Welcome.
This yoga nidra practice is a small descent into that kind of rest that does not ask you to disappear from yourself.
It only asks that you stop gripping so tightly.
Today's 10-minute practice includes a guided body scan,
Breath awareness,
And a quiet visualization where light meets water and the mind remembers that it does not mean to hold everything at once.
Let's begin.
Settle into a comfortable position.
Allow your body to be heavy like it's being gently pressed into warm earth that remembers how to hold you.
There's no need to fix anything.
No need to perform stillness.
Just arrive.
Notice the points of contact,
Heels,
Calves,
Hips,
Shoulder blades,
The back of your head,
Like constellations of pressure mapping you to the present moment.
Let the breath happen without choreography.
And bring awareness slowly down the body,
Starting with the forehead.
Soften the forehead like fog dissolving at sunrise.
The eyes resting behind the eyelids.
Unhinge the jaw of any secret clench.
Allow the neck and the shoulders to drop their armor.
The arms,
The upper arms,
Elbows,
Forearms,
And hands.
Feel them becoming quietly weightful like driftwood in still water.
Notice the rise and fall of the chest,
The subtle tide work.
Notice the ribs expanding like a lantern being lit from inside.
And soften the belly.
Soften here where holding often gathers unnoticed.
Notice the pelvis stable,
Rooted like the base of a stone ball holding rain.
Moving down through the thighs,
The knees,
The calves,
And the ankles.
Noticing the feet dissolving into contact,
Into surface,
Into support.
And now let the breath be your anchor in an invisible harbor.
Notice the inhale arriving without invitation.
And notice the exhale leaving without effort.
There's no need to deepen it.
There's no need to change it.
And if the mind wanders,
Gently label it as thinking weather passing through the sky of awareness.
And simply return to the breath.
Inhale,
Receiving.
Exhale,
Releasing.
Like doors opening and closing in a quiet house,
You don't need to maintain.
Again,
Inhale,
Receiving.
And exhale,
Releasing.
And now feel the entire body at once,
Not scanning anymore,
But listening as a single field.
The breath moving through you like wind through tall grass.
Stillness underneath everything,
Steady and unbothered.
You are both the ocean surface and the deep beneath it.
And now imagine you are standing at the edge of a quiet lake at night.
The water is so still it remembers the sky perfectly.
And with every inhale,
A small point of light appears above you.
With every exhale,
That light drifts down and lands on the surface of the lake.
You inhale and a star is born.
You exhale and it rests on the water.
And soon the lake is filled with floating constellations,
Gently drifting,
Never colliding,
Never rushing.
And you realize you're not standing at the edge anymore.
You are the lake.
You are the sky.
You are the space where both agree to meet.
Stay here for one more breath.
And then let it all soften.
Begin to notice the room again.
Perhaps noticing sounds nearby or the temperature of the air on the skin.
Notice the subtle weight of being here in this moment.
There's no rush to move.
Just re-entering the day like a soft return of light after dusk.
Thank you for being here today.
Thank you so much for your practice.
Namaste.
