Hello,
My name is Rachel and today I'm going to take you through a beautiful yoga nidra practice.
So you may use this practice maybe just before sleep or if you want to reset the day.
If you have not practiced yoga nidra before,
It's a beautiful meditation which slows down our brain waves.
So we go from beta into alpha and theta brain waves coming into the sympathetic nervous system,
Relaxing the whole body and quite literally slowing down the fluctuations of the mind which is often the aim when we meditate.
So before you begin this practice,
Ensuring that you're nice and comfortable in a laying down position or in shavasana if you're familiar with this position.
You want to make sure that you've got something comfortable under your head as your head can get quite heavy during the practice and maybe you cover yourself with a blanket or if you have a jumper on.
Taking a few more moments here to really settle in,
To soften the body.
Allow the feet to relax out naturally.
Allow the chest to open.
Allow the belly to be nice and soft.
Maybe you start to close your eyes.
And in yoga nidra all you need to do is listen to my voice and follow my instructions.
Say to yourself mentally,
I will listen to the voice.
I will listen to the voice.
Taking a few more breaths here as you breathe out saying mentally to yourself calm.
One more breath here.
Notice the fact that your body is in contact with the ground beneath you.
Feeling all the points of contact between your body and the bed or the floor,
The back of the head,
The back of the arms,
The back of the shoulders and the shoulder blades,
The lower back,
The buttocks,
All the way down the legs to the heels.
We will begin the practice of yoga nidra.
You may like to take this time to come up with a resolve,
Also known as a sankalpa.
So a wish or a promise for this practice.
Maybe it's simply I will not move my body.
Maybe it's I will find some love and peace within.
Maybe it's I will relax.
Repeating this resolve,
This sankalpa,
Three times to yourself mentally.
So we're bringing our awareness to our right hand thumb in your mind's eye visualising the right hand thumb.
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Armpit,
Waist,
Hip,
Right thigh,
The knee,
Calf muscle,
Ankle,
Heel,
Sole,
Top of the foot,
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe,
Left hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Armpit,
Waist,
Hip,
Left thigh,
Knee,
Calf muscle,
Ankle,
Heel,
Sole,
Top of the foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe,
Right shoulder,
Left shoulder,
Right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
Right buttock,
Left buttock,
The spine,
The whole back together,
Top of the head,
Forehead,
Right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow,
The eyebrow centre,
Right eyelid,
Left eyelid,
Right eye,
Left eye,
Right ear,
Left ear,
Right cheek,
Left cheek,
Nose,
Tip of the nose,
Right nostril,
Left nostril,
Upper lip,
Lower lip,
Chin,
Jaw,
Throat,
Right collarbone,
Left collarbone,
Right chest,
Left chest,
Middle of the chest,
Navel,
Abdomen,
Lower abdomen,
Whole of the right leg,
Whole of the left leg,
Both legs together,
Whole of the right arm,
Whole of the left arm,
Both arms together,
Whole of the back,
Whole of the front,
Whole of the head together,
Legs,
Arms,
Back,
Front,
Head together,
The whole of the body together,
The whole of the body together,
The whole of the body together.
Develop an awareness of the whole body and become aware of the space occupied by the body.
Becoming aware of the body and this space that is occupied by your body,
Body and space.
Become aware of the whole body and what is beneath you,
The whole body in relation to what is beneath you.
Become aware of the meeting points of the body and what is beneath you.
The meeting points between the back of the head,
Between the shoulder blades,
The elbows,
The back of the hands,
The buttocks,
The calves,
The heels.
All the meeting points between the body and what is beneath you.
The sensation of all these points simultaneously and evenly.
Bring your attention along the line between the lips,
The space between the lips.
From the lips we go to the breath,
Draw your attention to the natural,
In-going and out-going breath.
Feel the breath moving along the passage between the navel and the throat.
On inhalation it rises from navel to throat.
On your exhalation it descends from the throat to the navel.
Be completely aware of your breath,
Navel to throat,
Throat to navel.
Do not try and force your breath,
Just awareness.
Maintain your awareness and at the same time start counting your breaths backwards as follows.
I'm breathing in 20,
I'm breathing out 20.
I'm breathing in 19,
I'm breathing out 19.
Continue on counting down.
Continue on counting down.
Continue on counting down.
Begin a sense of heaviness in the body.
Feeling heaviness.
Becoming aware of heaviness in every single part of the body.
You're feeling so heavy that you're sinking into the ground beneath you.
Sinking through the ground beneath you.
Every limb and part of your body is melting,
Melting downwards,
Heavy.
Continue to feel heavier and heavier.
Start to awaken the feeling of lightness in the body.
The whole body is feeling light.
The sensation of lightness and weightlessness in all parts of the body,
Like a feather floating up to the sky.
Like all your limbs are being pulled up by strings and you're hovering off the floor.
Continue to awaken this feeling of lightness in the body.
The experience of cold.
Awaken the experience of freezing coldness in the body.
Imagine you're walking across a frozen tundra.
You feel very cold,
Cold all over,
Surrounded by snow and ice.
Feeling this awareness,
Coldness in the body.
Awaken the sensation of heat.
The whole body is heating up like you're under direct summer sunlight.
The sun is bearing down on you,
Warming and heating the whole body.
The heat is all over the body and through the body.
Withdraw your mind now from this sensation and concentrate on the space right in the centre of the eyebrows.
Imagine before you a transparent screen through which you can see infinite space.
Space far beyond what your eyes can see.
Concentrate on this dark space and become aware of anything you can see there.
Continue this awareness as though you're looking at a screen,
Not becoming involved.
Just observing.
Now remember your resolve,
Your sankalpa.
Say it to yourself three times.
Becoming aware of your breathing.
Becoming aware of your natural breath.
Awareness of breathing and awareness of relaxation.
Develop awareness of your physical existence.
Become aware of your arms and your legs and your body lying stretched out on the ground beneath you.
Becoming aware of the meeting points between your body and the floor.
Develop awareness of the space around you.
Awareness of the noises in the space and outside the space.
Take your mind out,
Becoming completely external.
You may choose to stay lying exactly how you are.
Or perhaps you decide to start to move the body to stretch and slowly bring yourself out and into your day.
