As you're getting settled,
Let your whole body be in your awareness.
Back of your body,
Back of your head,
Neck and shoulders.
Down through your upper back,
All those large muscles of the upper back,
Mid back.
And notice your arms and your legs.
Are they comfortable?
Notice the front of your body as well,
Your face,
Forehead,
Eyebrows and eyes.
Your mouth and jaw,
Your tongue,
Your throat.
Really let yourself settle in.
Allow your breath to be continuous and smooth.
Let your stomach area soften as you breathe out.
It doesn't really matter how long your individual breath is.
It's more important that there's a continuity and an ease.
Try a few deeper ones,
Bring in some oxygen and then let your body release.
As we're going into the meditation,
We're using a visualization which helps the mind to focus.
If it doesn't have anything to do,
We'll tend to go off into worry or some other kind of thought.
When we're in a certain location,
In this case,
We're in the heart chakra,
We're not in the brain,
In the head.
If we notice that thoughts are coming in,
Our attention has gone to a more shallow layer of the thought layer.
And if that's the case,
Then to bring it back,
I like to bring my attention right into the physical location of the heart chakra,
So right in the middle of the chest.
And then once I'm into that physical location,
Then sense into the energy of the chakra.
So chakra is a wheel of energy.
Bring your awareness into your whole body and into your breath and then let that recede a little bit and focus your attention in the heart center.
Visualize or imagine that you're in the heart chakra now and you're walking into this beautiful cave of the heart.
I often visualize a sandy reddish color.
It's dry,
It's light,
It's spacious,
There's not really a ceiling in the cave.
Notice what your visual is.
And see yourself walking into the cave of the heart.
And in the center of that cave,
There's a bright white light.
And walk towards that light.
It's not up in our brain that we're doing this visualizing,
It's right in the heart center.
Keep your awareness centered in your heart chakra.
Walk into the cave and walk towards the light.
And see yourself sitting in meditation in front of that light.
So your physical body might be lying down or lying back,
But in the visualization,
See yourself sitting comfortably.
And the light in the center of the cave is radiating out to fill the whole space of the cave,
Including the whole of your body from head to toes.
Let every cell of your body be receiving this light.
You might be aware of your breath.
As we're meditating,
We might be focusing on the breath.
The sound of the mantra,
So hum,
Might be arising in your mind and flowing with your breath.
Inhaling so,
Exhaling hum.
If it's a helpful anchor for you,
Allow the sound to arise in the heart chakra.
And flow with your breath.
You're aware that you are sitting in your heart center in the cave of the heart.
Listening to the sound,
The vibration of the mantra,
And letting all of the other thoughts go away in the background.
Sometimes in a meditation,
We'll start off with breath awareness,
Using the breath as an anchor into the present moment.
Perhaps the sound,
The mantra is getting quiet.
More stillness in your mind.
And really focus on the cave of the heart.
Sitting in meditation in front of the light at the center.
And if thoughts are coming into your mind,
Let them go to the background.
Bring your awareness back into your body as you're sitting meditating in the cave of the heart.
Let yourself anchor into that awareness,
The brilliant white light at the center of the cave.
Aware of the breath.
Inhaling so,
Exhaling hum.
Inhaling so.
And at some point,
Even the sound of the mantra might go into stillness,
Into silence.
Allow your awareness to be focused in the cave of the heart,
In the heart chakra.
Beautiful light of the true self radiating out from the center of the heart chakra.
The whole of the cave filled with that beautiful light.
Every cell in your body as you're sitting there in meditation is filled with light.
Allow your mind to be quiet and still.
Let all of your awareness be in your heart center.
Aware that you're meditating in the cave of the heart.
Before we complete this part of the practice of the meditation,
Take a moment to really focus in on the experience in your heart center.
The visual of the cave of the heart,
That brilliant white light at the center of the cave.
A view in meditation,
Looking towards that light.
And then taking your time,
See yourself standing and walking out of the cave without turning your back on the light.
Begin to let your awareness flow now up and down from the heart chakra.
Leave behind the cave of the heart and come into the heart center.
Up through the throat center to the eyebrow center,
Exhale back through to the heart center.
Allow the visualization to slip away and just be aware now of the energy channel.
And then rest your awareness now on the Ajna chakra,
The seat of the waking state,
The eyebrow center.
And breathe as though you're breathing in and out through the eyebrow center.
Let your forehead be soft and relaxed,
Your breath smooth and continuous.
The seat of the waking state,
The eyebrow center.
And then bring your awareness to your throat center.
Sometimes we have a visual of a bright full moon at the throat center.
Breathe in and out through the throat chakra,
The Vashudhi chakra.
Exhaling and inhaling the seat of the dream state.
Let your awareness be in that physical location,
The throat center.
And then let your awareness drift down now back to the heart chakra,
The Anahata chakra.
And as we're preparing to move into yoga nidra,
Let your awareness stay in this part of your body,
In the center of the ribcage,
In your heart center.
And let your breath flow through the heart chakra.
Smooth,
Continuous awareness of the flow of breath.
And then bring in awareness of your sankalpa,
Your intention.
I am pure light.
I am stillness,
Whatever comes to mind for you.
Let yourself feel it in your heart center and hear the words.
The heart center is the seat of the non-dreaming sleep,
Deep stillness,
The deep sleep.
The site of yoga sleep,
Yoga nidra,
The stillness,
Awake,
Alert.
And begin now to let go of awareness of your breath.
Let your awareness rest fully in the heart chakra.
Let your mind come into stillness.
No visualization,
No breath awareness,
Just the stillness in the energy center in the heart.
And if your awareness slips out of the heart chakra,
Just bring it back.
Leave behind the layer of thought.
Rest in the wide awake stillness of the heart chakra.
If your mind wanders,
Simply bring it back right into the location of the heart chakra.
Bring your awareness right into the heart chakra.
Notice the stillness for another minute or so.
Let your mind be awake and alert and still.
And then gradually bring in awareness of your sankalpa,
Your intention.
Let that also be here in the heart chakra.
Bring to mind the felt sense as well as the words.
Begin to notice the breath as though you're breathing in and out through your heart center.
And then beginning to bring your awareness now up through to the throat chakra,
The vishuddhi chakra,
The full moon.
Still with this quiet stillness in the mind,
Bring your awareness to the throat center and the breath as it's flowing in and out.
Smooth,
Easy rhythm.
Bring your awareness up to the eyebrow center,
The ajna chakra.
And so you're breathing in and out through the eyebrow center.
And then let the awareness flow from the eyebrow center through to the base of the nostrils and back.
And then let go of the breath awareness.
And before you come out of the practice,
What have you come to know?
What have you realized during the practices of yoga nidra?
And as you're ready,
If you're lying down,
Turn over to your left side to support your head.
Bend your knees and focus on the breath in the right nostril.
Let your mind and your whole body,
Your energy fields come back into wakefulness.
