Hello and welcome.
Let's get ready for a deep relaxing practice.
So coming into a reclining position if it's comfortable for you lying on your back.
In yoga we call it Shavasana.
You might take support underneath the head like a pillow or rolled blanket.
You might have support behind the back of your knees another rolled up blanket or towel or cushion.
Make sure that you're warm and comfortable and won't be disturbed for the next little while.
As we take a moment to ground and center into this moment feel the earth beneath you.
Feel the meeting points between your body and the floor,
Your supports,
Feeling the earth holding you,
Supporting you.
And then you might like to send an intention for your practice how you'd like to feel at the end of the practice.
Maybe rested and restored perhaps ready for sleep.
Whatever is motivating you to do the practice,
Affirming it here.
And then making yourself as cozy as possible preparing for our practice of yoga nidra.
Begin to notice the textures,
The qualities,
The sensations in the mouth,
Moisture,
Dryness.
Notice the scent of the air,
The smells around you.
Notice the colors,
The shapes that form behind your closed eyes or you might prefer here an open-eyed soft gaze and let your eyes rest on what feels harmonious or you might just have a downward gaze.
Being aware of all the sounds around you near and far and perhaps even the sense of the silence from which the sounds arise.
Your senses alive in this moment.
Become aware of the breath breathing your body without needing to change anything,
Just noticing the breath breathing the body.
We might begin to breathe just a little bit deeper,
Just a little bit longer.
This sense of our inhale being the day,
This sense of our exhale being the night.
Each breath bringing you closer to yourself.
And begin to notice the general radiance or tone through the chin,
Through the jaw,
Through the whole mouth.
Notice the textures,
The roof,
Floor,
The walls,
The gums,
The teeth,
The touch of the lips,
This whole radiance throughout the mouth,
The radiance,
The tongue,
The textures,
The whole mouth alive with sensation.
And from the back of the throat we can track the pathway that runs towards the ears internally through the inner ear canal's soft and velvety pathway as it makes its way outward through the ripples,
The folds and the valleys of our outer ears being present to the resonance inside and outside the ears.
Feel the touch of the air at the nostrils as you breathe in,
As you breathe out.
Notice temperature from the breath in to the breath out.
Outer temperature,
Body temperature,
Breath breathing your body.
Become aware of the eyes,
This sense of structure supporting the eyes,
Running from the side of the nose,
The cheekbones,
The temples,
The brow and the sense of the eyes resting within this support,
Allowing all the muscles of the eyes to soften here.
Becoming aware of a sense of presence of spaciousness behind the eyes,
Out in front of the eyes,
The whole eyes radiant,
Alive,
This energetic tone of the eyes.
And feel warmth or the coolness of the forehead,
The sense of your whole face giving permission to the 80 muscles of your face to soften and let go.
And feel the crown of your head,
The back of your head,
The imprint the back of your head makes against the support beneath it and the whole radiance throughout the left side of the head,
The whole radiance through the right side of your head,
The whole head,
The whole head.
And feeling where that back of the skull meets that support beneath you and follow along here through the curve of the back of your neck,
Sensing the sides,
The front of the neck and traveling down along the spine.
Vertebra by vertebra,
Disc by disc through the upper back,
The middle back and the sense of the connection of the rib cage to the upper and middle back,
The lower back,
The sacrum,
That triangle bone,
The base of the spine,
All the way to the tailbone,
The whole length of your spine,
The whole head and length of your spine.
And sensing that notch at the front of your neck,
Just at the base of your throat and a sense of radiance that awakens here and travels to the left shoulder,
The left shoulder blade and collarbone,
The left armpit,
The upper arm and elbow,
The lower arm and wrist,
The back of the left hand,
The radiance,
The aliveness at the palm of your left hand,
Left thumb,
First finger,
Middle finger,
Third finger,
Little finger,
All the fingers together,
The whole left hand,
The whole left arm,
The left side of the rib cage,
Left waist,
The left hand,
Arm and left side of the torso together,
The radiance throughout that left hand arm and left side of the torso,
Coming to the front of the throat and the radiance flowing to the right side,
To the right shoulder,
Shoulder blade and collarbone,
Right armpit,
Upper arm and elbow,
Lower arm and wrist,
The back of the right hand,
The palm of the right hand,
The radiance,
The aliveness at the palm of the right hand,
Right thumb,
First finger,
Middle finger,
Third finger,
Little finger,
All the fingers together,
The whole right hand,
The whole right arm,
The right side of the rib cage,
Right waist,
The right side of the torso,
The right arm,
The right hand,
The right hand,
Arm and right side of the torso together,
The radiance through the right side of the torso,
Arm and hand together,
And sensing the breath at the belly,
The rise,
The fall,
The whole abdomen and pelvis,
Feeling the weight at the pelvis drawing down to the earth,
The weight of your head and pelvis drawing down to the earth,
The hips,
Upper legs,
The knees,
The lower legs,
The ankles,
Heels,
The top of the feet,
The soles of your feet,
The toes,
The tips of the toes,
The spaces between the toes,
All the toes together,
Both feet together,
Both legs together,
The pelvis,
The whole lower body,
The whole lower body,
The upper body,
The whole upper body,
The whole body,
The whole body,
The whole body,
And as you breathe,
Become aware of the heart space,
Drop your attention deep into the rib cage at the heart space,
Like a pebble drops into a pond or a coin into a wishing fountain,
Take your attention deep into your heart space and here at the heart space,
Imagine there's a lotus flower,
A flower of light,
This flower is as wide as you choose,
It's your lotus flower,
So it's any colour has as many petals as you choose,
Your unique lotus flower and you might see it or sense it,
Feel it or simply intend that there's a lotus here at your heart and as you breathe in,
The lotus at the heart petals begin to open like petals opening to the morning sun and as you breathe out,
It just closes a little like a pulsation or a gentle flutter,
Inhale is like the day,
The petals opening to the morning sun and the exhales like the night and pulls a little on the petals on the exhale and visualize here or imagine as vividly as you can,
This sense of the opening as you breathe in through the petals and a sense of closing with each breath cycle and the ease,
The grace of this movement is like seaweed deep in the ocean that just flows with the tide,
Gently opening,
Flutter pulsation opening and closing your lotus with each breath cycle.
And sensing this tranquil presence,
The lotus of the heart creates,
The form of the divine,
A sparkly point of light,
I am,
I am,
I am,
Tranquil presence.
And very gently now,
Allowing your lotus flower to be exactly how it wants to be in this moment,
You might see the petals close,
We might just see that gentle pulsation and flutter continuing,
You might like to affirm again your intention for the practice,
Let's begin to slowly draw our attention outward again,
Carrying this sense of tranquil presence into our day,
Into our evening.
When you're ready beginning to slowly awaken,
Moving the body intuitively back into your wide-eyed awake state.
Thank you for joining me for this Yoga Ninja practice,
Lotus of the heart,
This is Rachel Hanrahan.
