Welcome to today's Yoga Nidra practice,
A practice created to offer you the opportunity to take deep restorative rest,
Conscious rest.
So be sure you won't be disturbed for the next 30 minutes or so and adjust your volume to be just right for you.
Take the comfiest of blankets,
Covers and wrap yourself up in them.
Cushions,
Bolsters,
Eye masks,
Bring them all in.
Anything at all you have near you to build a little nest of rest,
Your Nidra nest.
Lay down on your back,
Taking all the support you need to make yourself as comfortable as you can possibly be.
And take time with this preparation,
Knowing the way we meet our practice creates our intention for practice.
Be sure your head is supported,
But not so much that it constricts your throat.
Be open,
Have your legs lying straight out in front of you,
A little more than hip width apart and allow your feet to fall open.
Your arms by your sides,
A little away from your body with your palms upwards,
Be open.
And perhaps bring your shoulder blades together ever so slightly to again invite that sense of openness across your chest.
But above all,
Find comfort,
Your deepest comfort.
And now close down your eyes and prepare for Yoga Nidra.
Knowing your journey today will take you to the liminal state,
A place where you are neither asleep nor awake.
A place where the body can surrender to stillness.
A place between worlds where deep rest meets conscious presence.
And where healing can begin.
Here,
There is nothing for you to do.
Allow yourself this time.
Simply rest to receive.
In today's practice,
We will be working with the vagus nerve,
The nerve which Dr.
Stephen Porges,
The founder of the polyvagal theory,
He states that this is the reset button of the human body.
Also known as the wandering nerve coming from the Latin Yagari,
The vagal nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the body,
Beginning in the brainstem.
It's a central part of your parasympathetic nervous system,
Your body's innate rest and digest response.
The vagus nerve helps regulate heart rate,
Digestion,
Breathing and inflammation.
And it plays a powerful role in your emotional and mental well-being.
And it all does it without you having to do a thing.
This is the pathway that allows us into a place of calm,
Of safety and restoration.
The natural home of deep healing.
And as you are settling here,
Bring your attention to your breath.
Take a really long,
Deep inhale through your nose.
And exhale through your mouth.
Letting everything go.
Another long,
Deep inhale through your nose.
Exhaling again through your mouth and feel everything start to soften.
Continue in your own time,
With your own breath and your own rhythm.
Breathing in and out of your body.
Inhaling through your nose.
Exhaling through your mouth.
Every time you're exhaling,
Feel a softening,
A releasing,
A letting go.
And now,
If it feels comfortable,
Seal your lips and return to a natural state of breathing.
In and out of your nose,
With no effort required.
A gentle ease.
A calm,
A soft breath.
Now in this quiet,
Allow your Sankalpa to arise.
This,
Your deepest,
Most heartfelt intention for your life.
Allow your Sankalpa to make itself known in your mind and in your heart.
Beginning with the words I am,
Silently repeat your Sankalpa to yourself in the space that soon follows.
Like a mantra,
Repeat it silently and wholeheartedly to yourself three times.
And if you're not working with a specific Sankalpa at the moment,
You might like to use the following.
I am whole,
Exactly as I am.
I am resting in my true nature.
I am complete.
We move to rotation of consciousness.
Bring your full awareness and attention to your right hand.
And as we move around the body,
You might like to imagine a golden silk ribbon flowing to each body part.
See this ribbon flowing in your mind's eye,
Connecting your body.
Completing your body with a sensation of wholeness.
Led by this soft,
Wandering ribbon of your awareness and sensation.
Your full attention now to your right hand and your right hand thumb.
The tip of your first finger.
See a golden ribbon of light weaving its way to the tip of your second finger.
Your third finger.
And your little finger.
Now,
Between the spaces of your fingers and thumb.
Watch in your mind's eye as this soft ribbon,
Glistening with a golden light,
Drifts across the palm of your hand.
The back of your hand.
Your right wrist.
Along your lower arm.
Around your elbow.
To your upper arm.
And around your shoulder.
All along the right hand side of your chest.
To your hip.
And your thigh.
To your knee.
Along your shin.
The softest golden light and touch.
Moving to your ankle.
Moving along the sole of your right foot.
To the top of your foot.
And the very tip of your right big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
And little toe.
Let the ribbon glide in between all the spaces of your toes.
Now move your awareness to your left hand.
And your left hand thumb.
Allow your soft silk ribbon to touch the tip of your left hand thumb.
Around the tip of your first finger.
Your second finger.
Third finger and little finger.
Watch it wavering and wandering through all the spaces between your thumb and your fingers.
Floating now across the palm of your hand.
To the back of your hand.
Around your left wrist.
Along your lower arm.
To your elbow.
Your upper arm.
And around your shoulder.
All along the left hand side of your chest.
To your hip.
Your thigh.
And your knee.
Down along your shin.
To your ankle.
The sole of your left foot.
And the top of your foot.
To the tip of your left big toe.
Along to the tip of your second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
And little toe.
All the spaces between your toes.
Invite the flowing ribbon now to brush softly up and across your back body.
Your heels.
Your calves.
Gliding like feathers around the spaces behind your knees.
Your thighs.
And your glutes.
Along your lower back.
Middle back.
And upper back.
Your shoulder blades.
And your neck.
To your head.
Your whole head.
Glistening in the shimmering light of your awareness.
Now move your attention to your front body.
Your soft wandering ribbon lightly gliding to your forehead.
Easing away any last remaining tension.
Softening.
Widening.
No more holding on.
Along your eyebrows right and left.
And then landing in the space between your eyebrows.
Gently flowing down your nose all along the bridge of your nose.
To the very tip of your nose.
Along your temples right and left.
And around your ears right and left.
Brushing your cheeks right and left.
Along your top lip.
And your bottom lip.
Release your jaws so perhaps your lips now part.
You can let everything go.
The inside of your right cheek.
And the inside of your left cheek.
Your tongue lying heavy in the base of your mouth.
The tip of your tongue gently resting behind your teeth.
Everything in your face softening.
Releasing.
Letting go.
Moving down your throat now to the pit of your throat.
Gently brushing your collarbones right and left.
All along the right hand side of your chest.
And along the left hand side of your chest.
Your whole chest.
Along your right arm.
And along your left arm.
Both your arms together.
Your right leg and your left leg.
Both your legs together.
Your arms and your legs.
Your chest and your head.
Your whole body wrapped in this wandering gentle flow of golden light.
Shimmering with sensation.
Glistening with awareness.
From the right to the left.
The top to the bottom.
The inside out.
Your whole body.
Your whole body.
Your whole body.
Connected.
Made whole.
With your awareness.
Resting in this sensation.
Give way to the stillness within your body.
Rest in this stillness.
And simply be.
And while staying in this sense of complete equanimity.
Move to feel the ever present subtle movement in your body.
Your breath.
Your heartbeat.
Your energy softly pulsing.
Notice the difference between these two states of awareness.
The stillness within.
And the subtle soft inner movement.
Notice everything here.
Moving between these two states of being.
Stillness and movement.
Movement and stillness.
And then let go.
Move beyond these opposites.
The stillness and the movement.
Go beyond.
Where the illusion of separation.
Or duality dissolves.
To the wholeness that lays beyond.
The wholeness that lays within.
Once again bring your attention onto your breath.
Watch it moving in and out of your body.
As if you were watching another.
Observe yourself as if you were observing another.
Be the witness.
Now sense the space at the back of your neck.
The base of your skull.
Just above the top of your spine.
Right where the brain stem rests.
And meet the beginning of the wandering vagus nerve.
Imagine your breath gently touching this space.
Connecting with this space.
Now move your breath and awareness to your throat.
And breathe here.
Vishuddha.
Winding downwards now to your heart space.
Breathe here.
Wandering further down to your solar plexus.
Just above the navel.
Breathe here.
Manipura.
And returning upwards again.
Manipura.
Anahata.
Vishuddha.
Manipura.
Following the wandering vagus nerve with your soft,
Calming breath.
Waving its way through your organs and energy centres.
The wandering vagus nerve.
To calm.
To peace.
To rest.
I'm now going to name some images.
And I invite you to visualise these in your mind's eye.
Take your full awareness and attention to the space between your eyebrows.
And trust what comes.
Imagine the golden silk ribbon of your awareness.
Wrapping your body in light.
The stillness of the night sky.
A circle of standing stones.
Northern lights dancing in the sky.
Snowflakes gently landing on the earth.
Two rivers merging into one.
A constellation of stars.
Sparkling dew in the morning light.
Tree roots intertwining underground.
A lone deer on the moor.
The promise of a morning dawn.
Of a new day.
The infinity symbol.
A winding path inviting you home.
A wandering,
Winding path inviting you home.
Coming home to rest.
Coming home to rest.
Coming home to rest.
Here in this quiet unfolding of presence,
Of pure awareness you can remember you were always whole.
You were always complete.
You were always enough.
As Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us what you are looking for is already where you are looking from.
You have arrived.
In this state of deep rest and receptivity,
Recall your Sankalpa and invite it into every cell of your body.
Let it dive deep inside your heart and your mind.
Gently firmly implant it here and commit to living it out in your daily life as you repeat it three times in the space that now follows.
Three times for thought,
Word and deed.
Remembering you are invited to use the following if you so wish.
I am whole exactly as I am.
I am resting in my true nature.
I am complete.
Your choice.
Your life.
Your Sankalpa.
And I invite you now to take a deep breath fill your body with fresh energy as you start to begin your return to your body in this space.
Call to mind the room that you're lying in the clothes and covers over you,
The sounds that are around you.
Invite all of your senses to come back in.
Open up the curtains of your mind ready to welcome yourself back to your world.
You might want to take a stretch maybe touch the pads of each of your fingertips with your thumb as you land back into your body,
Into this space and be grateful that you made this time to connect to yourself.
Taking deep rest conscious rest.
Remember this connection is always there through your awareness to your breath and finding time to regularly practice will only deepen that connection and all the benefits that are here for you always.
Be grateful for your life be grateful for your body,
Be grateful for this time you are whole,
You are complete.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
