Welcome friends to your Yoga Nidra practice.
My name is Lori and this is a guided meditation that can act as a reset or massage to the nervous system and to the tissues of the body.
In today's session we explore polarities to connect with our ability to blur the line and also to connect to our ever present wholeness.
We will practice lying down if it is available to you like the position of Shavasana with the body elongated,
Props and pillows where they are needed and if it feels good to you the arms away from the torso and the legs separated to allow the hips to be comfortable and passive.
Now take a moment to adjust your position to get fully comfortable and warm so that you are able to lie still for the entirety of the session.
Now that you are ready close your eyes again and go inward.
Notice if there is any way in which you could just get a little bit more comfortable and then return back to your stillness.
Allow yourself to begin to explore and experience the sensations in your body as they come and they go.
Experience the sensation of taste,
Experience the sensation of smell,
Experience sound,
Notice sounds around your body,
Sounds in the room without focusing on one sound or analyzing its source.
Just allow the ears to notice the feeling of sound and a vibration.
Now begin to open to hearing the sounds outside of the room,
The furthest sounds possible to find with the ears.
With the eyes closed experience sight,
Colors,
Shapes or the vastness of what you can see in your mind's eye.
Experience touch,
Maybe experience the air that kisses your skin or the texture of your clothes.
Experience the touch of air that is filtering in and out of your nose,
The feeling of your belly and chest like waves moving with your natural breath.
Inhale in through the nose and squeeze your hands into fists,
All muscles engaged and with an audible exhale let the hands relax open.
Inhale through the nose,
Squeeze your toes towards your heels,
All foot muscles alive and active and then sigh the breath out as you release.
Inhale in through the nose,
Squeeze your glute muscles and hips,
Pause for a moment with a belly full of air and sigh as you let your hips melt into your support.
And finally inhale in through the nose and squeeze together the muscles of your face,
Lips,
Cheeks,
Forehead and then pause.
Release all the tension held in the expression on your face with your exhale.
Take your awareness back to the breath,
Unforced and natural.
Inhale in through the nose,
Filling the belly and exhale slowly out from the nose,
Trying to extend the exhale one second or so longer than the in-breath.
Inhale long slow breath,
Exhale allowing time to slow down and then one more cycle like this.
Now return to this natural breath in and out of the nose.
Invite the sensation of deep relaxation into the body.
Exhale as your body melts into the support.
Affirm to yourself,
I am practicing yoga nidra.
I will allow myself to lie still in this deep state of calm relaxation and I will lie awake.
Now take a moment to invite an intention into your practice today.
In the spirit of our exploring of polarities or positive and negative opposites,
What negative polarity would you like to neutralize?
State your intention in the present tense in the form of an affirmation.
For example,
Maybe your negative feeling or polarity is jealousy or envy.
My intention could be,
I experience jealousy but I can connect at any time to my ability to trust.
I feel envy but can access my generosity at any time.
State this intention three times in your mind like a mantra.
Now begin to shift the awareness to the sensation of your body lying on the floor.
Imagine yourself lying there,
The walls around you,
The mat or the support below you.
Feel the sensation of connection to the body and the floor as if you are being tethered by roots at every point of connection.
Feel the weight of your body on the floor,
The heaviness of your head,
Your hips,
Your legs,
Your feet.
Feel the heels where they touch the floor.
Awareness of your two feet,
Of your ten toes,
To the toes of your right foot,
To your pinky toe,
Fourth toe,
Third,
Second,
Big toe.
Awareness of the sole of your right foot,
Top of your right foot,
Ankle,
Inner calf,
Outer calf,
Calf muscle,
Shin.
Awareness to bone of your kneecap,
The back of the right knee,
The back of the right thigh,
Inner thigh,
Outer thigh.
Awareness to the front of the thigh,
Right buttock,
Right hip bone,
Pubic bone.
Experience the sensation of the entire right leg lying there,
Rooted into the ground.
Awareness of your two feet,
Of your ten toes,
To the toes of your left foot,
To your pinky toe,
Fourth toe,
Third,
Second,
Big toe.
Awareness of the sole of your left foot,
Top of your left foot,
Ankle,
Inner calf,
Outer calf,
Calf muscle,
Shin.
Awareness to bone of your kneecap,
To the back of the left knee,
To the back of the left thigh,
Inner thigh,
Outer thigh,
Front of the thigh,
Left buttock,
Hip bone,
And your tailbone.
Experience the sensation of your hips,
Sensation of both legs at the same time.
Bring the awareness to the sternum,
The right side of the chest,
The collarbone,
The shoulder,
Upper arm,
Elbow,
Forearm,
Wrist,
Palm,
Back of the hand,
Thumb,
Second finger,
Third,
Fourth,
And fifth.
Awareness to the sternum,
Left side of the chest,
Collarbone,
Shoulder,
Upper arm,
Elbow,
Forearm,
Wrist,
Palm,
Back of the hand,
Thumb,
Second finger,
Third,
Fourth,
And fifth.
Radiant awareness of both arms.
Invite the sensation of effortlessness into both arms simultaneously.
Awareness of navel center,
Abdominals,
Low belly,
Right side body,
Left side body,
Right ribcage,
Left ribcage,
Heart center.
Radiant sensation of the entire spine.
Right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
Middle of the back,
And lower back.
Radiant sensation around the entire back of torso.
Radiant awareness of entire front of torso.
Invite the sensation of effortlessness into the entire torso.
Complete awareness of entire back body.
Entire front body,
Radiant sensation.
Invite the feeling of effortlessness into the entire body.
Invite the feeling of effortlessness into the entire body.
Let go of all doing.
Take the awareness to the nostrils.
Cool air in,
Warm air out.
Cool air in,
Warm air out.
On the next inhale,
Count down from three to one.
Hold the fullness of the belly for three,
Two,
And one.
Exhale for three,
Two,
One.
And then lie in this empty space for three,
Two,
One.
Inhale for three,
Stay for three,
Slow release three,
And then explore suspension for three.
Inhale three,
Hold.
Exhale and hold.
Come back to your natural breath once again.
Now let's count again,
But this time focusing on the length of the exhale.
You can stop the practice and return to normal breath if the length of time feels uncomfortable.
And we will begin.
So inhale fully,
Exhale out the breath,
And then inhale for two,
Exhale for three,
Inhale for three,
Exhale for four,
Inhale four,
Exhale five,
Inhale five,
Exhale six,
Inhale six,
Exhale seven,
Inhale seven,
Exhale eight,
Inhale for eight,
Exhale nine,
Inhale for nine,
Exhale for ten.
Come back to natural breath.
Begin to invite your intention back into your mind.
Repeat it to yourself again.
Shift your intention to the space between your eyes,
The third eye center.
Imagine in your mind's eye a seed.
Imagine the shape of the seed,
The texture of the seed.
Imagine its color.
Now plant the seed in the eye of your mind.
Imagine that you are this seed.
Plant it deep within the soil.
Feel the cool dry soil around your skin.
It is black,
Dark,
And comfortable.
Feel the dryness of your outer layer,
Your seed's skin.
Your skin is cool but dry.
Experience the sensation of being cool and dry.
As the seed is watered,
Your skin becomes damp.
Experience the sensation of cool,
Humid soil around your skin.
You are comfortable,
Anchored,
And supported by the soil.
Imagine the dry skin of your seed beginning to crack.
You release a tiny sprout.
The sprout with a gentle strength pushes its way through the difficulty and the pressure of the cold wet soil.
As the sprout reaches the outer layer of the soil,
There is light.
Gentle roots begin to grow down from the bottom of your seed body and anchor you deep into the cold soil.
You feel cold but a tiny part of you is beginning to feel the warmth of the sun,
The light of its rays.
For now it is just a small part but you are growing.
The feeling of warm light is growing to cover the sprout until you are covered equally in both sensations at once.
Feel your roots cold and damp,
Confined by soil and anchored.
Experience stillness,
Cold,
Damp,
Confined,
Anchored.
Now feel your sprout,
Even now a plant,
Warm,
Dry,
And free.
Experience movement,
Warmth,
Dry.
Experience freedom,
Unprotected.
We as humans,
Just like this plant,
Have the same duality.
Experience the stillness of the seed,
Unmoving,
Solid.
Experience the movement of the leaves,
Ever-changing.
Experience the cold penetrating down to your roots.
Feel the warmth,
Radiating like the sun on your skin.
Feel the sensation of cold and warm at the same time.
Cold and warm.
You can experience dampness.
Feel humidity on your skin,
Down into your pores,
Replenishing your cells.
Experience dry,
Thirsty,
Stiff.
Experience dryness.
Experience dampness and dryness at the same time.
Dampness and dryness.
Feel the experience of being planted,
Confined,
Unmoving,
Constricted.
Feel the freedom of movement,
Vulnerable to change and damage.
Experience freedom.
Experience being planted and being free at the same time.
Experience planted and freedom at the same time.
Feel the sensation of anchored,
Grounded,
Solid and unwavering.
You are anchored.
Experience chaos,
Uncertainty,
Unsettled.
Can you experience your uncertainty and your groundedness at the same time?
Uncertain certain but grounded.
Feel the sensation of wholeness,
A seed able to endure all of the sensations as they ebb and flow through their journey.
Experience wholeness.
Experience the sensation of wholeness.
Now come back to the breath.
Cool air in and warm air out.
Cool air in through the nose and warm air out.
Feel your body connected to the floor,
The air on your skin.
Reconnect with the sounds around you.
Begin to invite in some gentle movement.
Fingers,
Toes,
Hands,
Feet.
Maybe the head rocks gently from left to right.
And finally the body shifts onto its side into fetal pose.
In your own time maybe you make your way up into a seated posture.
Thank you for practicing your yoga nidra with me today.
I hope this brings you some peace and some relaxation.
Namaste.
