And as we initiate this practice,
We just come together in community knowing and trusting that this is our time,
The time to settle in and to look within.
And just allow yourself to feel the surface in which you've placed yourself.
And be mindful of where your legs are,
That your ankles are not crossing,
And that your feet are just flopped out,
Releasing the hip joints,
And that your arms are placed next to your body.
And the palms of the hands can be either up or down.
You want to find your comfort,
Whatever's comfortable for you,
Making sure that the head is settled,
That your neck is not crunched.
And just slowly begin to feel the breath move through you.
And for this little while,
You simply commit to being still.
And you can repeat that to yourself silently,
I am still,
Just for now.
And in community,
We'll take a large inhale,
Holding at the top,
And exhaling.
And again,
Large inhale into the belly,
Into the chest,
Holding at the top,
And exhaling.
And one last breath together,
Inhaling into the belly,
Holding at the top,
And exhaling.
And allow yourself to simply find the rhythm of your breath,
Inhaling and exhaling,
Allowing the body to settle,
Allowing the gravity of Mother Earth to gently pull you into her.
And every breath brings you more deeply into your practice,
Your time.
And begin to feel the awareness on the right side of your body.
And that awareness moves into the left side of the body.
And that awareness moves to the underside of the body.
And that awareness moves to the top of the body,
Right above you.
And that awareness holds you,
Suspends you,
Caressing every part of you.
The practice of yoga nidra now begins.
And every sound and every breath deepens and widens your view of yourself,
Falling more deeply into total relaxation.
And the breath expands and contracts effortlessly,
Allowing the awareness to spread through the body and into the heart.
And here we plant a seed.
The heart has a message in this seed,
And we call this our Sankalpa,
An I Am statement.
It could be I Am love.
I Am safe.
I Am seen.
It's your Sankalpa,
Your heart's desire.
Listen for it and repeat it three times silently to yourself now.
Locked on to empty space,
Right above you.
We allow that message to settle deep within,
Allowing it to grow.
And as we move through the practice,
We begin to travel through the body,
Moving through different states of consciousness.
We place all of our awareness in the tip of the right thumb,
In the tip of the right index finger,
The tip of the right middle finger,
And the tip of the right ring finger.
The awareness moves into the right pinky finger.
It lands gently in the palm of the right hand and in the back of the right hand,
Into the wrist joint and into the right forearm.
That awareness moves into the right elbow joint,
The right bicep,
All the way into the right shoulder joint.
The awareness slides into the right underarm,
Down and around the right breast.
It moves into the right rib cage,
Down to the right waist.
The awareness lands gently in the right hip socket and fills the right thigh.
Awareness moves around the right kneecap and down the right shin.
It moves through the center of the right ankle joint and into the bones of the right foot,
Filling the right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Right fourth toe,
Right pinky toe.
The awareness moves to the sole of the right foot.
The entire right side of the body is full of light and awareness.
The right side of the body,
Full of awareness.
The awareness continues to move into the left tip thumb,
Into the left tip index finger,
The left middle finger,
The tip of the left ring finger,
Into the pinky finger.
The awareness swirls into the left palm,
Into the back of the left hand,
And through the left wrist joint.
The awareness moves into the left forearm,
Up to the left elbow joint,
Filling the left bicep,
Up to the left shoulder joint.
That awareness slides under the left underarm and down around the left breast.
That awareness slides through the left rib cage into the left waist.
It lands gently in the center of the left hip joint and begins to fill the left thigh.
The awareness lands in the left kneecap,
Down into the left shin,
And in the center of the left ankle joint.
The awareness fills the bones of the left foot,
The left big toe,
Left second toe,
Left third toe,
Left fourth toe.
The awareness fills the left pinky toe.
It moves to the sole of the left foot,
Filling the entire left side of the body.
It's full of light and awareness.
The left side of the body,
Full of awareness.
The left side of the body.
The awareness moves over the heels and through the calves.
It moves up the bend of the legs and over the hamstrings.
The awareness moves over the buttocks and lands gently in the back of the body into the sacrum.
That awareness begins to move slowly vertebra by vertebra through the spinal column,
Into the mid back,
To the upper back,
Into the neck,
Filling the body with light and awareness,
Into the brainstem,
In the back of the head,
To the top of the head.
The entire body is lit up with light and awareness,
Suspended in change with light and awareness.
It appears that next time,
There is no reception.
You don't have to,
What happened next time?
And we simply find ourselves right at the brow center,
Landing softly,
Gently opening the space and allowing yourself to pour into it your favorite color.
And allow it to just fold in upon itself your favorite color filling the body.
And from that place of neutrality,
We begin to feel empty.
As if there is nothing within.
Feeling absolutely empty.
As if everything is void.
Letting the body settle in to nothingness,
Emptiness.
And now from that same place we begin to fill up and feel full.
We let things expand within.
Moving from empty to full.
Feeling both,
Feeling full.
Now let that go and allow yourself to fall deeply into nothing.
Back to neutral.
Allowing that color to move more deeply within you.
Telling you,
Changing you,
Settling you.
From that brow center we begin to experience heat.
Begin to feel the body heat up.
The skin gets hot.
The muscles heat up.
The entire body begins to sweat.
Realizing the temperature and feeling heat.
And now we allow to feel the chill.
We begin to feel cold,
As if an ice storm has settled in.
And if you're laying on ice,
The body gets cold.
Feel that.
Feeling cold into the bones of the body.
And now let that go and feel nothing.
No heat,
No cold,
No ice,
No chill.
Allow the awareness to hold you in that place completely suspended.
Allowing the breath to hold you and to bring you more deeply into your practice.
And from the brow center,
Just begin to pull up a movie screen and begin to watch the items one by one,
Moving through the experience,
Holding still and calm and steady.
And you begin to see a baby yawning,
An orange sunset,
Birds flying above,
Two bodies intertwined,
A bunch of lavender,
A reflection in a lake,
Butterflies in your stomach,
Nuns walking in front of you,
A burning church,
A field of cactus,
A shooting star.
A shooting star.
A shooting star.
And simply shrink your awareness down to the size of a single cell.
And allow that cell to bounce around.
And every time it touches another cell,
The color changes.
And watch how the entire body begins to change.
That awareness changing the entire body.
And now expand that awareness,
Placing your body into a bubble.
And just watch the bubble float.
And allow the bubble to move through objects,
Changing color,
Changing you.
And as you drift,
Begin to hear the message of your heart.
When you feel the pull of the sky pulling you,
When you hear the whisper of your son,
Kelpa,
You can repeat your son kelpa three times silently to yourself now.
And as you repeat it,
You begin to hear gravity asking you to come home.
Come home someone new,
When something's changed within.
And the breath guides you back into your body,
Back into the place where you began.
And the practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
And yoga nidra is a practice that will give and support and give you life,
Changing you from the inside out.
With your next breath,
Begin to place movement in your left thumb.
And then moving that movement down to the toes of your right foot.
And slowly on your time and no one else's begin to place movement in the shoulders.
And reaching up as if you're reaching up to the sky,
Moving the body slowly and confidently.
And allowing the hands to come back to your side when you're done.
And rolling to your right or your left,
Keeping the head cradled within,
Keeping the eyes closed and staying right with yourself.
And only when you're ready using the palms of the hands to push yourself up to a seated position facing me.
Keeping the eyes down,
Keeping the focus within.
And taking the palms of the hands and placing the palms as if you've captured that bubble.
And placing the hands right at the chest center.
And taking a breath here and thanking yourself for practicing,
Knowing this practice is for you.
Hari Om Tatsa.
Hari Om Tatsa.
Hari Om Tatsa.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today,
Ladies.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
