Yoga Nidra For Welcoming Compassion
by Gary Leake
This is a Yoga Nidra journey inward to find a sense of great compassion for all in the world today. Hopefully you will benefit from the offered sankalpa or are working with one of your own. Please enjoy!
Transcript
I'm preparing now for the practice of yoga nidra.
Lying on your back with your feet about hip width apart,
Your feet gently falling to the sides.
Your knees are supported if you want,
Whatever is most comfortable for you.
That's what you're going for is supreme comfort.
Your arms falling by your sides,
Not touching the body.
Your palms can be pointed upward or facing inward or if that doesn't feel good to you you can cross them over your heart or anything else that feels safe to you.
Your head should be somewhat supported by a blanket or pillow and chin gently tucked toward the chest.
Allow a clear airway to flow from your nose in with the breath and into the lungs.
Not constricting it in any way.
Just arrive right now and take a couple of cleansing breaths in through the nose.
Hold at the top and sigh it out the mouth.
One more time like that in through the nose.
Holding at the top and sighing out the mouth.
You return to the natural breath in through the nose and out through the nose.
Begin to become aware of the sounds outside the room you're in.
As you become aware of a sound,
Identify it,
Acknowledge it and let it go.
Continue to scan the room outside of the room you're in.
Imagine a spiral scanning for different noises,
Different sounds.
It could be faint.
Acknowledge them and let them go.
As you begin to move closer to your location,
Begin to hear the sounds inside the room that you're in.
No judgment.
Just acknowledge them and let them go.
Continually scanning,
Not resting on any one noise.
Now use that same scanning,
Sensing,
Feeling.
And with each pulse of your heart,
Send out a scan into the room that you're in.
Become aware of the surroundings all around you.
The ceiling,
The walls,
The floor beneath the body.
Become aware of any impediments the scan may encounter.
Are there open doors,
Closed doors,
Windows?
And now expand that scan farther outside the room that you're in.
Begin to see things outside the room.
The scan sends out a pulse and returns back a pulse.
It sends out a pulse and returns out back a pulse.
And now shrink the scan back,
Back inside the room that you're in and inside your body.
With each pulse of the heart,
Scan the body.
Feel the pulse flowing in and out,
Expanding and contracting.
Become aware of any last-minute fidgets that you might have or some pain,
Little points that need to be addressed.
And settle in.
And at this point in the practice,
Begin to direct the breath in through the right nostril,
Touching the back of the throat,
Down to the lungs,
Filling them with life- giving oxygen,
And exhaling,
Constricting the lungs,
Touching the back of the throat and out through the left nostril.
On the next breath,
Breathe in through the left nostril.
Allow the breath to touch the back of the throat,
Flowing down to the lungs.
And return the breath back to the universe through the right nostril,
Allowing it to touch each one of the points.
Continue like this.
In through the right,
Fill the lungs,
Empty the lungs through the left.
Fill the lungs through the left,
Empty through the right,
Creating a balance,
Focusing on nothing but the breath.
There's nowhere to be,
Nothing to do.
Just be here.
Now let the breath go.
Return to your natural breath,
In through the nose and out through the nose.
And at this point in the practice,
I introduce a sankalpa.
Sankalpa is nothing more than a life-affirming statement.
It would be present and affirming.
And tonight I'd like to offer one if you don't have one.
And the one I offer is,
I welcome all with compassion.
I welcome all with compassion.
And on the next inhale,
Breathe your sankalpa,
Your short,
Affirmative,
Present statement,
In through the nose and mentally repeat on the exhale that sankalpa.
And repeat this mentally to yourself three times.
Breathing it into the universe.
Now let that go.
At this point of the practice,
Body parts will be named.
Repeat the body part name mentally and feel the full awareness,
Nothing else but that body part.
Beginning on the right side of the body.
Moving awareness into the right arm and hand and bring full awareness to the right hand thumb.
Mentally repeat,
Right hand thumb.
Continue like this.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
Palm of hand.
Back of hand.
Wrist.
Lower arm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Shoulder.
Arm pit.
Side of chest.
Side of waist.
Hip.
Thigh.
Knee.
Shin.
Ankle.
Soul of the right foot.
Top of foot.
The right big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth toe.
Awareness of the whole right side of the body.
Bring full awareness to the whole right side of the body.
Moving to the left side of the body.
Full awareness of the left hand thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
Palm of the hand.
Back of the hand.
Wrist.
Lower arm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Shoulder.
Arm pit.
Side of chest.
Side of waist.
Hip.
Thigh.
Knee.
Shin.
Ankle.
Soul of the left foot.
Top of foot.
Left big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth toe.
The whole left side of the body.
Bring full awareness to the whole left side of the body.
Now letting the naming of the body parts go.
And bring full awareness to the back side of the body.
Beginning with the right heel.
Left heel.
Full awareness in the right calf.
Left calf.
Right back of knee.
Left back of knee.
Right back of thigh.
Left back of thigh.
Right buttock.
Left buttock.
Spinal column from tailbone to midbrain.
From midbrain to tailbone.
From midbrain to tailbone.
From tailbone to midbrain.
Lower back.
Middle back.
Upper back.
Right shoulder blade.
Left shoulder blade.
The space between the shoulder blades.
Back of neck.
Back of head.
Crown of head.
Forehead.
Right temple.
Left temple.
Right eyebrow.
Left eyebrow.
The eyebrow center.
Right eye.
Left eye.
Right ear.
Left ear.
Right cheek.
Left cheek.
Right nostril.
Left nostril.
Bridge of nose.
Tip of nose.
The whole nose.
Upper lip.
Lower lip.
Line where the lips meet.
Both lips together.
Teeth.
Tongue.
Gums.
The whole mouth.
Right side of jaw.
Left side of jaw.
Chin.
Neck.
Throat pit.
Right collarbone.
Left collarbone.
Right side of chest.
Left side of chest.
The heart center.
Upper abdomen.
Lower abdomen.
The navel center.
Right side of pelvis.
Left side of pelvis.
The pelvic floor.
The whole pelvic area.
Right leg and foot.
Left leg and foot.
Full awareness of both legs and feet together.
Right arm and hand.
Left arm and hand.
Full awareness of both arms and hands together.
Torso.
Neck.
Head.
Torso,
Neck and head together.
Right side of body.
Left side of body.
Front side of body.
Back side of body.
The whole body.
Bring full awareness to the whole body.
Feel full awareness in the whole body.
At this point in the practice,
Return to the natural breath and on the next inhale,
Begin a count down from 72.
Inhaling 72.
Exhaling 72.
Inhaling 71.
Exhaling 71.
Continue.
Continue like this until one is reached.
If the count is lost,
Begin again at 72.
Inhaling 72.
Exhaling 72.
Inhaling 71.
Exhaling 71.
Exhaling 71.
If one is reached,
Begin again at 72.
Inhaling 72.
Exhaling 72.
Inhaling 71.
Exhaling 71.
If the count is lost,
Begin again at 72.
Now let that go.
Now with your next inhale,
Begin to bring about the feeling of constriction.
Imagine what it feels like to be constricted.
Constriction.
Smell smells as if you were constricted.
Hear sounds from a place of constriction.
Constricted.
And with the next exhale,
Bring about the feeling of expansion.
Expanding.
How does it feel to be expansion?
Taste the tastes from a perspective of expansion.
Hear sounds from a perspective of expansion.
Expanding bigger than Earth.
Now let that go.
At this point in the practice,
Images will be named.
Visualize them on the closed eyelids.
The movie screen known as Chidakash.
Visualize them in full detail,
Vividly,
Colorfully,
And without judgment.
The color red.
Bare feet on moss.
The smell of coffee brewing.
An ice cube melting in the hand.
A purple hippopotamus smiling.
A police car driving.
A green parrot taking flight.
The feeling of winning a race.
A close group of friends.
Warming hands by a fire.
A snow-capped mountain in the distance.
Now let these images go.
And begin to return to the sankalpa.
And repeat that sankalpa mentally,
With the breath,
Three times,
With force and vigor.
Inserting it into the universe.
And now,
You should begin to deepen your breath.
Begin to become aware of the room,
Those boundaries that you found earlier,
When you were doing a scan.
Begin to become aware of the sounds outside of the room again.
Begin to become aware of the body,
The position in the room.
Become aware of the touch of clothing,
Blankets on the body.
Begin to become aware of the air sensation on the body.
And if it feels good to you,
Begin to bring awareness and movement into the extremities,
The fingertips and the toes.
Just a little wiggle.
Maybe the ankles and the wrists.
The elbows and the knees.
Introducing movement in all those areas.
And if it feels appropriate,
Roll over on one side in a fetal position and just absorb.
Absorb this moment that you gave to yourself.
Know that the sankalpa that you put in the universe is at play for you.
And know that you've been practicing yoganidra.
The practice is now complete.
As you begin to move about,
Come to a comfortable seat.
Begin to go on with the rest of your evening.
Thank you for taking the time to practice with me tonight.
4.7 (33)
Recent Reviews
Francesco
May 30, 2020
Thank you so much for this it really helps me! The only thing is that there is a weird background noise every now and then. Thank you again!🤗
Mary
May 21, 2020
So appreciated just the soothing voice and the inner world of unlimited possibilities
Markus
April 14, 2020
Thank you very much for doing this exercise without any background music! It's really hard to find good Nidra exercises without music so I appreciate that a lot!