Yoga Nidra To Cultivate Your Inner Resource

Go on a journey down through the 5 koshas to deeply rest, and restore your body. On this journey, you will discover your inner resource, which is a place that makes you feel a general feeling of well-being within your body and heart. This place will create a somatic experience that you will be able to call upon whenever you are feeling overwhelmed in life.
Music by Chris Collins

Transcript

Namaste.

This is Melissa.

Welcome to your Yoga Nidra practice.

Today we will work on cultivating our inner resource.

Our inner resource is a place that creates a general feeling of wellbeing in our body.

It will be different for each one of us.

It may be a place that makes us feel at peace,

Grounded,

Supported or simply happy.

As we journey today,

You will find your special place that you'll be able to call upon at any time you need it.

Getting comfortable now for Yoga Nidra.

Be sure that your body is completely cozy and at ease.

You may be resting on your bed or on the floor.

You may be lying down or supported in a seated position.

Be wherever you are most comfortable and can relax fully.

Adjusting the head,

Neck,

Shoulders,

Pelvis and hips so that you can completely relax into the support beneath you.

If you could get even 1% more comfortable,

What would you do?

Yoga Nidra is a practice of non-doing.

There is nothing for you to do now.

No effort required.

Simply follow the guidance of my voice and allow yourself to be in this moment.

Begin to notice the natural rhythm of your breath.

The gentle ebb and flow as you inhale and exhale.

Feel the breath moving in and out.

Notice what you feel expanding on the inhale and what you feel deflating on the exhale.

Taking a few more cycles of breath here.

And when you're ready,

Moving into a calming breath.

Taking two sips of breath in through the nose,

Followed by a long exhale out through the mouth like this.

Take your own pace.

Two sips in through the nose,

Long exhale through the mouth.

Continuing with this calming breath for a few more cycles.

And when you're ready,

Allow your breath to return back to a natural rhythm for you.

No longer controlling or changing,

Just observing.

Notice how you feel.

Now please bring your sankalpa to mind.

This is your resolve or your intention.

If you don't have your own,

For today's practice I will provide one.

But please feel free to use your own sankalpa instead.

Please repeat your own sankalpa or repeat after me three times silently.

Repeat it firmly as though you believe it to be true,

If you wish to use the provided sankalpa work with.

I am peaceful and at ease.

Imagine your attention fluidly moving from one point to the next,

Creating a rivulet or stream of awareness flowing through your body.

As attention moves,

The body remains in stillness,

Welcoming sensations just as they are,

Without needing to change them or make anything different.

Begin by sensing the right hand thumb.

First finger.

Second finger.

Third finger.

Fourth finger.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Fist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Under arm.

Right side of the chest.

Waist.

Hip.

Thigh.

Knee.

Lower leg.

Ankle.

Heel.

Sole of the foot.

Top of the foot.

Right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

All five toes together.

The whole right side of the body now.

Sensing the whole right side.

Give some time now for your attention to move into the left thumb.

Sensing the left hand thumb.

First finger.

Second finger.

Third finger.

Fourth finger.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Under arm.

Left side of the chest.

Waist.

Hip.

Thigh.

Knee.

Lower leg.

Ankle.

Heel.

Sole of the foot.

Top of the foot.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

All five toes together.

The whole left side of the body now.

Sensing the whole left side.

Now the whole left side of the body and the whole right side of the body simultaneously.

Can you equally divide attention between the left and the right sides of the body?

Now sensing the back of the body.

Right heel.

Left heel.

Right calf.

Left calf.

Right hamstring.

Left hamstring.

Right glute.

Left glute.

Sacrum.

Whole back of the pelvis.

Lower back.

Middle back.

Upper back.

Just the spine.

The entire spine.

Right shoulder blade.

Left shoulder blade.

Back of the neck.

Back of the head.

Moving towards the top of the head.

Forehead.

Right temple.

Left temple.

Right ear.

Left ear.

Right eyebrow.

Left eyebrow.

Space between the eyebrows.

Right eye.

Left eye.

Right nostril.

Left nostril.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Upper lip.

Lower lip.

Both lips together.

Chin.

Jaw.

Throat.

Right collarbone.

Left collarbone.

Right side of the chest.

Left side of the chest.

Upper abdomen.

Navel.

Lower abdomen.

The whole right leg.

The whole left leg.

The whole right arm.

The whole left arm.

The whole face.

The whole body now.

Front and back.

Left and right.

The whole body.

Sensing the whole body.

Having the attention back to the breath now.

The natural breath.

In and out.

Without forcing or controlling it.

Just sensing.

Feeling.

Unforced,

Easy breath.

Observing your natural breath.

The natural breath in the body.

Sensing the ebb and flow.

The rise and fall.

Sensing the subtle pause at the top of the inhalation.

The subtle pause at the bottom of the exhalation.

And now beginning to count your exhalations from 10 all the way down to 1.

Inhaling 10.

Exhaling 10.

Inhaling 9.

Exhaling 9.

At your own pace.

If you lose track along the way,

Just beginning again,

Back at 10.

Gently guiding your attention back to counting down the breath.

There's plenty of time.

There's nowhere to go.

Nothing else to do.

Just becoming absorbed in the process of witnessing an easy,

Natural breath.

Counting down at your own pace.

Ceasing counting now,

Release your focus from the breath.

And begin to welcome the feeling of softness in your body.

Sensing all of the places where a natural softness is occurring.

Feel all the places in your body where softness resides within your body.

How does softness feel in your body?

Notice where you feel it.

And now,

Welcome the feeling of rigidity in your body.

Sensing all of the places where a natural density and rigidity is occurring.

Feel all the places where hard,

Rigid tissues reside within your body.

How does rigidity feel in your body?

Notice where you feel it.

Coming back to the feeling of softness,

Feeling all of the areas that are soft.

Then welcoming density and rigidity again.

Moving back and forth between softness and rigidity a few times.

Soft.

Rigid.

Softness.

Rigidity.

Can you sense both opposing sensations simultaneously?

Sensing softness and rigidity together.

Notice how softness and rigidity feel at the same time.

And now,

Feel your body as contracted.

Tight,

Tense,

Stiff.

Without moving,

Feel contraction in your body.

Notice where you feel tension and contraction.

And now feel expansion.

Feel openness,

Spaciousness.

Feel your body expanding and spacious.

Notice how it feels to feel spacious.

And now moving back and forth between feeling contracted and this spacious expansiveness.

Back and forth between the two at your own pace.

Contracted.

Expansive.

Contracted and tense.

Expansive spaciousness.

And now feeling them both together.

Welcoming the feeling of being contracted and expanding at the same time.

Resting back into spacious awareness for the next few moments.

Gently draw your attention to the dark space behind your eyelids.

Begin to visualize a favorite,

Peaceful,

Beautiful place.

This place will be unique to each one of us.

This is a place where we can be completely peaceful and at ease.

If you're unable to visualize a place,

Think of a place and notice the feelings and sensations that arise as you think of this place.

A place that creates a general,

Unshakable feeling of wellbeing within our heart and body.

This could be a place you've been before many times,

Or it could be a place built entirely in your imagination.

Where would you go that you could feel completely at ease,

Peaceful and at home?

Wherever this special,

Peaceful place is for you,

Take some time to imagine it as completely as you can all around you.

Once you have your special place in mind,

Bring yourself into the picture.

Imagine that you're in this beautiful place.

Put yourself there.

Look all around at the lovely,

Peaceful,

Relaxing surroundings.

Before,

You were looking at this peaceful scene like a painting from a distance.

Now you're in the scene.

You're living it.

Be there right now.

Notice what you see around you.

Look around at your surroundings.

Noticing colors around you.

Noticing if you're indoors or out in nature.

Noticing what in this place is most relaxing to you.

Notice what you smell in the air.

Bring scent into your visualization.

Smell the air where you are.

Reach out and touch something that's attractive and peaceful to you.

Notice how it feels.

Perhaps soft to your touch,

Maybe firm.

Maybe it's warm.

Or perhaps it's cool to the touch.

You're living in the scene.

You can feel the ground beneath you.

And the air on your skin.

Notice how the air feels.

Notice how the ground beneath you feels.

Take a moment to listen.

Observe the sounds you hear in this beautiful surrounding.

Whatever you hear,

Take a moment now to enjoy listening to it.

Noticing all of your senses in this special place.

What you hear,

See,

Feel,

Smell,

And maybe even taste.

Is there anyone in this space with you?

Just taking a moment to notice.

Perhaps you're on your own.

Maybe there's another being with you.

Notice now how you feel.

How does this special place,

Your inner resource,

Make you feel?

Noticing any feelings,

Emotions,

Or sensations that are present for you now.

This is your safe place,

A place you can return to any time at all.

A place of peace.

A place to be at ease.

Just noticing.

Hanging on to these feelings,

Emotions,

And sensations now.

And allowing the image of your special place to fade away.

Continue to feel all that you are feeling.

Notice what your inner resource has created or cultivated for you.

Know that you can call on this feeling any time that it is needed.

Bring your sankalpa or your resolve back to mind.

With conviction,

Repeat your sankalpa silently to yourself three times again,

Or repeat after me.

I am peaceful and at ease.

Feel your sankalpa in your body.

Feel your inner resource.

Notice any emotions or felt sensations in your body.

Perhaps naming these feelings,

Emotions,

Or sensations,

And noticing how they feel in your body.

Noticing the somatic experience that your inner resource has created for you.

Drawing your attention back to your physical body.

Notice the breath.

Unforced,

Easy breath.

Witnessing natural breath in the body.

Begin now to count your breath from one up to five.

Inhaling one.

Exhaling one.

At your own pace now,

Slowly bringing awareness back a little more with each inhale breath.

Begin to sense the earth beneath you,

The room around you.

Take a deep breath in through the nose and exhale through the mouth.

Begin to gently bring movement back to the body a little at a time,

Perhaps wiggling fingers,

Toes,

Gentle movements of the head and neck.

Taking a big stretch on an inhale if that feels good,

Allowing for any wiggles or movements that your body would like.

When you're ready,

Finding your way onto your favorite side and pause there for a few moments,

Allowing yourself to come fully back into this moment.

Noticing how you're feeling.

There's no rush here.

You can stay a little longer if you'd like.

When you're ready,

Using your hands to help brush you up to a seated posture of your choice.

Once you've returned to seated,

Bringing palms together in front of the chest,

Softly closing your eyes.

Take a few breaths here,

Just noticing how you feel.

Thank you for practicing yoga nidra with me.

Namaste.

Reviews

Very pleasant and relaxing, great choice of opposites, and lovely sounds of the ocean in the music.
Note to self: long visualization of safe place, lost my attention
Some feedback: I'd prefer less talking over the breath counting, found that distracting. Also, I prefer less vigorous endings that give me the option to rest a bit longer or even fall asleep if I need that. But I understand that that's not the original purpose of yoga nidra.
Thank you!

Excellent! Good pace (for me), good volume balance of voice & music, and good length for a yoga nidra when I wake too early and can’t get back to sleep. 🙏🏼

Such an amazing Nidra thank you. I love the tone and pacing it was so soothing and I was totally relaxed. Beautiful thank you. I highly recommend. ✨🌸👌🏻 did you train with Ally Boothroyd? It sounds so similar to what I am learning on her course. 🌟🙏🏻

Thank you for your guidance and creative nidra practice. Very gentle, steady and supportive. Namaste

So relaxing and wonderful. I fell into the deepest state of relaxation (which felt like sleep) but I was still awake. Thank you for sharing your time and talents with us ❤️

My absolute favorite , your voice and words and the music are amazing

Beautiful, took me into a deep experience from which I emerged feeling much more at peace. Thank you! Also love your choices of background music, here and in other recordings.
🤍🌺🕊️

Loved it! Your voice and the music, so soothing!🙏💞

Thank you very much! This is just a great experience!☀️

So very relaxing. Thank you 🙏💚

Loved 🥰 this Nidra Melissa! It was a perfect way to start my morning! Thank you! 💜