Welcome to this yoga nidra practice.
You may lay down on your back on your yoga mat,
Your bed or perhaps your couch.
Take these first minutes of the practice to find the right posture.
The practice is most effective when you lay still,
So take your time to get it right.
Lay your arms alongside your body with the palms of your hands facing up.
Your legs a little bit away from each other with your feet falling to the outside.
Relax your arms,
Hands and fingers.
Watch your legs,
Feet and toes.
Relax the entire body.
And if you haven't done this already,
You may close your eyes.
Feel your body touching the ground beneath you.
And zoom in on the points of the back of your body that are touching the floor.
Just notice a point and move on to the next.
Just observing.
The back of your head,
Your shoulder blades,
Your buttocks,
The backside of your legs and your heels.
Now surrender into this pose.
Let gravity pull you down.
We are going to start with an active breathing exercise to release any blockages from the body.
In a moment you are going to take a deep breath in through the nose.
And then you hold the breath.
And while you are holding the breath you are tightening your pelvis,
The lower belly and finally the upper belly.
All this while you are holding your breath and while tightening those muscles,
You are slowly letting the breath flow towards the top of your head.
Then you breathe out through the mouth.
We are going to do this four times.
Don't worry about doing it right or wrong,
Just try.
And in between the breaths you can return to your normal breathing.
It is a strong breathing exercise,
So become aware of any sensations that you might feel.
And try to surrender to them.
Alright,
Take a deep breath in and out.
Here we go.
And here we go.
Deep breath in,
All the way towards your belly.
Feel your belly rise and hold the breath.
Tighten your pelvis,
Your lower belly and now your upper belly.
And feel and follow the breath flowing alongside your spine towards the top of your head.
Hold a little while longer and release.
Let it out through the mouth.
In between the breaths your breathing can return to its normal flow.
And here we go again.
Taking another deep breath in,
All the way towards your belly.
Feel your belly rise and hold the breath.
Tighten your pelvis,
The lower belly and now your upper belly.
And feel and follow the breath flowing towards the top of your head.
Hold the breath out a little while longer and release.
Exhale.
And on every exhalation you allow your body to release more and more tension.
And here we go again.
Taking another deep breath in,
All the way towards your belly and hold.
Tighten your pelvis,
Your lower belly,
The upper belly and feel and follow the breath flowing towards the top of your head.
Hold a little while longer,
Tightening those muscles and release.
Exhale.
Letting go.
Here we go again.
The last time.
Deep breath in,
Let your belly rise and hold the breath.
Tighten your pelvis,
Your lower belly and now your upper belly.
And feel and follow the breath flowing towards the top of your head,
Alongside the spine.
And hold the breath out a little while longer and release.
Letting go of any tension that you might hold in your body.
Let your breathing return to its normal flow,
Soft and steady.
And notice what's happening in your body.
Maybe you feel sensations,
Maybe not.
Both are fine.
Become aware of any differences that you might experience.
Become aware of the calmness in your body.
Let sensations rise and feel the energy flowing.
And allow yourself to release more and more tension on every exhalation.
Now focus your awareness on the space between your eyebrows and let your awareness sink deeper and deeper towards the center of your brain.
Letting go.
Surrender.
As we enter this next phase of yoga nidra,
Remain as motionless as possible.
Resolve to remain awake by staying in touch with the sound of my voice.
And allow any disturbances,
External or internal,
To draw you even more deeper within.
Now shift from thinking and doing to feeling and being.
I want to ask you to visualize a gold ball of light above your head.
And this ball of light is filled with positive and relaxing energy.
So when this light touches a body part,
It will relax this part and make it light.
The tension will melt away.
You might notice that at some part you experience more tension than other parts.
And that's okay.
Try to allow the light to soften and lighten a certain area.
And keep breathing.
You don't have to fix anything.
Just surrender to my voice and the light in your body and see what happens.
Allow this journey through your body to draw you more deeper within,
Focusing on you,
Not the outside world.
As I name the body part,
Bring your total attention towards that part,
Accompanied by this healing gold light.
Let your attention jump easily from one body part to the next.
Simply notice the part,
Fill it up with light and move on to the next.
And if you notice it's going fast,
Just breathe.
Now feel how this gold light enters your body at the top of your head.
It lights up your forehead,
Your cheeks and both ears.
It lights up the back of your head,
Your mouth,
Your tongue and your jaw.
Your entire head is lit up by this light.
Muscles are becoming more relaxed and you let go of any tension that you might hold.
The light moves through your throat and neck,
Towards the right side of your chest,
Towards the left side of your chest.
Your right arm from the shoulder until the wrist.
Your right hand,
The palm of your hand,
The top of your hand and all the fingers.
See how this light lights up your left arm from the shoulder all the way down to the wrist.
Your left hand,
The palm of the hand and the top of the hand.
And feel how this gold light moves towards your belly,
Lighting up your organs,
Your entire belly area.
It lights up the ribs on the right side of your body and also the ribs on the left side of the body.
Now become aware of your entire upper body being lit up by this bright healing light.
Move towards your pelvis and hips.
This light is travelling towards the right leg,
All the way from the hip to your ankle.
Feel how your right thigh,
Knee and calf is lit up by this light.
Your right foot,
The back of your foot,
The top of your foot and all your right toes.
See how this light travels towards your left leg,
All the way from the hip to the ankle.
Everything is being touched by this light.
Your left thigh,
Knee and calf.
Your left foot,
The back of the foot,
Top of the foot and all of your toes.
Now become aware of your entire lower body being lit up by this golden healing light.
Your entire body is lit up by this light.
Now on your next inhalation you are going to bring this light all the way back up from your feet towards the top of your head,
Alongside your spine.
With your awareness you follow this light back up during the inhalation.
Here we go,
Inhale deeply through your nose and bring this light and your attention from your feet,
Through your legs,
Alongside your spine,
Towards the top of your head.
Let it go with the exhalation.
Repeat this a few times for yourself,
Bringing this light from your feet all the way towards the top of your head on an inhalation and letting go on an exhalation.
Letting go.
Your whole body is now filled with gold light and this light is relaxing all your organs,
Your muscles,
Your entire body.
Feel how relaxed the body is and allow the lines of the body to slowly fade away,
Make them less sharp and broaden your awareness by letting go.
In this next phase of the yoga nidra practice there is room for an intention,
Your sankalpa,
A firm positive statement of something that you want to attract or feel more in your life.
Perhaps you want to work on changing a deep rooted belief from your system that no longer helps you,
Or it can be about feeling more grounded,
More connected to your truth,
It can be about feeling safe,
Creating safety inside yourself.
Perhaps something comes up automatically while you are in a more deeper state of awareness,
Everything is fine.
Don't worry about changing it all in this practice,
Allow yourself to make a beginning of a desired change,
Allow yourself to see what comes up from a place of surrendering.
When you know what your intention will be about,
Create a positive statement by starting with I am and finish this sentence for yourself.
Because of intention can be I am at ease with myself,
I am aware of my needs and listen to those needs,
I am safe and believe in myself.
Repeat your intention mentally a few times for yourself and make sure to let the feeling arise that belongs to this intention.
So how do you feel if this is already true?
It can also be that you repeat the intention for yourself and the feeling comes up of something that wants to be healed or hurt.
Now slowly let go of your sankalpa and return with your attention towards the center of your eyes again.
And slowly on every count you sink deeper.
5,
4,
3,
Deeper and deeper towards the center of your brain.
2,
1.
Bring your awareness back to your breath and start counting the breath.
Counting by 30,
So inhale 30,
Exhale 30,
Inhale 29,
Exhale 29,
Inhale 28,
Exhale 28 and continue counting on your own pace.
If you lose track of counting,
Simply return back to 30 and start again.
The goal is not to reach zero,
It's a practice in shifting your awareness and mindfully shifting it back.
And slowly release the count.
Start noticing the air entering your body via your nostrils on an inhalation.
And notice the air leaving your body through the nostrils on an exhalation.
Easy.
Slowly in and out.
Now deepen your breath by filling your lungs from the bottom to the top as if you are filling a water bottle.
And as you breathe out,
Empty your lungs from the top to the bottom.
Let your breath be slow and steady.
No force is needed.
Breathing in deeply,
Filling up your lungs from the bottom to the top as if you are filling a water bottle.
And as you breathe out,
Empty your lungs from the top to the bottom.
Observe the movement of your abdomen and chest while you feel and empty your lungs.
And try to stay connected to this wonderful feeling of releasing tension and this deep feeling of relaxation.
Let this feeling extend to every part of your body.
Let the flow of your breath be steady.
Create no struggle around breathing.
And with each breath in,
Feel every nerve and cell in your body with this new energy.
And release more and more tension when you breathe out.
Now breathe normally and be still.
Bring your total attention towards your body and any sensations that you might feel.
Now bring your attention back to your eyebrow center and rest here.
As I name the body part,
Bring your total attention towards that part accompanied by a feeling of heaviness and sinking like a stone in the water.
Both feet heavy like stones.
Your calves and knees heavy,
Sinking in the water.
Your thighs and hips,
Let them become heavy.
Your abdomen,
Chest and back,
Heavy,
Like gravity is pulling you down.
Your shoulders,
Arms and palms,
Heavy,
Like stones.
And feel your entire head,
Heavy.
Surrender your body as gravity pulls you down even further.
Experience your whole body,
Heavy,
Like a rock.
Feel your whole body sinking deeper and deeper,
Letting go into this pool of gravity.
Now shift your attention and as I name the part of your body,
Let all the heaviness drain away and make your body light,
Like a fluffy cloud or a feather.
Both feet,
Light like a cloud.
Your calves and knees,
Empty and free.
Your thighs and hips,
Weightless,
Light.
Your abdomen,
Chest and back,
Light and empty.
Your shoulders,
Arms and palms,
Let them become light.
Your head,
Weightless,
Free.
Feel your whole body,
Light like a feather.
Experience the emptiness of your body and the silence of your mind.
You feel completely safe and secure.
You feel light.
The lines of your body are fading again,
Connecting to the energy field around you.
And while you're in this deeper state,
Feeling light and safe,
I want to ask you to connect yourself with this energy field around you.
And slowly let yourself emerge with this field.
This is your field,
Your energy.
You allow things to enter or not,
And connected to this field you feel safe and calm.
Now picture in this field that's surrounding you some fertile soil.
Soil where flowers can grow.
It's a little bit dark and loose,
But it feels firm.
While your energy field is filling up with this fertile soil,
You start to feel grounded,
Connected to the earth and life.
Now in this soil you picture a seed from where a green stem of a flower is growing.
You notice that there is a beautiful flower appearing in your energy field from this one seed.
Now start to notice how this flower looks like.
The colors,
The shapes of the leaves.
What do you see?
Really picture every detail of this flower.
And now allow this flower to grow and let it fill up your entire energy field.
And see this field around you being filled up with this beautiful flower.
You feel steady,
Calm.
You feel your own strength.
Really take it all in.
This flower is surrounding you completely.
Notice how you feel.
How is your breathing?
How are your thoughts?
Do you feel more calm?
Just notice without any judgement.
While you are connected to this flower and the accompanying feelings,
I want to ask you to repeat mentally your intention that you've created for yourself starting with I am.
Repeat it three times.
Repeat it three times.
.
.
.
.
And if it feels right for you,
You can move small parts of the body.
Like your fingers and toes.
Your feet and hands.
And perhaps you feel like stretching out completely.
Arms above your head.
Or bringing your knees towards your chest.
Feel what feels right for you.
Really take your time to come back.
When you're ready,
You can come and lay down on your favorite side.
Before you come up and open your eyes,
Take a moment to really integrate this practice.
By asking yourself,
How does my body feel?
My mind.
What's happening in my mind?
How's my breathing?
And when you're ready,
You can come up and open your eyes.
And open your eyes.
And welcome back.
