Welcome to Yoga Nidra meditation.
Yoga Nidra is also called deep sleep with awareness.
Even 20 minutes of Yoga Nidra can be worth three to five hours of regular sleep.
It's wonderful for releasing tension and improving your own sleep.
As we begin,
It's important to allow your mind to drift,
And when it does,
Be compassionate,
Non-judgmental,
Then come back to my voice.
Now,
Let's remain warm and comfortable,
Finding that Goldilocks position,
Or just right.
The practice of Yoga Nidra begins now.
Settle your body into stillness,
Making any necessary adjustments so that you can relax 5% more.
In Yoga Nidra,
You'll be functioning on the level of hearing,
Awareness,
And stillness.
So now,
Let's move into the physical energy body,
Allowing your attention to rest lightly on your face.
Allow your features and expression to become tender and neutral.
Gazing now at the back of your closed eyelids,
And with the next exhalation,
Let your gaze wash to the outer edges and absorb into the fabric of the back brain.
Consciously rest on the skin of your forehead and watch the unfolding of tension happen naturally as the space between the eyebrows expands from the center to the periphery.
Settle now into the space between the inner ears.
Just by being present,
Tension and tightness will soften away.
Allow your brain to have the experience of inner expansion.
Now,
Place your attention inside the mouth.
Rest with heaviness into the jaw,
Allowing your jaw to hang loose at the hinge joint,
Becoming slack.
And with this new sense of spaciousness,
Let the back of the throat soften on the cervical spine.
Flow gracefully along your collarbones in opposite directions and pull your attention completely into your shoulders and rest there.
Let the weight of your shoulders yield and ground to the bed or floor beneath you.
Now,
From your shoulders to the palms of your hands,
Let your arms sink into heaviness,
Feeling warm and relaxed.
Now,
Gently place your attention into the space at the center of the chest.
Be there completely.
Let the physical heart feel safe and fully rest back onto the ribs.
Slide your awareness down your spine and into your belly.
Be patient and kind inside your belly,
Attuning to the natural pulse of the organs and your intestines.
As you are present in this area of the body,
The body responds and will take rest.
Move now into your pelvis and into the hips.
And if there is any tightness or gripping,
It will naturally start to ease off and the energy will return to flow because you are checking in and showing up.
Now,
Spread your consciousness into the length of your legs.
Allow the muscles to unwind and roll off the bones.
Your legs are heavy.
Move all the way down to the soles of the feet and into the arches.
Let the skin be soft and sensitive there.
Now,
Starting from the base of your feet,
Lay your consciousness through each cell,
Working all the way up through the body until you arrive at the crown of the head.
Take your time and go slowly so that the light of your own awareness makes contact and lights up the consciousness of each cell as you ascend through your own body to the crown.
Your mind becomes the experience of the whole body,
And the whole body becomes the experience of your mind,
Still and quiet.
Now,
Rest deeper into the stillness.
Let yourself sink more into the backside of the body,
The primitive side.
You are completely awakened and conscious that your whole physical body is falling asleep.
This is the state that the mystics have always known to be transformative and important,
Connecting to your highest nature.
Notice the gentle breath that has always been there.
Rest your awareness on the ebb and flow of breath without controlling the breath.
Ride it like gentle waves on the ocean,
Having the experience of moving with flow.
You're moving deeper now into quiet,
Dissolving into more of a formless state,
Into the timeless and unchanging essence of you.
Entering the gates of meditation,
Slipping into timelessness,
The outer world is now fading away.
It is in the most sacred state where you are completely aware and awakened,
And the physical body is in a deep state of rest that we now come to the work of our Sankalpa,
Personal will,
Highest truth,
Intention.
Whatever you so deeply wish for,
Whatever your soul is craving to know and experience,
Lies in your Sankalpa,
A short,
Concise form.
Begin now with I am,
As if it's already happening,
Like I am courageous and strong.
I am healthy and whole.
I am healed and abundant.
Find your Sankalpa and repeat it three times now,
Silently.
This is your heart's desire.
Now,
Leave your Sankalpa,
Surrender it from the mind into the inner stillness.
Where your attention goes,
Energy flows.
Stay with my guidance throughout your body now.
Let's begin with your right side.
Notice your right palm,
Thumb,
First finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Middle,
Small finger.
Sense your whole right hand alive with energy.
Feel your wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Arm,
Right ribs,
Waist,
Right upper thigh,
Knee,
Shin,
Bum,
Right heel,
Arch of the foot,
All five toes,
Whole right foot,
Whole right side of the body.
Sense the whole right side heavy and relaxed.
Energy flowing through the right side.
Now,
Shift to the left.
Notice your left palm,
Thumb,
First finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Small finger.
Sense your whole left hand relaxed,
Full of energy.
Feel your wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Left side ribs,
Waist,
Upper thigh,
Knee,
Left shin,
Ankle,
Heel,
Arch of left foot,
All five toes,
Whole left foot,
Whole left side of the body heavy.
Feel the energy flow through the left side.
Bring your focus now to the base of your feet.
I will guide your awareness up the back body,
Moving from right to left.
Right heel,
Left heel,
Right calf,
Left calf,
Right hand,
Hamstring,
Left hamstring,
Right buttock,
Left buttock,
Right lower back,
Left lower back,
Right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
Right back of the head.
Now,
Sense all the points on the back body that you just moved your awareness through.
Sense the energy flowing to these points.
Come now to your forehead.
Right temple,
Left temple,
Both temples together.
Right eyeball,
Left eyeball,
Both eyeballs together.
Right ear,
Left ear,
Both ears together.
Right nostril,
Left nostril,
Both nostrils together.
Upper lip,
Lower lip,
Both lips tenderly together.
Right side chest,
Left side chest,
Right side abdomen,
Left side abdomen,
Left side abdomen,
Whole of the pelvis.
Now,
Shift your focus into your whole right arm.
Sense the consciousness of the whole right arm alive with energy.
Now,
Right leg.
Feel deeply the consciousness of your whole right leg.
Now,
Feel the right leg and right arm together.
And the whole right side of the body.
It's though you were split down the center and you were only experiencing the right side of your body.
Right side of your face,
Neck,
Right chest and arm.
Right side,
Pelvis and leg.
Have a deep experience now of only the right side of your body.
Now,
The right side dissolves and you shift your focus into the left side.
Start by sensing the left arm,
The whole left arm,
Alive with energy.
Your whole left,
The energy of the left leg.
And now,
Settle your focus onto the whole left side.
Left side of your face and neck,
Left chest and arm,
Left side abdomen,
Left pelvis and left leg.
It's though you only existed on the left side.
And now,
Bring back into focus the right side.
And feel both sides coming into the center.
Feel your whole center line,
Your core.
And now,
Sense the middle of your body,
From the root of the pelvic floor,
The entire spinal column,
Up to your brain stem and brain.
Have a deep experience of your center.
And now,
Invite back the left and right sides of your body.
As you come back into wholeness and have this experience of wholeness and integration.
Maintain whole body awareness.
Whole body awareness.
Whole body awareness.
Stay awakened as you have direct knowledge of the physical energy lying in perfect stillness.
Experiencing the consciousness of the entire body.
Explore into the deeper recesses of the body,
The vast universe that is present in your inner world.
Stay awakened as you explore.
We now enter into the awakening of opposite sensations in the body.
Let us begin by awakening heat and warmth in the body.
Imagine that a thousand suns are burning brightly in your solar plexus.
Move your focus a few inches above your navel.
Visualize a thousand suns.
And the heat and warmth now radiating throughout your entire body.
Your body is growing warmer and turn your awareness into heat and feel the temperature of heat awakening in your body.
Now,
Awaken the opposite,
Cold.
A thousand suns are dimming and your internal pilot light is turning off and a shiver of cold flashes up your spine.
Spine becomes frigid.
And now your entire body begins to experience cold and shiver.
Sense the snow,
The temperature of cold inside your body.
And now,
Reawaken heat.
Visualize the thousand suns and feel the heat while simultaneously feel the frigid spine,
The frosted spine and nervous system of cold.
Pull together in your awareness,
Both hot and cold in your body.
Stay relaxed and fully awaken this experience of temperature difference all throughout your body.
And now,
Let the extreme temperatures fade back into the distance as the nervous system returns to harmony.
Place your focus between your eyebrow center.
Anchor here,
The place of consciousness.
Visualize the following images at the mind's eye.
Have no judgment or analysis of what comes up.
Shift into openness and relaxation.
A golden egg.
The golden rays of the rising sun in the morning.
An ancient scroll spread open on an old wooden desk.
Golden waves of an ocean crashing against the shore.
The flicker of a candle flame lighting a darkened room.
The sound of raindrops hitting a tin roof.
A herd of white elephants.
Your childhood hero.
Sunrays peeking through green leaves of tall trees.
The aroma of fresh coffee.
A single tree.
Two trees.
A hammock tied between two trees.
The sound of a newborn baby sleeping.
A group of monks chanting.
The moon's illuminating white light sparkling against the ocean waters.
A red bicycle.
Let all the images dissolve back to the eternal landscape of your consciousness and shift into meditation.
Sankalpa.
Sankalpa.
Concentrate on your Sankalpa now.
Hold the idea of your personal Sankalpa firmly within your awareness.
Silently,
Drop it in three times now.
You are a creator,
A manifester,
A divine being.
Sense the energy of your Sankalpa spread throughout the entire body.
Beyond the body,
Through energy.
Beyond the energy field into universal space.
Now,
Surrender it.
And let it be,
For it is done.
Bring awareness to your internal existence.
The spark of your divine.
The inner essence of your core.
Have direct experience of your highest essence.
Your true self that is untouched by any circumstance or any duality of experience.
For whatever is real cannot be threatened.
Experience who you are.
Feel the breath once again.
The wave of the breath that has always been here,
Pulsing in the background of existence.
This gentle,
Soothing rhythm of your own breath,
Anchoring you back into present moment time.
You can choose now to fall asleep.
Let yourself drift,
Or gently return to your breath,
Inviting movement.
Notice the quality of your mind.
When the mind is quiet and tranquil,
It does not interfere with what is.
Feel free to re-engage your senses back into the world around you slowly.
Feel the atmosphere against your skin,
Without any interference of your mind.
Sense pressure change,
Feeling the weight of clothing against the skin.
The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
