Guided Yoga Nidra For Deep Relaxation

This guided yoga Nidra practice is a wonderful, down-regulating practice that can help put you in touch with your most relaxed state. Simple inner-world practices are offered that use the power of the mind to de-stress and experience the spaciousness of your own awareness.

Transcript

We'll prepare for yoga nidra by taking a comfortable,

Reclined position where you can remain totally still for the full duration of the practice.

It's recommended that you support the back of the head with a thin blanket or cushion and perhaps support the backs of the thighs with a bolster or blanket or pillows just to allow the musculature of the low back to release.

Take some time to set up the posture with great care.

So it's believed that there is an intimate connection between both the body and the mind.

The yogis call this the procritic connection of body and mind.

So where we put the body,

The mind will follow.

And what we experience at the level of our mind,

On some level is reflected in the body.

By settling into stillness,

It summons great power.

Take this time to ease into stillness and gently close the eyes.

Allow the energy of the senses to begin to turn inward and just notice what you're working with here in this present moment.

And as you become aware of what you're feeling and where you're feeling it,

Notice any places of stress or tension or contraction that you might be dealing with.

And we'll begin to guide the breath into these places.

Breathing in to create the conditions for spaciousness,

Openness,

Receptivity.

Breathing out,

Allowing yourself to soften,

To settle in,

To let go,

To make peace with what is.

Take a few more breaths like this.

Breathing in to create space.

Breathing out to soften,

To settle in,

To let go.

You may find it helpful to take a couple of cleansing breaths.

Breathing in deeply through the nose,

Pausing slightly at the top,

And breathing out to release the cares and worries of the day.

We'll take two more breaths like this.

Breathing in deeply through the nose,

Pausing slightly at the top,

Breathing out excess energy and worry.

Once again,

Breathing in through the nose,

Pausing slightly at the top,

Breathing out to soften around those hard edges.

Start to cultivate awareness of the whole body,

Becoming aware of the body from the crown of the head to the tips of the toes.

Feel that you have the ability to move your body,

But that you are choosing not to.

And just sense for the places where your body makes contact with the floor or space below you.

Imagine these places of contact to be places of respiration,

Like gills on a fish.

Become aware of the natural flow of your breath,

Breathing in and out of the spaces where you make contact with the floor and the props.

And just by becoming aware of your breath and its free and easy state,

Right away we experience one of the most transformational qualities of a yogic practice,

How awareness itself,

It has the capacity to transform our experience.

Just by becoming aware of our breath,

On its own it starts to come in a little bit deeper and go out a little bit longer,

Holding this relaxed awareness of your breath.

And each time the mind wanders away to pick up some item on your to-do list,

Some memory from the past,

Some anxiety over the future,

Just compassionately bring your awareness back to the breath time and time again.

So it doesn't matter how many times the mind wanders away.

What matters is the quality that you have when you bring it back to the point,

Becoming aware of the breath time and time again.

And it's this practice that cultivates our capacity for true presence.

I'll chant the sacred syllable AUM three times and as I do,

I'd like for you to imagine yourself chanting this sacred syllable along with me.

And in this way,

You feel the union between inner and outer experience.

Yoga is an external practice that leads to this deep connection with our natural inner state.

AUM All that's required for you to engage with this practice of yoga nidra is that you function on the levels of hearing and awareness.

Just tuning into the sound of my voice and following the instructions to the best of your ability.

Our goal here isn't rigid concentration,

But rather relaxed awareness.

And while this feeling of relaxation may become very deep,

It's important that sleep should not come.

Take this opportunity to plant an intention in your own mind that you will remain awake.

Mentally repeating to yourself,

I will remain awake.

I am aware.

I am awake.

We'll take a practice known as Shava Yatra.

Shava in Sanskrit,

It means corpse or body and Yatra means pilgrimage.

We will rotate our awareness around parts of the body with loving awareness.

Any way you experience awareness of your body is correct.

There's no way to do this wrong.

So as I say each body parts name,

Maybe you visualize it in the mind's eye,

Or you bring feeling sensation to that space.

Or perhaps you imagine it illuminated with a point of light,

Like a blue star.

Any way you experience your body is correct.

Awareness will rotate from one part to the next as quickly as possible.

And if the mind becomes distracted,

Just come back to the sound of my voice as we continue this trip around the body together.

Once again,

Our goal is relaxed awareness.

Bring your awareness to the center of your forehead,

The space between the eyebrows.

Become aware of the center of the forehead.

And moving down,

The base of the neck,

The right shoulder,

The right elbow,

The right wrist,

The right thumb,

Right index finger,

Right middle finger,

Right ring finger,

Right little finger.

Become aware of the right wrist,

The right elbow,

The right shoulder,

The base of the neck,

The left shoulder,

The left elbow,

Left wrist,

Left thumb,

Left index finger,

Left middle finger,

Left ring finger,

Left little finger.

Become aware of the left wrist,

The left elbow,

Left shoulder,

The base of the neck,

The center of the chest.

Become aware of the right chest,

The center of the chest.

Become aware of the left chest,

The center of the chest.

Traveling down to the navel,

The pubis,

The right hip,

Right knee,

Right ankle,

Right big toe,

Right second toe,

Right third toe,

Right fourth toe,

Right fifth toe.

Awareness of the right ankle,

The right knee,

The right hip,

Pubis,

The left hip,

The left knee,

Left ankle,

The left big toe,

The left second toe,

Left third toe,

Left fourth toe,

Left fifth toe.

Become aware of the left ankle,

The left knee,

The left hip,

The pubis,

The navel,

The center of the chest,

The base of the neck,

The center of the forehead.

And from this place of relaxed awareness,

Become aware of the whole body together.

Awareness of the whole body together.

Becoming aware of the whole body together from the crown of the head to the tips of the toes.

Try and construct an image in your mind of your body as it is now.

As if there were a great mirror hanging on the ceiling reflecting your body,

Lying perfectly still,

Totally relaxed.

Awareness of the whole body together.

Take this opportunity to make sure that you are,

In fact,

Still awake.

Mentally reaffirming to yourself,

I am aware.

I am awake.

I am aware.

I am awake.

And now become aware of the natural flow of your breath.

Softly focusing your attention on the movement of the breath.

Try and experience the breath as movement.

Feel the coolness of the inhale and the warmth of the exhale.

And let's try and place the breath at the heart region in the center of the chest.

Let the inhalation come into the heart region at the center of the chest and allow the exhalation to arise from there,

The heart region at the center of the chest.

Experience the breath,

The breath of the heart.

And as you breathe,

Let the breath make a little sound as it passes through the nostrils.

Follow the sound of the breath as it comes in and goes out.

If you pay close attention,

You'll notice that your breath has four segments.

You can think of the breath like the seasons.

Feel the inhale coming in rising like spring.

The tiny pause at the top of the inhale,

The fullness of summer.

Feel the breath travel out like autumn and the tiny pause at the bottom of your exhale like the deadness of winter.

Listen to the sound that the breath makes and notice how when it comes to an end in the region of the heart and the center of your chest that there's a tiny pause or space of stillness.

Try and focus on that pause.

Don't try and lengthen it,

But just observe it.

And then when the exhalation starts,

Follow the sound of the breath until it comes to an end and the space outside.

Again,

Note the pause.

Focus softly there,

But don't try and lengthen it.

Keep following the breath in this way,

Feeling the space inside and the space outside.

The tiny pause at the top of every inhalation,

The tiny pause at the bottom of every exhalation.

Feeling the space between breaths,

What the yogis have called the madhya,

The luminous doorway.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Take this opportunity to make sure that you are in fact still awake,

Mentally reaffirming to yourself,

I am aware.

I am awake.

I am aware.

I am awake.

And now I'd like for you to awaken the feeling of heaviness in your body.

Become aware of heaviness in the body.

Imagine that your body was so heavy it could begin to sink deep down through the floor towards the center of the earth.

Using your imagination as best you can to create this sensation and make it vivid.

Become aware of heaviness in the body.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Allow the feeling of heaviness to fade away.

And now awaken the feeling of lightness in the body.

Imagining that your body were so light,

So weightless that you could begin to float up away from the floor.

Awaken the feeling of lightness in your body.

Using your imagination as best you can to awaken this feeling and make it vivid.

Awareness of lightness of the body.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Allow the feeling of lightness to fade away.

And I'd like for you to awaken the experience of bitter cold in the body.

Imagine that your body were cold all over,

As if you were outside on a chilly winter's day without a jacket.

Using the mind to awaken this sensation and make it vivid.

Awareness of coldness in the body.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Allow the feeling of coldness to fade away.

And now awaken the sensation of heat in the body.

Awareness of heat.

As if you were outside on a hot summer's day without any shade or water.

Feel that the body is warm all over.

Using your mind to awaken this sensation and make it vivid.

Become aware of the presence of heat in the body.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

Let the process itself absorb your attention.

Let the practice itself absorb your attention.

You you and now allow the feeling of heat to fade away and now I'd like for you to recall an experience of pain any pain that you've experienced in your life physical or mental recall this feeling of pain and use your mind to relive the moment to make it vivid total awareness of the experience of pain you you you you allow this experience of pain to fade away let it go and now I'd like for you to recall an experience of pleasure become aware of pleasure recall this memory any kind of pleasure you've experienced in your own life physical or mental call upon this memory and relive it make it vivid give yourself over to experience total pleasure in both the body and the mind you you you you you and now allow this experience of pleasure to fade away let it go take this opportunity to make sure that you are in fact still awake mentally reaffirmed to yourself I am aware I am awake I am aware I am awake and now I'd like for you to become aware of the infinite space behind your closed eyes behind the forehead the space that Yogi's have called the Chitakash the space of consciousness just observing your own inner world with your inner eye and now I'd like for you to become aware of the infinite space behind your closed eyes just observing your own inner world with your inner eye you're not looking for anything in particular here we're just tuning in to what you actually see as you gaze upon your own inner world feel this infinite spaciousness contained inside of you maybe you see a haze of gray a field of blue-green light tiny points of light like a pointless painting observing the Chitakash the infinite space contained inside of you the space and as you gaze at your own inner world with your inner eye notice how there is a shimmer of subtle movement can you sense for a pulsation in the Chitakash the Chitta or mind it's made of energy and it pulsates it reverberates and it's this energetic pulsation that gives rise to thoughts feelings emotions memories sensations can you feel for the pulsation of your own inner consciousness awareness of the Chitakash you and now become aware that you are observing yourself become a witness of your awareness become aware that you are observing yourself how you are awareness itself so it's not that awareness is something contained inside of your mind or your body but that your body your mind your thoughts are all contained inside of this awareness look deep within and become aware of the one who is looking and now allow your awareness to expand outward with each exhalation feel that your awareness expands more and more let your awareness fill the room and push beyond become aware of the town you're in the state the country allow your awareness to expand to embrace the entire world pushing up towards the sky and out into the cosmos let awareness expand as far as it can go and allow yourself just to rest in this spacious expansive awareness you you you you you you you you you you you and now bring your awareness back to the Chitakash the space of consciousness feel infinite space contained inside of you and in the Chitakash there is a small flame like the flame of a burning candle try and find this light and at the center of this flame there is a tiny golden egg shimmering with light the Yogi's called this hit on your guard or bar and this image of the golden egg contained in this flame it symbolizes your own inner guiding goodness hold this image of this golden egg in that infinite space contained within you feel how it pulsates with loving awareness experience yourself as that allowing these waves of blissful love and intelligence to fill your whole experience feel your own primordial wisdom your capacity to love radiating from hit on your guard or bar this golden egg you you you you you and now relax all efforts become aware of your body your breath your surroundings staying in the sacred stillness of Shavasana become aware of body and breath and surroundings feel the support of the floor underneath you feel the way the clothes are draped on the body get a sense of the space you're in the sound of my voice become aware of body and breath and surroundings breathe in a little bit deeper and breathe out a little bit longer and when you're ready you can slowly open your eyes

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Spacious and calming