Simply being here and breathing here and resting together is more than enough.
And so we'll have these sounds here,
My koshi chimes,
Letting yourself land.
And maybe even here,
Opening and closing your jaw.
Uh-huh.
And see if you can get that lower back even more grounded,
Letting yourself spread out.
Like a knob of butter on a pan melting.
Letting yourself really just spread out.
Welcoming any kind of movements and wiggles and squiggles and burps and farts and literally however human you need to be in these moments.
Let yourself be.
Okay.
So I welcome you all here and now to this yoga nidra practice.
This moment is for you.
Welcome yourself here and now.
Nothing to change,
Nothing to fix,
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to go.
Simply resting here and breathing here.
Yoga nidra is not something that you need to learn or master.
It's something that you already know.
Every night and every morning when we're at that space between,
The liminal space in between being awake and being asleep,
That threshold.
Yoga nidra is a journey to remember who we really are.
As the body is welcome here,
The breath is welcome here.
Every single sound is welcome here.
Taking all the time you need to settle and land.
And arrive.
And breathe.
Imagining yourself wrapped in a cocoon of comfort and ease.
A nest of softness like snow drift gathering around you,
Cradling you with earth holding beneath you.
So the surface beneath you directly,
We feel that.
And then there's a layer underneath that,
The floor.
And then beneath that is the foundation of the building.
And beneath that is the earth.
And even deeper still is the earth center,
The core of the earth.
Letting earth's core hold you.
Every exhale you let yourself land even more.
The edges soften.
Letting yourself really arrive and be and breathe.
Awareness of breath now.
Noticing inhale coming in through the nose.
And exhale coming out of the nose.
Breath moving in cool air.
Breath moving out warm exhale.
Feeling how breath and body are like old friends.
Letting the body be breathed by the breath.
An ancient and quiet sound,
A steady rhythm.
Just noticing the nuances.
Letting all the sounds in.
Every single sound is welcome here.
Sound of the heart.
Sound of the breath.
Noticing the sound of the heartbeat.
Pulsing within.
The beating of the heart.
Exhale.
Something we can count on and rely on.
Always there.
Always beating.
Always breathing.
A steady rhythm and a quiet little song.
The first sound you ever heard.
Sound of the heart itself.
Let yourself soften into the earth beneath.
There's no effort needed.
Just breathing and being.
Let the heartbeat guide you even deeper.
Remembering that there's nowhere to go and there's nothing to do.
You are welcome to just be and breathe and listen.
So now we'll bring our awareness around the body.
We'll let the awareness travel around the body.
Imagining awareness like a light snowflake.
And as we travel around the body,
If you can't feel where we're going,
That's okay.
No way to do this wrong.
Just journey around however intuitively feels good for you.
Bringing your awareness now to the very back of the head.
Like a light snowflake melting,
Letting the back of the head melt down.
And then inside of the head,
Imagining the brain melting,
Softening.
From the brain to the forehead,
To the sides of the eyes,
Letting the sides of the eyes soften.
Down to the bridge of the nose and the tip of the nose,
Upper and lower lip,
Letting the whole face soften and spread out.
Letting yourself melt back and down,
Receiving this act of rest.
Moving from the whole head,
The front of the head and the back of the head,
Both of the ears,
Left ear and right ear.
Both ears,
Inside the ears,
Little drums,
These eardrums,
These magical little drums.
From inside the ears going to the center of the throat.
And maybe even inside of the mouth,
Feeling the whole tongue,
The tip of the tongue and the root of the tongue.
Letting the tongue settle and spread out.
Moving from the inside of the mouth and the throat down to the chest,
The center of the chest.
Feeling once again the sound of the heartbeat.
Moving from the heart down through the ribcage,
Left ribcage,
Right ribcage.
The belly,
The front of the hips and the back of the hips.
The thighs,
Left thigh and right thigh.
The knees,
Letting the knees soften and settle.
Shins to ankles,
To the soles of the feet,
The ball of the foot,
The arch of the foot and the heel.
The whole foot,
All 10 toes,
Letting all of your toes melt.
Feeling now the whole foot,
Both of the legs,
The belly,
The chest,
The shoulders.
And now moving down both of the arms,
Left arm and right arm.
Feeling the biceps and the back of the arm,
The elbows,
The forearm,
The wrists,
Left wrist and right wrist.
Letting the snowflake land and melt in the palm of the hand,
Left palm and right palm.
Right palm and left palm and all 10 of your fingers.
10 fingers felt,
Fingers welcome to be felt here and now.
The whole body is felt from the back of the head to the top of the head,
The face,
Whole torso,
Both arms,
Both legs,
Both feet.
The whole entire body is being felt and is welcome here and now to just simply be,
No need to do.
Embracing the human being that you are with wholeness,
Whole body felt now.
Whole body,
Whole body.
And from this whole body,
We'll bring the attention and awareness back to the breath.
And the next time that you inhale,
Feeling yourself expand,
Feeling light and lifted.
Inhale,
We feel so light,
Lifted,
Elevated.
And then on your next round of breath in your own time.
On your exhale,
You'll let that energy ground,
Letting yourself feel grounded and heavy part of the earth,
One with the earth.
So playing with this polarity of a light and lifted,
Elevated.
Energetic body,
And as you exhale,
Letting that polarity bring you back down,
Grounding down to the ground,
Feeling heavy.
So we feel light and lifted and then we feel heavy and weighted.
Every single round of breath.
And seeing if you can notice the space between.
Noticing that space between the heavy and light.
And as you let go of that space between bringing attention and awareness back to your third eye center,
The space between your eyebrows.
Chit Akash.
It's where everything and nothing exists all at once.
And so welcoming in here and now any random thoughts,
Random stream of consciousness.
Letting the random thoughts come and go.
Notice how the body is being breathed by your breath.
And breath is being breathed by your body.
As if the breath and the body were ancient friends.
And so coming to the space of your heart.
And just noticing if there's anything that your heart intuitively would like to share with you right now.
And remember,
There's no way to do this wrong.
So if nothing comes,
Simply being here and breathing here is more than enough.
Noticing the sounds around.
The sphere of sound.
Layers on layers of sound.
Not really focusing on any sound in particular,
But just letting all the sounds be as they are.
Letting each sound be a part of the practice of Yoga Nidra.
And noticing this space between sound and silence.
Letting all the sounds come in and go out and just move through you.
Letting yourself feel spacious like the sky.
Knowing that you are not separate from the air around you.
What the trees breathe out,
We breathe in.
We're not separate from any of it.
At one with breath.
At one with earth and rest.
Letting the whole being be open to receiving rest.
The whole being being open to resting together in community.
And as we rest and breathe together in this space and place,
Start to bring some awareness back into the breath.
Maybe even taking a deeper inhale.
And an exhale.
Letting the back of the body feel heavy and weighted.
Really feeling the earth supporting you and letting yourself feel held.
At this space and place,
Our Yoga Nidra is coming to a close.
So maybe even bringing some more awareness back into the body by ticking your thumb and your index finger and maybe just feeling your thumb and your index.
Maybe your middle finger and your fourth finger.
Just feeling your fingertips almost like you're feeling them for the very first time.
Maybe even wiggling your toes and opening and closing your mouth.
Maybe even letting out a yawn.
You can stretch your arms up and over your head if you'd like.
Remember everything is an invitation so taking all the time that you need.
There is no rush,
Nothing to force.
Just letting the edges remain soft.
And if you'd like,
If you feel ready,
You want to stretch your arms maybe over your head and bend your knees.
Maybe bringing in the knees into the chest.
Oh yeah,
Giving yourself a hug.
Squeezing in those knees.
Knowing that this rest,
This practice is for you.
Available to you at any time that you need.
Letting this spaciousness reside within.
And if you'd like,
You can roll over to either side.
And so as we're on our side in the fetal position,
Just feeling your cozy cocoon of comfort.
Letting yourself really be held.
And so as you notice how you are in this moment,
How it is to be you.
Honoring however you are,
However you feel.
Letting your uniqueness of each breath reinvent itself.
Round after round.
Breath after breath.
