Prepare to begin.
Just a brief introduction to Yoga Nidra for those new and perhaps unfamiliar to the practice.
It is a yogic meditation and relaxation technique.
It's a guided practice.
I will guide you through the stages of the practice.
And all you really need to do is follow the instructions.
Quite literally,
Yoga Nidra means yogic sleep.
So we're putting the body into a state of deep rest.
The mind however remains awake.
We usually begin with a gentle physical relaxation.
Tuning the awareness to the physical body first of all.
Gently relax the physical body into this position of Shavasana.
Lying on the floor.
So begin just by bringing awareness into the right arm.
Make a fist with the right hand.
Squeeze the right fist.
Squeeze the forearm,
Squeeze the bicep,
The shoulder.
The whole right arm,
Give it a good squeeze.
And then let that go.
Do the same thing with your left.
Squeeze,
Make a fist,
Squeeze the forearm,
The upper arm,
The shoulder.
And relax.
Now let's do both arms.
Squeeze the fists,
All the muscles,
Both arms and the chest.
And relax.
Now awareness to your right leg.
Curl the toes,
Activate the calf,
The thigh,
The glute,
The whole right leg.
And relax.
Do the same thing with your left.
Curl the toes,
The calf,
The quad,
The glute,
The whole left leg.
And then relax.
Do the same thing with your right leg.
Activate all the muscles and the pelvic floor.
All the muscles,
Both legs,
But pelvic floor.
And relax.
Abdominal muscles.
Give your abdominal muscles a good squeeze.
And relax.
The pectoral muscles,
The chest muscles.
Give them a good squeeze.
And relax.
All the muscles of your shoulders,
Give them a squeeze.
And relax.
Now the neck.
Give the neck a squeeze and scrunch the face.
Squeeze the neck muscles,
Scrunch the face and relax.
Now we're going to do all the muscles of the whole body.
Let's squeeze everything.
Fists,
Curling toes,
Arms,
Legs,
Core,
Face.
And relax.
Now we're going to do that with a breath.
Taking a big deep inhalation in first of all.
Squeeze everything.
All the muscles,
All at once.
Hold it,
Hold it and ah.
With an exhalation,
Let it go.
We'll do that one more time.
Deep breath in.
Squeeze everything.
All the muscles,
All at once.
Big squeeze and ah.
Let it go.
We'll do that one more time.
Deep breath in.
Squeeze everything.
Deep core muscles and release.
Ah.
Feel like you're a pool of water.
You're just spreading out onto the floor.
With each gentle exhale now feel that surface area.
Find that surface area where the body contacts the floor and feel that surface area growing like a puddle gently expanding onto the floor.
And from here we gently direct our attention to the breath.
Observe.
The body breathing.
Maybe taking a few deeper breaths in without such force this time but then gently let it go.
Deeper breaths in.
And then let them go.
In the next stage of practice we become aware of the body breathing.
As we move through practice we become attentive to the dimension of sound.
We'll send our awareness out now into the day.
Listening to the external dimension of sound.
Allow your conscious awareness to roam free.
Hearing the sounds of the day.
In this technique we find a sound.
We bear witness to that sound for a moment.
Listen to that sound for a moment.
And then let it go.
Gently move on.
Find another sound.
Roaming.
Gently,
Steadily moving from sound to sound.
There's no need to contemplate the sounds in any way.
We just hear a sound.
Bear witness to it.
Let it go.
Find another.
See,
Perhaps you can seek out some new sounds.
Maybe there's some sounds you haven't heard yet.
Perhaps some more subtle sounds hidden between the larger sounds.
See if you can seek out three sounds you haven't heard yet.
And now let's come closer to ourselves.
Perhaps you can hear the sound of some gentle ringing in your ears.
Perhaps you can hear the sound of your own heart beating.
Blood moving through your veins.
And then coming to rest upon the sound of your breath.
Tune the awareness to the sound of your breath.
At this stage in the practice we introduce for the first time our sankalpa.
For those new to sankalpa it's essentially a resolve that we make in your ganidra practice.
That represents a change that we would like to create in our lives.
So we frame a sankalpa as a short clear statement as though it was already true.
A positive statement.
For example,
If I wanted to hear the sound of my heart beating,
For example if I wanted to improve my health,
I would say I have radiant health.
I am radiantly well.
Stating it in a way as though it's already true.
You can take as long as you need,
Days,
Weeks,
Months to form your sankalpa.
Once you've settled onto a clear sankalpa we keep that sankalpa until it's true.
Until it's absolutely true.
So if you don't have a sankalpa now might be a moment where you contemplate perhaps a quality you would like to cultivate in your life.
Or a material thing that you would like to have more of.
If you do have a sankalpa,
Repeating that sankalpa a number of times,
Allowing it to form clear in your mind.
And then let that go.
We again return awareness to the physical body.
Now we are going to rotate consciousness,
Rotate our awareness throughout the whole physical body.
I'll direct your attention to a body part.
You just place your attention there,
Place the awareness there.
Silently repeating the name of that body part and then we move on.
We begin by placing full attention,
Full awareness in the right hand thumb.
Become fully present in the right hand thumb.
And then moving to the right hand forefinger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger,
The little finger.
The palm of the right hand,
The back of the right hand,
The right wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Right shoulder.
The right side of the chest,
Waist,
Hip,
Right thigh,
Right knee,
Shin,
Calf,
Right ankle.
Top of the right foot,
Sole of the right foot,
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe.
The whole right side of the body.
Experience the whole right side of the body.
And now moving to the left side of the body,
Beginning again in the left hand thumb.
Moving to the left hand forefinger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger,
The little finger.
Palm of the left hand,
Back of the left hand,
Left wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Left shoulder.
Left side of the chest,
Waist,
Hip,
Left thigh,
Left knee,
Shin,
Calf,
Ankle.
Top of the left foot,
Sole of the left foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe.
The whole left side of the body.
The whole left side of the body.
We're going to move now back to the beginning,
To the right side of the body.
Beginning again for another rotation in the right hand thumb.
Full presence,
Right hand thumb.
This time no need to repeat the name.
Fully present,
Right hand thumb.
Moving to the index finger of the right hand,
The middle finger,
The ring finger,
The little finger.
Palm of the right hand,
Back of the right hand,
The right wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Right shoulder.
Right side of the chest,
Waist,
Hip,
Right thigh,
Right knee,
Shin,
Calf,
Ankle.
Top of the right foot,
Sole of the right foot,
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe.
Again the whole right side of the body.
Experiencing the whole right side of the body.
To the left side of the body.
Moving into the left hand thumb.
The left hand forefinger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Little finger.
The palm of the left hand,
The back of the left hand,
The left wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Left shoulder.
Left side of the chest,
Waist,
Hip,
Left thigh,
Left knee,
Shin,
Calf,
Ankle.
Top of the left foot,
Sole of the left foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe.
And then the whole left side of the body.
The whole left side of the body.
Moving the awareness now to the back of the body,
Where the body touches the floor.
The back of the right leg.
Back of the right calf,
Right knee,
Thigh,
Buttock.
The back of the left leg.
Calf,
Knee,
Thigh,
Buttock.
The lower back.
The whole right shoulder blade.
The whole left shoulder blade.
The back of the neck.
The back of the head.
The whole spinal column.
Become completely present in the spinal column.
Aware of the whole spinal column.
The whole spinal column.
The whole spinal column.
In the back of the head.
In the crown of the head.
The forehead.
Right eyebrow.
Left eyebrow.
Find the point of brahmadhiya directly between the eyebrows.
The eyebrow centre.
The right eye.
The eyelid.
The left eye.
The left eyelid.
To the bridge of the nose.
The tip of the nose.
Right nostril.
Left nostril.
Whole nose.
Both nostrils.
The right cheek.
The left cheek.
The whole right ear.
Top of the ear.
Earlobe.
Inside the right ear.
The whole right ear.
Inside and out.
And then the whole left ear.
Top of the ear.
Earlobe.
Inside the left ear.
Whole left ear.
Inside and out.
Now the jawbone.
Beginning at the left ear.
Trace a line along the jawbone.
From the left ear all the way past the chin to the right ear.
And experience the whole jawbone.
And then just to the chin.
Awareness just to the chin.
The bottom lip.
The top lip.
Find the point where the lips touch.
That subtle point where the lips touch.
Rest your awareness there.
Now inside the mouth.
The top of the mouth.
The bottom of the mouth.
The top of the tongue.
Underneath the tongue.
Top teeth.
Bottom teeth.
The very tip of the tongue.
And now the whole mouth.
Teeth and tongue.
And now the whole face.
Experience the whole face.
To the front of the neck.
The right side of the chest.
The left side of the chest.
Right rib cage.
Left rib cage.
Upper abdomen.
Navel.
Belly button.
Lower abdomen.
Pelvis.
And now the whole right leg.
Experience the whole right leg.
And then the whole left leg.
Experience the whole left leg.
The whole right arm.
The whole left arm.
Now both arms together.
Experience both arms together.
And both legs together.
Pelvis and both legs together.
And now the whole torso.
Experience the whole torso.
And the neck and head.
Neck and head.
Again both arms together.
Both legs together.
The whole torso.
Neck and head.
Both arms together.
Both legs together.
The whole torso.
Neck and head.
And now the whole body.
Experience completely.
The whole physical body.
Interconnected.
Homogeneous.
The whole physical body lying upon the floor.
The whole body.
The whole body.
The whole body.
And now returning awareness to breath.
It's time focusing the attention on the breath at the navel.
We're watching the rise and fall of the belly button with the inhale and exhale.
And now we're going to apply a count to that practice.
We're going to count the breath from 54 down to zero.
So we'll begin from wherever you are with the full exhalation.
Fully exhaling.
And now inhaling for 54.
Exhaling for 54.
Belly button falls.
Inhaling for 53.
Belly button rises.
Exhale.
Belly button falls.
53.
Inhaling 52.
Exhaling 52.
Inhale 51.
Exhale.
Belly button falls.
51.
Continuing in this way in your own time.
Staying awake.
Staying connected.
Committed to the practice.
Observing the breath.
The rise and fall of the belly button and the count from 54 down to zero.
If you lose the count,
Just return back to 54.
Continuing the count from 54 down to zero.
Staying awake.
Stay committed and connected to the practice.
Observing the rise and fall of the breath and the belly button.
There's nothing else to do.
From wherever you are,
You can just let that practice go.
Let the count go.
Gently shift the awareness now to the breath at the nostrils.
Observe the breath at the nostrils.
Noticing firstly that subtle point,
The very tip of the nostrils,
Where the breath enters and exits.
Now,
Noticing the point at the very top of the nostrils,
The eyebrow centre.
Notice the breath at that point,
At the very top of the nostrils,
At the eyebrow centre.
Now,
Watching the breath as it moves between the tip of the nostrils and the nasal cavity at the eyebrow centre.
Watching the breath as it journeys from the tip of the nostrils to the eyebrow centre.
Again,
We'll apply a count to this practice.
From wherever you are,
Release the breath.
We're going to count from 18 down to zero.
Inhaling 18 breath from the tip of the nostrils to the eyebrow centre.
Exhaling 18.
Inhaling 17.
Exhaling 17.
Inhaling 16.
Inhaling 16.
Exhaling 16.
Continuing in this way,
Observing the breath as it moves between the tip of the nostrils and the eyebrow centre.
And the eyebrow centre to the tip of the nostrils,
Counting from 18 down to zero.
And then,
Wherever you are with that practice,
You can release the count,
Release that awareness.
Now bring to mind a series of opposite experiences,
Opposite sensations.
I'll introduce an idea,
An experience.
Do your best to connect with the memory of that sensation.
The first is the sensation of being hot.
Beginning in the belly,
In the navel,
Managing the air,
The air is hot.
The first is the sensation of being hot.
Beginning in the belly,
In the navel,
Manipura Chakra.
Feeling heat beginning in the belly,
It radiates out through the body.
Feel heat.
Heat rising up from the belly,
Flowing down from the belly,
The body is hot.
Feel heat connecting with that memory,
That experience of being hot.
Feel hot.
And then let that experience go.
We now invite in the opposite,
The experience of cold.
This time beginning at the nape of the neck,
Vishuddhi Chakra,
The bottom of the throat pit.
Cold begins to seep from that point throughout the body,
So underdressed on a cool winter's day.
Find that memory,
That experience of cold.
The body is cold.
The body is cold.
Find that experience of cold.
Stay with it,
Stay committed to the practice.
The experience,
The memory of cold.
Remember what cold feels like in the body.
And then you can let that go.
You're now looking for the memory of anger.
Find anger.
A moment in time you are angry.
Find that sensation,
That memory of anger.
Connect to that physical experience,
The physical sensation of anger.
Remember what that feels like in the body.
Anger.
Again stay committed to it,
Stay connected to it.
The experience,
The memory of anger.
The physical sensation,
Anger.
And then let that go,
Like a puff of mist it fades away and we invite in the opposite.
Find joy.
The memory of joy,
The physical experience of joy.
Tune into that sensation,
The memory of joy.
Find joy.
Maybe it was a moment in time you're connecting to a particular experience or just the general sensation of joy.
Observe what joy feels like.
And then we let that go.
Awareness now again to the eyebrow centre,
The space of Chittakush,
The sky of the mind,
Behind the closed eyes.
I'll introduce now a series of images,
A series of pictures.
Just do your best to cultivate that picture behind the closed eyes.
The first is a picture of a desert.
A desert.
A sandy desert.
Huge sand dunes.
Shimmering in golden sunlight.
And in the midst of that desert you can see a pyramid.
A pyramid in the desert.
As the sun hits the pyramid it illuminates,
Radiates,
It shimmers though made of gold.
See a pyramid amidst sand dunes in a desert illuminated by the afternoon sun.
The next picture is of a sea at night.
A sea at night.
Moonlight reflects upon waves as they roll across a sea at night.
Moonlight catches the waves as they roll across a sea at night.
A field of sunflowers.
You're standing in the midst of a huge field of sunflowers in full bloom stretched up towards the sun.
As far as you can see in every direction,
Sunflowers in full bloom.
In the palm of your hand is a large green emerald.
You can feel the weight,
The presence,
The power.
A large green emerald.
In the palm of your hand is a large green emerald.
Now raindrops.
All around you see raindrops.
You can feel them,
You can hear them,
Perhaps smell raindrops.
Large raindrops falling all around you.
Hear them,
See them,
Maybe taste them.
Above you,
In front of you,
You can see a small cave.
A small cave in a dark forest.
The cave is illuminated by light.
You can see light flickering within the cave.
You walk towards it.
You enter and you see a large candle sitting upon an altar in the small cave.
You approach.
You look at the flame as it dances,
Reflecting off the walls,
Illuminating the small cave.
You look closer at the flame,
Focusing in,
Seeing the shape of the flame as it dances on the top of the candle.
Closer still,
You look towards the very tip of the wick from where the flame emanates.
You see the very tip of the wick.
A radiant glow where the light emanates at the very tip of the wick.
Full presence there at the very tip of the wick.
You can see,
Experience the golden candlelight dancing around you.
Your awareness is at the very tip of the wick,
Focusing on the point where the light begins.
You can feel the experience of the candlelight as it radiates around you.
The golden light of the Jyoti,
The inner lamp,
Representing our own divine light.
The individual spark of divinity resides within each and all of us.
Again now,
We introduce our sankalpa,
The same sankalpa made at the beginning of yoga nidra practice.
If you know your sankalpa,
You repeat it again at least three times,
Allowing it to sink deep into the subconscious mind.
If you're still contemplating your sankalpa,
Allow yourself another moment to reflect upon a quality or a material thing that you would like to manifest in your life.
And then let that fade away,
Allowing it to sink deep into the subconscious mind.
Again now,
Feel the touch of the air at your nostrils.
Notice the touch of the air upon the tip of your nostrils.
Notice the touch of the air upon the tip of your,
On the skin of your face.
Feel any other exposed parts of the skin.
Feel the air touching any other exposed parts of the skin.
Feel any coverings upon you.
Feel the weight of your body on the floor.
Feel the weight of your body as it presses down onto the floor.
Now tune your awareness to sound,
Hearing the subtle sounds around you,
Perhaps your breath.
And then allowing your awareness to move outwards now,
Outside of this space,
Into the day.
Hearing the sounds all around you,
Becoming aware again of the sounds around you.
Hearing the sounds that surround you.
This time connecting with what's making those sounds.
Becoming aware of where you are,
Becoming aware of what time it is.
Knowing that you have been practicing yoga nidra and that practice is now coming to a close.
When you're ready,
You can begin to make small movements.
Awareness to your fingertips,
To your hands,
To your arms and to your legs.
Slowly,
Slowly taking the time,
Giving yourself a little stretch and perhaps rolling over onto your right side.
Having a moment there before returning to the upright position.
