Martin Luther King Day Yoga Nidra

This is a remix of a Live Yoga Nidra I presented as part of Yoga Jubilee's Martin Luther King Day Celebration.

Yoga Nidra is a supine guided relaxation practice. Please use blankets, pillows, bolsters, and a yoga mat or soft surface to rest on.

This Yoga Nidra includes Metta meditation and Social Justice themes.

Music is provided by Maarten Schellekens.

Transcript

This yoga nidra is dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.

And Luther King Day.

Yoga nidra is a practice that's usually done lying down on your back in shavasana.

Find a comfortable lying down position.

Please support yourself with blankets,

Pillows,

Bolsters.

Try to get as aligned and symmetrical as possible.

And just notice the body,

The state of the body,

And bring awareness to the breath.

Notice the breath.

Inhale,

The belly rises,

And exhale,

The belly falls.

That belly breathing brings us into relaxation.

And then say to yourself mentally,

I am practicing yoga nidra.

Just say that.

Let those words just vibrate in the ether.

And take a deep breath in,

And on the exhale think freedom.

And do that a couple of times.

Taking a deep inhale,

And on the exhale think freedom.

And then let's change the word.

Take a deep breath in,

And on the exhale think free.

Do that several times.

And then let's change the word again.

Let's take a deep inhale,

And on the exhale think at last.

Do that a few times.

And begin to inhale thinking free,

And exhale thinking at last.

Inhale free,

And try that on.

And then let go of that practice and begin to listen in all directions for sounds.

Listen for sounds outside the room where you're situated.

Maybe it's traffic,

Sirens.

Often in my neighborhood is helicopters.

Listen for those outside sounds.

And then begin to listen for sounds inside the room.

In my house it's a clock ticking.

It's the refrigerator humming.

What are the inside sounds that you can hear?

Notice them.

And then begin to listen for sounds of the body.

Maybe the stomach is gurgling,

Which signifies relaxation.

Maybe there's some kind of yawn that's coming to you.

Listen for sounds of the body.

And then listen or feel the sound of the breath.

Maybe it's moving in and out of the nose.

Perhaps it's coming out of the mouth.

Listen for the breath.

And listen for the heartbeat or feel the heartbeat.

And in the heartbeat hear the heart's desire.

In yoga nidra we call it a sankalpa,

An inner longing.

Listen for the burning bush of the heart.

Your personal mission statements.

Formulate that into a short positive statement in the present or future tense.

And maybe you already have a statement,

A sankalpa,

A resolve that you're working with.

And if this doesn't make sense right now or it's not the right statement today,

Perhaps you use the statement,

I have a dream.

So using your personal resolve,

Your personal sankalpa,

Or the one I offered,

I have a dream,

Repeat it three times mentally with full awareness and the confidence that it will come true.

And from this statement of wholeness,

Of hope,

Of optimism,

Of activism,

We'll move on to the rotation of consciousness through the body.

A body part will be named and either bring awareness to that body part when it's named,

Visualize the body part,

Or notice a spaciousness or freedom in the body part.

And I'll guide around the freedom and spaciousness,

But know that the other options are there for you,

Repeating the name or bringing awareness.

Starting as always on the right side of the body,

Right side of the body,

Beginning with the right hand thumb,

Feel a freedom,

A spaciousness and ease in the right hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And pinky finger.

Feel the freedom of the palm of the hand,

Wrist,

A spaciousness and ease in the elbow.

Feel the energy,

Freedom in the side of the rib cage,

Waist,

Feel the ease at the kneecap,

Lower leg,

Heel,

Release the instep,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

And spread relaxation across the right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

And fifth toe.

And shift the awareness,

Move that awareness to the left side of the body,

Feel a freedom and ease,

A spaciousness,

The left hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And pinky finger.

Feel an energy of giving and service in the palm of the hand,

The back of the hands,

And let that spaciousness move to the wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm.

Feel an ease around the shoulder,

That left shoulder,

But it's often the armpit,

Openness and generosity of the side of the left rib cage,

Left waist,

Left hip,

Compassion moving down the upper leg,

Kneecap,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

Instep.

Feel the depth of character in the sole of the foot,

The top of the foot,

And an expansion across the left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

And fifth toe.

And bring the dreamy awareness to the top of the head,

Expansion on the forehead,

Right temple,

Left temple,

A softening softening of the right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Connect to that intuition at the eyebrow center.

Feel a spaciousness across the right eyelid,

Left eyelid,

And a freedom,

Bridge of the nose,

Tip of the nose,

Right nostril,

Left nostril.

Feel the sweetness of truth at the upper lip,

Lower lip,

Chin,

And throat.

Soften the right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

Rest in the hollow between the collarbones,

And connect to a deep loving kindness on the right chest,

The left chest,

And in the heart center.

Notice that spiritual power that spiritual power that exists in the upper abdomen,

The navel.

Feel the creativity.

Connect to everything that we keep in,

Secrets,

The disappointments that are found in the middle back,

Upper back,

Up and down the entire spinal column,

And place some freedom and spaciousness there.

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade.

Notice the truth at the back of the neck.

Bring the awareness to the whole right arm and connect to it as free and spacious.

Whole left arm.

Notice how it's re-opening.

Back to soothe,

Understand the whole weight of that awareness.

Heal,

Transform,

Manifest with the whole left leg.

Bring the attention to the arms and legs together,

The potential for action,

For service,

For love and compassion.

Shift the awareness to the whole front of the body,

Public self,

The whole front of the body.

Awareness to that private self,

The whole back of the body,

And integrate everything.

Whole body together,

Whole body together,

The whole body together.

And then let go of that body scan,

The body rotation,

And come back to the breath.

And again,

Notice on the inhale,

The belly rises,

And on the exhale,

The belly falls.

Inhale,

The belly rises,

And exhale,

The belly falls.

And in the gentle breath,

Hear these words of loving kindness.

And if you wish,

You can mentally repeat them or repeat them out loud.

May I be happy.

Imagine looking in the mirror as you say these words.

May I be happy.

May my life have meaning.

May my life have meaning.

Mentally repeat.

May I be an instrument of social change.

May I be an instrument of social change.

In the mind space,

The Chittikash,

The mind space in front of the closed eyes,

Think of someone who's doing work in social justice and equity and diversity.

And let's say mentally some words of loving kindness,

Of metta,

For this activist,

This social justice worker,

And see them clearly in that Chittikash,

The mind space in front of the closed eyes,

And repeat to them,

Mentally repeat,

Mentally repeat,

May you be happy.

Wherever they are,

May you be happy.

May your life have meaning.

May your life have meaning.

May you be an instrument of social change.

May you be an instrument of social change.

And now let's visualize Dr.

Martin Luther King,

A changemaker,

A light worker.

See Dr.

Martin Luther King as if he were here right now.

Whatever plane that you believe that he resides in in this moment,

Say these words of metta,

Of loving kindness,

In his memory,

May you be happy.

May you be happy.

May your life have meaning.

May your life have meaning.

May you be an instrument of social change.

May you be an instrument of social change.

Now I want you to bring into your mind a difficult person,

A person that brings up some of the difficult emotions.

Perhaps it's someone like George Floyd or Breonna Taylor,

Who were unjustly murdered.

It could be a family member or a friend who's died of COVID.

Someone who's been affected by difficulties,

The difficulties in our society,

The pandemic.

Find this person,

My Aunt Betty,

George Floyd,

Breonna Taylor,

Trayvon Martin,

And then say these words of loving kindness to them and whatever plane they're on right now.

May you be happy.

May you be happy.

May your life have meaning.

May your life have meaning.

May you be an instrument of social change.

May you be an instrument of social change.

And now I'll say these words of metta,

Of loving kindness,

For all beings everywhere.

And you can mentally repeat.

May all beings everywhere be happy.

May all beings everywhere be happy.

May all beings everywhere have lives full of meaning.

May all beings everywhere have lives full of meaning.

May all beings everywhere be instruments of social change.

May all beings everywhere be instruments of social change.

And perhaps in the mind space you see the planet.

Planet heals.

See people working together,

Getting along.

Seeing a world without racism and sexism,

Homophobia,

Genderism,

Ageism.

See a world where everyone is valued.

And then come back to the breath.

Come back to the breath and let go of that metta practice,

Loving kindness.

And in the gentle breath,

Hear the whisper of the sankalpa,

The short positive statement that was made in the beginning of the yoga nidra practice.

Your own statement or maybe that statement,

I have a dream.

And once again,

Repeat it three times mentally with full awareness and the confidence that it will come true.

And connect to that longing in the heart.

And feel or hear the heartbeat.

And notice the breath,

The prana coming in and out of the nose and mouth.

Notice any sounds in the body,

Gurgling,

Yawning.

Listen for sounds inside the room,

Those sounds inside your room.

And listen for sounds outside the room.

And find the furthest sound that you can hear outside the room.

And then begin to remember your room.

Remember your walls or the walls of the room that you're in.

And remember the ceiling,

The space you're inhabiting.

What did that look like,

That ceiling?

And remember the floor.

What's it made of,

This floor?

And even remember what you're wearing.

And remember that it's Martin Luther King Day,

A holiday that people fought for.

So remember that,

That was something that came out of struggle.

And then come back to the breath.

Come back to the breath.

And make each inhale deeper and deeper.

And make each exhale fuller and fuller.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply and fully.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply and fully.

And he said,

Free at last,

Free at last.

Thank God Almighty,

I'm free.

And say to yourself mentally,

The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

You can start to wiggle your fingers and toes.

And then you can roll your wrists and ankles one way.

And then the opposite direction.

Knowing that circles are so important.

Can we make a world of circles where we all have a say?

Instead of lines where somebody's on top and someone's on the bottom.

And then release those rotations.

And take any kind of intuitive movement that makes you feel free at last,

Free at last.

Maybe it's a twist.

Maybe it's a wiggle.

Maybe it's nothing.

And then notice what nostril feels more open and which one feels more closed.

And if you can connect to that,

Roll over into a fetal position on the side that the nostril is more open and that'll help balance the atmospheres of the brain.

So figure out what nostrils more open if you want to externalize,

You want to come out,

Lie on the side in a fetal position and say some words of kindness to yourself.

Like good job.

I celebrated King Day,

Or even I love myself.

So say those words of kindness.

And then when you're ready,

And there's no need to rush or hurry,

You can push yourself up to a seated position.

And I'm using Padma Mudra,

Padma Mudra Lotus.

And all I have to say is free at last,

Free at last.

Thank God Almighty.

I'm free at last.

Ashe,

Thank you.