Welcome.
My name is Lauren Runyon and this is a yoga nidra practice to help you move into feeling like your mind has calmed down and the body has created space and opening and release of tension.
Begin to find your most comfortable position for this practice.
Be sure to support the body.
You can use props and pillows to place under your joints.
Closing down the eyes or taking a soft gaze whenever you feel settled in.
Let's begin by taking two sips of air in through the nose,
Then exhaling out the mouth.
Repeating again,
Two sips of air in through the nose,
Exhale deeply out the mouth.
One more time at your own pace,
Inhaling,
Inhaling deeper,
Exhaling out the mouth.
And as you exhale,
Feel your shoulders drop away from your ears.
Feel the body start to let go.
Start to notice your body and then see if you could imagine sensing into the field of expansion and spaciousness that blankets around you.
Soften into this spaciousness.
Feel the edges of your body reach out into all of the space that blankets you.
Almost as if your body seeks out the comfort of the vastness of space around your body by dissolving outward.
Begin to become aware of sound.
Receiving the connection with each sound that comes to your awareness.
Notice your mouth and the taste on your taste buds or the temperature that you sense inside the mouth.
Moving to the eyes,
Imagine the eyes sinking back and resting in a hammock of soft tissue.
And as they sink down to rest,
Even though your eyes are closed,
It may feel as though your peripheral vision has expanded into this spaciousness as well.
Welcome your intention to this practice.
Mentally repeating your sankalpa one time.
And you can repeat the sankalpa that you're working with.
Or might you repeat,
I belong here.
I am at home.
Allow your awareness to drift to inside the mouth.
Moving your awareness to the top teeth and the bottom teeth.
Notice the tip of your tongue.
Follow it down all the way to the root of your tongue.
Awareness to the hollow pit of your throat,
Center of your chest,
Both shoulders at the same time,
Both elbows,
Both wrists,
Palms of the hands.
And take three breaths here,
Breathing in and out through the palms of your hands.
Both sides of the waist,
Both hips,
Knees,
Ankles,
Tops of the feet.
Bring your awareness to the pelvic center.
Breathe in and out the pelvic center three times.
Awareness to the base of the spine.
Travel it all the way up your spine,
One vertebrae at a time.
Awareness to the back of your head,
Top of the head,
And third eye center.
When you're ready,
Also welcome in the awareness of your breath to the third eye center.
And imagine breathing in and out the space with each inhale and exhale.
Using your natural breath,
Breathing in and out through the third eye center.
And then if it would feel good to you,
Imagine that as you inhale through the third eye center,
It moves through the front brain and the hemispheres of the brain,
All the way to the brainstem,
Located at the base of your skull.
And as you breathe back out,
You move in the opposite direction,
Back out the brain.
Inhale through the third eye center,
Through the front brain,
The hemispheres of the brain,
All the way to the brainstem.
Exhaling back out,
Continuing at your own pace with your own natural breath.
Letting go of your breath and the breathing,
And allow your attention to rest behind the forehead.
Allow yourself to rest here,
Witnessing and watching the spaciousness.
Gently welcome back your Sankalpa.
Mentally repeating three times,
I belong here.
I am at home.
Take a deep breath in through the nose.
Exhale,
Letting it go.
Maybe inhale again,
Imagining the Sankalpa settling into your heart space,
Filling the area.
Exhaling,
Letting everything go.
Before we start to awaken the body even more,
I'd like to read a piece to you.
This is from Radiant Sutras,
And this is Radiant Sutra 26,
Translated by Lauren Roach.
The one who is at play everywhere says,
There is a space in the heart where everything meets.
Come here if you want to find me.
Mind,
Senses,
Soul,
Eternity,
All are here.
Are you here?
Enter the bowl of vastness that is the heart.
Listen to the song that is always resonating.
Give yourself to it with total abandon.
Quiet ecstasy is here,
And a steady,
Regal sense of resting in perfect spot.
You are the embodiment of blessing.
Once you know the way,
The nature of attention will call you to return.
Again and again,
Answer that call,
And be saturated with knowing,
I belong here.
I am at home.
When you're ready,
You can start to take any small movements,
Moving into any larger body movements,
And continue to take your time slowly awakening your body from this deep rest,
As your practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
