Welcome to the practice of Yoga Nidra,
Conscious sleep.
Find a restful position on the floor or sitting in a chair.
If you're on the floor,
You can have a pillow under your head and a pillow under your knees.
Cover yourself up with a blanket if you like.
Your body temperature will drop slightly.
Allow your legs to be open,
Feet flopping outward and arms slightly away from the body with the palms facing upward naturally.
Once you find your comfortable resting position,
Try to stay as still as possible.
If you need to move,
You can move.
Take two deep breaths in and out through the nostrils.
Deep inhale,
Belly rises.
Exhale,
Belly falls.
Deep inhale,
Fill up the body.
Slow controlled exhale,
Empty the body.
Now bring your breath back to normal.
Start to bring your attention to distant sounds.
Do not try to identify them,
Just bring your awareness to it.
Now bring your awareness to sounds that are closer.
Bounce your awareness from sound to sound.
Now begin to bring your awareness into yourself and just listen to the sound of my voice.
There is no exact right or perfect way to practice yoga nidra.
Whatever experience you have is just what you need.
Start to gaze into the center of your eyebrows,
Into the mind space.
Contemplate the phase of life you are living in in the moment.
Whenever each and every one of us does this,
Each and every one of us will find aspects of our lifestyle that we can improve upon.
When you find that aspect of your lifestyle that you want to improve upon,
I want you to mentally formulate a short positive phrase for it as if you've already achieved it.
Yogis call this a sun kalpa.
An example of a sun kalpa is,
I sleep deeper at night,
I eat healthy,
I am patient,
I am mindful.
When you find your positive phrase in sun kalpa,
Mentally repeat it to yourself three times.
Now we are going to rotate the consciousness over the body.
Whatever part of the body my voice says,
I want you to mentally repeat it and mentally echo it and simultaneously take your awareness to that part of the body.
The body remains still,
Only the mind moves.
Start to take your awareness to the right thumb.
The right index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger,
The middle of the right hand,
Center of the right palm,
Right wrist,
Right forearm,
Right elbow,
Right upper arm,
Right armpit,
Right waist,
Right hip,
Right thigh,
Right knee,
Right calf,
Right ankle,
Right heel,
Right sole of the foot,
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Now start to bring your awareness to the left thumb.
Left index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger,
Left back of the hand,
Center of the left palm,
Left wrist,
Left forearm,
Left elbow,
Left upper arm,
Left armpit,
Left waist,
Left hip,
Left thigh,
Left knee,
Left calf,
Left ankle,
Left heel,
Sole of the left foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Take your awareness to the right buttock,
Left buttock,
Right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
The entire back,
Back of the neck,
Back of the head,
Top of the head,
Forehead,
Right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow,
Right eyelid,
Left eyelid,
Right ear,
Left ear,
Right nostril,
Left nostril,
Tip of the nose,
Upper lip,
Lower lip,
Chin,
Right collarbone,
Left collarbone,
Right chest,
Left chest,
Center of the chest,
Upper abdomen,
Lower abdomen,
Navel.
Bring your awareness to the entire right arm,
The entire left arm.
Bring awareness to both arms simultaneously,
Entire right leg,
Entire left leg.
Become aware of both legs simultaneously.
Become aware of the whole body.
Become aware of your whole body.
As the physical body moves into relaxation,
Let's relax the mind as well.
Bring the focus of the mind to the breath at the entrance of the nostrils.
Try not to control the breath,
Just witness it moving in and out.
Now bring your awareness to the breath in the abdomen.
Try not to control the movement of the abdomen.
As you inhale and exhale,
The abdomen naturally makes a small movement up and down.
Just be a witness.
Now start to mentally count the breath backwards from 27 to 1.
If you fall asleep and you get up,
Start all over again.
If you lose count,
Start all over again from 27.
If you reach 1 before I start to speak again,
Feel free to start again from 27 and count back down.
Mentally repeat,
27 inhale,
27 exhale.
26 inhale,
26 exhale.
And continue at your own pace to 1.
Control your true state.
Now I want you to use the creative power of your mind and imagine your entire body becoming heavy.
See your body weight multiplying ten times,
Feeling yourself grounding down into the earth.
Imagine your body becoming heavy now.
Now imagine your entire body becoming light.
Light as a feather or a cloud floating to the sky.
Your body is weightless and imagine your body becoming light now.
Visualize yourself to a time when you were very happy,
When you had a very joyous feeling surrounding you.
Allow yourself to visualize that moment when you felt the happiest.
Now start to imagine a healing light and energy sitting at the crown of your head.
You can imagine the light to be any color,
Shape or form and you can imagine the energy to have a warming sensation.
And as you breathe allow this healing light and energy to enter through the crown of your head.
Allow it to send positive healing and positive thoughts into your mind.
Now guide that healing light and energy down your spine and as it travels down your spine,
Allow the healing light and energy to heal every organ inside of your body.
Imagine that warmth of healing energy surrounding your organs,
Healing your organs.
Slowly and gently allow the healing light and energy to travel all the way down to the soles of your feet and slowly up to the tips of your fingers.
Then gently guide the healing light and energy into your heart center and allow that healing light and energy to embrace your heart and to heal your heart both physical and emotional.
Feeling that warmth right in your heart center as the healing light and energy heals the heart and allowing that energy to expand from within your heart center to the outside of your body as it wraps your entire body up in a cocoon of healing energy.
Feeling that warmth all around you covering you up just like a blanket allowing it to heal you from the inside out and from the outside in,
Healing every cell,
Every muscle,
And every fiber of your being.
Allow this feeling to be deep and profound for yourself.
Now bring your awareness to the center of your eyebrows and imagine sand,
The beach,
A sunrise,
A towel,
A chair,
Boogie board,
A turtle,
A dolphin,
A sailboat,
A float,
A boat,
Slippers,
Children playing,
Waves on the ocean,
And a sunset.
Now bring your awareness to the center of your eyebrows but this time try not to think of anything.
If random thoughts come up from the subconscious mind,
Witness them in a detached manner.
And if no thoughts come,
Just appreciate the inner silence of the mind.
Now bring your awareness to the center of your eyebrows.
Now bring your awareness to the center of your body.
Now bring your awareness to the center of your body.
As we come to the end of the yoga nidra practice,
I want you to mentally repeat your sankalpa,
The same short positive phrase that you began with.
Mentally repeat it to yourself three times now.
Slowly and gently begin to deepen your breathing,
Allowing your awareness to return to the space,
Allowing the breath to inspire movement in your toes,
Your fingers,
Wrists,
Ankles.
Allow yourself to move the back of your head from side to side and back to the center.
Raising your arms up over your head,
Extending your legs out in the opposite direction to stretch and then gently bending your left knee,
Placing the sole of your foot on the ground and then gently rolling over onto your right side using your right arm for a pillow.
When you are ready,
Slowly come to a comfortable seated position.
The light in me honors the light in you.
Namaste.
