Yoga Nidra For A Grateful Heart

Sink deep into a Nidra trance intended to expand your heart-space, soothe your nervous system, and cultivate deep sensations of gratitude. This is a deeply restorative practice that will leave you feeling completely calm. This practice can be done lying down with props and cozy layers to support maximum comfort.

Transcript

Welcome to Yoga Nidra for a Grateful Heart.

Begin to move your body into a position of absolute comfort and calm.

Lay your spine long and heavy along the earth below.

Spread your limbs wide,

Allowing them to expand wide beyond the center of your body.

Use props to support your physical body in any way you need.

Add a few extra layers of warmth to ensure you stay warm throughout the practice,

As body temperatures often drop.

Adjust yourself and your props in any way you need to get extremely comfortable.

Begin to tune your awareness first to your sense of hearing.

Observing the sounds around you.

Noticing how the vibrations of sound first enter your awareness.

Start with sounds farthest away.

Let your awareness settle on that farthest,

Most sound and simply allow yourself to observe.

Move your awareness then to sounds closer.

Maybe sounds within the walls of your space.

Allow yourself a few moments to hear sounds resonating from inside the space you're resting in.

Moving your awareness closer,

Begin to hear sounds you yourself are making as you breathe.

Noticing sounds made by breath or beat of your heart.

Find awareness outward again and gently hold all sounds from near and far.

Without analyzing causes of sounds or wishing to avoid sounds from the outside world.

Simply hold all sound in quiet presence and allow them to flow in and out of your experience throughout your practice.

As we move towards the practice of yoga nidra,

Please set your intention of staying connected to the sound of my voice.

If at any time you find you've drifted,

Simply come back with ease and pick up wherever we are.

During the practice of yoga nidra,

You will also set the intention to remain still in your physical form.

But if at any time your body becomes uncomfortable,

Please move into a position that best serves your comfort and your breath.

This practice of yoga nidra is ever so gentle.

Stay connected to my voice,

Remain still in your body,

And trust that whatever you're experiencing during this practice is perfect,

Just as it is.

This practice creates its own unique medicine for every person and in every practice.

So trust that your body,

Mind,

Heart,

And spirit will take from this time exactly what it needs to serve your highest healing in this moment.

The practice of yoga nidra now begins.

Observe your physical body again now and adjust yourself in any way that brings 5 to 10% more comfort and ease in your body.

As you feel your body settling into deeper states of peace,

Shift your awareness into the jaw and gently release any tension held in the jaw or surrounding muscles.

Soften the muscles and skin on your face,

Feeling everything sink heavy back towards the earth.

Feel into your mouth,

Feel your tongue heavy and wide in your mouth.

Feel the root of your tongue release as the entire space of your mouth softens and spreads.

Allow those same sensations of softening and spreading to move from your mouth and move through any places of tension you're holding in your body.

Feel the whole body sink into ease and peace.

Bone,

Muscle,

Skin all softening and releasing.

From this place of relaxation in the physical form,

Shift awareness towards the soft rhythm of your own breath.

Feel the belly as it rises and falls.

Observe the ribs expand and contract with each breath.

Observe how the physical body moves with each breath.

Feel breath now flood into the wide open space of your heart.

Envision your inhales expanding your heart in all directions,

Forward,

Backward,

Side to side,

Your sweet heart expanding in three dimensional form,

Spreading wide and taking up more space in your chest.

Then imagine your exhales soothing any tender emotions currently moving through your beautiful heart.

Breathe in the heart expands wide.

Your breath out washes healing elixir over tender places.

Take a few more sweet breaths here using the gentle medicine inherent in your own breath to expand and soothe the soft space of your heart.

From this graceful connection with your heart space,

You'll begin to set your sankalpa or intention.

Sankalpas represent your heart's deepest desires and are potent tools for rewriting our scripts.

They hold the power to transform our limiting beliefs into liberating beliefs.

Your sankalpa is a positive present tense statement that begins with I am.

This I am statement brings your heart's deepest longings to life.

As example,

If you are living with stress or anxiety,

Your sankalpa could be I am at peace.

If you are feeling unsafe or apprehensive,

Your sankalpa could be I am brave.

If you are needing to feel more valued or less alone,

Your sankalpa could be I am connected.

If you are feeling scattered or fragmented,

Your sankalpa could be I am whole.

Without overthinking,

Allow your sankalpa to rise from your heart and drift into your conscious awareness.

With the deep knowing that this sankalpa is a powerful tool for your healing and growth,

Plant your sankalpa like a seed deep in the open expanse of your heart.

Then repeat your sankalpa silently to yourself three times now.

We will now move into rotating your awareness through the physical body.

I will name a body part and you will feel it with your full attention.

If you lose your place,

Gently come back to the sound of my voice and pick up where we are.

Right thumb.

Lift all your awareness into your right thumb.

Notice how you are aware of it,

How you feel it,

Without necessarily needing to see it or move it.

You are aware of your right thumb through your own sensation.

Feel now your pointer finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

All five fingers.

Palm of the hand,

Back of hand.

Whole hand.

Feel your whole right hand.

Right forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Feel your entire arm.

The entire right arm from shoulder to fingertips.

Allow awareness to travel down the side body to the rib cage.

Waist.

Hip bone.

Right thigh.

Knee cap.

Shin.

Top of the right foot.

Ankle.

Heel.

Soul of the foot.

Top of the foot.

Right big toe.

Second.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth toe.

Feel all five toes.

Now feel the entire right leg from thigh to five toes.

Entire right leg.

As you sense awareness in your entire right leg,

Maintain awareness and add in the right arm.

The right side waist.

Now feel the entire right side.

The entire right side of your body.

Awareness floods the entire right side body.

Now pull your awareness into your left thumb.

Directing all your awareness into your left thumb.

Left pointer finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Pinky finger.

All five fingers.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Whole hand.

Whole left hand.

Just forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Entire left arm from shoulder to fingertips.

Now add in the left rib cage.

Waist.

Bone of the hip.

Left thigh.

Knee cap.

Shin.

Top of the left foot.

Ankle.

Heel.

Soul of the foot.

Top of the foot.

Feel your left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

Feel all five toes.

Now feel the entire left leg from thigh to five toes.

Fencing your entire left leg.

Now add in entire left arm.

Left waist.

Feel the entire left side body.

Entire left side.

Now move awareness into the backside of your body.

All of your parts that rest against the earth below.

Feel the entire backside body.

Now ease your awareness to the front side of the body.

All of your parts that are lifting gently towards the sky.

Feel the entire front side of your body.

Now holding on to awareness of the front side of the body,

Feel also the backside body.

Right side body.

Left side body.

Feel your entire body.

The entire body.

Whole.

Complete.

Perfect.

Now feel back into the body of your breath.

Feel your physical body at rest and feel your energy body alive and pulsating with your breath.

As you empty out your next breath,

Let your awareness settle on the very tips of your toes.

As you take your next breath in,

Imagine that inhale starting at your toe tips and moving all the way up your body to the crown of your head like a rolling wave of your own breath.

Your entire inhale moves breath up the body until you feel the breath pooled at the crown of your head.

As you start to breathe out,

The breath washes all the way back down your body emptying out the soles of your feet.

Begin your next breath in,

Washing breath again from tips of toes to crown of the head settling again at the top of the head.

Then your exhale floods the breath all the way back down the body and out the feet.

Now add into this pattern of breath the felt sensations of gratitude.

Allow feelings of gratitude to ride the waves of those deep breaths.

Inhaling,

Gratitude sweeps all the way up your body.

Exhaling,

The feelings of bone deep gratitude flood all the way back down to the soles of your feet.

Enjoy a few more deep breaths like this at your own pace using your sweet breath to move gratitude in waves up and down the body.

As you gently return to your own soft rhythm of breath,

Settle your awareness into the space at the center of your forehead between your eyebrows.

This space is the chittakash,

The portal to your infinite potential where you experience pure consciousness.

Allow a gentle awareness to rest in this open limitless expanse.

We will now explore pairs of opposites.

Call into your mental and emotional body the sensations I suggest,

But do not concentrate on the source of those sensations.

Allow your mental body to explore the felt sense of these emotions.

Feel in your experience a sense of powerlessness,

Frailty,

Inadequacy.

Feel powerless.

Feel into those sensations,

But do not concentrate on their source.

Feel powerless in your body,

Powerless in your thoughts and heart,

Unable to act on your own behalf,

Helpless by lack of power.

How does powerlessness feel inside of you?

Now call in sensations of being capable,

Strong,

Knowing you are competent and able.

Feel deeply capable.

Feel capable in your body and in your thoughts.

Feel capable with your open heart.

You are gifted and skillful,

With high trust in your own intelligence and aptitude for anything.

You are fully capable.

Now release all sensations and thoughts and allow your awareness to settle back to the chittikash,

The expansive space of pure consciousness between your eyebrows,

Allowing all sensations to dissolve in that space.

Create in your experience now the sensation of fear,

Of being afraid,

Scared.

You are fearful.

Fear in your thoughts,

Fear as it settles into your body.

How does fear feel in your body,

In your nervous system?

How does fear feel when it settles in and renders you paralyzed?

Feel into the sensation of fear without concentrating on a source of fear.

Feel fear in your lived experience.

Now call into your experience sensations of deep love,

Strong love,

Love that brightens your heart,

Love that lifts.

Feel love.

Deep sensations of appreciation and admiration.

Feel how love as sensation is housed in your own body.

Where and how do you feel love?

Let your nervous system and your heart flood with loving feelings and observe sensations of love.

Allowing these sensations to evaporate,

Pull your awareness back into the chittikash,

Allowing all emotions to return to neutral at the center of your forehead.

Allow sensations of sorrow to settle into your awareness.

Not concentrating on the source of sorrow,

But feeling deeply into sadness,

Anguish,

Suffering.

How does sorrow feel in your physical body?

How does sorrow feel in your heart?

What does sorrow do to the space in your throat?

Feel sensations of deep suffering.

Moving from sensations of sorrow to sensations of joy.

Feel joy,

Delight,

Elation.

Allowing sensations of great pleasure and happiness to flood through you.

Observe where joy lives in your body.

How does a cheerful body feel?

How does joy resonate through your heart space?

Feel sensations and feelings of great joy.

Release all sensations and return again to the chittikash,

The space of pure consciousness.

Feeling into that wide open expanse of your own unlimited potential.

Feel yourself whole in this moment.

All of your layers,

All of your components,

All integrated and whole.

Feel yourself complete,

Whole and at peace.

As we move into the wisdom body,

Settle deeper into attention and prepare for rapid visualization.

As I call off numerous images,

Try as best as you can to create these images inside your mind.

Allow your response to appear before you and dissolve just as quickly.

Stay interested and present to the sound of my voice.

Relax all effort and feel yourself becoming more visual.

Pink flowers blooming.

A stack of old books.

Beautiful sunrise.

Birds landing on a frozen lake.

Stone temple.

An old stone temple.

Stone temple.

Freshly baked cookies.

Footprints in the snow.

A welcomed hug.

Strong gust of wind.

Waves crashing.

Waves crashing.

Waves crashing.

Toes wiggling in the sand.

A galloping horse.

Children laughing.

A roaring bonfire.

Your heart beating in your chest.

Your heart beating in your chest.

Your heart beating in your chest.

You find yourself resting comfortably on a bench in the middle of a beautiful garden.

The air is warmed by the rays of the sun and the perfect temperature rests on your skin.

You feel the sun's perfect warmth on your cheeks and notice you feel safe and at peace in this moment.

You look up and see the tranquil blue sky with a sprinkling of large fluffy white clouds.

The garden that surrounds you is lush with green trees,

Sweeping vines,

And bright flowers in every direction.

You taste the hint of rainwater lingering on the vines.

You smell the rich fragrance of the earth that brings the beautiful garden to life.

The smell of the freshly watered dirt brings the comfort found in knowing that everything surrounding you is blooming with life.

You notice you are barefoot and can feel the soft wet grass underneath your feet.

You spread your toes and you press your feet down deep into the earth.

As you rest peacefully in this garden,

You feel a loving presence softly approaching you.

You recognize this presence as someone who has cared for you deeply.

Who is this person?

If an answer doesn't come immediately,

Know that is okay,

As this leaves room for knowing to come to you in the future.

This person sits next to you on the bench and you feel awashed in love by their very nearness.

You sit in silence,

Soaking in the splendor of the garden,

Surrounded by their loving presence,

Bathed in the love of this generous present moment.

This person turns their face towards yours and shares that they are here to provide you with a message to help you on your journey.

You lean closer and whisper a message you can hear.

What is the message they share with you?

If the message doesn't come immediately,

Stay in a place of peace and know that is okay.

Trust the message will reveal itself when divine timing is perfect.

As they finish sharing their message,

You silently thank them and feel your heart flood with gratitude for their presence in your life.

They give you one last warm smile and their presence begins to fade.

You observe again the beauty of the garden that surrounds you.

You have the deep knowing that everything is the way it is meant to be.

Everything is in perfect and divine order.

While you rest in this moment,

You are flooded with sensations of peace,

Gratitude,

And wholeness.

Through wholeness,

All barriers dissolved.

You feel deep connection to self,

Other,

Spirit,

And all that is.

You are complete.

You are perfect.

You are whole.

You are perfect.

You are perfect.

You are perfect.

You are perfect.

You are perfect.

You are perfect.

In this expanded sense of wholeness,

Connect again to sensations of gratitude flooding through your heart.

Allow your sankalpa to arise from your grateful heart and feel your I am statement return to your awareness.

Repeat your sankalpa silently three times to yourself now.

Connect the elevated vibration of your sankalpa to the steady rhythm of your heartbeat.

Then allow each beat of your heart to flood your sankalpa through your body and into every cell.

With sensations of gratitude pumping through your cells,

Allow awareness to gently return to breath.

Serve your body,

Take its next breath in.

Feel your body,

Take its next breath out.

Find again the steady rhythm of your own sweet breath.

As you continue with soft breath,

Notice sensations returning to the body.

Feel into the weight of your back body as it's grounded into earth.

Feel the openness of your front body as it expands towards the sky.

Feel yourself peaceful and whole in this moment as your body slowly returns to life.

The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

Loka soma stha sukhi nu bhavantu.

May all beings be happy and free.

And may our words,

Thoughts,

And actions contribute to that happiness and freedom.

Thank you for joining me for your practice.

Have a beautiful day.

Reviews

Very relaxing and just what I needed. Thank you! ❤️

Lovely and nourishing
Many thanks
Namaste🧘🏻‍♀️🕊🎼

Absolutely wonderful! Powerful & peaceful! Thank you so much for sharing this incredible practice! ❤️❤️❤️

Honestly incredible. Wow. What a gift! 🕉

Beautiful guidance through the body. I felt at peace and embodied gratitude

Wonderful and so restful! Thank you so much, Maria. 🙏🏻💚

Moving, emotional, opening, insightful... and I’m feeling full of love and gratitude - which shouldn’t be surprising, given the title. The universe is full of wonderful moments, and this was one of them. Thank you. 💗

Lovely guidance. Thank you!

Very powerful experience... my grandmother delivered a message to just love for which I’m very grateful. Thank you 🙏🏼

A truly healing, calming and peaceful practice. Thank you Maria. Namaste 🙏🏼

Voice, pace, language were perfect. Thank you for this beautiful practice.

Beautiful 🌺🙏❤️thank you! Complete relaxation of my body and soul! Lovely!

Brilliant and so effective, Maria!
I liked the use of paired opposites, and in reading through the comments I see that is a technique for building and strengthening neural pathways from negative to positive emotions. I hope to learn more about this. Thank you!

Wonderfully done !

Loved this♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Thank you😊

Pure magic Maria ❤ I'm grateful for you

I really enjoyed this yoga nidra, one of the best I’ve tried. It was difficult and yet easy, I liked how you guided through the different layers and bodies, the physical, emotional, mental etc. Also I felt it comforting the way you gently reassured, during the visualisation, that if no answers come right away, it will in the future. Thank you so much! ✨

Relaxing and soothing to the mind and heart.

Maria, this is a very profound and powerful practice. Your voice and words are beautiful. Thank you so very much for this gift.