Look Up: A Yoga Nidra To Clear Your Mind

A yoga nidra to aid you to cope with the stresses and strains of life. To ease you of overcrowding thoughts and lead you towards a clear, relaxed state. Ideal to practice at any time of day - on waking to ensure you are truly rested, or mid afternoon to reboot, or just before bed to wind down.

Transcript

G I invite you to lie down for a little while now.

Let your eyes softly close down and let your jaw unclench.

We use Samkhalpa,

We use results,

A kind of affirmation a lot in Yoga Nidra.

So I invite you now to finish the sentence I am with whatever quality you would like to feel more of in your body,

In your life.

What quality would serve you best at the moment?

So for me I am patient is what I need a lot more of.

So I'm going to use the phrase I am patient but you can choose whatever works for you in your world.

And once you've decided on that phrase,

Those words,

We're going to repeat them to ourselves three times.

Saying them out loud is really really powerful.

Our body responds to our own tone so much more than our own thoughts.

So let's speak this into existence.

Okay so saying your phrase three times out loud.

I am patient,

I am patient,

I am patient.

And then take a moment to come to your breath.

Notice how your breath is.

Maybe you want to take a big sigh.

And for this practice if we can we're just going to breathe in and out through the nose,

Really gently,

Really softly.

Nothing fancy,

Just your normal natural breath.

So throughout this practice even though it's called a yogic sleep,

The intention isn't for you to actually fall asleep but find that liminal space between the wakefulness and the sleep where maybe everything can exist.

If your body is really tired you might fall asleep,

It's no big deal.

If your mind drifts away from my words as I'm guiding you,

Again it's no big deal but if you notice you're thinking about something else come back,

Come back to the practice.

So in a few moments I'm going to begin to guide you through this practice.

Just hear my words and follow them.

No need to question what's happening or where we're going next.

As much as possible,

Just be in that moment.

We're taking a moment again to notice how you're laid.

Are you comfortable?

Does anything need moving at all?

Take that moment to have that last shuffle before you find your body at a still point for this practice.

We're going to find awareness around our bodies,

It doesn't matter what it feels like when we get there,

We're going to move that awareness from point to point.

Now we're going to take a moment to feel the awareness of the body.

It doesn't matter what it feels like when we get there,

We're going to move that awareness from point to point.

Let's begin with our awareness in our right hand.

Our right lower arm.

The upper arm.

The right shoulder.

The armpit.

The right waist.

The right hip.

The thigh.

The knee.

The shin.

The ankle.

And the right foot.

Finding that awareness in the left hand.

The left lower arm.

The upper arm.

The left shoulder.

The armpit.

The left waist.

The hip.

The thigh.

The knee.

The shin.

The ankle.

The left foot.

Wearing the back of both heels.

The back of both knees.

The buttocks.

The lower back.

The mid back.

And the upper back.

The back of the neck.

The back of the head.

The crown of the head.

The forehead.

The right brow.

The left brow.

And the space between the brows.

The right eye.

And the left eye.

The bridge of the nose.

The very tip of the nose.

The upper lip.

The lower lip.

The chin.

The jaw.

The front of the throat.

The collarbones.

The front of the ribs.

And the belly.

Finding that awareness now through the whole right of the body.

That awareness through the whole left of the body.

Aware through the whole back of the body.

And aware of the whole front of the body.

Aware through the whole body altogether.

Every cell,

The tissue,

The organ.

The whole body.

Aware through your whole body altogether.

We're going to come back.

Come back to the breath.

We're going to use the breath to count.

So an inhale will be an odd number and an exhale will be an even number.

And using that part of the breath to count,

Go to count up to 12.

So an inhale will be one,

Exhale two,

Inhale three,

Exhale four.

Counting up to 12 in your own time using your breath.

And once you've counted to 12,

Count back down again to zero.

If you lose where you are counting,

Your brain goes somewhere else.

Start again back at one.

And once you get back to zero,

Just let the counting stop but your breath carry on.

Really soft,

Really relaxed,

Really matching.

So we're counting up to 12.

Inhales are odd numbers,

Exhales are evens.

And then back down to zero.

And once we've found our way to zero,

Counting stops,

Breathing carries on of course.

Simply counting using the breath.

And now wherever we've got to with the counting,

Doesn't matter,

Let it go.

Let that exercise dissolve.

I'm going to guide you now on a visualisation.

And I invite you to conjure up vivid imagery within your mind's eye.

Let my words guide you into your version.

Let there be brightness,

Colour,

Maybe sound,

Maybe smells,

All coming forth.

We're going to imagine the sky.

The sky in daytime.

The sky in daytime with clouds in.

Take a moment now to soak in the vista.

Soak in what you're seeing in your mind.

Clouds may come in different shapes,

They might be soft,

Wispy white clouds.

There might be some heavier,

Bulkier storm clouds.

It might be a huge combination.

Take it in.

Observe what's there.

And then the wind is going to begin to build.

This wind with this really fresh energy.

Soft and warm,

But fresh.

And this wind is going to blow really gently through.

And begin to move those clouds beyond the horizon.

They might move at different speeds.

But this wind is here to clear the skies.

And behind those clouds there is blue sky.

There is a bright blue sky.

And the sun.

And taking a moment to watch those clouds moving through the skies.

Maybe they're moving at different speeds.

Maybe they're all moving together.

And as those clouds dip beyond the horizon,

Take a moment to turn your face to the sun.

Soak in its brightness,

Its warmth.

Taking a few breaths here.

Feeling the warmth of the sunshine on your face.

Under that blue sky.

And when you feel ready,

Ready to leave that blue sky.

Ready to come back into this world.

You might draw a fuller,

Deeper breath that holds a little more energy.

You might take a little movement,

Make your fingers and your toes want to move.

Maybe you want to take a huge length and arms and legs lengthening out,

As long as it's humanly possible for you.

You may want to then turn and take a moment on your side.

There's no hurry.

Take a moment here and get a sense of where this practice of yoga neutral has delivered you to today.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I hope to see you soon.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

Reviews

Wonderful. I love the music that goes with this meditation.

Another lovely and gentle short practice. Thank you 🙏

Lovely, thank you. I like the language you use to invite me to be present.

Sweet, short practice. Nice music. I like the tone. Thank you 🙏🏽 💚

This was truly wonderful Pip, thank you 🙏🏻!! It was perfect for my midday meditation