Guided Yoga Nidra For Divine Grace

You were born from and into divine grace and yet it’s easy to forget this. That purity of spirit is often hidden behind the voice of self doubt and fear. The shadow side of grace is failure. And, some of our most important turning points in this life, rich with learning were because of mistakes or failures. This Yoga Nidra is about shedding layers of self doubt, strengthening trust that you are right where you need to be in this moment and letting divine grace flow.

Transcript

Welcome to this Yoga Nidra for Divine Grace.

Let your body settle and get comfortable.

Take the next half minute to minute to really find ease.

Feel the body guide you in that process of settling.

Let your process be soft and gentle in preparation for rest.

Find comfort and ease by both shifting your body and letting go.

Let your breath support you in your settling process.

Take a slow,

Full and deep inhale.

Feel your whole body expanding with breath.

And feel your whole body release tension,

Get softer as you slowly exhale.

Now let your breath be natural.

Declare with your inner voice,

I am awake and aware of my experience of Yoga Nidra.

Take attention to the heart space.

Create or connect with your Sankalpa,

Intention statement.

Set in the positive and as if what you most deeply wish for in this moment has already come true.

A Sankalpa can be as simple as a three word statement in your mother tongue.

Choosing what to follow from I am,

I have,

I welcome,

I honour.

Be specific and clear in your words.

Listen as you say this statement three times,

Slowly,

With your inner voice.

Let go of the words and allow them to settle inside the body.

Tiny seeds full of potential.

Bring your attention to your whole body.

Welcome whatever physical or energetic state your body is in right now,

This moment.

Both welcome and allow.

Take your attention around the body in a guided body scan.

Focus on what you feel.

The brain can either think or feel.

It cannot do both.

If thoughts arise,

Come back to what you feel with gentleness.

Take your attention to the inside of the mouth,

Feeling the teeth with a slight space between the top and the bottom teeth.

Feel your gums.

Feel your tongue settling,

Melting.

Notice where the tip of your tongue is resting inside the mouth.

Trace attention from inside the mouth to the inside of the nose.

Feel your nose.

Feel the outside of your nose and your nostrils.

Feel the eyes and the muscles around the eyes.

Feel the eyes letting go and the eyeballs sinking a little deeper into the head.

Feel both temples and the outsides of the ears.

Take attention to the insides of the ears.

Softening the middle and inner ear.

Take attention to the very centre of your brain.

Feel your scalp and your hair.

Feel your forehead.

And feel the whole head,

Vibrant and alive with sensation.

Feel your neck and your throat together.

Take attention into the left shoulder,

Elbow,

Wrist,

Back of the hand,

Palm of the hand.

Feel the fingers of the left hand and the spaces between the fingers.

Trace your attention up the left arm and back into the throat.

Feel the centre of the throat.

Take attention to the right shoulder,

Elbow and wrist,

Back of the hand,

Palm of the hand,

Fingers and the spaces between the fingers.

Feel both shoulders,

Arms and hands together.

Take attention to your whole torso.

Feeling the front side and the back side of your torso.

Drop attention to the inside of the torso.

Feeling the heart and lungs together.

Feel your diaphragm and how it shifts and moves together with your breath.

Feel your belly and the heart of your belly.

Feel the lower back.

Feel the bowl of your pelvis with your attention.

Feel the heart of the pelvis.

Take attention to the left hip joint,

Knee,

Ankle,

Top of the foot,

Sole of the foot,

Toes,

And the spaces between the toes.

Trace attention up the left leg and back to the heart of the pelvis.

Take attention to your right hip joint,

Knee,

Ankle,

Top of the foot,

Sole of the foot,

Toes,

And spaces between the toes.

Feel both hips,

Legs and feet together.

Feel the shape of your whole body.

Feel the density of the whole body.

Feel the beautiful weight of the body,

Fully supported.

Declare,

I'm awake and aware of my experience of Yoga Nidra.

Feel the whole right side of the body.

Everything on the right side of the body,

In its right place.

Feel the whole left side of the body.

Everything on the left side of the body,

In its right place.

Take attention to your center.

The space where the right and the left sides of the body come together.

Feel your breath traveling like a wave along your center space.

Notice and feel.

Feel how the inhale expands your body,

And the exhale is a physical invitation back to your center.

Receive this invitation again and again.

Add on to that breath.

Begin to count each of your exhales from 10 until you reach 0.

If thoughts arise,

Begin back at 10 with grace.

If you reach 0,

Begin back at 10 with grace.

Let this process be soft and allowing.

Be kind to yourself.

Gently let that go.

Notice how you feel.

With your inner voice,

Declare,

I'm awake and aware of my experience of Yoga Nidra.

Bring to mind a time in your life where you have failed at something.

A failure you felt was a big one,

And with time learned a bigger purpose for having made that failure.

Maybe this purpose involved gaining humility,

A feeling of grounding,

Deep learning,

Connection with another person,

And so on.

Remember that failure with your mind.

Visualize it.

Connect with the feelings arising in your body.

Where were you?

What happened before the failure?

What happened afterwards?

Welcome all that arises in your current experience.

There is nothing to repent for or regret against in this life.

There are no mistakes that can't be made right.

Recognize the role of grace in this learning experience.

How is grace a part?

There is a sacred unfolding,

And you can build trust in that process.

Welcome these words into your experience.

Everything that happens to me,

Happens for me.

Declare with your inner voice,

I'm awake and aware of my experience of Yoga Nidra.

The practice of divine grace in life is a wholehearted yes to life,

Just as it is,

Welcoming the flow of life that we are experiencing,

Letting go of tension or resistance,

And allowing what is to be just as it is.

Recall recent difficulties that were presented to you.

One by one,

Let your whole body feel them again,

And then with the voice of your heart,

Say,

Yes,

This too.

Repeat these words,

Yes,

This too,

One experience at a time.

Feel free to change those words into your mother tongue.

Gently let that go.

And take your imagination to nature,

To a part of nature that allows for a beautiful and easeful flow.

Welcome whatever arises for you in your experience with the imagination.

Stay with this as it comes to you,

And it comes more and more clear for you as a resource.

See this resource clearly,

Whatever it is,

And use the voice of the heart to say,

Yes,

This too.

Welcome all that arises in your experience.

Feel the natural flow of this present experience.

Declare with your inner voice,

I'm awake and aware of my experience of Yoga Nidra.

Let all of that go,

And find the joy of being,

Right now,

In this moment,

The joy of presence,

The joy of aliveness.

Connect to the physical source of joy within your body.

Be joy.

Rest here,

Allowing joy to flow into your whole being.

Let it flow out and around you.

Come back to your body.

Take your attention to the side of the body which is supported by whatever is below you.

Feel that side of the body grounded.

Feel the side of the body which is free to expand and lift as you inhale.

Feel the freedom of that space above and beyond your body.

Come back to your center,

Where the right and left sides of the body come together,

And where the front and the back of the body meet within you.

Rest here,

Using your inner voice.

State your sankalpa again,

One to three times,

Slowly.

Listen to the sound of your inner voice as you say these words.

Allow the words to settle back into the body.

Let your body guide you in some small movement.

Trust in the wisdom of your body.

Notice how this feels,

Moving very slowly.

Follow the guidance of your body in a process of awakening.

Allow this process to be very slow.

Take eight to eleven breaths to come back to a seated position.

Pause halfway,

Whether that is on your side body or on the other side of the body.

I thank you for your practice today.

Reviews

I found this to be really helpful. After a sleepless night filled with mental processing of experiences, questions, fears, and failures, I was hopeful to find a guided meditation that might allow me to both appreciate the insomnia-inspired insights, as well as put them away - at least for the time being. I used the intention, “I am forgiven” and noticed that silently repeating, “yes, this too,” to the various experiences I recalled was…I can’t think of the word, but I felt some relief.

As an aside - and I’m writing this more as a way for me to remember 😊 - one of my dogs often likes to be at my side when I meditate. When he is, I try to have some physical contact - to “pass the energy,” maybe. 😉Today, a guest dog was in his spot, so he wanted a bit more attention. During the body scan, he pushed his [big, blocky, and strong] head into my head, my eyes, my temples, my neck….seemingly in perfect time with the guidance. We finished the scan together, as I split my awareness between my lower extremities and his. We are all connected.