Welcome to your Yoga Nidra.
Yoga Nidra is a practice where we completely switch off our physical bodies,
But we remain awake.
Our bodies go into a deep sleep state,
Our brainwaves take on a theater brainwave state.
And in this state we can have access to the unconscious and we can reprogram the story,
The narrative,
Or the fundamental life updating principle.
It's a highly effective tool to use when it comes to healing,
Growing and transformation.
This Yoga Nidra is for grounding.
Making yourself comfortable by lying on the floor.
Keep your body straight but comfortable,
Spread your legs about one foot apart with toes turned outside.
Keep your arms slightly away from your body and palms should face upwards with fingers curling inwards in a relaxed manner.
Let your body rest on the floor without touching any other object.
Keep your neck fully relaxed by resting your head in a suitable position.
Keep your eyes closed and do not open them until you receive clear instructions for opening them.
Remember that your comfort is really important.
So if you feel the need to move or to sneeze,
To cough,
To scratch,
To itch,
Please feel free to do so.
You are not restricted in any way.
Just try and do it in a very aware manner and a conscious way.
And then return to the stillness and your practice.
Remembering that the whole Yoga Nidra is to be practiced with your eyes closed.
Relax the body and try to look into your body with closed eyes.
Release the tension in your muscles and make yourself as comfortable as possible.
Making any final adjustments to your posture,
Lying on the floor or on the bed.
Wherever you feel comfortable.
You can even maybe use a pillow or a bolster or some support underneath your knees to release the lower back.
I also like to use a little bit of a head support and an eye pillow.
If you don't have an eye pillow,
You are welcome to use a light scarf or something to cover your eyes.
This will help the eyes to relax and your nervous system gets the message to kind of turn off and tune in.
So after you have made your final movements to become as comfortable as possible.
Finding that stillness and avoid moving until the Yoga Nidra is complete.
Follow the instructions given,
There is nothing to do and there is no wrong or right way.
You should only listen to my voice.
Listening to my voice like an anchor,
Keeping that small part of you conscious and awake and aware.
Become aware of your breathing.
The breathing is going in and out smoothly.
Try to breathe in fully,
Deeply and slowly and then breathe out in the same way.
Now imagine that all your worries,
Tensions and illnesses of your body and mind are passing away as the breath is going out.
And you receive vital energy from outside as the fresh air is entering in.
Repeat this one more time in the same way.
With every exhalation your body is becoming more and more relaxed.
With every exhalation you let go of all effort.
Sleep may come as your body relaxes completely.
But make a resolve firmly in your mind now that you should not sleep during this practice.
You will remain awake.
Your body is relaxing and you are enjoying the borderline state between wakefulness and sleep.
Now bringing your awareness to the sense of hearing.
Tuning in to the sense of hearing and listen to sounds coming from a long distance away.
Just listen to these sounds.
Do not think about them,
Do not analyse them,
Do not label them.
Just listen.
Just listen.
Moving your awareness from sound to sound.
Now listen to sounds coming from in the room only.
Sounds within the room only.
Now listen to sounds coming from your own body.
You need to listen very carefully and pay close attention.
If you can pick up sounds from your own body.
If you listen carefully you might hear your own breath.
Maybe even your own pulse.
And if you listen very carefully you can hear the blood rushing through the veins.
Showing up as like a hissing or rushing sound in the ear.
Bringing your awareness to the sound of my voice.
Listening to the sound of my voice and try to concentrate on the instructions and follow them with full awareness.
Listen to them carefully.
Do not try and analyse these instructions.
Or make sense of it.
Just listen and follow.
There is no right or wrong way doing a Yoga Nidra.
The feeling of relaxation will develop as you follow the instructions.
Thoughts and sounds might draw your attention away from your practice.
Just notice and bring your awareness back to listening to my voice and following the instructions.
Relax your whole body letting go of tension.
Your whole body heavy,
Solid on the earth.
And you enjoying a relaxed state.
Say OM with me silently in your mind.
OM See your body in your mind's eye.
See your body becoming more and more relaxed,
Tension free,
Calm and quiet.
Again say OM with me silently in your mind.
OM Your body is letting go of tension from the head to the toes.
It's letting go,
Getting heavier and heavier.
All the tension is melting away.
Please keep in mind that you are practicing Yoga Nidra.
Remind yourself not to sleep during this practice but to remain alert and listening to my voice.
Now is the time to make your resolve.
A resolve or intention,
What we call a sankalpa,
Is the aim of the Yoga Nidra.
What is in line with your heart's desire,
Whatever it is you want to achieve.
Put that in a positive stated sentence,
Stated in the present tense.
And repeat it three times mentally with focus and awareness and a sense of gratitude as if it's already come true.
It could be something like,
I am rested,
Calm and composed.
Maybe something in the line of,
I am grounded and I belong.
Whatever you want to achieve,
Put that into your sankalpa.
Knowing that with the will power developed during the Yoga Nidra,
The sankalpa is surely to come true.
Now we're going on to the next stage of the practice,
The body awareness.
Look inside your body,
Rotate your awareness through your body from head to toe.
I will say the name of a body part,
One by one and you will become aware of that part.
Take your mind to that body part,
Feel the sensations and relax it completely.
Then go on to the next one and relax it and so on and so on.
We always start on the right hand side.
So looking at your right side of your body,
Your right hand concentrate on the thumb of your right hand and relax the muscles of that thumb.
Looking at the index finger,
Relax the muscles of the index finger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger,
The little finger.
All the fingers of your right hand are relaxed.
The palm of the right hand relaxed,
The back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder.
The whole right arm letting go of the tension in the muscles of the whole right arm,
Hand and fingers.
Look at the right side of your chest and stomach,
Relax the muscles.
Look at the right side of your waist,
Right hip,
Thigh,
Knee,
Calf muscles,
Ankle,
Heel,
Sole,
Top of the foot,
Bottom of the foot.
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the fifth toe.
The whole right side of your body from the toes to the shoulders to the tips of the fingers.
Surrendering,
Softening.
Now look at the left side of the body,
The left hand,
Relax the muscles of the thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger and the little finger.
All the fingers of your left hand relaxed.
Look at the palm,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
The left shoulder,
Relaxing the muscles of your left arm,
Hand and fingers.
The whole left arm,
Soft surrendering.
Looking at the left side of your chest,
Stomach,
Hip,
Buttock,
The left thigh,
The left calf muscle,
Left ankle,
Heel,
The sole of the left foot.
The top of the left foot,
The left toes,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the fifth toe.
The whole left side of your body,
The whole right side of your body,
Both of your sides,
Right and left from the thumbs to the toes,
Softening,
Surrendering.
Now look at the back side of your body,
Right shoulder,
Left shoulder,
Think higher spine from the neck to the base of your spine.
Relax all the vertebra of the neck,
Upper back,
Middle back and lower back.
Try to let go of the tension in the whole spine and the muscles of the back from the top to the bottom.
Looking at the front side of your body,
Abdominal muscles,
Soft,
Relaxed,
The chest,
The neck and the face.
Letting go of tension in the muscles on the forehead,
The right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow,
Right eyelid,
Left eyelid.
Relaxing the eyeballs on the right and then on the left,
The whole eye on the right,
The whole eye on the left,
The eyebrow centre.
Feeling for your nose,
Let go of the tension in the nose,
Checking in with your left cheek and then the right cheek,
Chin,
Upper lip,
Lower lip.
Letting go of the tension in the jaw,
Tongue,
Around the ears,
Going into the ears.
You have relaxed the whole body from head to toe,
Some muscles might still be a little tight.
Look at them now and try to relax those muscles,
Rotate your mind throughout your whole body and relax your whole body.
Your whole body resting in perfect stillness,
Calm,
Quiet,
Peaceful.
Looking at your whole body,
Allowing yourself to completely surrender.
Right arm,
Leg,
The right side of the body,
The left arm,
Leg,
The whole left side of the body,
Back of your body,
The front of your body.
Neck,
Muscles of the face,
From the crown of the head to the toes,
Your whole body lying in perfect stillness,
Completely relaxed.
Having let go of all efforts,
You are still listening to my voice and following the instructions.
As a result of the relaxation,
Your breath is becoming slower and slower.
As your body relaxes,
Your breath automatically becomes slower and slower.
Try to concentrate on your breathing but do not control it.
Let your breath be free,
Feel the rhythmic movements of your belly up and down,
Slowly and gently as the breath is going in and out.
Be aware of this movement.
As the breath is entering,
The belly rise,
As the breath leaves the body,
The belly moves down.
This completes one round of breathing.
We will count these rounds backwards from 27 to 1 now.
If you miss a number,
Do not think about it but start again from 27.
You will be given time for counting.
There will be no instructions during these two minutes.
You will hear my voice again after two minutes.
Start counting now back from 27 down to 1.
If you make a mistake,
Don't worry,
Just start again.
You will be given time for counting.
You will be given time for counting.
You will be given time for counting.
You will be given time for counting.
You can now let go of the counting and listen to me.
Look at your body,
All the muscles,
The whole body,
Mind and spirit have opened to relaxation.
Imagine that your whole body is getting heavy,
You're heavy,
Heavy,
Heavy,
Sinking into your support and underneath you as you become heavier and heavier.
You are sinking down,
Down,
Down.
No blood,
No bone,
Only stone,
As heavy as stone,
Your whole body.
Imagining your whole body as heavy as stone.
Now letting go of that and imagine you're losing the heaviness and becoming lighter and lighter.
You feel the lightness of your body as if you're floating in the air.
Your body is floating in the air like a feather on a breeze.
As light as a feather,
Just so light you can almost just float up into the air.
As light as a feather,
As light as air.
Imagine now the feeling of being unsettled,
Chaotic.
So crazy,
Like a pinball machine,
A little ball going everywhere or over the place.
You're unsettled,
Ungrounded,
Almost chaotic.
Feeling the feeling of unsettled chaos.
Feel your heartbeat,
Feel your breath as you feel the chaos and the unsettledness.
And letting go of that,
Calling in calmness.
Feeling your whole body calm,
Solid,
Settled.
Your mind is calm,
Solid and settled.
Grounded and centered in the calmness and quietness.
So calm,
So settled,
So quiet.
And letting go of the feeling of calm and chaos.
And bring your awareness to the space behind your closed eyes.
The dark space,
Like a screen,
Like a dark screen behind your closed eyes.
This place is what we call the Chidakas.
It's where you can have a glimpse into the depths of your mind.
Watching the space like a big screen,
Noticing the infinite depths like the night sky.
And noticing any shapes,
Colors,
Patterns showing up in your mind screen.
And in this mind screen start to visualize a big forest,
A beautiful,
Lush,
Dense forest.
Standing in this forest,
Your feet barefoot on the forest floor.
You are completely safe.
You are completely held by the forest and all its living creatures.
There to support you,
You are safe and held.
Stand tall and see the rich,
Dark,
Cold,
Moist soil under your feet.
Allow your feet to be heavy.
Watch and feel yourself sink deep into the soil and feel connected.
As you stand supported by the earth,
Look around in the forest and find a tree that you resonate with,
That you feel drawn to.
See the details of this tree and draw your attention to its unique characteristics.
Imagine now that you are this tree.
You are now this tree.
Envision your roots growing out of the soles of your feet running deep,
Deep into the ground and into the belly of the earth.
Visualize the roots intertwining and firmly anchoring you into the earth,
Maintaining that connection.
And bring your focus to the trunk.
Be proud and tall and strong and sturdy.
Grow upwards into the space above you,
Long and strong,
While maintaining your roots firmly in the ground.
Now imagine a vivid red beam of light shooting down from the center of your trunk into the earth.
The red beam is like a current of electricity charging you with life and a sense of being alive.
When the red beam reaches the roots,
Watch as the red light spreads and illuminate each and every individual root.
Now each root is glowing and vibrant red that warms the earth.
Watch as the energizing red beam travels deep into the earth right down to the center.
Feel the center of the earth,
The belly of Gaia.
Notice how the center of the earth is magnetized to your core.
Feel yourself being pulled down,
Draw downward and firmly rooted into the earth.
With the roots deeply and firmly rooted,
Your body and your mind is happy,
Healthy and balanced.
You feel calm,
Quiet,
Content and peaceful.
You love and respect and honor this experience.
You feel complete and you radiate love.
Letting go now of this visualization of the forest,
Of you as a tree,
And remind yourself of the resolve you started this practice off with.
Whatever your sun kaupa was,
Repeat that three times mentally now with the same awareness,
Focus and gratitude.
This resolve is bound to come true in your life because of the willpower developed during the practice of yoga nidra.
This resolve will come true in your life.
Now feel your breathing at the tip of your nose.
Be aware of it fully.
Move your attention to the rhythmic movement of your belly.
Now look at your belly,
Which is lying on the floor or on the bed.
Your body-mind is completely relaxed.
Now listen,
Just listen.
Aum Aum Become aware of your body and your limbs.
Visualize the floor and the bed and the surroundings where you started the practice off with.
Move your mind from body part to body part,
Noticing all the muscles in your body and your face,
Neck,
Chest,
Abdomen,
Arms,
Legs,
The whole body.
You become aware of your whole body in perfect stillness lying on the floor.
Starting to wake up your body by deepening the breath into the be.
Wiggling the toes and the fingers.
Rub the tip of the thumb into each finger,
Reawakening each of the elements.
Move your wrist and your ankle.
And on the inhale,
Stretch your arms up above.
Point your toes coming into full body,
Stretching out the whole body.
Release all the sighs.
Hug your knees into your chest.
Rock from side to side.
Rolling onto either side,
Coming into a fetal position on the side.
Take a moment to observe the earth underneath you,
Her constant support,
Love,
And guidance and nurturing.
And then slowly with your top hand,
Pressing into the floor in front of your chest,
Brace yourself up into a seated position while keeping your eyes closed.
Rubbing your palms vigorously.
Cupping your warm palms over your closed eyes.
Blink your eyes open,
Letting some light.
Open the fingers and slowly dropping your hands down.
Your yoga nidra practice is now complete.
Hari om tat tat.
Hari om tat tat.
