat,

Right collarbone,

And even your right arm,

The shoulder,

Upper arm bone,

Elbow,

Lower right arm,

Your wrist,

The palm of the hand,

The back of your hand,

And all five right fingers.

Back of the right arm to the armpit,

Across the collarbone to the left collarbone,

And then the whole left arm,

The left shoulder,

Upper arm bone,

Left elbow,

Lower arm,

The wrist,

Palm of the left hand,

Back of the hand,

And all five fingers.

Bring awareness back up the arm to the armpit,

Across the collarbone to the middle of the chest,

The right side of the chest,

Left side of the chest,

The middle of the chest.

Again,

Let your awareness settle here.

Lower abdomen,

Navel center,

Lower abdomen,

Right groin,

Left groin,

The whole right thigh,

The whole left thigh,

Right knee,

Left knee,

The left lower leg,

The right lower leg,

Right ankle,

Left ankle,

Right toes,

Left toes,

Now your whole right leg,

The entire left leg,

And both legs together,

Your whole right arm,

Whole left arm,

Both arms together,

The whole of your face and your head together,

The entire back body together,

The whole front body together,

Your entire body together,

The whole body like a sphere of radiant sensation together,

The whole body,

One homogenous layer together.

Simultaneously feel the entire physical body,

Pure sensation,

Sensation everywhere,

Feeling the radiance that you are.

And notice how all of these sensations and whatever you are experiencing,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Emotions,

Images,

Notice how everything is continually changing,

Coming and going within your awareness.

Step back into the part of yourself that is witnessing the physical body,

The witnessing state of the body.

Aware of the body and yet also aware of the stillness.

In this place of awareness,

Observe how the breath is playing out in the body.

Observe the full life cycle of the breath and how every cell of your body experiences this breath.

Just how the entire body expands with each inhale and releases with each exhale.

Can you find a single cell in the entire body that is not participating in this act of breathing?

Feel this expansion on the inhale,

Release on the exhale,

How every cell of your body is absorbing what it needs on the inhale,

Releasing what it no longer needs on the exhale.

Imagine and release every breath.

Feel the whole body breathing on its own.

And imagine a dividing line down the center of the body,

Running from the nose to the navel and place your awareness over in the left nostril.

Feel how the breath is flowing in and out through the left nostril.

You're still breathing in and out through both nostrils,

But your awareness is in your left nostril.

Now open up your awareness to feel the entire left side of the body breathing.

Feel the breath traveling to every cell in the left side of the body.

Feel the left side of the body filling with breath on the inhalation and emptying of breath on the exhalation.

Perhaps you can feel the breath in the left arm or the left hand in the left eye,

The left ear.

Spontaneously explore the entire left side of the body,

Even down to the toes on your breath.

Now open up your awareness to the entire right side of your body as if that whole side of the body,

Every cell is breathing by itself.

The right side of the body filling with breath on the inhalation and emptying of breath on the exhalation.

Perhaps you can feel the breath in the right arm,

In the right hand,

The right eye,

Or the right ear.

Spontaneously explore the right side of the body on the breath.

Perhaps you can even feel awareness down into the right toes.

Now go back and forth a few times,

Taking your attention from right to left and from left to right.

An exhalation into one side and then an inhalation.

And at the top of the inhale,

Shift your awareness to the opposite side.

Go back and forth across this midline of the body,

Exhaling from one side of the body and then breathing into it and then onto the other side.

Alternate side of the body breathing.

Just shifting your awareness back and forth,

Switching at the top of the inhale.

And when it feels right,

Allow the dividing line to dissolve.

Feel the entire body simultaneously breathing together.

The whole body breathing,

No parts.

The body is a global sphere of radiant sensation,

Breathing itself.

Exhaling,

Inhaling,

Radiating in all directions simultaneously.

And note now as you scan through the body,

Noticing all of the sensations arising.

Notice any feelings,

Any thoughts,

Any images or glimpses of daydreams.

Notice how everything within your awareness is continually changing.

Feel yourself as an observer of all this that is constantly changing.

Observe how the sensations are coming and going within your awareness,

How everything is coming and going within your awareness.

We move to awareness of sensations.

Begin by awakening the feeling of heaviness in your body,

The feeling of heaviness.

Notice the mass and the density of your bones and feel the pull of gravity getting stronger,

Drawing your bones down towards the earth.

You become so heavy that you feel yourself sinking into the floor,

The ground below rising up to meet you.

You cannot even move a finger or a toe.

Every cell of your body is very,

Very heavy,

As though your body is made of a single piece of iron.

Tighten the sensation of heaviness.

And now lightness.

Awaken a feeling of lightness.

Feel yourself becoming more and more weightless in every single part of your body.

It is as if your body were made from cotton.

There's spaciousness and you feel so light that it seems like you're floating away from the ground.

Your body is weightless and free and you feel the sensation of lightness.

Now cold.

Experience the sensation of cold.

Imagine the experience of bitter cold in your body.

Imagine you're walking barefoot on a cold floor in the middle of winter.

Your feet are very,

Very cold and you feel that cold all the way into your body,

Everywhere.

Tighten the awareness of coldness.

And then the sensation of heat.

Awaken the experience of heat.

Your whole body is hot.

Your whole body is hot.

You feel hot all over,

Inside and out.

Recollect the feeling of heat in the summer like you were getting into a hot car that has been sitting in the sun with its windows rolled up.

Very,

Very hot.

Heat all around the body.

Heat all through the body.

You feel so hot you could begin to sweat.

Now bring to mind a feeling of peace or contentment.

Guess what happens in the body as this feeling of peace or contentment arises.

Where do you feel it within the body?

What is the physical sensation of peace?

Contentment.

Simply what resonates with you.

If only feeling were present,

Sense and explore a feeling of peace and contentment.

Now notice what happens as you let the opposite arise.

A feeling of fear or even anger.

Where do you feel this sense of fear or anger in the body?

What is the physical sensation of fear or anger?

Now sense and explore what happens as you shift back to the feeling of peace and contentment.

Does it feel different than the first time?

Let peace and contentment flood in once more.

Notice what happens as you shift back to fear or anger.

What is the physical sensation of fear or anger?

Now back and forth,

One unfolding into the next.

Feeling peace and contentment and then feeling fear or anger.

Back and forth,

One and then the other.

The mind does not do this,

The body does.

Peace and contentment and then the feeling of fear or anger.

Now feel both peaceful and fearful simultaneously.

Opposite experiences at the same time.

Notice the effect on the body and on the mind.

Now bring to mind the feeling of trust or even faith.

Notice what happens in the body as this feeling of trust or faith arises.

Where do you feel it within the body?

What is the physical sensation of trust,

Faith?

Whatever resonates with you here,

If only feeling were present,

Sense and explore a feeling of faith and trust.

Now notice what happens as you let the opposite arise,

A feeling of uncertainty,

Distrust.

Where do you feel this sense of uncertainty or distrust in the body?

What is the physical sensation of uncertainty or distrust?

Now sense and explore what happens as you shift back to that feeling of trust or faith.

Does it feel different than the first time?

Let trust or faith flood in once more to your entire body.

And notice what happens as you shift back to uncertainty or distrust.

Notice the physical sensation of uncertainty or distrust.

Now back and forth,

One unfolding into the next,

A feeling of trust and faith and feeling uncertainty and distrust,

Back and forth,

One and then the other.

The mind does not do this.

It is the body.

Trust and faith,

Uncertainty and distrust,

Back and forth.

Notice the effect on the body and on the mind.

Now let your awareness step back into the part of you that was witnessing this experience,

The part of you that was observing emotions,

Observing physical sensation.

From the state of witnessing awareness,

Observe what is present in the body,

What lingers.

See if you can be open and welcome each experience as a part of the whole.

Observe the natural breath.

Observe the mind.

Understanding sensations on a backdrop of unchanging awareness.

Let yourself settle into this stillness,

A state of pure awareness,

Pure being that is your true nature,

Something in you that is healthy,

Whole and complete just as it is.

Welcome this up to the surface.

Let it be your present moment experience,

The expansive silence,

The inner witness that is your own true nature.

Your entire being,

Body,

Mind and heart,

An expansive radiant presence,

Feeling and experiencing the body as pure sensation,

Thoughts as sensation,

Emotions as sensation,

And feeling how sensation is continually moving and changing.

Feel yourself as pure awareness,

Pure presence,

Pure being,

Unchanging being that contains all the changing contents of consciousness.

Notice if there is any striving to achieve anything.

Can you give up the striving and set yourself free?

Just being with what is right now,

Allowing yourself and everything to simply be experiencing your own true nature,

Which responds just so to anything that occurs in life at each moment revealing the action for you to take.

Now cultivate a sense of gratitude for your own life experience,

For all the challenges and triumphs within your own experience,

A sense of gratitude for your own wisdom.

And internally repeat to yourself,

I am happy,

Healthy and complete just as I am.

I am happy,

Healthy and complete just as I am.

I am a source of love and healing on this planet.

I am a source of love and healing on this planet.

Slowly and gently now,

Begin to return to a waking state of awareness.

Start by feeling the temperature of the air on your skin and hearing any sounds,

Smelling any smells around you.

Feel the beat of your heart,

This constant rhythm bringing you health and vitality.

When you feel ready,

Take a bit of a deeper breath,

Wiggling a finger or a toe.

And if you do not feel ready to move,

You're welcome to stay just where you are.

Take all the time that you need.

You may stay where you are or even sleep.

We are about to end the practice now.

Make an intention,

A very sincere heartfelt intention to live from this place of pure awareness,

From the stillness,

Loving every thought,

Word and deed,

A reflection of your own true nature.

If you choose,

Begin to transition now to a waking state.

The formal practice will end in a few moments.

Feel the physical body,

Its weight,

Its density and begin to tune in to your physical surroundings.

Notice the sounds around you.

Feel the temperature of the air on your skin.

Notice the ground beneath you and the meeting points between your body and the floor.

Remember where you are and where you are located in the space that you are in.

When you feel ready,

Begin to take some deeper breaths.

Feel the breath moving throughout the whole body and you might want to begin to stretch and move the body a little bit at first.

Take your time,

There's no hurry.

Stretch through arms,

Through legs.

You may even gently turn your head from side to side,

Exploring range of motion in your neck.

It may feel good to slide arms along the ground over your head and enjoy a full body stretch that way.

Take your time and when it feels right for you,

You may bend your legs,

Roll over to your right side and rest a few moments more.

Again,

You may rest in the recline position for as long as you like.

If you're making your way back up,

Take a few breaths on your side.

Thank you for taking the time to practice yoga nidra today.

Yoga nidra is a service of love you provide for yourself and all others.

It mentors us into the experience of our own true nature of expansiveness.

It shows us that when we serve ourselves,

We serve all others.

And when we serve others,

We serve ourselves.

If you haven't already,

You can use the strength of your arms now to gently press your way back up to a comfortable upright seat.

Your practice of yoga nidra is now complete.