Gentle Class Followed By A Yoga Nidra Session.
This audio recording is an actual Yoga class. Prepare your mat and any other props that you may want for a gentle practice. It is a healing practice of mindful breath and movement and is followed by a Yoga Nidra Session. There is time between the movement and stillness portion of this audio, to allow for preparation for the Yoga Nidra practice of stillness. For Yoga Nidra, allow time to create your nest. Prepare your mat, a light blanket, something under your head, perhaps an eye covering. ENJOY!
Transcript
So welcome to Yoga Nidra.
My name is Bonnie Rae Tomioni and I just want to welcome everyone here to class tonight.
So it is 6 30.
So find a comfortable position on your body,
On your mat rather,
Something that's comfortable for your body.
So when you lay down,
If it feels comfortable to have a little something under the back of your knees,
Go ahead and grab that for under the back of your knees.
If you prefer to lay flat on your back,
If that feels better,
That's fine too.
Allow yourself to have some support under your head.
But you also want your shoulders to melt into the ground.
So make sure that that availability to relax into the ground is still there.
Take a big beautiful inhalation and expanding the rib cage,
Filling up the lungs and exhale open mouth.
Just feel everything letting go on your exhalation.
Two more big beautiful breaths just like that.
Letting everything go on your exhalation.
Taking your time to settle in.
Allow your hands to rest comfortably on your belly.
Just starting our class with our breath awareness.
On the inhalation,
Feeling your belly,
Pressing your fingertips up toward the sky.
On your exhalation,
Feeling everything sink to the back of the body.
Your rhythm,
Your breath.
Take your time and checking in to see the quality of your breath and how you're feeling right now.
If your breathing is shallow and choppy,
Try exploring,
Slowing everything down.
If it doesn't feel comfortable to breathe in and out of your nose,
If you feel a little bit congested,
Feel free to open your mouth.
Whatever feels best for your body.
Just starting out with that belly breathing.
On your next inhalation,
Widening your fingers a little bit and filling the belly and the lower part of your rib cage,
Press the fingertips up toward the sky.
If possible,
Allow your inhalation and exhalation to be of equal length or your exhalation to be even half a breath longer.
Feeling everything slowing down.
On your next inhalation,
Expanding your belly,
Your rib cage and your chest,
Breathing all the way up to the collarbone area.
Open mouth exhalation,
Letting everything go.
Notice sounds around your space,
Perhaps noticing sounds outside,
Floating your awareness from sound to sound.
And then slowly bringing your awareness to closer sounds,
To sounds inside your space.
Notice the skin on your face soften.
Maybe your jaw soften.
Perhaps opening and closing your mouth a few times.
Maybe moving your jaw from side to side.
Finding a comfortable position for your jaw,
Allowing the tip of your tongue to touch the roof of your mouth,
Allowing the root of the tongue to grow heavy.
And then release the tongue,
Perhaps even a bit of space between the lips.
Allow the hands to rest comfortably beside your torso.
Bringing your awareness to the sensation of air on the tips of your toes.
Slowly wiggle your toes a little bit.
Perhaps widening your toes a little bit,
Lengthening your toes,
Then just giving your feet a gentle shake.
Finding stillness.
Bringing your awareness to your fingertips,
The skin on the tips of your fingers.
Noticing the air on the tips of your fingers.
Slowly bringing movement to your fingers.
Any kind of movement that feels good for your body.
Maybe opening the fingers wide or maybe curling the fingers up and then opening them.
Whatever feels good is good.
There is no wrong way to do this.
Whatever feels good,
Always listening to your body above my words.
Finding stillness with your hands.
And loosely start to roll both legs in and out.
Loose,
Sloppy,
Floppy rolls.
Feeling the thighs rolling in and out.
Noticing the tips of your toes rolling in and out as well.
So this is a sloppy,
Floppy movement.
Breathing in relaxation.
Letting go of tightness and tension.
Finding stillness at center position.
Imagine for a moment strings from the sky.
Imagine those strings encased in warm silver.
Feel the warmth of the silver connect to the front of the shoulders,
The inside of the elbows and wrists.
Envision those strings lifting both arms a couple of inches off the earth and then letting them fall.
Sometimes palms up and sometimes palms down.
Loosely rolling your legs in and out as well as dropping and flopping your hands.
Fish out of water.
Finding stillness at center position and giving everything a little bit of a wiggle.
Giving everything a little bit of a wiggle.
Whenever you're ready,
Breathing first one foot and then the other foot a little closer to the back side of your body.
So the knees are bent,
Knees are facing the sky and feet are more or less under the knees.
But if it feels like it's too close and you feel your legs cramping up,
Go ahead and press your heels a little further down your mat away from your bottom.
So finding that comfortable position for your low back.
And if your feet are on something that is supporting you,
Whether it's a blanket or maybe you're laying down and resting in bed,
Whatever is the case,
Allow your feet to sink in the support.
And if you have something under your feet where you can allow your heels to be a little bit lower than the balls of your feet.
Gently pressing your feet into the support and feeling the low,
Broad expansion of fascia of the low back melt into the earth as the pelvic tilts up just a tad.
And then exhale as you release.
You're going to find that there's a little bit of rocking with the pelvis.
Gently press your feet into the support.
Feel that low back melt.
And exhale as you release.
Slowly breathing both knees a couple inches to the right in line with the right eye in slow windshield wipers.
So take your time here.
Perhaps your breathing is inhalation,
Knees to center.
And then exhaling your knees a couple inches to the left in line with the left eye.
Just slowly breathing your knees from side to side.
Your rhythm,
Your breath.
Feeling the massage of the low back and the sacrum as you breathe your knees from side to side.
Breathing in relaxation,
Giving your body permission to let go of tightness and tension.
Noticing how good this feels as the low back and the sacrum is massaged by the earth.
You might even find organically that your knees are swaying a little bit more to each side.
But try to keep the movement slow,
Feeling every inch of massage on the back of the body.
Your rhythm,
Your breath,
Always listening to your body above my words.
If anything doesn't feel good,
Don't do it.
And if the movements themselves,
The physical movements are not within your comfort zone today,
Just imagine in your mind you doing the movements.
Allow the sensations of what the movements might feel like to be felt in your body.
Maybe without moving at all,
But just visually seeing yourself making the movements.
Taking deep breaths,
Letting go,
Whenever your body is calling for that.
And if it doesn't feel comfortable to take those deep inhalations and deep exhalations,
Feel free to just sip air as if you were sipping air through a straw.
So imagine an imaginary straw up to your lips and sipping the air in.
And keeping the lips pursed as you exhale the air out.
So finding any kind of alternative breathing method as you float your knees from side to side.
Feeling the massage on the low back and the sacrum.
Finding stillness the next time your knees are at center position.
Slowly breathing your right knee up to the sky and then bringing the right knee a little closer to the chest.
Maybe the right thigh lands on the chest,
Maybe it doesn't.
If you have a strap or a belt or a tie rather that you want to put around that lower right leg to hug the right leg in a little bit more,
Feel free to do that.
Or you can do this with no hands at all.
But allow the shoulders to relax on the earth.
If you are using a strap,
You could put the strap around that lower right leg or around the right hamstring area.
So finding the place that feels comfortable for you.
Feeling free to add any variation that feels good.
Whenever you're ready,
Start to circle the right knee,
Small slow circles in the sky.
So taking your time,
Just allowing for these small movements.
Your rhythm,
Your breath.
Check in with your body.
Notice how it feels and if you're just doing the movements,
If you're doing the movements in your mind only,
Notice how this might feel to your body if you were doing it.
Actually visualize yourself doing these movements.
Reversing the circle whenever it feels right to you.
Whenever you're ready,
Breathing the right foot up toward the sky,
Feel free to keep a micro bend in the right knee if the hamstrings feel a little tight as we do single leg bicycles on the right side.
So slowly lower your heel to earth.
Nice and slow.
Breathing your right knee to chest and foot to sky.
And then perhaps exhaling your heel to earth if that breathing pattern works for you.
If it doesn't,
Find something that resonates with your body.
Reversing your single leg bicycles whenever you want.
Remember,
If you're just doing these movements in your mind,
Still check in with your breath.
Actually feel the breath moving the body parts in your mind.
Finding stillness the next time the right knee comes close to the chest and allowing the right ankle to be supported and come to on top of the left thigh.
You can use your hands for this position to help assist in moving in this area.
Feel free to find a place where you feel a therapeutic stretch.
So if you don't feel anything with your right leg crossed over your left or in figure four asana rather,
If you don't really feel much of a stretch,
Feel free to gently bring your hands to the top of your thigh and gently press your thigh away from the torso.
Feeling that right hip flexor start to open just a bit.
Perhaps feeling the right femur start to move.
Finding that place where you feel a therapeutic stretch.
Releasing your hands whenever you find that place and allow the breath to slowly sway your legs from side to side.
Keeping that feet,
The legs rather in that figure four asana position,
Feeling the massage as you sway your legs from side to side,
Feeling the massage on the low back and the sacrum.
Taking deep letting go breaths whenever your body is calling for that.
Breathing in relaxation,
Exhaling tightness and tension away from the body.
Letting go of the rhythm your breath.
And if organically your legs want to sway a little bit more to each side,
Feel free to listen to your body in that movement.
Finding stillness at center position,
And then allowing your hands to support as you release the right foot from the left thigh and bring the right foot alongside the left foot.
So both knees are facing the sky.
Allow both legs to grow long.
So making sure you have space at the end of your mat for your legs to grow long and breathing your arms up toward the sky.
And then feeling your shoulders lifting off the earth just a little bit.
So imagine that from the sky,
Somebody is reaching down and holding on to your forearms,
Pulling your forearms just a little bit more up toward the sky,
Feeling your shoulders lift a little bit more.
And then on your exhalation,
Breathe your shoulders to the earth.
And then slowly shift them down.
And then you're in the most comfortable position for your shoulders,
Breathing your fingertips toward the wall behind you,
Keeping the arms long beside your head.
And whenever your shoulders start to say,
Uh-uh,
Go ahead and bend your elbows,
Allowing your arms to be relaxed beside your head,
And growing your arms long behind you,
Giving your body a nice long stretch from the waist all the way to the tips of the toes,
All the way to the tips of the fingers,
Really lengthen here.
Let's give the right side of the body a nice stretch.
So go ahead and allow your arms that are long behind you to travel a couple of inches to the left.
Allow your legs that are long in front of you to travel a couple of inches to the left.
Cross your right hand over your left and cross your right ankle over your left.
Allow your chin to come closer to your chest.
And on your inhalation,
Breathing into the skin on the right side of the body.
On your inhalation,
Feeling that skin expanding.
And as you exhale,
Feel that new space that you just added to the skin.
Slowly breathing your chin up,
Unclasp your hand,
Unclasp your feet,
Allow your arms to go long behind you and your legs long in front of you.
Let's do a tense and release.
Slowly curl up your toes,
Tighten your calves,
Tighten the front of your legs,
Your quadriceps,
And the back of your legs,
Your hamstrings.
Tighten your buttocks,
Tighten your tummy,
Tighten your chest.
Slowly tighten your arms,
Ball up your fist,
Squish up your face,
Tighten everything you can,
As tight as you can.
Inhale,
Open mouth exhalation,
Release everything into the ground,
Giving everything a wiggle.
Allowing your arms to come down beside your torso,
Breathing first one foot and then the other foot up to your support.
Slowly resuming your windshield wipers,
Your slow windshield wipers.
So gently breathe both knees a couple inches to the right,
Your rhythm,
Your breath,
Inhaling to center,
And then exhaling a couple inches to the left.
Floating your knees from side to side,
Feeling the massage on your low back and your sacrum as you breathe your knees from side to side.
Your rhythm,
Your breath.
Finding stillness at center position.
Gently press your feet into the support,
Feel your pelvic tilt up just a tad.
Feel the melting of the low back and the sacrum into the earth.
And exhale as you release.
Gently breathe your left knee to your chest.
You can use your hands and remember perhaps you're just visualizing these movements in your mind.
You can use your hand or if you have a strap,
Perhaps folding the strap in half and breathing the strap,
Bringing the strap rather to the back of the hamstrings.
To gently hug that thigh closer to the chest and with the lengthening of the strap,
It allows your shoulders to still be touching the ground,
Relaxed into the ground.
So hold the strap if you have a strap or a tie or a scarf,
Hold it gently so you're not clenching it.
Gentle squeeze detoxing on the left side.
Breathing in relaxation.
Exhaling tightness and tension away from the body.
And slowly start to draw circles in the sky with your left knee.
Your rhythm,
Your breath.
Always listening to your body above my words.
Reversing the circles whenever you want.
And checking in.
How does this side feel?
Maybe it feels a little bit different than the other side.
No judgment,
Just awareness.
Giving your body permission to let go.
Permission to release.
And breathing.
Finding stillness the next time the left knee comes close to the chest and then breathing the left foot up to the sky.
Feel free to keep a micro bend in the left knee as we start our single leg bicycles on the left side.
So breathing the heel closer to the earth,
Breathing the left knee closer to the chest and the foot to the sky.
Take your time and your single leg bicycles on the left side.
Your rhythm,
Your breath.
Noticing how this feels.
Feel free to slow it down a little bit more if that feels better.
Or perhaps change the pace so that it resonates with your body.
Reversing your single leg bicycle and noticing does it feel different when you do it in reverse.
Just allowing the rhythm of your breath to do the movements.
Finding stillness the next time the left knee comes close to the chest and then allowing your left ankle to rest comfortably on your right side.
So maybe you bring your hands to the lower left leg to assist in that movement.
If you feel like you have a therapeutic stretch right here,
Feel free to stay here.
If however you're feeling like you really don't get,
You're not getting that therapeutic stretch that you're wanting,
Feel free to bring your hands to your left thigh and gently press your left thigh a little bit more away from the torso.
Finding that place where you feel a therapeutic stretch.
Breathing into any area of tightness.
You might feel that hip flexor shift slightly.
You might feel that left femur moving just a tad and there may just be an energetic movement.
Just the thought of moving it might create some blockages to be cleared.
So take your time releasing your hands whenever you're ready and start to sway from side to side in figure four asana.
Feeling the massage on the low back and the sacrum,
Your rhythm,
Your breath.
Feeling the massage as you float your legs from side to side.
Breathing in relaxation,
Exhaling tightness and tension away from the body.
Always listening to your body above my words.
If you're organically swaying a little bit more to each side,
That's fine.
More or less whatever feels right for you.
Nothing to do.
There is nowhere to be.
Just this.
Finding stillness at center position and using your hand to support releasing that left ankle from the right thigh,
Bringing the left foot alongside the right.
So growing our legs long in front of us.
Breathing the arms up toward the sky and slowly breathing the arms toward the wall behind.
Feel free to bend the elbows any time the shoulders feel tight.
Breathing the arms all the way down until the arms are framing the face.
And growing long from the waist all the way to the tips of the toes and from the waist all the way to the tips of the fingers,
Giving yourself a nice long stretch here.
Really lengthening,
Feeling those intercostal muscles on the side body,
Breathing and expanding on inhalation.
And if it doesn't feel good to breathe deeply,
Just give yourself the amount of breath that feels right for your body.
Let's go ahead and stretch the left side of the body now.
So the arms are long behind us.
Allow the arms to travel a couple of inches to the right.
Allow the legs that are long in front of us to travel a couple of inches to the right.
Chin comes closer to the chest.
Cross your left hand over your right and cross your left ankle over your right ankle.
Breathing in to the left side of the skin on your inhalation.
Visualizing,
Seeing that expansion of the skin as you inhale.
And then feeling everything as you exhale,
More spacious.
Breathing the chin up.
Whenever you're ready,
Unclasping your hand,
Unclasping your leg,
Growing your arms long behind you and your legs long in front of you.
Breathing your arms down beside your torso and breathing first one foot and then the other foot up to your mat or your support.
Gently pressing your heels into your support and if possible,
Allow your heels to be a little bit lower than the balls of your feet,
Feeling that low back melting into the earth.
And exhale as you release.
On your next breath,
Slowly breathe your head to the right.
So feeling the nose that's pointing at the sky,
Slowly sweeping across the sky as if it were making a semi-art.
Just finding that first place of tightness,
Feeling the neck start to lengthen,
Finding where you feel that first place of tightness and then lingering there.
Breathing in,
Creating space on the side of the neck.
Whenever you're ready,
Floating the tip of your nose back to the center of your sky,
Midline of the body.
And then visualizing and feeling the nose slowly floating to the other side of your body.
Just making that half arc sign with your nose.
Take your time and breathing your nose very gently back to the midline.
One more time to the right,
Your rhythm,
Your breath.
Breathing that tip of the nose back to the center.
Very gently dip your chin closer to your chest,
Feeling the lengthening of the back of your head and neck.
Just finding that place that feels just right for you.
And then slowly start to draw circles in the sky with your nose.
Just imagine as if the tip of your nose were a pencil,
Drawing circles in the sky with the tip of your nose.
Feeling the massage on the back of your scalp.
Reversing your circle whenever it feels right for you.
Breathing in relaxation,
Exhaling tightness and tension away from the body.
Your rhythm,
Your breath.
Finding stillness at center position.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto either side.
And remember,
If you're not physically able to do these positions,
Just in your mind,
Visualize yourself doing them.
Turning to the side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Turning over onto the other side.
Inhalation,
Breathing the arms all the way up,
Bending the elbows,
And arching for the sky.
Exhalation,
Rounding the shoulders forward,
Wrapping your hands around your lower legs.
And then back to your low,
Drop plane with your hands.
Back into your Franks home,
Under your nice,
Tall position.
Take your time here.
We're just going to shift our legs slowly to either side.
Remember,
You can do these movements in your mind with me.
Engage your core,
Hug your navel toward your spine supporting that lumbar low back area.
And we're going to just cycle through one cow cat.
So dropping the tummy,
Tilting the tail up and gazing forward.
And then as you exhale,
Pressing the earth away,
Engage your core,
Rounding your spine up toward the sky.
Chin comes closer to chest in cat.
Keeping in that same position of cat and slowly returning to your tabletop position.
Spine nice and long here.
So gazing down at the earth.
And whenever you're ready,
Drop your hips to your heels.
We're moving into child's pose.
So take your time here.
Feeling that nice stretch in the hip area.
Coming all the way back,
Maybe using your hands to press your hips down a little bit more.
Feeling that low back lengthen out.
You can allow your arms if you want to be long in front of you in ancient prayer,
Allowing your forehead to rest on the earth if that feels good.
Or the classical version of child's pose is to allow your arms,
Your shoulders rather to be relaxed beside your body and allow either side of your face to rest on the earth.
Now if your face doesn't quite come to the earth,
We can always use a pillow here to support our face so that there's no strain on the neck and breathing.
On your inhalation,
Feeling your belly pressing against your thighs.
Take your time.
One more cycle of breath.
Bring your hands under your shoulders.
We're going to transition into crocodile.
So I'm just going to move a little bit so that I'm facing you so that you can see how my hands are in crocodile.
I'm going to come down onto my forearms and my tummy.
So my forearms are in front of me.
And depending on the length of your arms,
Your elbows might actually be in front of your shoulders.
So it just depends what feels comfortable for you.
But your tummy all the way up to that midline,
That belly area is right in contact with the earth.
So breathe your palms up and allow the edge of your palms to rest comfortably together and rest your chin.
Rest your chin in your palms in crocodile.
Feeling your fingertips just lightly graze this side of your temple,
The side of your face right near the hairline.
And breathing.
As you inhale,
Feeling your belly pressing against the earth.
Feeling that connection with Mother Earth.
Imagine that your belly button had a cord in it.
And the cord went down into the earth.
It was kind of like a straw.
And as you inhale and your belly presses against the earth,
Visualize that straw pulling of the resources,
That healing energy up into the body.
Nourishing,
Replenishing.
Making your breath comfortable,
But feeling the press of the belly into the earth.
So we're going to slowly transition to a yoga nidra position.
So I'm just going to set my timer on my clock here for two minutes.
But take your time,
Perhaps using your hands to support coming up into a position where you can comfortably transition into a comfortable yoga position.
So laying down on your back,
Maybe a little something,
Something under your low back,
If that feels good.
Use something to support the back of your head so that there's no strain on the neck.
But you don't want something so big that your shoulders can't relax into the earth.
You might like a bigger bolster under the back of your knees for your low back to relax.
And you might even like a an iPad for your eyes to close out any light that comes in.
I will be covering my screen as soon as we begin our session.
But you still have a little bit of time if you need to use the restroom.
Now's the time to use the restroom.
If you have glasses,
You want to take your glasses off.
If you have contact lenses in,
You want to go ahead and remove your contact lenses.
So you still have about a minute to do that.
And remember,
If you're not quite ready,
Don't worry about that.
If you're thirsty,
Feel free to take a little bit of hydration because we will be laying down.
Yoga nidra is discrete sleep with trace awareness.
The body sleeps,
But the mind remains awake.
But sometimes the body is tired.
And we find ourselves drifting in between that alpha and theta state right before dreams.
And if you find yourself in that state,
And you realize all of a sudden that you've been sleeping,
Eh,
Don't beat yourself up about that.
It just means you're tired.
But you can still hear my voice and on that subconscious level,
You're still hearing me.
So try to keep the physical body awake.
But if your body drifts off,
It just means you're tired.
And especially those that aren't feeling well tonight.
That rest,
An hour of yoga nidra is like two to three hours of rest because it's undisturbed,
Uninterrupted rather by dreams.
You are the creator of your dreams.
So during yoga nidra,
Sometimes you drift in between those states and sometimes with the body rotation sensing or sometimes with the imagery or reverse counting,
Different things surface.
And if at any point you feel at all uncomfortable,
Open your eyes,
It'll bring you right back to the surface.
But if however,
You allow yourself to be a silent witness to the content,
Acknowledging,
Yes,
That did happen.
But that is not the core of who I am today.
Little by little,
With a continued practice,
You may find yourself feeling a little bit lighter.
Yoga nidra is a very ancient practice and it is also very healing.
So take your time in getting your set up.
I'm hoping that everyone was preparing while I was giving a little bit of background on yoga nidra.
I'm just going to take a little drink of water before we begin.
All right.
So if you have a phone and the phone is on,
No worries there.
You might want to turn the screen toward the earth so that the light doesn't come out and bring you to the surface as well.
So I'm just going to go ahead and cover the screen right now.
Allow yourself some time to become calm and steady.
Please get ready to practice yoga nidra.
Lying down on your back on the floor and adopt the pose called savasana.
In this position,
The body should be straight from head to toe,
The legs slightly apart and the arms a little way away from the body.
With the palms of the hands turned upward,
Adjust everything,
Your body position and closed until you are completely comfortable.
During yoga nidra,
There should be no physical movement.
Close your eyes and keep them strictly closed until you are told to open them.
Take a deep breath and as you breathe out,
Feel the cares and worries of the day flow out of you.
In the practice which follows,
You're going to develop the feeling of relaxation in the body.
It is not necessary to make movements or deliberately relax your muscles.
Simply develop the feeling of relaxation.
It is like the feeling you have just before sleep.
When relaxation becomes deep,
Sleep does come but you should try to keep yourself completely awake.
This is very important.
Make a resolution to yourself.
I will remain awake.
During yoga nidra,
You are functioning on the levels of hearing and the levels of awareness and the only important thing is to follow the voice of the instructor.
You must not try to intellectualize or analyze the instructions as this will disturb your mental relaxation.
Simply follow the voice with total attention and feeling and if thoughts come to disturb you from time to time,
Do not worry.
Just continue the practice.
Allow yourself some time to become calm and steady.
Bring about the feeling of inner relaxation in the whole body.
Concentrate on the body and become aware of the importance of complete stillness.
Develop your awareness of the body from the top of the head to the tips of the toes and mentally repeat the mantra.
Complete stillness and complete awareness of the whole body again.
Continue your awareness of the whole body.
The whole body.
Say mentally to yourself,
I am aware.
I'm going to practice yoga nidra.
The practice of yoga nidra begins now.
At this moment,
You should try to make your resolve near sankalpa.
The resolve will have to be very simple.
Try to discover one naturally.
You must develop a resolve to say at this time.
It should be a short positive statement in simple language stated three times with awareness,
Feeling and emphasis.
You can choose a physical,
Mental or emotional sankalpa.
Sankalpa is Sanskrit for heartfelt resolution.
Perhaps if you're not feeling well,
Your body is not well,
You might choose a sankalpa saying I am well.
My body is well.
You're the only one that can choose your sankalpa.
With feeling and awareness,
Repeat your sankalpa in your mind three times.
We now begin rotation of consciousness,
Rotation of awareness by taking a trip through the different parts of the body.
As quickly as possible,
The awareness is to go from part to part.
Repeat the part in your mind and simultaneously become aware of that part of the body.
Keep yourself alert,
But do not concentrate too intensely.
Become aware of the right hand,
Right hand,
Right hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of the hand.
Become aware of your palm,
Back of the hand,
The wrist,
The lower arm,
The elbow,
The upper arm,
The shoulder,
The armpit,
The right waist,
The right hip,
The right thigh,
The kneecap,
The calf muscle,
The ankle,
The heel,
The sole of the right foot,
The top of the right foot,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Become aware of the left hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
The wrist,
The lower arm,
The elbow,
The upper arm,
The shoulder,
The armpit,
The left waist,
The left hip,
The left thigh,
The kneecap,
The calf muscle,
The ankle,
The heel,
The sole of the left foot,
The top of the foot,
The big toe,
The second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Bring your awareness to the back of the body.
Become aware of the right shoulder blade,
The left shoulder blade,
The right buttock,
The left buttock,
The spine,
The whole back together.
Now go to the top of the head,
The top of the head,
The forehead,
Both sides of the head,
The right eyebrow,
The left eyebrow,
The space between the eyebrows,
The right eyelid,
The left eyelid,
The right eye,
The left eye,
The right ear,
The left ear,
The right cheek,
The left cheek,
The nose,
The tip of the nose,
The upper lip,
The lower lip,
The chin,
The throat,
The right chest,
The left chest,
The middle of the chest.
Bring your awareness to your heart.
Feel the beat of your heart.
Feel the muscles around the heart release.
Anahata chakra,
Emerald green.
Bring your awareness to the navel,
Manapira chakra,
Your seat of heat with the solar color of yellow.
Upper abdomen,
Lower abdomen,
Further down,
Swathisthana chakra.
Now the major parts of the body.
The whole of the right leg,
The whole of the left leg,
Both legs together,
The whole of the right arm,
The whole of the left arm,
Both arms together,
The whole of the back,
Buttocks,
Spine,
Shoulder blades,
The whole of the front,
Abdomen,
Chest,
The whole of the back and front together,
The whole of the head,
The whole body together,
The whole body together,
Together.
Remaining awake,
Total awareness,
No movement.
The whole body on the floor.
Become aware of your body lying on the floor.
Your body is lying on the floor.
See your body lying perfectly still on the floor in your space.
Visualize this image in your mind.
Become aware of your breath.
Feel the flow of your breath in and out of your lungs.
Do not try to change the rhythm.
The breathing is natural,
Automatic.
You are not doing it.
There is no effort.
Maintain awareness of your breath.
Continue.
Complete awareness of breath.
Now concentrate your awareness on the movement of your navel area.
Concentrate on your navel movement.
Your navel is rising and following slightly with every breath.
With each and every breath,
It expands and contracts.
Concentrate on this movement and synchronization with your breath.
Go on practicing,
But be sure that you are aware.
Now start counting your breath backward from 27 to 1 like this.
27 navel rising.
27 navel falling.
26 navel rising.
26 navel falling.
25 navel rising.
25 navel falling.
And so on.
Say the words and numbers mentally to yourself as you count your breaths.
Be sure that you don't make a mistake.
If you do,
You must go back to 27 and start again.
With total awareness that you are counting,
Go on counting from 27 to 1.
Keep on with the practice.
No mistakes,
Please.
Now,
Stop your counting of the navel breath and shift your attention to the chest.
Please shift your attention to the chest.
Your chest is rising and falling slightly with each and every breath.
Become aware of this.
Continue concentrating on the movement of the chest and start counting backward from 27 to 1 in the same way as before.
27 chest rising.
27 chest falling.
26 chest rising.
26 chest falling.
25 chest rising.
25 chest falling.
And so on.
Again,
Repeat the words and numbers mentally to yourself as you count.
No mistakes.
If you make a mistake,
You must go back to 27 and start again.
Continue counting 27 to 1.
Keep on with the practice.
Counting with awareness.
Awareness and counting.
Place your counting of the chest breaths and move your awareness to the throat.
Please move your awareness to the throat.
Become aware of your breath moving in and out of the throat.
Become aware of this.
Concentrate on the movement of the breath and start counting backward from 27 to 1 in the same way as before.
Complete awareness of counting and breathing.
Meaning awake.
Total awareness that you are counting.
Keep on with the practice.
Continue counting your breath in the throat.
Stop counting and go now to the nostrils.
Become aware of the breath moving in and out of the nostrils.
Concentrate on the movement of the breath in and out of the nostrils and start counting as before.
You know it very well by now.
27 breathing in through the nostrils.
27 breathing out through the nostrils.
And so on.
Continue counting and reverse.
Total awareness of nostril breath.
Concentrate awareness.
No mistakes.
Keep on with the practice.
Continue.
Game.
And return to your natural breath.
Stop counting and return to your natural breath.
Now we come to visualization.
Imagine all the images as best you can.
You should try to develop a vision of them on all levels,
Feeling,
Awareness,
Emotion,
And imagination.
The rising sun.
All the cool,
Crisp air around the sun that sits upon the horizon.
The welcome hope of a new beginning.
A snow-capped mountain.
A glass room on top of the mountain.
Glass on all sides as well as the top.
A wood-burning fire in the center of the room.
You can see the embers as the fire burns.
You see one of the logs rolling slightly,
Sparks slowly floating.
You see yourself lying in a glass room on a white bearskin rug,
Feeling the warmth of the fire.
The glass walls allow you to take in the beauty from a distance.
You find yourself slowly rising,
Walking toward the glass doors.
As you walk outside,
You can feel the soft layer of white snow on the soles of your feet.
It feels like quilted cushion beneath your feet.
You breathe in the beauty and serenity of the view.
Peacefulness envelopes your body like a warm blanket.
Bring your awareness to Chitakasha,
The dark space behind your forehead.
Notice what you notice.
You may see patterns,
Colors.
You may see downward movement,
Upana,
Or perhaps swirling movement,
Zamana.
Just notice what you notice.
What do you see floating across your screen?
Do you see slides?
Do you see shapes?
Shadows?
Perhaps different colors?
Maybe brilliant colors?
Perhaps subdued colors?
Taking note of what you see and then continue to watch.
Not lingering on any one thing,
Continuing to allow your mind to float from thing to thing,
Memory to memory,
Or space to space.
Bring your awareness to the center of your eyebrows.
Agna chakra.
Indigo.
Slowly take your mind out,
Your mind out.
Now is the time to repeat your resolve.
Repeat the same resolve that you made at the beginning of practice.
Do not change it.
Repeat the resolve three times with full awareness and feeling in your mind.
With the soil of your mind perfect,
See your seeds manifest.
Take root.
Grow into your everyday life.
Relax all efforts.
Keeping your eyes closed.
Draw your mind outside and become aware of your breathing.
Become aware of the natural breath.
Awareness of the whole body and awareness of breathing.
Your body is lying totally relaxed on the floor.
You are breathing quietly and slowly.
Develop awareness of your body from the top of your head,
Sushrara chakra.
To the tips of your toes and say mentally in your mind.
Repeat Aum mentally to yourself.
Twice more.
Become aware of the earth supporting the back of your body.
Become aware of each point of contact.
The back of your scalp,
Your shoulders,
Your upper,
Middle,
Lower back.
The backs of your arms and hands.
Your buttocks,
The backs of your legs and heels.
Your feet or soles of the feet.
Think of each point of contact evenly and simultaneously.
Being supported by the earth.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Visualize the room around you.
Visualize your body.
Visualize your body in relation to the objects around you.
See every part of your body from the tips of your toes to the crown of your head.
See the clothes on your body.
The skin on your body.
Every part of you.
Slowly start to bring movement back to your hands,
Your fingers,
Your feet and your toes.
Give your body a long stretch from the waist all the way to the tips of the toes.
And from the waist all the way to the tips of the fingertips reached long behind you.
Perhaps a little crescent moon,
A side stretch from side to side.
If that feels good.
Rolling to the side of your choice whenever you feel ready.
Feel free to stay laying down if you choose.
If you want to press yourself up into a comfortable seated position,
Feel free to do that as well.
If you do press yourself up,
Let your neck and head be the last thing that come up.
And if you're comfortable laying there,
Feel free to lay there.
I will seal the class for us.
And I will take care of everything on my end.
You do not need to do anything.
There's nowhere to be.
There's nothing to do.
Just this.
Breathing our hands to our heart center.
Fingertips lightly touching.
Palms pressing lightly.
Receive a breath.
Aum.
Shanti,
Shanti,
Shanti.
Aum.
Shanti,
Shanti,
Shanti.
Aum.
Peace be to your mind,
To your body,
To your family and friends.
An always universal peace.
The light in me bows to the light in you.
It is an honor to be your guide.
So please take your time.
If you're still laying down,
I hope you ride that wave out.
If you're someone that enjoys journaling,
Feel free to grab your paper and your pen and write down anything that's fresh in your mind.
Today is December 4th,
2020.
I'm just slowly going to come up to the screen and end the class.
It was wonderful to see everyone today,
And I hope I see you again soon.
4.3 (11)
Recent Reviews
Julie
December 22, 2020
Thank you! I suggest adding a little to your description to prepare users to have optional bolster and strap for the gentle yoga part. I especially liked “your breath your rhythm”, the breath work during the nidra, the glass room visualization, and the invitation to journal at the end. Very healing practice!