Welcome to this Yoga Nidra practice to help you increase Vagal Tone.
My name is Lauren Runyon and I will be guiding you through this Yoga Nidra meditation.
We increase Vagal Tone by practicing relaxation.
Benefits of increased Vagal Tone include better emotional regulation,
Relaxing and recovering faster from stress,
Better digestion and more.
It's time for you to find your most comfortable position.
Supporting the body with anything that helps you feel more relaxed and comfortable.
Making sure you are supporting your joints,
Supporting the head and neck if you're laying down.
Using something to keep the body warm as you become really relaxed and enter into the state of conscious sleep.
Settle in slowly,
Beginning to welcome in the embrace of the support below you.
Feel the body start to sink down into the support,
A sense of heaviness that comes over the body as you settle into this moment.
Release your breath and with each inhale and exhale,
Allow your natural breath to wash away the tension.
Body surrendering,
Letting go,
Calming down.
The mind coming to this moment,
Allowing for more space between your thoughts,
Maybe even mentally imagining the mind sinking down towards the heart.
As this is a practice of receiving,
There is nothing that you need to do from this point forward.
You don't even need to actively listen or try and interpret what I'm saying.
We're going to start with a breathing exercise to help you tap into the parasympathetic nervous system.
We do this by making our exhales longer than our inhale.
So when you're ready,
On your next inhale,
You'll inhale slowly through the nose for a count of four at your own pace.
Pause at the top and when you're ready,
Slowly exhale out the nose for a count of eight at your own pace.
Repeating that again,
Inhaling for four.
Exhale slowly for eight.
Letting the breath wash away the tension again.
Repeating again,
Inhale slowly four.
Exhale slowly eight.
Continue on your own for four more breaths.
Letting the body let go even further every time you exhale.
The body losing shape and becoming expansive as you let go of tension.
This time here,
Feel the energy in the body start to shift into a sense of presence where you are fully in your body and out of your mind,
Into a state of nourishment,
Welcoming your intention to the practice,
Mentally repeating one time your Sankalpa or repeating,
I find peace within myself,
Regardless of external circumstances.
Allow your attention to gently move to the center of your forehead and as I move through different body parts,
Allow yourself to follow the sounds of my voice,
Not with your mind,
But with your body,
Creating a cascade of a natural river of relaxation that flows through the entire body.
All of your awareness is at the center of your forehead.
Moving down to both of your eyes,
The tip of the nose,
The air moving in and out the nose,
Both cheeks,
The teeth,
Tip of the tongue,
Root of the tongue,
Center of the throat,
Hollow pit of the throat,
Center of the chest,
Both shoulders,
Both elbows,
Both wrists,
Palms of the hands,
Both thumbs,
Index fingers,
Middle fingers,
Ring fingers,
Little fingers,
Both sides of the waist,
Navel center,
Pubic center,
Both hips,
Both knees,
Both ankles,
Tops of the feet,
Both big toes,
Second toes,
Third toes,
Fourth toes,
Fifth toes,
Bottoms of the feet.
Begin to bring all of your awareness to the entire backside of your body,
Experiencing and noticing what you notice of the entire back of the body.
Let go of the experience of the back of the body and welcome in the experience of the front of the body.
Noticing and bringing your attention only to the front of the body.
Let go of that experience and begin to bring your awareness to inside of your body.
Noticing what it's like to experience all of your attention on the inside of your body.
Letting that go and bring all of your gentle attention to your entire body.
Noticing without judgment from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
Experiencing sensing the entire body.
Let go of your awareness on the entire body and bring your attention to the feet and also welcome in the experience of your breath.
Noticing your natural breath with your awareness on your feet.
And when you're ready,
Without changing or shaping your breath,
Begin to imagine that as you breathe in,
You breathe in through the feet all the way up to the crown of the head.
And as you exhale,
You exhale back down from the crown of the head to the feet.
Inhale through the feet all the way to the crown of the head.
Exhale crown of the head down to the feet.
Inhaling breath flows in,
Filling,
Nourishing.
Exhale breath is released and flows out.
Feeling the renewal of life with each breath.
Continue the breathing in through the feet up to the crown of the head and back down for three more breaths.
Slowly let go of your attention on your breath and allow your attention to move behind your forehead.
Rest here in the abode of your true self for a few minutes.
Intention,
Mentally repeating and feeling within the body,
Your sankalpa,
Or I find peace within myself regardless of external circumstances.
Become aware of your breath.
Notice the depth of your inhale and exhale.
Begin to welcome in a deeper inhale and exhale.
Beginning to notice that as you inhale,
The body starts to take shape.
The formless becoming form.
Noticing the edges of your body and the weight of your body.
Becoming aware of sounds that surround you.
Becoming aware of any mental shifts or changes in the amount of thoughts or the quality of thoughts.
Notice what's different in your body.
Notice that what's different is no longer needed.
And whatever you came to this practice with doesn't need to come back or be carried with you the remainder of the day.
It was passing of the clouds and there's no longer a need to hold on to it.
Whether that's tension or worry or a thought.
And if you start to notice anything,
Come back later in the day.
Come back to exactly how you feel right now.
Remember what it feels like in your body to be at peace,
To be calm,
To be relaxed.
Start to gently awaken the body,
Taking movements that you would take as you awaken yourself from a deep sleep.
Maybe moving fingers and toes moves into moving joints.
Moving joints shifts into full body stretches.
Taking your time to continue to slowly awaken the body as your practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
