Yoga Nidra - Becoming Unstuck

This Yoga Nidra practice is for stepping out of unhelpful patterns, and for cultivating greater freedom, choice and wisdom in your life. The practice includes a number of stages, each of which assists in freeing up blocked or stuck energy, whether that be at the level of the body, the emotions or behaviours. The resulting freed-up energy is used to create greater vitality and to empower wiser and more compassionate responses to life's challenges.

Transcript

This is the recording for the Becoming Unstuck Yoga Nidra practice,

Helping you to move towards greater freedom and choice in your life.

Beginning by lying down and making yourself comfortable,

Choosing a posture that is symmetrical and in which you can remain motionless for the duration of the practice.

Making any final adjustments and then when you're ready,

Taking three deeper,

Fuller,

Longer breaths.

Taking in fresh energy,

Fresh air through the nose with the in-breath and then letting go of tension,

Thoughts and distractions with the out-breath through the mouth,

Perhaps in the form of a loud sigh.

Then after a few deeper breaths in this way,

Just letting the breath find its own rhythm,

Without influencing it in any way and then taking some time to notice and release any tension that can be let go of at this time.

So softening the muscles of the face,

The throat and shoulders,

The chest and belly,

The legs and feet.

Each out-breath an opportunity to let go a little bit more and then as you lie here,

Bringing to mind a quality that you would particularly like to connect with at this time,

Whether that be strength,

Wisdom,

Calmness,

Patience,

Loving-kindness and so on.

Bringing to mind this quality and then really imagining how it feels when this quality is strong in you.

How does that feel?

Imagining that you are filled with this quality.

Really imagining that were the case right now.

Then we start the practice with the rotation of consciousness,

Just allowing your awareness to touch each part of the body as it is called out,

Noting any sensations that you find there,

But without lingering on it for any more than a second or two.

At a certain point it may begin to feel as if your awareness is like energy flowing around the body.

So starting with the right thumb,

Awareness of the sensations in the right thumb,

Right index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder joint,

Armpit,

Right waist,

Right hip,

Upper leg,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Sole of the right foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third,

Fourth,

Fifth toe,

All five toes together,

Then the whole of the right foot,

The whole of the right leg,

The whole of the right side of the body,

Awareness of the whole of the right side of the body,

Then taking your awareness over to the left side of your body,

Starting with awareness of the left thumb,

Sensations in the left thumb,

Left index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder joint,

Armpit,

Left waist,

Left hip,

Upper leg,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Sole of the left foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third,

Fourth,

Fifth toe,

All five toes together,

Then the whole of the left foot,

The whole of the left leg,

The whole of the left side of the body,

Awareness of the whole of the left side of the body,

Then taking awareness to the back of the body,

The back of the body,

Beginning with the heels,

Calves,

Backs of the thighs,

Buttocks,

The sacrum,

Lower back,

Mid back,

Upper back,

Shoulder blades,

The whole of the spinal column,

The back of the neck,

Back of the head,

The whole of the back of the body,

The whole of the back of the body.

Next taking your awareness to the front of the body,

The front of the body,

Starting with the tops of the feet,

The shins,

Fronts of the thighs,

Front of the pelvic area,

Reproductive organs,

Lower abdomen,

Navel,

Upper abdomen,

Chest,

Collarbones,

Throat,

Jaw,

Chin,

Mouth,

Nose,

Cheeks,

Eyes,

Eyebrows,

Ears,

Forehead,

Top of the head,

The whole of the front of the body,

The whole of the front of the body.

Now again the whole of the back of the body,

The right side of the body,

The left side of the body,

The lower half of the body from the navel downwards,

The upper half of the body,

Now the whole of the body,

The whole of the body,

Filling your whole body with awareness.

Now we move on to the next stage,

Awareness of opposites and beginning by imagining your body to be getting increasingly heavy and with that heaviness a sense of stuckness,

Of inertia,

As if your body were composed of something dense,

Hard and rigid so that it would be difficult to lift or move.

Really imagining this in your body as if it were actually happening.

Now imagine the opposite,

That your body were becoming lighter,

As light as a feather,

And with that lightness a sense of flexibility and energy.

Really imagining the light free dynamic state as if it were actually the case right now.

Now return to heavy,

Dense,

Rigid.

Now again light,

Flexible,

Energetic.

Again heavy,

Dense,

Rigid.

And again light,

Flexible,

Energetic.

Now consider an unhelpful mood or mental state that you often get stuck in,

Whether that be resentment,

Despair,

Grumpiness,

Anxiety,

Low mood.

Create that experience now with your imagination,

Really allowing yourself to feel it.

To the extent that it feels manageable for you,

Exaggerate the experience of that unhelpful mental state.

With compassion,

Letting these feelings be felt.

How does it feel in the body?

In the heart area?

In the muscles of the face?

What kinds of thoughts and feelings come with it?

Noticing perhaps that this is not a pleasant feeling,

That there is suffering here.

Now without trying to push anything away,

Cultivating the opposite,

A state of joyfulness,

Positivity,

Confidence.

Again really create this experience and allow it to be magnified and exaggerated.

Joy,

Positivity,

Confidence.

How does that feel?

Perhaps a gentle smile spontaneously comes upon your lips.

How is this experienced in the body?

How is it experienced in the heart?

In the muscles of the face?

Now come back to low unhelpful mood.

Now again joy,

Positivity,

Confidence.

Again back to low unhelpful mood.

And again joy,

Positivity,

Confidence.

Now consider an area of your life where your actions or behavior get stuck in a certain groove,

A challenging situation in your life in which you don't always respond in the most helpful way.

Perhaps a dynamic you get stuck in with another person,

Such as a partner,

Family member,

Friend or colleague,

Or any particular pattern of behavior that could include addictions,

Compulsions,

Recklessness,

Or imbalance.

Bring the situation to mind as clearly as you can and recognize the difficult feelings in you that are driving these actions.

With compassion,

Acknowledging the suffering that is here.

Now connecting with your heart with the wise compassionate part of your being and imagining how you might handle things differently in a more skillful and helpful way.

Be as specific as you can as you imagine or visualize yourself taking this different direction in which you perhaps stay calm,

Centered,

Compassionate,

More connected with your wisdom,

Or perhaps where you are more assertive or make your boundaries clearer.

Imagining yourself handling this situation in this different way,

Perhaps replaying it in your mind's eye a few times so as to lay down new neural pathways for your actions.

And now in the next stage of the practice,

Become aware of the flow of your breath,

Following it as it flows into and out of the body for a few rounds.

Now each time you breathe in,

Scan your awareness up the front of the body,

From the feet towards the head.

And as you breathe out,

Scan your awareness back down from your head to your feet.

The breath like a current of energy flowing through the body,

From feet to head as you breathe in and from head to feet as you breathe out.

Perhaps imagining it going beyond the crown of the head and the soles of the feet now,

Perhaps a meter further in each case,

As if your body were like a hollow tube through which the breath were flowing freely and smoothly.

Try not to miss a single breath.

Up as you breathe in,

Down as you breathe out.

Now coming back to the positive quality that you imagined right at the beginning of the practice and finishing by again imagining that you are filled with this quality,

That you embody this quality fully.

What would that be like?

See if it is possible to maintain your connection with this quality as you gradually begin to become aware of your surroundings again.

Noticing sounds,

Noticing the connection between the body and the floor,

Taking a deeper breath or two,

Then bringing some movement and awareness to your fingers and your toes,

Moving your head from side to side and then when you feel ready coming back up to sitting to complete the practice.

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