Yoga Nidra For Honouring Rhythms

A guided yoga Nidra to honor and connect to the wisdom in rhythms: in body, earth, and moon. This meditation guides you to become aware of awareness itself, the deeper self who witnesses the waves of life as they come and go. There is a sense of slowing down, coming back into the body, and deeply resting. You are already wise, there's nowhere to go, or no outer source to find this wisdom and this meditation invites you to find it already within you.

Transcript

Welcome to this Yoga Nidra for honoring rhythms and the wisdom in rhythms.

Draw your attention to the side of the body which is supported by what's below you.

If that is your back,

Lying on the back,

The side body,

A chair,

The place that you can let go into.

And I invite you to let go 5% more into that support below you.

Take the next two exhales out the mouth.

Feel free and safe to invite the sound of a sigh to encourage settling and release.

Feel the whole body inhale and the whole body exhaling.

Let the breath return to its own natural rhythm.

And declare with your inner voice,

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

Know that you are safe to move the body at any point to shift and find comfort and ease.

You are not stuck in stillness.

Take your attention into the space of the heart and notice what welcomes you.

Create or connect with your sankalpa,

Intention statement.

Said in the positive and as though fully true right now in this moment.

Honoring what you most wish for in this moment.

Be specific and clear in your words.

Listen as you say this statement three times with your inner voice.

The sankalpa can be as simple as three words finishing one of these starters.

I feel,

I have,

I am,

I trust,

I welcome.

As you say those slowly three times with your inner voice,

Feel how the rhythm of the statement moves together with your breath.

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

Using your imagination,

Draw a protective circle around your body made of whatever material will give you the greatest feeling of safety.

Be present as you create this circle with your imagination for the next few breaths.

You are now safe inside your circle.

My voice can come into your circle,

Otherwise you are protected and safe.

Feel your whole body supported by the earth.

Rhythms of the body supported by rhythms of earth.

Imagine the whole planet below your body,

The rhythmic movement that you are a part of within you,

Below you,

Around you.

Take a moment to connect with the layers beneath your body until you arrive onto the surface of the earth,

Layer by layer dropping down.

Feel free to add that dropping down together with an exhale.

Arriving at the surface of the earth,

Cool,

Dark,

Rich,

Quiet and full of energy.

We will now take attention around the body in a body scan.

As you softly land your attention on each point,

Feel into the quiet rhythm or pulse of life in that point of the body.

Take attention to the inside of the mouth,

The tongue,

Teeth soft and slightly apart,

The roof and the lower palate inside the mouth,

The gums,

Sidewalls of the mouth.

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

Feeling the nose.

Trace attention to the inner ears and outer ears,

The temples and the cheeks,

The eyes and the muscles around the eyes,

Pulsing with life's rhythm.

Feel into the space behind both of the eyes.

Take attention to the forehead and the scalp.

Take attention to the very centre of the brain,

The whole head,

Vibrant with sensation.

Take attention to the throat and inhale into the throat,

Feeling it expand and filling your whole neck with your attention.

Feel the left shoulder,

Elbow,

Wrist,

The hand and fingers,

Spaces between the fingers.

Feel the heart and the pulse of life in the left hand.

Trace attention up the left arm,

Back into the throat.

Take attention to the right shoulder,

Elbow,

Wrist,

Hand,

Fingers.

Feel the heart of the right hand and the pulse of life,

The rhythm of life in the hand.

Trace attention up the right arm and into the throat.

Drop attention down into the space of the heart.

Feel the space around the heart.

Shift as your heart moves with the rhythm of life,

Feeling both lungs and the connection of heart and lungs.

Drop attention into the belly.

Feel your belly soft and receiving breath,

Rhythms of life in the belly.

Feel the lower back and the pulse of breath in the lower back.

Let your attention fill the pelvis,

The bowl of your pelvis filled with your presence and the pulse of life in your pelvis.

Feel the left hip,

Knee,

Ankle,

Heel,

Foot,

Toes on the left foot.

Feel the heart of the left foot.

Trace attention up the left leg and into the heart of the belly.

Right hip,

Knee,

Ankle,

Heel,

Foot,

Toes.

Feel the heart of the right foot,

Pulsing with the rhythm of life.

Feel the whole body alive,

Radiant with life's rhythms and pulse.

Feel your whole body supported by the rhythms of the earth,

Safe and protected in your circle.

Body settled and still,

Body pulsing with the rhythms of life within.

Feel the flow of your circulatory system,

Even if just with your imagination.

The musical rhythm of the beat of your own heart.

The musical rhythm and physical dance of your breath.

Declare with your inner voice,

I'm awake and aware of my experience of yoga nidra.

Draw awareness to your body breathing you.

Sense the movement and rhythm of breath in the body.

Notice where you sense this.

Just notice.

Observe your body breathing you with joyful wonderment.

Visually connect the feeling of your breathing with the moon cycle.

As you inhale,

Feel yourself filling with breath,

Like the moon waxing and becoming fuller and brighter.

Feel the top of your inhale,

Bright and full as the moon.

Feel your exhale,

Moon waning,

Growing darker,

And feel into the bottom of your exhale,

New moon,

Quiet,

Cool,

Dark and still.

Continue to breathe in this way.

Gently let that go.

And declare with your inner voice,

I'm awake and aware of my experience of yoga nidra.

The cycle of the moon can invite us to see ourselves with her light,

And invite us to turn inwards with her darkness.

What we project out to the world has a shadow side,

Just as the back of the moon is in shadow when we see the moon to be full and illuminated.

Bring to mind a recent projection of yourself,

A mask or a suit that you present to the outer world,

The light side of the moon.

Welcome whatever comes up as you do that.

Now bring to mind the shadow side of that projection,

Whatever it is that is hiding in the dark behind the mask.

The dark side of the moon,

Be open and accepting to whatever arises,

Both notice and welcome.

Without thinking too much,

Try to feel into both the mask,

The light side of the moon,

And the shadow,

The dark side of the moon together.

Notice what comes up and arises.

Be welcoming,

Feel the connection between the two,

The light and the shadow,

And gently let that go.

Declare with your inner voice,

I am awake and aware of my experience of yoga nidra.

Let your imagination pendulate between light and shadow.

Feel rhythmic movement in your body,

Just as the moon can lift,

Push and pull the immensity of the great mother ocean to create tides,

All those emotions can create tides within our physical body.

Notice physically what you feel as you shift attention from light to dark and back to light again and back to dark in rhythm.

Notice and be welcoming to whatever arises and gently let that go.

Declare with your inner voice,

I am awake and aware of my experience of yoga nidra.

Let all that go and find a joy of being within you,

The joy of this moment,

The joy in presence.

Connect to the physical source of joy within your body.

Be joy.

Rest in beingness.

Let yourself into the beingness beyond all the rhythms,

The beingness beyond the coming and going.

You are the timeless awareness experiencing and witnessing the waves.

Come back to your breath.

As you feel yourself within your body,

Your body breathing you,

Notice your physical body.

Sense and remember what is below your body supporting you.

Using your inner voice,

State your sankalpa again three times.

Listen with quiet reverence.

Feel the rhythm of those words as you both speak and listen.

Let those words come to settle and rest inside the body,

Just where they need to be.

Allow your body to guide you in some very small movement.

Trust in the wisdom of your body.

Notice how this very small movement feels,

Moving very slowly.

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

Make the process comfortable by keeping things slow and easy.

Take five to eight breaths to come back into a seated position.

I thank you for your practice today.