Welcome to this yoga nidra and when you're ready please come onto your back.
Okay so just positioning the body in shavasana.
We'll take a moment to just position the head in line with the spine.
It may be nice for you just to have a small pillow underneath the head or maybe just a folded up blanket but nothing so much that the chin is coming right in toward the chest,
We want to try and have some openness in the neck.
And then just relax the shoulders maybe tuck them under slightly and let the spine roll back down onto the floor.
Position the hands a comfortable distance away from the hips with the palms turned upwards.
And then just let the hips soften into the floor and position your feet about hip distance apart and just let the feet relax to the sides.
So just give yourself another minute just to settle into the space and just really start to feel yourself arriving to this practice of yoga nidra.
Just start to become aware of the physical body lying on the floor,
Notice the contact points between the body and the earth.
And then just make any final adjustments that you feel you need and then come to stillness afterwards.
So throughout this practice we want to try and keep the body as still as possible but if you feel that you do need to move just do so very slowly and then come back to stillness as soon as you can.
Please be aware that throughout some of our yoga nidra practices it is common for some strong emotions to come out and it's important to just remember that that's okay,
This may happen and if you find that this process is overwhelming then you can bring yourself out of the yoga nidra state just by opening the eyes and just wiggling the fingers gently.
And then you have the choice of whether you want to continue or whether you want to stop and just stay in the space.
And always remembering that you cannot practice yoga nidra incorrectly.
Everything that we do here is just an exploration of our inner world.
So now just bringing your awareness to the face and begin to relax the forehead.
Soften the eyes and the cheeks.
And then just loosening off the jaw area and letting the tongue rest in the bottom of the mouth.
And now we'll just drop from thinking and doing to feeling and being.
I'm just beginning now to bring our attention to the outside sounds.
Becoming aware of distant sounds outside the building.
Allowing your sense of hearing to range into the distance.
And then gradually withdraw it back into the building.
Back into this room.
Now develop your awareness of this room and yourself lying on the floor.
Become aware of your body lying here on the floor.
And now becoming aware of your breathing.
Just being conscious that you are breathing.
No need to concentrate too hard.
Just pure and simple awareness of the breath and awareness of the body lying on the floor.
Now time to focus your attention even further inward and towards your most heartfelt desire.
Really searching your heart for what it is truly wishing to be realized.
So creating a sankalpa or a determined resolve based on what you wish to manifest in your life.
And this affirmation should be positive and in the present tense as if it has already been realized.
So just take a moment to organize the wording.
To be as simple and direct as possible.
And if the sankalpa does not present itself to you now this is okay.
You don't need to rush this process you can either practice today with no sankalpa or you can use this one.
I am total awareness.
And once you have your sankalpa repeat that sankalpa in the mind three times with feeling.
And now we move to rotating the awareness around the body.
So as I name each body part just resting your awareness there your full and total awareness.
No need to pass comment or judgment.
So just follow the guidance of my voice.
Bringing your awareness to the right hand.
The right hand thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
And the little finger.
The palm of the hand.
Back of the hand.
The right wrist.
Lower arm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
The right shoulder.
Armpit.
The right side of the ribs.
The right side of the waist.
The right hip.
Thigh.
Knee.
Shin.
Ankle.
And the whole of the right foot.
The top of the foot.
Sole of the foot.
All five toes.
The right big toe.
Second toe.
Third.
Fourth.
And fifth toe.
The whole of the right foot.
The ankle.
Knee.
Hip.
Pubic bone.
Navel.
And the center of the chest.
Moving the awareness now to the left hand.
The left hand thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
And the little finger.
The palm of the hand.
The back of the hand.
The left wrist.
Lower arm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Left shoulder.
Armpit.
Left side of the ribs.
Left side of the waist.
Left hip.
Thigh.
Knee.
Shin.
Ankle.
And the whole of the left foot.
The top of the foot.
Sole of the foot.
All five toes.
The left big toe.
Second toe.
Third.
Fourth.
And fifth toe.
The whole of the left foot.
The ankle.
Knee.
Hip.
Pubic bone.
Navel.
And the centre of the chest.
Bringing your full awareness to the crown of the head.
The forehead.
The right eyebrow.
Left eyebrow.
The centre of the eyebrows.
The right eye.
Left eye.
Right ear.
Left ear.
Right cheek.
Left cheek.
The nose.
Upper lip.
Lower lip.
The tongue.
Teeth.
Jaw.
And the throat.
Awareness moving to the back of the head.
The back of the neck.
The right shoulder blade.
Left shoulder blade.
The upper back.
Mid back.
Lower back.
And the entire length of the spine.
And now move your full awareness into the whole right arm.
Now your full awareness into the whole left arm.
Awareness of both arms together.
Bring your full awareness into the whole right leg.
The whole left leg.
Both legs together.
Now moving your full awareness into the right side of the body.
The left side of the body.
And now moving your full conscious awareness into the whole body.
The whole body.
The whole body resting on the earth.
Now allowing your attention move to the natural and spontaneous rhythm of the breath.
Become aware that you are breathing.
Become fully conscious of your breathing.
Resting your full and total awareness only on the breath.
And now commence the practice of mental nadi shodhana,
Alternate nostril breathing.
Visualize and imagine the next inhale coming in only through the left nostril.
And your exhale to then flow out of the right nostril.
The next inhale then in through the right nostril.
And the exhale after flowing out of the left.
Inhale left.
Inhale right.
Inhale right.
Exhale left.
And continue on your own.
Keep your full awareness on the breathing exercise.
Thank you.
Continue with your mental alternate nostril breathing.
Keep your full awareness on the breathing exercise.
Keep your full awareness on the breathing exercise.
And now letting go of your mental breathing exercise and letting go of awareness of breath.
We now come to a phase of awareness of sensations and opposites in the body.
First begin by awakening a feeling of heaviness in the body.
Become aware of the sensation of heaviness in the entire body.
Your body feeling so heavy that you feel you are sinking into the floor.
Awareness of heaviness.
Awareness of heaviness in the body.
Now awaken a feeling of lightness in the body.
Become aware of the sensation of lightness in the entire body.
Your body feeling so light and so weightless that you could just float off of the floor.
Awareness of lightness.
Awareness of lightness in the body.
Now awaken the feeling of cold in the body.
Become aware of the sensation of cold in the body.
Your body feeling so cold begins to shiver on a winter's day.
Awareness of cold.
Awareness of cold in the body.
And now awakening the feeling of heat in the body.
Becoming aware of the sensation of heat in the entire body.
Your body feeling hot as if sunbathing on a warm summer's day.
Awareness of heat.
Awareness of heat in the body.
And now letting go of awareness of sensations and opposites.
Begin to withdraw your mind.
And observe the space behind the eyelids.
Imagine that this dark void which you can see is infinite and limitless.
Now keeping your concentration on this infinite space.
Become aware of anything that manifests itself to you.
Allow whatever comes up to be there.
No need to judge.
No need to get involved.
Just practice detached awareness.
Total and detached awareness.
Now gently letting go of awareness of the space behind the eyelids.
And bring yourself back to your sankalpa which you used at the beginning of the practice.
And again repeat your sankalpa three times with the same enthusiasm and determination.
Now we will begin to make our slow and gentle return back to the surface.
First become aware of the breathing.
Aware of the natural breathing.
And now develop awareness of your physical existence.
Become aware of the arms.
The legs.
The torso.
Become aware of your entire body lying on the floor.
Now developing awareness of the room in which you're laying in.
Visualize the walls,
The ceiling,
The furniture.
And allow your mind to start to travel outward.
Becoming more external.
When you feel like you have arrived back to a more wakeful state of consciousness.
You can begin by gently moving a finger or two.
Taking some deeper breaths as you go.
And then slowly making those movements a little larger.
Moving the wrists.
Moving the ankles.
And then when you're ready to bringing the knees into the chest or stretching the arms overhead.
And then just making sure that you don't sit up too quickly and come over onto your right side and just pause there for a moment.
And then just again checking in with yourself and observing how the body now feels.
How the mind now feels.
And the breath.
And then just gently blink the eyes open.
And then use your hands for support as you come back up to a comfortable seated position.
And then when you arrive we'll just sit tall through the spine.
And we'll just bring the hands to rest in the heart center.
And we'll bow the head and close the eyes.
We'll finish with one sound of om.
You're welcome to join me if you wish take a deep inhale.
Om.
The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
