Welcome to your guided yoga nidra practice.
It's wonderful that you have carved out the time in your day to pause,
To replenish and to ease tension in body,
Mind and heart.
In yoga nidra it is encouraged that you stay in a semi-wakeful state and therefore do not fall asleep.
It is not necessary that you concentrate or force a sense of peacefulness over you.
Rather just allow the natural flow of awareness to be there in the practice.
If you do fall asleep or drift in and out of what feels like sleep,
That is okay.
Just keep following my instructions and keep listening to my voice.
Let's begin.
Please get ready for the practice of yoga nidra.
Feel the body soften to the floor.
Let your body settle deeper towards the earth.
Gently close the eyes.
Take a deep breath in.
And as you breathe out,
Feel the cares and worries of the day just flow gently out of you.
Be comforted at this time knowing that all is okay.
And at this point,
You have nowhere else you need to be and nothing else you need to be doing.
You are here to simply feel your body and to listen.
Begin to hear the sounds outside of the room you are in.
Simply listen for a sound without judging or analyzing it.
And move the attention to another sound outside of the room.
Keep scanning for different sounds,
Even hearing the most distant sounds.
And as you do this,
Know that the world outside will continue and that is okay.
You are here to gently turn the awareness inwards.
Take the attention to the sounds you hear inside of the room and the sounds around your own body.
The sound of the breath.
Perhaps the heartbeat.
Now bring your awareness to the parts of the body that are touching the floor.
Notice the thin line of connection between the floor and the back of your body.
Now bring your attention to the thin line of connection between the upper lip and the lower lip touching.
And now the thin line of connection between the eyelids,
The upper eyelids and lower eyelids.
And again,
Take the awareness to the back and the floor.
Now the connection between the lips.
And the connection between the eyelids.
Bring your awareness to the heels now.
And as you inhale,
Bring the breath smoothly all the way up to the crown of the head.
And on the exhale,
Release the breath back down to the heels.
Coming up to the crown of the head slowly.
And exhaling down to the heels.
Continue in this way with the breath.
At this time the mind is open to positive suggestion by you.
This is when we repeat a sankalpa,
A resolve.
The sankalpa you make during yoga nidra plants a seed in the fertile soil of the mind to bring about transformation and healing.
Use a simple resolve from a place of feeling and awareness of I will or in the present tense as if it was already happening.
For example,
I will be content and at ease.
Or I flow through life with grace and ease.
Do something that is positive and appropriate for you and if you have a sankalpa,
A resolve you are already working with,
Then please use it.
Repeat your sankalpa three times mentally to yourself now.
Bring it deep into the mind.
We now begin rotation of consciousness,
Rotation of awareness by taking a trip through the different body parts.
I will mention a part of the body.
Take your awareness to that part of the body.
Repeat the part in your mind.
Feel it with your awareness.
But no movement is needed here.
Become aware of the right hand thumb.
Right hand thumb.
Text finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
Right palm.
Back of the hand.
Wrist.
Right arm.
Right shoulder.
Right side of the chest.
Right waist.
Hip.
Leg.
Ankle.
Heel.
Soul of the right foot.
Top of the foot.
Big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth toe.
The whole right side of the body.
Become aware of the left hand thumb.
Left hand thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
Left palm.
Back of the hand.
Wrist.
Left arm.
Left shoulder.
Left side of the chest.
Left waist.
Hip.
Leg.
Ankle.
Heel.
Soul of the left foot.
Top of the foot.
Big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth toe.
The whole left side of the body.
Back of the right leg.
Back of the left leg.
Back of the pelvis.
Lower back.
Middle back.
Upper back.
Spinal cord.
Back of the neck.
Back of the head.
Crown of the head.
Forehead.
Right eyebrow.
Left eyebrow.
The centre of the eyebrows.
Right eye.
Left eye.
Right ear.
Left ear.
Right cheek.
Left cheek.
Bridge of the nose.
Tip of the nose.
Right nostril.
Left nostril.
Upper lip.
Lower lip.
Inside of the mouth.
Lower jaw.
Lower jaw.
Chin.
Front of the neck.
Right collarbone.
Left collarbone.
The collarbone centre.
The whole chest.
The centre of the chest.
Upper abdomen.
Navel.
Lower abdomen.
The whole right leg.
The whole left leg.
Both legs together.
The whole right arm.
The whole left arm.
Both arms together.
The whole torso.
The head.
The skull.
Brain.
The whole body.
The whole body.
Have an experience of the whole physical body.
Become aware of the breath.
You are breathing in and breathing out.
Feel the breath flow in and out of your lungs.
There's no need to change the rhythm.
Just allow the breath to be natural as you feel it in your lungs.
Now imagine you are breathing in and out of the pores of your skin.
As you inhale the whole body expands and as you exhale the body contracts.
The whole body expands and as you exhale the body contracts.
Inhale body expands.
Exhale body contracts.
Do in this way with the breath.
Finally check that you are awake.
Say to yourself internally,
I am awake.
Now awaken the feeling of heaviness.
Heaviness in the legs,
The arms,
The torso,
The head.
Feel the whole body becoming heavy to the floor.
As though the body merges with the surface it is laying on.
Getting heavier and heavier.
Now awaken the feeling of lightness in the body.
So light you feel as if you were floating above the floor.
Weightlessness in all parts of the body.
The legs.
The arms.
So light.
The torso.
The head.
The whole body light and floating.
Lighter and lighter.
Gently release the lightness and feel the whole body return to its natural state.
Reconnect to the breath.
Bring the breath again from the heels up to the crown of the head on the inhale.
And exhale from the crown back down to the heels.
Continue in this way as you breathe.
Now remember your sankalpa.
Remember your resolve.
The one you said at the start of this practice.
And mentally repeat it three times using the same words with maximum feeling and awareness.
Be aware of the breath.
Be aware of the body heavy to the floor.
Feel the whole body.
Become aware of the space around you.
Mentally visualize the room you were in.
The walls.
Floor and ceiling.
Begin to hear the sounds around you.
Slowly bring the awareness back to the body.
Mentally moving fingers and toes.
Turning the head softly from side to side.
Stretching.
And when you feel ready,
Keep the eyes closed and roll over to your side.
Staying there for a moment.
And when you are sure that you are awake and aware,
Gently sit up and open your eyes.
The practice of Yoganidra is now complete.
