Welcome to this Yoga Nidra practice inspired by Yoga Sutra 1.
2.
Yogas chittavati nidodaha.
Yoga is the stilling of the movements of the mind.
This sutra reminds us that yoga is not about fighting the mind or forcing every thought to disappear.
It is about allowing the waves of thought,
Emotion,
Memory,
And worry to settle,
So we can rest in the quiet depth beneath them.
In this practice,
You are invited to let the body soften.
Let the breath become natural.
And gently observe whatever moves through the mind without resistance.
You do not need to create stillness.
Simply rest,
Listen and allow the mind to settle.
Beneath every wave,
The depth remains.
So let's get ready for Yoga Nidra.
Lie down in a comfortable position.
Traditionally,
Yoga Nidra is practiced in Shavasana.
Lying on your back with your legs slightly apart.
Letting your feet fall naturally outward.
And the arms resting a little away from the body with the palms facing upward.
If you are doing the practice sitting down,
Keep your spine upright.
Make sure your head is well rested and you can put your hands on your knees or your thighs with your palms facing upward.
Take some time to make any adjustments that you need.
If you need to place a cushion beneath the knees,
If you need to support your head or if you need a blanket over your body.
Get comfortable in a position in which you can remain still,
In which you can remain at ease.
If lying on your back is not suitable.
Rest on your side or in any other comfortable position.
And allow the eyes to close.
Feel the weight of the body meeting the surface beneath you.
The ground is here.
Supporting you.
Receiving you.
There is nothing you need to hold up.
There is nothing you need to carry for the duration of this practice.
Take a slow breath in.
And breathe out with a soft sigh.
Once again,
Breathing in.
And gently breathing out.
One more time.
Breathing in.
And a long easy breath out.
Now allow the bread to return to its natural rhythm.
Do not change it.
Do not control it.
Simply notice that breathing is happening.
The body is breathing.
You are their sting.
Awareness is present.
Now become aware of your body in whatever position it is.
Become aware of the whole body from the crown of the head to the tips of the toes.
Feel the entire body as one field of sensation.
And silently the beat.
I am practicing Yoga Nidra.
I the mean of e and aware.
One more time I am practicing Yoga Nidra.
I remain awake.
And Aveda.
We now come to the Sankalpa.
The Sankalpa is a short positive statement of inner intention.
It is a seed placed gently into the deeper mind.
For this practice,
You may use the Sankalpa.
I rest in the quiet beneath every thought.
Or you can choose any other statement that feels clear and meaningful to you.
Repeat your Sankalpa silently three times.
With full attention.
With trust.
Let the words settle deeply.
There's nothing more to do with them now.
We now begin the rotation of consciousness to the body.
Move your awareness from one point to the next.
There is no need to move physically.
Simply hear the name of each part and feel it inwardly.
They mean away,
They mean still.
We start with the right hand.
Right Hand Thumb 2nd finger Third finger.
Fourth finger.
Fifth finger Thumb of the hand.
Back of the hand.
List.
Lower arm.
Elbow Upper arm.
Shoulder armpit.
Right side of the waist.
Right hip.
Right thigh,
Neat gap.
Back of the knee.
Golf.
Shin.
Ankle Heal.
Soul of the light for Top of the foot.
Thy big dole.
2nd Tool Third door.
Fourth door.
Fifth door.
The whole right side.
Feel the entire right side.
Move to the left hand.
Left Hand Thumb 2nd finger Third finger.
Fourth finger 5th finger Bobble the Hand Back of the hand.
List.
Loam Elbow Upper arm.
Shoulder Left side of the waist.
Left hip.
Left thigh.
Kneecap,
Back of the knee.
Go.
Shin.
Angle.
Heal Soul of the left foot.
Top of the foot.
Left big toe.
2nd Tool Third door.
Both do.
Fifth door.
The whole left side.
Feel the entire left side.
Now move to the back of the body.
Back of the head.
Right Shoulder Blade Left Shoulder Blade the whole upper back.
Metalback.
Lower back.
Right buttock Left buttock.
The whole spine.
From the base of the spine to the back of the neck.
Feel the entire back body.
On the surface that it is resting on.
Now the front of the body.
Top of the head.
Bald head.
Thy temple.
Left Temple Light Eyebrow Left Eye Blow the space between the eyebrows.
Right eye.
Left Eye Right here.
Left yo.
Ripe tea.
Left cheek.
Nose,
Tip of the Nose Upper lip.
Lower lip.
Both lips together.
Chin.
Drought.
Right collarbone,
Left Collarbone Right side of the chest.
Left Side of the Chest center of the chest.
Upper abdomen.
Navel,
Lower abdomen.
The whole front body.
Now become aware of the whole right leg.
The whole left leg.
Both legs together.
The whole right arm.
The whole left arm.
Both arms together.
The whole back body.
The whole front body.
The head,
The face,
That also The Alms the legs,
The entire body.
The entire body still.
Supported.
I win.
Now awaken the experience of heaviness.
Feel the body becoming heavy.
The arms heavy,
The legs heavy.
The Back Heavy.
The whole body sinking deeply into the surface it is resting on.
The body as heavy as stone.
Completely supported.
Release heaviness.
Release heaviness and awaken the experience of lightness.
The alms are light.
The legs light.
The Head Light.
The whole body almost weightless.
As though floating just above the surface.
Lie Spacious.
Unburdened.
Release lightness.
Let both heaviness and lightness dissolve.
They turn to the body as it is.
Bring your awareness to the natural breath.
Notice the breath moving in through the nostrils.
Notice the breath moving out.
Coolness as the breath enters.
Gentle warmth as it leaves.
Follow the breath from the nostrils to the throat.
From the throat into the chest.
From the chest into the abdomen.
No effort.
NO CONTROL Simply Witnessing.
Now imagine that each breath moves like a gentle wave.
The inhalation rises.
The exhalation falls.
Aviva diving!
A wave dissolving.
Breathing in,
The weave rises.
Breathing out,
The waves settle.
Return to the natural movement of the breath.
Notice that every breath arises.
Remains briefly.
And passes.
No breath can be held forever.
No wave remains unchanged.
Bring your awareness now to the inner field of the mind.
The inner field of the mind.
Do not search for silence.
Do not try to create any particular state.
Simply notice what is pleasant.
Perhaps a thought appears.
I'm Mehmet Ali.
A plan.
An image,
A concern.
Do not follow it.
Do not push it away.
Simply Recognize.
A movement has arisen.
You may silently name what appears.
Thinking.
Remembering.
Planning.
Judging.
Imagining.
Worrying.
Name it gently.
And allow it to pass.
The thought is not an interruption to the practice.
Seeing the thought is the practice.
Imagine that each thought is a small wave on the surface of a lake.
I'll be over the ices.
It takes shape.
It moves and then it falls back into the water.
Another wave may appear.
And another.
No wave needs to be stopped by force.
No wave needs to be held.
Simply watch.
You are not asked to become the wave.
You are witnessing its movement.
The mind may move.
Awareness remains present.
We now awaken opposite experiences.
Allow the sensations to arise through memory and imagination.
Restlessness Recall the feeling of a restless mind.
Thoughts move quickly.
One concern leading to another,
The urge to check something,
To fix something,
To go somewhere.
Feel restlessness throughout the body.
The mind moving in many directions,
The breath slightly unsettled.
The body unable to completely let go.
Know the experience of restlessness.
The Lee's Restlessness Now awaken the opposite experience.
Remember a moment of deep stillness.
Perhaps sitting before the ocean.
Standing beneath a night sky,
Resting in a quiet room.
Feel stillness spreading through the body.
The muscles solve.
The breath gentle.
The Mind Spacious.
Nothing to chase.
Nothing to this ish.
The whole body filled with stillness.
Release stillness.
Awaken the experience of turbulence.
Imagine dark water stirred by strong winds.
Waves crossing in different directions,
The surface broken and restless.
Feel the movement of emotional turbulence.
Confusion feel Frustration Uncertainty Simply know the feeling.
Release Turbulence.
Now awaken Clarity.
Imagine clean water becoming calm.
Sediment settling slowly to the bottom.
The surface smoothing.
Light reflecting clearly.
Feel the mind becoming clear.
Not empty.
Not dull.
Clio.
Steady.
Are we?
Release gladly.
And allow both turbulence and clarity to dissolve.
Rest in the awareness that contains them both.
Now imagine that you are standing beside a quiet lake at twilight.
The sky is soft.
The air is cool.
The world around you is becoming still.
At first,
The surface of the lake is restless.
Small waves move agnostic.
The water reflects the sky in broken shapes.
You watch without judgement.
Each wave carries something.
A thought.
Amenity.
A feel,
A hope.
An unfinished conversation.
A plan for tomorrow.
One wave rises with the thought.
I must solve everything.
Another rises with the thought.
I am not doing enough.
Another carries an old memory.
Another carries anticipation.
You do not enter the lake.
You do not chase the waves.
You stand quietly at the shore.
Watching.
The wind begins to soften.
The waves become smaller.
The space between them.
Go Zuaido!
Some waves still appeal.
But now you see that every wave is made of the same water.
The worried thought,
The joyful thought,
The memory,
The fear,
The image.
All arise from the same field of mind.
They take different shapes but none remains forever.
Sit beside the lake.
The earth beneath you is steady.
Your spine is at ease.
The breath moves naturally.
With each exhalation the wind softens.
With each exhalation,
The surface settles.
Every breath out a little more quiet.
Every breath out a little more space.
The lake becomes more calm and you begin to see beneath the surface.
At first,
Only a little.
Then more clearly stones beneath the water.
Long grass moving gently the depth.
That had always been there.
The depth did not appear because the waves were bad.
The depth was simply hidden when the surface was disturbed.
In the same way the quiet within you.
Has not been created by this practice.
It has always been present.
Beneath thought,
Beneath Mammothy beneath the movement of emotion.
Look now at the surface of the lake.
It has become like a mirror.
The sky is reflected clearly.
The first stars appear.
Their light rests upon the water.
A single thought may appear.
See it as one small ripple.
The ripple moves outward.
It grows softer.
And disappears,
The lake remains.
Silently the peach.
Thoughts arise within me.
But they are not the whole of me.
Emotions move through me.
But they do not define me.
Beneath every wave.
There is wild.
Now imagine moving gently into the lake.
The water is warm and completely safe.
You float easily upon the surface.
The water supports you.
Nothing needs to be done.
Feel the body resting upon the calm water.
The ears partly beneath the surface.
The sounds of the outer world becoming distant,
The breath moving naturally.
You are held by the lake,
Held by awareness,
Held by stillness.
The body seems to dissolve into the water.
The boundary between the body and the lake becomes less distinct.
There is only quiet presence.
Still water?
OpenSky Avenus Rest pure.
And now bring your Sankalpa back into awareness,
The same intention you planted at the beginning of the practice.
If you chose,
I rest in the quiet beneath every thought,
Or whatever is your Sankalpa that you have chosen,
Repeat it silently three times.
Allow the intention to settle into the deeper mind.
Trust that the practice continues beyond these words.
Start to become aware of your physical body.
Become aware of the natural breath.
The rise and the fall of the abdomen.
The movement of the chest.
Become aware of any sounds.
Any sounds in the area that you are in.
Feel the temperature of the air against the skin.
The clothing around the body.
The points of contact between the body and the surface that it is resting on.
Invite movement into the fingers.
Into the tools.
Take a slightly deeper breath and stretch your arms if it feels comfortable.
Notice the quality of the mind.
There may still be thoughts.
There may still be movement.
The practice does not require a perfectly empty mind.
It asks only that you remember the quiet beneath the movement.
And when you are sure that you are wide awake,
You can open your eyes.
The practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.
Hadi om tat sat.
