Welcome,
Welcome to your yoga nidra practice.
Settle in and find comfort in your space.
Lay on your back in alignment from the crown of your head all the way down your spine to the center line between your feet.
Your legs are stretched out in front of you.
Your arms are by your sides a little away from your body.
Place your palms upwards to invite your heart to open.
Make any movement you need to really find the deepest comfort possible and then to find stillness.
Close down your eyes and gently make a resolve to yourself to stay awake through the practice.
Knowing the systematic practice of yoga nidra will lead you through different states of awareness to rest,
Deep rest,
Profound rest.
Bring your focus now onto your breath.
Become fully aware of your breath.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and just sigh it out through your mouth.
Another deep inhale deep into your belly and then sigh it out and let everything go.
Now seal your lips allowing your breath to flow freely in and out of your nose for the duration of the practice.
And watch your breath from your mind's eye as it moves in and out of your body all on its own with no effort needed.
Notice its flow,
The sensation within your body of your breath entering and leaving your body.
And just watch the ease of it all,
The effortless ease,
Your body breathing itself.
Now I'd like to invite you to lengthen your exhale.
Perhaps inhale for two and then exhale for four.
Inhale for two and exhale for four.
Let your breath guide you.
Allow your breath to loosen up your whole body,
Releasing tension,
Unwinding stress.
Feel your body completely soften and let go onto the support you're lying on.
Give way with each and every breath to stillness.
Give way to rest.
You can just let go.
Let everything simply be.
Now feel a sensation of touch on your skin,
Your clothes,
Your coverings,
The air itself perhaps.
Notice the sensations you can feel on your skin and the difference between the places where you are open to the elements and those places where you are covered and contained.
Draw your full focus to the sensation of touch.
Feel the sensation of touch.
Now taste.
What can you taste?
Bring your full awareness to your mouth and be curious of taste.
And sense.
Is there any particular scent you're aware of in your space?
Don't search for anything to fulfill an answer.
Simply be aware,
Moving from sense to sense,
Noticing everything.
And to sound.
Widen your ears as far as they can go and listen for the sounds that are far,
Far away from you and those which are closest.
My voice,
Your breath,
Your heart.
And connect with your heart now.
Breathe into your heart,
Leaving the external world behind.
Soften further still,
Allowing all the worries and the stresses of your day.
Just let them dissolve away now.
Let everything simply be.
Today's practice has been created to cultivate acceptance.
The word acceptance comes from the Latin word acceptare,
Which means to take or receive willingly.
And it can be difficult to do sometimes.
We can feel disappointed,
Hurt or scared by things that come sometimes unexpectedly into our lives.
And this can be difficult and painful.
But if we can lean into acceptance being a willingness to receive,
There is an invitation to abundance,
A sense of there being more for us to receive with each and every experience.
An opportunity for growth perhaps or change.
But to trust that we are being fully held in this experience of life.
The suggestion being that there is more than we can ever imagine if we can only open ourselves up to it.
And as Wayne Dyer reminds us,
Abundance is not something we acquire.
It's something we tune into.
So be willing to accept and receive the abundance that life offers.
It's in the willingness to receive,
The willingness to accept without resistance,
That we find true peace.
So willingly receive and accept whatever comes up for you today in this practice.
Trust the process.
Trust the practice.
Now is the time to make your Sankalpa,
Your innermost heartfelt desire,
Your deepest intention or vow to yourself.
Sankalpa is yours to create.
It is a short positive statement starting with the words I am that encapsulates your desire,
Your deepest intention or life's purpose.
We repeat Sankalpa silently to ourselves three times at the beginning and at the end of Yoga Nidra.
Being mindful of the words of Satyananda,
Anything in life can fail you but not the Sankalpa said at the beginning and at the end of Yoga Nidra.
So prepare to sow the seeds of your Sankalpa by repeating it to yourself three times.
But pay no mind if nothing comes today.
If you prefer you can just stay breathing into your heart beginning with the words I am.
Bringing your attention now back to your body lying here in this space.
Become aware of the density of your body,
Your matter lying here in stillness,
At rest,
Surrounded by space,
Supported here in your space.
And notice the weight of your body and the openness of your body,
Its willingness to receive,
Its willingness to accept.
Know that here you are accepted just the way you are.
The whole of you is accepted and welcomed here.
Remaining still,
Move your attention now to your right hand and to your right hand thumb.
Bring to your mind's eye an image of your thumb and repeat its name silently to yourself as you bring your full attention and awareness to your right hand thumb.
Now your first finger,
Second finger,
Third finger and little finger,
The palm of your hand,
The back of your hand,
Your right wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm and shoulder,
The right hand side of your chest to your waist and your hip,
Your thigh your thigh and your knee,
Your shin and your ankle,
The sole of your right foot.
Now to your right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and little toe,
All your toes together.
Now bring your attention to your left hand and to your left hand thumb.
First finger,
Second finger,
Third finger and little finger,
The palm of your hand,
The back of your hand,
Your left wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm and shoulder,
The left hand side of your chest to your waist and your hip,
Your thigh and your knee,
Shin and ankle,
The sole of your left foot,
To your left big toe,
Toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and little toe,
All your toes together.
Now bring your attention to your back body,
To your heels,
Your calves,
The little space behind your knees,
The backs of your thighs,
To your glutes,
Your lower back,
Middle back and upper back,
Your neck and your head,
Your whole head,
Your whole head lying heavy and soft,
Your forehead,
The crown of your head,
Your right eyebrow and your left eyebrow and the little space between your eyebrows,
Your right eye and your left eye and all the little muscles behind your eyes,
Your right temple and your left temple,
Your nose along the bridge of your nose to the very tip of your nose,
Your right cheek and your left cheek,
Your top lip and your bottom lip,
Your tongue,
Your tongue,
Your teeth and your jaw,
Everything softening,
Your throat,
Your right collarbone and your left collarbone and the little valley between your collarbones,
The right side of your chest and the left side of your chest,
Your belly hanging loose,
Soft and loose,
Your pelvis,
The whole of your right leg,
The whole of your left leg,
Both legs at the same time,
Both legs together,
The whole of your right arm and the whole of your left arm,
Both arms at the same time,
Both arms together,
The whole of your body from the front to the back,
The inside out,
From the crown of your head to the tips of your toes,
Your whole body,
Your whole body reconnected now with your awareness and attention,
Made whole and complete once again,
Accepting,
Receiving.
Allow this sense of receiving to open up from your heart center.
Watch it unfurl like a flower or a fern,
Gently opening up from within your heart,
Willing to receive and truly accept whatever gifts of experience life is offering you from its most natural,
Abundant state.
And with this opening of true acceptance inside your heart,
Allow this feeling,
This sensation,
To permeate your whole body and stay with this feeling of openness,
Breathe into it,
Be open and receive.
Remaining in deep rest and equanimity,
Call to mind now a feeling of restriction,
Of tightness,
A sensation of being closed off,
Of tension,
Constriction.
And just bring about this experience without any narrative,
Simply explore the sensation,
This feeling,
Without any judgment or intellect.
Return now to the openness you felt before,
The soft unfurling from within your heart,
Opening up to a willingness to receive a true acceptance.
Let everything simply be.
And again,
Go back to restriction,
Tightness,
The sensation you raised before of tension and constriction.
And move between these two states using your breath.
Your inhale brings about this sense of tightness and restriction and your exhale lets go to the openness and acceptance.
In your own time,
Explore these two opposite sensations with your breath.
Now let these two states of awareness merge together.
Feel them at the same time.
Experience both together.
And then,
Go beyond.
Focus now on the space between your eyebrows and then a space in front of this,
Just a few inches away from your face,
From the middle of your eyebrows.
And imagine here a blank screen,
A projector if you will.
Chidakash.
And in the silence that will soon follow,
Allow everything to unfold here.
Be open to what you might see in this space in your mind's eye.
Trust,
Accept and willingly receive whatever comes.
Let everything simply be.
I'm now going to name some images and in your mind's eye,
Visualize what you hear.
And don't worry if visualization comes easily or not.
Trust the process.
Trust the practice.
Imagine a white feather dancing in the wind.
The sound of silence.
The tree of life.
A white swan graceful on a lake.
Sunshine on a summer's day.
A circle representing wholeness and infinity.
A full moon in a starless sky.
The never-ending universe.
The spiral,
Symbol of growth and evolution.
A full rainbow resplendent in color.
A single white rose.
Fork lightning in a storm.
A flowing river.
A chrysalis opening up to a beautiful butterfly.
The crashing waves of the sea.
Falling leaves in the autumn,
Red,
Gold and brown.
The sound of heavy rain.
A murmuration of starlings dancing in the sky.
Lying down to rest in a wild flowered meadow.
An eagle soaring in the sky.
The bridge to your open heart.
A willingness in your heart to receive.
A willingness in your heart to receive.
A willingness in your heart to receive.
Listen to the silence within.
Open your heart to pure consciousness of all that there is.
Let go and become awareness itself.
Let go and receive.
May today there be peace within.
May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.
May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content with yourself just the way you are.
Be still and know.
Returning to your Sankalpa,
Prepare to repeat it again three times silently to yourself.
Embody your Sankalpa.
Feel the sensations that come up when you take on the qualities of your intention.
What it feels like.
And allow this feeling to soak into every cell of your body.
To flow in your prana,
Your life force,
Throughout your whole body.
And acknowledge the importance of living your Sankalpa in every aspect of your life.
In thought,
Word and deed.
Taking the seeds that were sown earlier,
Root your Sankalpa deep into your consciousness now as you repeat it silently and wholeheartedly three times.
Succumb back to your breath once again and give a moment's gratitude.
Be grateful to yourself for making this time for you.
Be grateful for your body.
Grateful for your life.
For all those you share your life with.
Grateful for all the experiences life offers you,
Invites you to.
Grateful to welcome it all.
Willingly receive.
Start to deepen your breath in your body now.
And start to hear the sounds that you might hear around you.
Start to feel the covers and the clothes on your body and notice the difference of those places that remain open to the air.
As we start to awaken each and every sense as you return to this space.
Keeping all the benefits of the practice with you.
Feeling refreshed,
Restored and renewed as you come back to your world.
You might want to take a little stretch moving perhaps your fingers and toes.
Anything at all that helps you land back into this space.
You might want to roll onto your right side and curl up into a little ball and just take some breaths there.
Whatever you need.
And may the peace which passes all understanding keep your heart and your mind in the knowledge and presence of love.
This practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.
Thank you for taking the time to practice it.
