Yoga Nidra A Meeting With Pleasure

Through this 35-minute guided meditation, I will be bringing you on a gentle journey into what pleasure and desire mean to you! How you can access these emotions for yourself and understand their meaning for you! Putting desire and pleasure back on the menu as Needs, not extras!! Our sense of worth can be deeply entangled with how much we allow ourselves to feel alive, take up space, and accept our desires as worthy and pleasurable. Wipe the slate clean, unearth the reality of what these words mean for you.

Transcript

Welcome to this practice of yoga nidra,

A meeting with pleasure.

As you journey into today's practice,

Notice your level of comfort and safety as you enter your space for rest.

Prepare for your practice so that you can truly allow yourself to unwind into your cocoon.

Most likely you need this and it's right here for you.

Become aware of your state of being,

What kind of emotions,

Thoughts,

Sensations are you embodying today?

See them as just a surface to what is available deep within you.

Lay down and feel a laying down of all that you come with today.

See if you can soften a little more,

Noticing the sinking of bones and muscle,

The heaviness of the eyes and tongue.

Laying down allows us to feel the gravitational pull drawing us closer into the support of the earth.

Feel that pull now.

When you think of pleasure,

Allow yourself in the moment to respond.

Pleasure can be a confusing and mysterious word sometimes.

Without judgment,

Just notice what stirs within when hearing the word pleasure,

Perhaps saying it to yourself quietly.

It may conjure sensations and that's okay.

It may bring up thoughts or memories and that's okay.

Try as best you can to remain in the comfort and safety of your resting space.

If unsure,

Ride along with your next inhale,

Following the breath as it expands within you.

Notice the aliveness of that breath,

That it brings with it something that is nothing other than new,

Invigorating and alive.

Feel your insides bloom bright with breath.

An exhale follows,

Returning everything into darkness.

Pleasure is that which is momentary blooming into the light.

An awakening of aliveness that bursts open no matter the circumstances.

It's ready and here for us to release into and lap up its pleasurable tongs in the moment.

It doesn't last forever,

So these deeply precious moments are light to our darkness,

Joy to our pain and love to our fear.

In five elements acupuncture,

The receiving of breath is a symbol of receiving joy.

The joy of life itself,

The aliveness it brings us is joyful.

It's pleasure in its simplest of forms.

Reawakening to the simplicities of pleasure is an inner and outer smile that beams light into every cell,

Rejuvenating our being with light.

Without pleasure we are forever submerged in the darkness.

I ask if there are any parts of you currently resting in darkness.

Is it possible for you to shower them with compassion and kindness?

Offering them loving support during this practice today.

Visualize your whole self wrapped in the softest warmest embrace.

The lightest of supports yet you feel so held cocooned and protected.

In this space it is possible to grow the corners of your mouth into a little gentle smile that softens the face.

Sending tiny signals throughout the body that you are okay.

In fact you're right where you are meant to be.

Watch for the breath to reassure you of this place you have found yourself in.

The sense of ease and surrendering to the now.

Inhale I am here.

Exhale now.

Repeat this several times until you feel it release you into the practice of yoga nidra.

You may wish to honor your practice today with an intention that refines your direction today.

Or if you are working with sankalpa and wish to illuminate your heartfelt desire in your practice then please repeat your words now.

The way a sankalpa works is that it illuminates the disconnect between who we think we are in the physical world and the wholeness and completeness of our being from creation.

You can see your sankalpa as a statement of remembering,

A fulfillment of deep heartfelt desire.

Whether you find your sankalpa for today or not,

If this statement feels relevant to you,

You can repeat this three times.

I am loved.

I trust myself.

I am open to receive now.

Feel your statement as light beaming into your heart space.

Guided by compassion and a childlike excitement for its glorious truth.

As we begin the remembering of the physical body,

Welcome in the sensory experience of gentle fizzing like bubbles in the form of golden light.

The sound,

Sensation,

Movement,

Color.

Bring this sensory experience into your tongue.

Feel your tongue as effervescent and alive.

Feel it move through the whole inside of your mouth.

Top lip and bottom lip.

Feel it fizz and brighten through the right cheek and your left cheek.

Up the sides of your nose.

Feel your right eye glistening and your left eye glistening.

From your third eye illuminated through the forehead.

Feel your whole face and head light up filled with this effervescent golden light.

Now feel all the way down into the soles of your feet,

The right sole and the left sole.

Feel that efforescence spark of golden light move up through the soles of both of your feet,

Spreading through your toes and the whole foot on both sides.

Feel it rise up through the right leg and left leg,

Rising up through both thighs into the buttocks,

Pelvis and low belly.

Feel a collective surfacing of lightness rise through the spine,

Through the organs and rib cage,

Into the shoulders and down your arms,

Into your hands and fingertips.

A tingling sensation bringing your whole body alive.

Feel the aliveness of your whole body.

Whole body aware and awake,

Fizzing with golden light.

As your awareness hovers over the entirety of your whole body,

Invite in the feeling of gratitude for the wholeness of you and your body,

That felt sense of being whole.

As you merge yourself in the feeling of gratitude,

Notice as you scan through your body,

Tiny pulses of golden light responding to your pinpointed gratitude.

Eventually creating a map of golden stars pulsing with love.

The awareness of your heart feeding your body with gratitude.

Now imagine a warm golden mist surrounding you,

Touching your skin.

Feel the moistness of this warming mist as it creates an orb-like bubble around you.

There is a fluidity between your warm and soft body and this moisturising cocoon.

Breathe in this soothing balm and feel it nourishing you inside and out.

Gently allow your sense of being to expand into this cocoon,

Expanding as far as possible,

As far as you can go.

You may even wander and surpass the edges of the cocoon and that's okay.

When you feel limitless,

You can then begin the journey back into contraction.

Draw your being inwards,

Inwards until you are so tiny at the centre of your being,

Within the dome of your heart.

We'll try this again,

Allowing this expansion to move from the heart through cocoon to atmosphere with so much gratitude.

Then full and complete,

Contract,

Drawing in all that limitless love back into the tiniest space within the heart.

Do this one more time,

Letting the expanse become so generous and spacious.

The contraction feels like wrapping yourself in the universe herself.

We will now explore emotions and their opposites,

Noticing how they show up or communicate through the body.

There is no right way to do this.

Instead focus on a sense of curiosity and spontaneity.

Allow whatever shows up to arise and dissolve with little or any interference.

You can think of this as an experiment of how an emotion can incite a response and that the opposite of it can be experienced simultaneously.

Remind yourself that you are held in infinite love of the universe.

As you begin to welcome in the feeling of fear in your experience.

Notice if any part of your body is amplified as you feel fear.

What appears in the presence of fear?

Now embrace feelings of love.

Notice is there a sensation or visual connection with love.

Feel love in your experience as best you can.

Now allow fear to arise again.

Understanding whether the presence of fear can be held with the presence of love.

Perhaps you can move between the two.

Or come back to that feeling of love being ever present.

Now notice what arises in the presence of feeling sad.

What happens when you feel sadness?

From sadness begin to shift to feelings of joy.

Where and how do you experience joyfulness in the body?

Allow the sensations associated with joy to play out in your experience.

Begin to invite back in the feelings of sadness.

Noticing whether the presence of sadness can be held with the presence of joyfulness.

And is it possible to move between the two?

Come back to that feeling of love being ever present.

And awaken to a feeling of apathy.

It may arise through feelings like indifference,

Detachment or lethargy.

Notice any ways in which you experience these emotions and what may arise with them.

Begin to welcome desire into your experience.

How does desire show up for you?

Allow for visuals,

Sensations,

Memories to spark a sense of desire within you.

Draw off what comes through with no judgement.

Allow desire to be present in your experience.

Amplify the source of desire.

Where does your sense of desire live within you?

Notice whether you can still connect to the feeling of detachment or indifference.

Can the presence of apathy be held with the presence of your desire?

And can you move between the two?

Stand in your heart by embracing your natural impulse of desire as best you can.

Where does this awakening of desire show up for you?

What can you feel,

See,

Hear,

Smell?

Decorate your inner world with what desire means to you.

There are no rules to this.

Trust in your heart to guide your desire and bring it to life through sensory experience.

The universe wants you to know that you are worthy of desire and always will be.

As the universe continues to wrap you in unconditional love.

Allow your imagination to follow the next stream of words.

Letting the imagery arise and dissolve.

Warm fragrant oil on your skin.

Puppies snuggling.

A warm mug of liquid between your hands.

Watching a sunrise from a cliff top.

The smile of a newborn baby.

Dancing with friends.

Smelling your favorite meal.

Running a bath and sinking into its warm water.

Holding hands with a loved one.

Walking through a flower garden.

Having a beautiful conversation with a stranger.

An elderly couple lovingly embracing.

Remembering your happiest memory.

Remembering your happiest memory.

Remembering your happiest memory.

Bring forth this positive memory into your imagination.

As it becomes more vivid,

Feel the sensations it brings running through your body like a spark of golden light.

Your whole body glowing from the chemical release gifted through this memory.

Like a circuit board fully wired and connected,

Golden lights illuminate your whole body.

These chemicals are flushed through you.

A living memory that brings you into full bodied aliveness.

Your insides blooming.

Feel your whole body turned up and fully alive.

And in this moment allow the rush of your desire to expand within the whole of you.

Expanding and expanding so much so that your desire expands beyond the physical.

Merging with the universe.

Amplifying your desire into existence.

Witness the interaction of your full bodied aliveness,

Heartfelt desire and the embrace of the universe flooding one another.

The peak of this full bloom is the acceptance of your desires in their entirety.

Allow now for whatever pleasure means to you in this moment to seep through your bodily experience drenching you in pleasurable tones that embrace all that you are.

Now repeat your sankalpa and feel how you experience this statement running through your whole body.

Repeat it three times to really feel it sink in.

Were you able to awaken to something today?

Was there a part of your darkness that glimpsed the light for the first time in a while?

Is there a part of you that has grown a little more confident that your desires are valid and you deserve to experience pleasure through illuminating your desires and bringing them to life?

Can you allow yourself to bloom?

The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

A wave of breath rides through your toes to the crown of your head.

Crown of your head to your toes.

Quite a few more breaths like this.

Wait for a ripple of movement through your fingers and toes.

Perhaps a roll of your head from side to side.

Lengthen the back and sides of your neck as you draw your tailbone to your heels.

Belly pulls in slightly.

Stretch throughout your whole body as you feel your breath expanding and contracting.

When you are ready to make your way to a comfortable seat,

I will meet you there.

Feel your insides supported by your spine and the tone of muscle surrounding it.

Feel your core pulling into your center as you get a little taller and your energy rises to the crown of your head.

With your next inhale,

Imagine a flower bud at the base of your pelvis,

Blooming and opening into your whole entire body.

When you exhale,

Feel the bloom submerge back into the bud,

Into darkness at the seat of your power.

Thank you for practicing Yoga Nidra with me today.

I hope you experience pleasure and rest during the rest of your day.

Reviews

That was quite amazing. I feel much more awake to the sensations in my body and my desires. Thank you!!

Beautiful. I would have enjoyed a more thorough rotation of consciousness, but it was still a lovely meditation.

This has quickly become one of my favorite yoga nidras. Every time I discover something new. So offen in yoga nidra we concentrate on the acceptance of grief or anger or pain, pleasure and abundance often come as kind of an afterthought and most of the time I'm not able to feel it. Here it was the other way round and suddenly I truly felt that my most joyful moment truly is always there and always will be. Something has shifted... tears are still running. Thank you so much! ♡

Thank you, I enjoyed the experience and expansion🙏🏻🌟✨🌟💫🌟🙏🏻

Gorgeous Nidra, my body is vibrating with golden light & love. 🌸

Wow, that was nothing short of amazing. I suppose it was exactly the thing I needed to hear, but the effect it had on me is quite baffling… In that moment of anadamaya kosha, after envision my happiest memory, something truly shifted. Very much like waking from a freeing dream, discovering yourself anew, not a single sign of tension anywhere, just that almost literal ‘feeling good in your own skin’.
I not going to try to analyse whether it was a rush of serotonin, dopamin, oxytocin or whichever transmitter or hormone that effect the way we feel, I’ll just accept it gracefully for the gift it gave me. Nor have I any wish to philosophise about how stuff like trauma in the way that it manages to force that disconnection from our bodily selves, seems to always bring with it a loss of childlike playfulness and joy, creative curiosity, amazement, bewildering exitement. I have experienced the return of that energetic flow through yogic practice and bodily exercise. What I just experienced goes way beyond that reconnection to the body and the pleasures it can bring. Far beyond anything that might be achieved cognitively (sure, it doesn’t help if you haven’t gotten to a point to overcome any judgment, shame or guilt toward pleasures for your hedonistic capicities to come to bloom), but this was beyond both mind and body.
Bliss, joy, universally transmitted through every single pore and anchored deep inside the core of me. Granted that the timing for me was as perfect as it could ever be, I’m speechless, happy, thankful, amazed.
So, I’ll just accept it for what is was and is: this most graceful gift you gave and that I gladly recieve with deep and utter gratitude. Namaste 🙏

Heaven. Thank you Rachel 🙏

That was wonderful