The practice of yoga nidra begins now.
Root your awareness down into the belly and observe the rising and falling of your lower belly in response to the breath.
Inhale,
Belly rises,
Exhale,
Belly releases,
Inhale,
You arrive more deeply in this present moment,
Exhale,
You soften the weight of your body into the earth.
Now allow yourself simply to be as you are right here and now.
Let any persona or social mask fall away,
Trust that you are enough,
Just as you are.
All that is needed for this practice is the act of hearing and awareness.
Now pour your awareness into the inner body,
Sense and feel the drumbeat of your heart.
From this heart-centered space,
Invite a feeling of appreciation to wash through you,
An appreciation of the steady earth beneath you,
Of this sacred body lying here and of this potent practice of self-observation.
Listen deep within,
Now is the moment in the practice to call forth your sankalpa.
Sankalpa is a profound inner calling,
That which at the deepest level your being yearns for.
We state it in the present tense with the words,
I am,
Followed by whatever word best expresses this deep soul longing.
Allow your sankalpa to reveal itself to you from the heart rather than the mind.
Once you have it,
State it three times in the fertile earth of the mind.
With conviction,
Faith and a willingness for it to be drawn from the unmanifest into the manifest realms.
Our sankalpa invites us into a remembrance of our true nature,
Of who and what we truly are.
Now trust that it has been seeded deeply and let it go.
We will now rotate our consciousness through various parts of the physical body.
As each body part is named,
Simply ground your awareness in said place and lay the sacred sound of LAM within it.
This ancient sound will steady,
Soothe and heal wherever it is sounded,
LAM.
We will move through 61 points of the body known as the Shava Yatra.
The sacred pilgrimage of the body.
Bring your awareness to your brow center,
The point between the two eyebrows.
Sense and feel and then place the sound LAM at the brow center.
Now flow your awareness into the center of the throat.
LAM.
Right shoulder joint.
LAM.
Right elbow joint.
LAM.
Each point named,
Consecrate it with the sacred sound LAM.
Right wrist joint.
Tip of the right thumb.
Tip of the right index finger.
Tip of the right middle finger.
Tip of the right ring finger.
Tip of the right baby finger.
Center of the right wrist.
Center of the right elbow.
Center of the right shoulder.
Center of the throat.
LAM.
Left shoulder joint.
Left elbow joint.
Left wrist joint.
Tip of the left thumb.
Tip of the left index finger.
Tip of the left middle finger.
Tip of the ring finger.
Tip of the baby left finger.
Center of your left wrist.
Center of the left elbow.
Center of the left shoulder.
Center of the throat.
Center of the chest.
Right nipple.
Center of the chest.
Left nipple.
Heart center.
Solar plexus.
Navel center,
Two inches below the belly button.
Right hip joint.
LAM.
Right knee joint.
Right ankle joint.
Right big toe.
Tip of the second toe.
Tip of the third toe.
Tip of the fourth toe.
Tip of the fifth baby toe.
Center of the right ankle.
Center of the right knee.
Center of the right hip.
Navel center,
Two inches below the belly button.
Left hip joint.
Left knee joint.
Left ankle joint.
Left big toe.
Tip of the second toe.
Tip of the third toe.
Tip of the fourth toe.
Tip of the left baby toe.
Center of the left ankle.
Center of the left knee.
Center of the left hip.
Navel center,
Two inches below the belly button.
Solar plexus.
Heart center.
Center of the throat.
Brow center.
Now feel the whole body.
The whole body.
The whole body felt now.
Each of these sixty-one points awakened and anchored into by the sacred sound of LAM.
From here,
Guide your awareness onto your natural breath.
Observe the spontaneous,
Effortless breath,
Mystically arising and falling,
Being breathed.
From here,
We will count the breaths backwards from ten to one.
By the time we reach one,
The whole body will drop into a profound state of deep relaxation.
So follow your next inhale and exhale.
Ten.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Nine.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Eight.
Continue to count the breaths backwards to one.
If you get lost along the way,
Simply start again.
Now release the counting and begin to attune to the energy beneath the breath.
This animating life force that softly hums and pulses both in and beyond you.
Sometimes felt like a softly pulsating energy in and around you.
Or an electricity like current flowing through and around the whole body.
Feel the whole energetic body.
Vibrantly alive.
Grounded and steady.
Now glide your awareness to the point between your eyebrows and slightly in towards the midbrain.
A point known as Chid Akash.
A potent space of limitless potentiality and possibility.
This will be our anchor as we explore the realm of duality and pairs of opposites.
Whatever emotion or sensation is mentioned,
As best you can,
Awaken as fully as you can this sensation in you here and now.
Awaken the sensation of fear.
What does fear feel like?
To be filled with doubt,
Unsteadiness,
Uncertainty.
Where or how does fear manifest itself in your being?
Allow yourself to feel the fear fully whilst remaining completely relaxed in the body.
Now let that go.
And what does faith feel like?
To feel steady,
Supported and sure.
Fill your whole being with the quality of faith.
Now release that.
And place your awareness back at the brow center.
What does rejection feel like?
To feel rejected by self or other.
How does it feel to awaken?
Awaken rejection.
Notice any thought forms,
Sensations or images that arise alongside the pure feeling of rejection.
Now let that fall away.
And now awaken the feeling of belonging.
What does it feel like to belong?
To feel an innate sense of belonging.
Whole body filled with the state of belonging.
An unquestioned sense of belonging.
That you belong.
And that there is a space in the universe that only you fill.
Belonging.
Now totally release that too.
And return to the light of your awareness.
Back at the point between the center of the brows and the midbrain.
This profound place of oneness beyond all duality.
We will now move into the realm of inner vision.
As images are stated in rapid succession,
Simply see,
Imagine or visualize each image in your mind's eye.
A cozy fireplace.
A closed door.
The eyes of a deer.
A newborn babe.
Desert in the blistering midday sun.
One thousand year old tree.
One thousand year old tree.
One thousand year old tree.
The sound of thunder.
The sound of thunder.
Granite rock.
Bare feet on the earth.
Childhood blanket.
The look of love.
A vast canyon.
Peer deep into this vast deep canyon.
Red rock.
Rich and steady.
See yourself at the bottom of the canyon.
Surrounded on all sides by the vast uprising rock forms all around you.
Its vastness stops you in its tracks.
You sense this ancient,
Sacred wisdom emanating from the rock forms.
You look down and see the red earth beneath you.
The open sky above.
A feeling of love and belonging fills the air.
As if the rocks are whispering words of appreciation and validation.
You belong.
You have the right to be.
You are meant to be here.
Now.
Just as you are.
You lay down on your back with the red earth below.
Held in the arms of the vast sky above.
Surrendering all the stories you have held about not belonging or being a mistake.
Here and now.
Open yourself to the mystery.
To the divine unfolding of it all.
Allow yourself to merge with the earth beneath you.
Rest in pure awareness.
Sankalpa.
Sankalpa.
Sankalpa.
Sankalpa.
From this expanded place,
Your inner heart's belonging once more rises up.
Your I am statement.
Let it fill you and surround you.
Then once more,
Let it ring out inside you with love,
Conviction,
And an inner knowing of its manifestation.
And so it is.
Very sweetly,
Call yourself back into bodily form.
Feel your body lying on the earth.
The breaths ebb and flow across the inner shores of your body.
Back into the realm of name and form.
Sense the room you are lying within.
Your place within it.
Let the breath now swell a little deeper within you.
And slowly begin to awaken the physical body.
The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
Calmly hug the knees into your chest and roll to one side.
Pause here.
Observe the quality of your mind.
Any steadiness in the heart.
When you're ready,
Rise on up to a tall seat.
Reach your sit bones into the earth as you seek the sky above with the crown of your head.
Place the palms in front of the heart.
Haryom tatsat.
Haryom tatsat.
Haryom tatsat.
As above,
So below.
All is one.
Blessings.
