Yoga Nidra - Heart Sanctuary

This Yoga Nidra Practice is designed as an opportunity to reset during your day or to relax into your evening/sleep - there is no ending bell. I will guide your attention through the body as you begin to drop further and further into this deep relaxation state. I will offer some specific visualisations to connect with your heart space; a place of intuition, emotions, and love.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to today's practice.

Today we are going to be doing yoga nidra,

Also known as yogic sleep.

And if you're not familiar with this practice,

I'll just give you a little background.

So yoga nidra is a state that we can reach,

Residing just between being awake and being asleep.

This is a place that we can tap into our intuitive nature more easily,

And connect with our subconscious mind.

We often start in a more active state,

A beta state,

And as we begin our practice,

We'll move into an alpha state where serotonin is released,

And this helps you begin to reach a transformational experience of inner calm.

Following deeper into the practice,

The brain will then begin to emit delta waves,

Mimicking what happens when we enter a deep,

Restful sleep.

So with all that said,

Get yourself nice and comfortable.

I always suggest having some support under the head,

Under the knees,

Or anywhere that usually gets a little sensitive when you've been laying there for a while,

So you can be on the bed or on a yoga mat.

I'd also suggest that you have a small blanket,

Because your body temperature usually does drop during this practice,

So nothing too warm where you're going to more easily drift off to sleep,

But just something to keep you comfortable,

Keep you in the moment.

Allowing the palms to come out by the sides,

Allowing the ankles and the feet to roll out naturally.

Just taking a little moment here to move the body around,

Make any adjustments,

Make sure you're feeling covered and comfortable.

And again,

You don't want to be too warm,

You don't want to be cold either.

And to begin with,

We're going to tense and release our body.

So on the inhale we'll tense up,

And on the exhale we'll let the body relax.

So on your next inhale,

Squeezing the body,

Squeezing the eyes,

The fists,

Every muscle that you can think of.

And as you exhale,

Release,

Relax,

Melt.

Inhale to tense.

Exhale to release.

Do this two more times in your own time,

Your own space.

On your next inhale,

Imagine as though the earth is rising up to meet you,

Supporting you.

And then as you exhale,

Soften into that support.

On the inhale,

The earth,

The floor,

The ground rises up,

Supporting you,

Holding you.

And as you exhale,

Softening,

Releasing,

Relaxing.

Continuing with your own breath here,

Feeling the support,

The surrender.

And then releasing that focus.

Before we continue into our practice,

I'd like you to create a sankalpa,

Or a resolve.

If you're unfamiliar with these terms,

It's basically a short positive statement in the present tense.

So an example might be,

I am calm.

I am present.

I will remain awake.

So picking anything you like and repeating that three times.

You'll be connecting with your heart space during this practice.

By focusing the mind at the heart,

You'll connect with the part of you that knows,

That is the knower.

Try to remain awake by listening to the sound of my voice.

You'll be asked to move your attention to different parts of the body,

Your awareness.

Try not to concentrate too intensely,

This might prevent you from relaxing.

And if any point you get lost,

You lose the sound of my voice,

Your mind drifts off.

Don't worry,

Just keep coming back.

With that said,

Bring your attention to your right eye socket.

Left eye socket.

Right ear.

Left ear.

Right nostril.

Left nostril.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Upper lip.

Lower lip.

Soften the tongue inside your mouth.

Bring your attention to the mill of the eyebrows.

Bring your attention to your throat centre.

Your heart centre.

Right thumb.

Right index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Bicep.

Shoulder.

Right ribcage.

Right hip.

Right buttocks.

Right thigh.

Right knee.

Right ankle.

Right hip.

Right ankle.

The top side of the right foot.

The underside of the right foot.

Right big toe.

Right second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

The whole right side of the body.

The whole right side of the body.

Heart centre.

Left thumb.

Left index finger.

Left middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Bicep.

Shoulder.

Left ribcage.

Left hip.

Left buttocks.

Left thigh.

Left knee.

Left ankle.

The top side of the left foot.

The underside of the left foot.

Left big toe.

Left second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

The whole left side of the body.

The whole left side of the body.

Heart centre.

Ribcage.

Back.

Navel.

Belly.

Pelvic centre.

Heart centre.

Ribcage.

Back.

Navel.

Belly.

Pelvic centre.

The whole body all at once.

The whole body all at once.

Coming back to the heart centre.

I want you to visualise now as you inhale,

The air is going through the left nostril.

And as you exhale,

The air is coming out the right nostril.

So visualising,

Inhale left.

Exhale right.

Continuing on.

Exhale right.

Release that focus on the breath for a moment.

And now we're going to count backwards from 18 to 0.

So on each exhalation,

Counting 18,

17,

16.

And if you get lost,

Your mind gets distracted,

Just start again.

The aim isn't to get to 0.

It's simply to bring a deeper awareness,

Some focus,

Concentration.

So again on each exhalation,

Counting down that number,

Starting with 18.

In your own time,

You can begin.

And now we're going to count backwards.

And now we're going to count backwards.

And now we're going to count backwards.

Releasing the breath count now.

And then imagine that you're resting in your heart space,

Right in the centre of your chest,

Your ribcage.

Then ask yourself,

What does it look like?

What does it feel like?

Continuing to drop into this space.

Just exploring these feelings with a little curiosity.

Continuing to feel deeper and deeper into the centre of you.

The heart is a space that can hold our emotions,

Feelings,

Love for ourself and others.

It's our connection to our spirit and light.

There's always polarity in everything in life and this stays true for the heart as well.

The heart can ache or it can be filled,

Overflowing with love.

It can feel compassion and trust,

But it can also feel distrust.

So you can be aware of any of these polarising feelings coming up.

But try not to hold too much onto any stories,

Acknowledging that these feelings are there though.

Maybe in your heart space you see a colour of some kind,

Gold,

Pink,

White.

Or maybe there's a shape.

If you can see a colour or a shape,

On the inhale allow this to become more and more concentrated towards the centre of your being.

If you can't see anything,

Don't force it.

Perhaps imagine that you're drawing the breath through the chest directly into the heart.

And as you exhale you're allowing this vision or this breath to expand bigger and bigger,

Coming outside of you.

So the inhale we're concentrating,

Making it smaller.

And then as you exhale you're growing bigger and bigger,

Following the flow of your natural breath.

Again observing any feelings or thoughts that come up while doing this,

But try not to control the direction or the outcome.

You are the observer,

Safe in the centre of your heart.

Now you can release any doing.

Reside here in the space of the heart for a few minutes,

Softening into your experience.

I'll leave you here for a couple of minutes but I will come back.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

And then bringing your attention back to your heart if your mind wondered.

Finding that breath,

That colour or shape,

And allowing it to expand more and more with each breath,

Flowing through your whole body,

Starting at your heart,

Flowing up to the top of your head,

Down to the fingertips,

Down to the toes,

Flowing through your whole body.

And with this moving through you,

Feeling lighter and lighter.

And then slowly drawing that energy back into the centre of your chest,

And you keep the love and light in your heart.

Starting to feel grounded,

Feeling the body in contact with the earth or the floor,

The bed beneath you.

Feeling all those bits of contact between you and the ground.

Coming back to a slightly deeper breath if you have to move into your day,

And if you're about to go to sleep then keeping the breath soft.

And then repeating your sankalpa or your resolve three times in your mind.

And here I will leave you if you are going straight to sleep,

Allow that to happen.

If you need to get into your day then starting to move the body and stretch how you need.

Thank you so much for joining me for another session together.