Namaste,
My name is Christi and thank you so much for choosing to practice yoga nidra with me.
In this yoga nidra practice it will be deeply restful and we will invite in abhavana practice or cultivation of peace by focusing on gratitude to really amplify all the healthy brain chemistry and myriad of benefits of gratitude and yoga nidra combined.
When you're ready find your very restful position that can be savasana or any restorative position that allows you to feel deeply comfortable and as you close your eyes just notice if there is anything that needs to be adjusted to find more comfort make any adjustments or fidget and then perhaps just allowing a wave of stillness and calm to take over your whole body take some deep breaths and just notice if there is any stressors or tensions in the body that you can breathe a little bit more support and relaxation into softening the jaw softening all the little muscles around the eyes allowing each temple to gently soften any residual tension a smooth wave of relaxation moves across your forehead feeling the whole scalp relax just starting to feel with these inhales and exhales the beauty of giving and receiving receiving the inhale and the inhale is followed by the exhale then right into the next inhale and exhale let go as you feel your body filling up with breath and then releasing again to feel the outer edge of your skin that boundary of where your body meets the world around you trace that gentle line surrounding you feeling the spaciousness around your body feeling where your body touches the surface beneath you and then with that awareness just let go noticing the sounds around you the sounds in the distance the sound at the farthest point from you and then noticing the sounds that are closer the sounds that are closer to this boundary of where your body meets the spaciousness of the world and then just begin to draw your awareness inward allowing the eyes to relax deep within the mind letting go of anything that is pulling you outside of the sacred landscape within any feelings of needing to take care of something or someone or be anywhere else but here just draw your awareness inward as your body drops deeper and deeper and to rest can you start to breathe in the sensations of peace and allowing the breath to wave down through the whole body exhaling anything ready to be released out through the soles of the feet inhaling peace and exhaling letting go starting to bring the awareness to the heart space imagine a small doorway at the heart space as you open the door and enter your spiritual heart connecting with the heart and the frequency it emanates and the deep gratitude for its continuous sacred rhythm of life force feeling its expansion and retraction and how that draws more and more life force into the body and with this open doorway to your heart space inviting in a connection to your sankalpa this conversation with your heart and its deepest desire you have a primary sankalpa bringing that into the practice or perhaps repeating I am grateful for all the treasures and gifts of my life repeating your sankalpa three times now allowing its luminosity to spread like light from the heart throughout the body I'll begin to move through the body with a rotation of awareness a body scan and you may welcome the mantra shanti or the feeling tones of peace at each point in the body named creating a radiant circuitry of peace throughout the entire body placing the mantra shanti in the palm of the right hand the feeling tone of peace draws down into the right thumb index finger middle finger ring finger baby finger holding peace in the palm the back of the hand middle of the wrist elbow shoulder armpit right side of the chest right ribs hip thigh knee ankle heel top of the foot sole of the right foot peace down the right big toe second toe third or baby toe welcoming in the feeling tones of the mantra shanti peace peace peace the whole right side of the body finding balance by holding the mantra shanti in the left hand peace illuminates down into the left thumb index finger middle finger ring finger baby finger holding peace in the left palm back of the hand middle of the wrist elbow shoulder armpit the left side of the chest left ribs hip knee ankle heel top of the foot sole of the foot peace down the left big toe second toe third or baby toe the whole left side welcoming in the feeling tones of the mantra shanti peace peace peace come to feel the whole body enveloped in peace the whole body experiencing the frequency or vibration of shanti feel your breath move your body notice the natural easy rhythm of your breath as you take a deeper richer breath how does that breath feel notice the sensation the breath emanates through the body notice the sensation of how the inhale feels in comparison to the exhale breath can you feel the undercurrent of the breath this undercurrent of subtle energy moving perhaps subtle energy sensation of peace down the center of the spine just feeling a gentle fluidity subtle energy moving now feeling the deep stillness deep stillness that cradles and holds all of the subtle movement through the body feeling this movement and stillness together as one can you feel that interconnectedness of both the subtle movement within and the stillness can you welcome in this visualization the vast open blue sky with big white puffy clouds deep within the mind space down into the heart bright blue skies filled with floating clouds every cloud that slowly floats by and dissolves clears and cleanses the mind space chittakash the spaciousness of the mind clearing of thoughts beliefs ready to be dissolved and released clear and open sky within this bright blue sky is open across the heart space the heart is as open as the vast blue sky as far as one can see each cloud that drifts by and dissolves reveals another miracle and blessing revealing all the miracles and blessings treasures and gifts in your life the vast blue sky holding this gracious awareness of all of these gifts like a clear backdrop allow this gracious frequency or vibration to emanate throughout the whole body letting the body slip away into rest silence as the sky within you holds this vast awareness of all the miracles and blessings within your life feeling yourself rest and contentment or santosha and deep deep peace and to feel yourself floating here on the clouds of bliss a vast sky of awareness returning to the heart space the doorway into the spiritual heart allowing your sankalpa to float like a cloud to the surface of the heart repeating your sankalpa I am grateful for the miracles and treasures in my life I feel your whole body being breathed just feeling that gentle life force throughout the body allowing peace to illuminate from the crown all the way down to the toes and you may even like to begin to list in the mind's eye drawing information from the heart a list of all the things people places experiences animals that are easy for you to be grateful for allowing that cultivation of gratitude to invoke more and more peace in your heart flooding the brain with all the good hormones that support feeling at peace happy calm now perhaps listing things you're grateful for that sometimes get unnoticed like the beautiful sky changing colors throughout the day the certainty of the Sun always rising setting the dancing of sunlight and through the windows in the morning standing under the vast night sky perhaps sometimes unnoticed sensations of just the breaths willingness to always flow or the paved roads that allow you to get to the people you love and the places that you love grateful for it all and then perhaps bringing to mind any challenges anything that you're moving through on your karmic path and with kindness and gratitude for yourself for doing the work and gratitude for and the challenges that perhaps can bring more resiliency grateful for it all can you bask in all the benefits of gratitude and allowing this frequency or energy to emit peace within and then peace out into the world let yourself bask here as long as you need with deep deep gratitude from my heart to yours namaste grateful for you please stay connected love to hear what you're grateful for and how this practice may have perhaps served you and share with anyone that you feel could benefit shanti shanti shanti peace peace peace namaste
