Yoga Nidra & Gratitude

Yoga Nidra practise focusing on gratitude with a metta (maitri) meditation in the end. This Yoga Nidra adresses the heart space. It contains a body scan, rapid images visualisation and it closes with a meditation of loving kindness.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to todays Yoganitra practice,

Your practice of yogic sleep.

Make sure you are in a comfortable position in Savasana,

That means you are lying on your back and your palms are facing the ceiling.

You can bring a pillow under your knees and you can support your neck as well if that feels good for you.

If you have one you can use an eye pillow.

See that you feel comfortable so you are able to stay in your posture for the next 25 minutes.

And when you feel ready slowly close your eyes.

Sense your body,

Adjust your body position last time if necessary and then rest into stillness.

Feel all parts of your body that are touching the ground,

The back of your head,

Your upper body,

Your spine,

Your buttocks,

The back of your thighs,

Your calves,

Your heels,

Both arms,

The back of your hands.

Take a few seconds to feel your breath.

Simply notice the fact that your body is breathing without judging anything.

Notice your breath in your nostrils,

In your chest and inside your belly.

Feel your chest,

Feel the place where you are at.

Maybe you feel your heartbeat or maybe you can hear your heartbeat.

And ask yourself is there something in my current life I am really grateful for?

This can be something big,

Something that made a big difference for you,

A big shift or something that gave you a new perspective on something,

A barrier you overcame or something great you even finished.

It can also be something really small,

Something that brought a smile to your face or you recognized how kind people are in your life or that you are loved.

Maybe the simple fact that you are breathing.

What are you grateful for?

Repeat the following words to yourself and continue the sentence.

I am grateful for that or I am grateful for point,

Point,

Point.

And repeat your sentence three times in your mind.

With your attention in your heart space,

Sense your breath in that part of your body.

We are now going to deeply relax the nervous system.

Simply repeat each body part to yourself once as I say it and let it go.

Sense a point between your eyebrows,

Your throat,

Your right shoulder,

Your right elbow,

Right wrist,

Right thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Right wrist,

Elbow,

Your right shoulder,

Your throat,

Your left shoulder,

Left elbow,

Left wrist,

Right thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Your left wrist,

Left elbow,

Left shoulder,

Your throat,

The middle of your chest,

Your right nipple,

The middle of your chest,

Your left nipple,

The middle of your chest,

Navel,

Pubic bone,

Your right hip bone,

Right knee,

Right ankle,

Your right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Pinky toe,

Right ankle,

Your right knee,

Hip bone,

Pubic bone,

Left hip bone,

Left knee,

Left ankle,

Your left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Pinky toe,

Your left ankle,

Left knee,

Your left hip bone,

Pubic bone,

Your navel,

The middle of your chest,

Your throat,

The point between your eyebrows,

Sense your whole face,

Your whole head,

Your upper back,

Your lower back,

Sense your whole back,

Your right arm,

Your left arm,

Both arms together,

Your right leg,

Your left leg,

Both legs together,

The front side of your body,

The back side of your body.

Now sense your whole body,

Your whole body,

Your whole body.

Sense the middle of your chest,

Be aware of your heart space,

Sense your breath massaging the heart space and with each inhale imagine your heart is breathing in,

With each exhale imagine your heart is breathing out,

With each inhale your heart is breathing in and with each exhale your heart is breathing out.

Your body breath are smoothly massaging your heart space and upon each exhale begin to count down one number from 27 until you are at zero.

Again upon each exhale beginning with number 27 count down one number until you are at zero.

Now 27,

26,

25,

24,

23,

22,

23,

24,

25,

26,

27,

28,

29,

30,

31,

32,

33,

34,

35,

31,

30,

And continue for your own.

And slowly let go of counting.

Imagine your body getting comfortably warm,

Your feet are feeling warm,

Your legs are warm,

Your whole up body feels warm,

Your head is warm,

Your whole body feels warm.

And now imagine the opposite,

Coolness is entering your whole body,

Since your feet cooling down,

Your legs are cooling down,

Your abdomen is cooling down,

Your head feels cool,

Your whole body feels cool.

And now imagine warmth floating through your body again,

Since your whole body getting warm.

And now through your body getting cool again.

Alternate between sensing warm and cool for your own.

And now imagine your body is sensing warmth and coolness at the same time.

Now imagine your body being connected.

Every part of your body feels connected.

Each part of your body is in relationship with something else.

Each part of your body is in connection with each other.

Your whole body feels connected.

Be aware of how your feet are connected with your legs and how your legs are connected with your torso,

How your torso is in connection with your head.

Your whole body is in connection with the earth beneath you.

Your whole body is connected with the air around you.

And now imagine the opposite,

Perceive each part of your body as isolated.

And now feel all parts of your body being in connection with each other.

And perceive each part of your body isolated.

Go back and forth a few more times.

Alternate between the feeling of connection and isolation on your own for a few more times.

And now imagine both at once.

Notice the point between your eyebrows.

Visualize the dark screen here,

Your mind space.

Feel with your attention to the point between your eyebrows.

Visualize that screen in front of your inner eyes.

Visualize the following images.

Fresh green grass,

Jade stones,

An airflow,

You and your friend laughing together,

The smell of roses,

A beautiful painting,

Green moss,

A breath of air,

The color green,

The sound of beautiful music,

The number 12,

A lotus flower,

A present,

Fresh green grass,

A lovingly decorated table,

Right mist in a green forest,

A four leaf clover,

A summer breeze,

Corals,

A swan,

A green landscape in summer.

And now let's come back to your sentence.

What are you grateful for?

Recall your sentence you created at the beginning.

And say your sentence a few times to yourself in silence.

Be aware of your heart center,

The middle of your chest.

Feel the sensations of your breath here.

Feel your whole body breathing.

Sense your body laying on the ground.

Visualize yourself laying on the ground.

With closed eyes be aware of everything that's around you.

And start noticing your hands.

Slowly start moving your fingers.

Notice your feet.

Slowly start moving your toes.

And when you feel ready roll on your right side.

And with your eyes still closed come up to sit in a cross-legged seated position and we stay here for a short meditation.

Your Yoganitra practice is now complete but let's continue with a short meditation.

See that you are sitting upright.

Feel into your sit bones.

Sense your spine supporting your whole body.

And now think about a person you really like,

Someone who means a lot to you.

Notice that person.

Bring that person in front of your inner eyes.

And now say in silence to that person may you be healthy,

Happy and free.

Imagine a person you know but you are no kind of relationship with,

Someone you don't have feelings for.

You can also choose an actor,

A neighbor,

The taxi driver.

And say in silence to that person.

May you be healthy,

Happy and free.

Now imagine someone you really don't like or someone you recently had problems with.

Visualize that person.

Bring that person in front of your inner eyes.

And say in silence to that person.

May you be healthy,

Happy and free.

Feel into your own body.

Be aware of yourself sitting on the ground.

Feel into your chest.

Feel into your heart space.

And say to yourself may I be healthy,

Happy and free.

Bring your palms together in front of your chest and slowly open your eyes.

Although you might practice alone in your home,

There might be other people who are practicing in your ganitra at the same time or there might be other people practicing with this audio instruction.

Let's appreciate the fact that there are people outside sharing the same practice with you.

And let's bow for ourselves and all others.

May we all be healthy,

Happy and free.

Thank you for your practice.

This last part was a metta meditation.

Metta is Pali and means loving kindness.

It's also known as maitri meditation.

Maitri is a Sanskrit term for loving kindness.

It's an old Buddhist meditation practice to establish compassion with yourself and others.

Thank you.

I hope you enjoy this practice.

Reviews

This was a lovely time. Thank you.

Thank you for this beautiful yoga nidra meditation. Your voice was so calming and I felt so relaxed and connected to everything. 🙏

A yoga nidra with all the elements I love, thank you for your creation.

☺️ I loved each individual aspect of this meditation. With much gratitude 🙏 💛

Beautiful-thanks so very, very much for your wonderful meditation. Your voice and words are so calming and peaceful

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing this practice.

Very beautiful. Thank you for a lovely meditation with my husband.

Very soft and soothing voice... 💕🦋

So calming. Love it

Aaaaaah. Truly sublime. Thank you.

Really nourishing thank you