Yoga Nidra: The Lion And The Labyrinth

A yoga nidra that will lead you along a path to discover the secrets of your inner garden. What might you find at the center of the labyrinth? Let the lion be your guide...

Music composed by Liborio Conti.

Transcript

So find your comfortable position,

Whatever that means for you.

Take a little time to make whatever adjustments you need,

Not only with your body,

But the environment around you.

Maybe closing a door if there's a little noise,

Turning down the lights,

Whatever that might be.

And if there's something out of your control,

It's okay too.

Eventually,

Whatever that is will change,

But in the meantime,

You can focus on the sensations you feel within yourself,

The experience of breathing and just resting and being.

And feel your whole body from head to toe,

To the tips of the fingers.

Just noticing how you feel today in this moment.

You might be feeling really good.

Maybe there's an ache or pain somewhere.

Just scan your body and become aware of these sensations.

There's no right or wrong way to be.

Just view these sensations with a curious mindset rather than a judgmental one.

Noticing this and that and just being with it.

And begin to listen for sounds.

Notice all of the sounds that are around you,

The ones that are close by,

The ones that are very far away,

All of the different sounds that surround you and see if you can draw your attention to the sounds that are far off in the distance.

Get your sense of hearing far beyond you and notice the types of sounds you can hear that are outside the room.

Come a little closer and hear the sounds that are inside the room.

Noticing sounds that are of a higher pitch,

A lower pitch.

Maybe there are rhythmic sounds or others that are completely random.

Now see if you can hear the sound of your own breath.

The sound might be very subtle,

It might be very loud,

But the sound is still there no matter how soft or loud.

There is this music of your breath.

See if you can hear it.

Now see if you can hear the heartbeat.

Again the sound might be very subtle.

So maybe you connect with the heartbeat through a feeling or sensation.

Feel the heartbeat beating in the chest,

The rise and fall of the breath in the lungs.

Feel the whole body relaxing more and more with each exhale and then say to yourself mentally,

I am practicing Yoga Nidra.

Say to yourself mentally,

I will stay awake for Yoga Nidra.

And then say to yourself mentally,

I will remain still for Yoga Nidra.

And then recall your heart's desire,

Your Sankalpa.

The Sankalpa is an intention or affirmation we set for ourselves in the Yoga Nidra practice.

It's a seed we plant in our subconscious mind for it to fruit in our lives.

Sankalpa could be very simple like a little goal you want to achieve in your life or something grander like your life's purpose.

Whatever this desire is of yours,

Picture it now in your mind as if it's already happening.

Feel it in your heart space and then repeat your Sankalpa three times mentally with complete awareness and know that it will manifest in some way in your life.

We'll now move on to the rotation of consciousness in the body.

We keep the body still and we take a journey with our consciousness through each part of it.

Become any and all sensations that may or may not occur.

And now bring your awareness to your right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Right side of the rib cage,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Hamstring,

Knee,

Back of the knee,

Shin,

Calf muscle,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Ball of the foot,

Arch of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Bring awareness now to the left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Left side of the rib cage,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Hamstring,

Knee,

Back of the knee,

Shin,

Calf muscle,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Ball of the foot,

Arch of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Right heel,

Left heel,

Back of the right knee,

Back of the left knee,

Right hip,

Left hip,

Right side of the waist,

Left side of the waist,

Right lower back,

Left lower back,

Right middle back,

Left middle back,

Right upper back,

Left upper back,

The whole back,

The whole spine,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Right shoulder,

Left shoulder,

Back of the neck,

Back of the head,

The whole scalp,

Top of the head,

Forehead,

Right temple,

Left temple,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

The eyebrow center,

Right eyelashes,

Left eyelashes,

Right eyelid,

Left eyelid,

The whole right eye,

The whole left eye,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Ridge of the nose,

Tip of the nose,

The whole nose,

The sinus passages,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Both lips together,

Teeth,

Tongue,

Gums,

The whole mouth together,

Chin,

Jawbone,

Throat,

Right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

The hollow between the collarbones,

Right chest,

Left chest,

Center of chest,

Upper abdomen,

Navel,

Lower abdomen,

Digestive organs,

Reproductive organs,

Lungs,

Brain,

The whole right leg,

The whole left leg,

Both legs together,

The whole right arm,

The whole left arm,

Both arms together,

The whole right side of the body,

The whole left side of the body,

The whole back of the body,

The whole front of the body,

Awareness of the whole body together,

The whole body together,

The whole body together,

Feel the entire body together.

Now bring awareness back to your breath,

Your natural breathing.

See if you are asleep or awake and try to use your willpower to stay awake and aware,

Aware of the natural breathing,

An effortless breath,

Nothing that needs to change about it.

Noticing where you feel the movement of the breath in the body.

The body has been still for a while now,

But there is still this movement of the breath.

Feel where the breath moves within you.

Feel the breath at the nose.

Feel the breath moving in and out through the nostrils with each inhale and every exhale.

Notice the temperature of the breath as it moves in and out of the nose.

Perhaps the inhale is cooler,

The exhale warmer.

Maybe there is a sharpness or softness to the breaths.

Perhaps there are other things you experience,

But do not need to put in words.

You simply experience them.

Now as you exhale through the nose,

See if you can mentally follow the path of the exhale out the nose as far away as you can out the body.

This exhale through the nose like a V shape.

See if you can follow the path of the exhale breath away from the body.

And then similarly with the inhales,

See if you can see the inhale breath come into the nose like a triangle,

Meeting at the point between the brows and then exhaling from that brow point out the nose,

Following the breath as far as you can.

With inhale,

Following the breath from outside the body to the place between the brows.

And with the exhale from the brows out the nose as long as you can trace the path of breath.

Continue following the breath in this manner,

But focus your concentration even more and start to count the breaths backwards from the number 9.

Inhaling,

Exhaling.

Inhaling 8,

Exhaling 8 and so on.

Counting the breaths backwards from 9 to 0.

If you lose track of where you are in the count or you reach the number 0,

Simply start again at 9.

Keeping the focus on counting,

Keeping the focus on following the path of the breath in and out through the nose.

Now let go of the count and awareness of breath at the nostrils and just breathe naturally.

Notice how the body feels.

Notice if you're awake or asleep.

Feel the breath moving in the body and now feel heavy.

Feel a heaviness in the body.

Feel heavy all over as if you're completely succumbing to the force of gravity.

Feel your right arm heavy and your left arm.

The right leg is heavy and the left.

The hips are so heavy and the torso,

The shoulders draping towards the ground with heaviness.

The face feels heavy,

The eyelids,

The scalp,

The whole body feels heavy.

Feel heaviness in the body.

Now release heaviness and develop a sense of lightness.

Now the body is completely light like it's made of air.

The fingers feel light,

The palms and the backs of the hands are light.

Both arms are light.

You feel a lightness in the spinal cord,

Lightness in the back,

Lightness in the hips and the legs,

Lightness through the soles of the feet and the tips of the toes,

Lightness in the neck and the back of the head,

Lightness in the face,

Lightness in the torso,

Lightness in the whole body.

Feel yourself as light.

Now let go of lightness and see if you can develop a feeling of openness.

Let the body feel open.

Whatever that means to you,

Perhaps openness is an emotion or a physical sensation,

An idea.

Develop openness within you.

Notice where you feel openness in the body and let yourself feel open.

Now release openness and come to closed.

Notice what it feels like to feel closed within yourself.

It could be physical in the sensation,

Emotional,

Mental or a combination of these.

But let yourself experience the sensation of being closed.

Notice how it feels being closed and do not hesitate from the sensation but be with it.

Feeling closed in the body.

Now let go of closed,

Let it go and feel the breath again.

Feel the relaxedness of the muscles,

Of the skin.

Feel yourself at ease.

Now draw your awareness to the space behind your closed eyes.

The mind space here known as the Chittakasha.

Bring your awareness to this space and watch all of your thoughts here.

The thoughts may manifest as images,

Ideas,

Emotions and feelings.

There may be a lack of thoughts.

But whatever it is that you see in this movie screen of your mind,

Just let it flow.

Let it appear and watch with a curious observer mindset.

Not trying to change anything.

Let these thoughts and feelings emerge from your subconscious so that you may observe them and see what your inner self is communicating to you.

Now see if you can let go of those thoughts and now see yourself outside in a park at night.

Perhaps it's a park you've been to before but now it is night time and you are going to explore what the park is like in the evening hours.

It's a moonlit hike where the moon is completely full and incredibly bright.

It's silvery light is cast upon all the plants and rocks in the path around you.

You are able to see perfectly clearly as you start along this path.

You walk along taking in the sights around you that look so different in the moonlight.

Yet it is a calm,

Peaceful feeling beneath the silvery glow.

You continue on until you see the path fork off in two directions.

You choose a side and continue along the path in the moonlight.

Come upon an arched gate made of large stones and covered in ivy.

There is a door to the gate but it's unlocked and you open it to go inside,

Its hinges creaking as you do so.

Inside you are surprised to see a large white lion.

Its eyes are like blue crystals reflecting the starry sky and the moon above but you are not frightened of the creature.

It comes towards you and lowers its head for you to pet it and then the lion playfully bounds away a little,

Beckoning you to follow it and so you do further down the path.

There are fireflies flitting about illuminating the way even more and the lion leads you to a spiral labyrinth in the garden.

The lion sits by the entrance to the labyrinth as you begin to walk into it,

Following its spiral path.

At first the spiral is very large and as you go deeper into the labyrinth the path gets smaller and smaller but the fireflies are still around you,

Illuminating the way along with the moonlight.

Step by step you make your way until eventually you come to the center of the spiral where there is a small clearing with a stone altar and a book upon it.

You open the book and you see it as a guest book of sorts from visitors past who have been here and so you take up the pen beside it and you write a message in the book.

When you have finished your message you close the book and it seems to sparkle as you do so.

You make your way back into the labyrinth,

Spiraling around in the opposite direction,

The fireflies seeming to guide you on the way as you circle farther and farther out of the spiral and eventually you see your lion companion who leads you back to the entrance of the gate.

You say your goodbyes and walk back along the path,

Back through the garden,

Back to where you began,

Taking the memories and the message of this magical place with you.

Now bring to mind again your sankalpa,

The statement you made at the beginning of the practice.

Repeat it again three times mentally knowing that it will manifest in your life.

Begin to deepen the breath,

Starting to make the inhales and the exhales a little fuller.

See if you can not only breathe deep into the lungs and the abdomen but all the way into the fingertips,

The crown of the head and the toes.

Feel the touch of the supports beneath you,

Of the clothing on the skin,

The temperature of the air.

You recall what you're lying on here in this moment,

What the room looks like around you and start to notice any sounds or smells,

Re-externalizing,

Going back to your space and the outside world but keeping this sense of peace with you.

When you're ready,

Start to wiggle the fingers and the toes a little,

Circle the wrist and the ankles,

Both directions.

Take a big stretch and roll to one side,

Taking all the time you need to come back to seated,

Keeping the eyes closed for a little bit longer here.

Bringing the palms together at the heart center,

Just noticing how you feel and saying a thank you to yourself and taking time to reconnect with you.

Thanks so much everyone.

Namaste.

Reviews

Gorgeous and thoughtful. I could envision my future with less blocks and friction.

🩵💧 thankful for this journey, keeping this protective lion in my heart

I love this Yoga Nidra, especially with the lion & the labyrinth. I did not fall asleep, but it definitely was calming and peaceful. My lion even has a name! 🦁

That was a beautiful, peaceful and deep nidra. Thank you! 🙏🏼

Thank you for this wonderful experience🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I don’t think I have ever encountered a lion quite like this one. I feel peaceful, quiet, content🙏🏻🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🙏🏻

Beautiful practice. Very different and creative, calming and uplifting. Thank you and Blessings 🕊️🌟

Thankyou I feel much better now the worst of the pain is easing

Thank you.. 💙🙏

Everything I hope for when listening to a yoga nitra was here. Well made and easily went into a deep meditative state.
Thank you.