Deeply Grounding Yoga Nidra

This practice is entitled, "Be the Mountain," invoking the strength and solidity, the permanence, of a mountain. Beginning with a delicious body scan and culminating in a healing, nourishing visualization.

Transcript

Welcome to your yoga nidra practice.

I'm Monica Lupine and I'll be your guide today.

Take a few moments to get very comfortable.

If it's possible,

You might lie down anywhere you're comfortable.

I'm going to be giving some props to support your body into deeply relaxing.

I encourage you to put a bolster or pillow under your knees or several pillows.

Having the knees a little higher than the hips helps to release the lower back.

You might use a small pillow under your head or your neck.

Make sure you have enough blankets to be comfortable and warm.

And maybe you'd like to cover your eyes with an eye pillow or a scarf or anything that you'd like to use.

So taking a few moments to get really comfortable.

I'll wait for you.

And when you're really comfortable,

Feel the support under you.

So bring your awareness to the support under your knees,

Under your thighs,

Your bottom.

Imagine your whole spine feeling supported.

Feel the support under the arms.

Taking a few moments to release all doing in the hands,

The fingers,

Soft in the belly.

Sometimes it's really nice to send a few soft breaths into the belly and silently say soft as you inhale and belly as you exhale.

Soft belly.

Soft belly.

This will be a yoga nidra practice to help you ground into the present moment.

Remember that we are all made of earth.

We're the earth in human form.

We're not on the earth.

We are earth.

You might even imagine feeling gravity drawing you down.

See if you can feel that now.

The earth is always hugging you close through gravity.

Can you pause and just sense that for a moment?

Sense that downward pull and let that be another way for your body to release completely.

My teacher,

Jillian Pransky says,

The earth longs to hold you so your breath can fill you and become aware of your breath.

Become aware of the breath breathing you in this moment.

For the duration of this practice,

Allow yourself to be held,

Cradled,

Supported,

Nurtured.

You don't have to do anything.

Simply follow the sound of my voice.

I'll guide you throughout this practice.

And you'll notice from time to time that you will lose track of my voice.

And that's simply part of the practice.

Whenever you notice having lost touch with my guidance,

Then gently come back.

And you might find yourself doing this several times or even many times during the practice.

And that's okay.

It's part of the practice.

Know that you cannot do this practice wrong.

And even if you end up falling asleep,

That just really means that your body needed the sleep.

You'll still get the benefits of this practice.

Some part of you will be aware.

So are you ready?

Follow me.

Let's begin this practice by setting an intention,

A sankalpa,

And phrasing it so that it's true in this moment in an I am statement.

Here are a few choices or there might be one coming up for you already.

I offer you I am healthy,

Whole and healed.

I am peaceful.

I allow myself to rest deeply.

What's coming up for you?

And if no words are coming,

That's okay.

Some part of your being knows.

And you'll get the benefits of the practice no matter what.

You can't do this practice wrong.

If there are words that are coming up for you,

Again,

Phrase them in an I am statement and perhaps repeat that I am statement three times.

There's a lot of power in owning your sankalpa,

Your intention with an I am statement.

And so now moving into the practice of Yoga Nidra,

We'll begin with rotation of consciousness.

When I mention a part of the body,

Simply allow your awareness to float to that part of the body.

You don't have to do anything.

If it's helpful to you,

You can silently repeat the part of the body that I mentioned.

And sometimes my words will seem to come quickly.

Sometimes there might be more space.

Just allow yourself to flow with me whenever you can,

As much as you can.

Bringing your awareness now to the right thumb,

Feel,

Sense,

Or become aware of any sensations inside the right thumb.

Perhaps there is tingling or vibration,

Warm,

Coldness,

Spaciousness or density.

You don't need to quantify it.

Just feel your right thumb,

Right index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

All five fingers of the right hand,

The skin on the palm of the right hand and the skin on the back of the right hand,

The right wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Right shoulder.

Become aware of the whole right arm and the aliveness,

The awakeness of the right arm.

Float your awareness to rest in the left thumb now.

What are you aware of in the left thumb?

Tingling,

Vibration,

Warmth,

Coldness,

Left index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

The skin on the palm of the left hand and the skin on the back of the left hand,

Left wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

The left shoulder,

The whole left arm,

The whole right arm,

The whole left arm,

Both arms,

Both hands and all ten fingers.

Become aware of the right shoulder,

Right armpit,

Right side of the chest,

Right side of the abdomen,

Right buttock,

Thigh,

Knee,

Shin,

Right ankle,

The top of the right foot and the sole of the right foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third,

Fourth,

Fifth,

The right side of the body.

Feel or sense the whole right side of the body.

Float your awareness now to the left shoulder,

Left armpit,

Left side of the chest,

Left waist,

Left hip,

Buttock,

Left thigh,

Knee,

Left shin,

Calf,

The top of the left foot and the sole of the left foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third,

Fourth,

Fifth,

The left side of the body,

The right side of the body,

The entire body.

Feel your entire body being breathed.

And now moving up the back body,

Whenever you notice having drifted or lost track of my voice,

Simply begin again in this moment.

Become aware of the soles of both feet,

Right and left,

Both heels,

Right and left,

Both calves,

Right and left,

The space behind the knees,

Right and left,

The backs of both thighs,

Right and left,

Both buttocks,

Right and left,

The lower back,

Mid back,

Upper back.

Feel the entire back resting on support.

The backs of the arms,

Hands and fingers,

The back of the neck,

The back of the head,

The crown of the head,

The forehead,

Feel or sense your forehead.

Perhaps imagining just for this moment that there is nothing but space between the right temple and the left temple.

Bring your awareness to the right eye and feel your right eye,

The space behind the eye,

In front of the eye,

Inside the eye.

And moving to the left eye,

The space behind the left eye,

In front of the left eye,

Inside the eye.

Bring your awareness to the space between the eyes,

The bridge of the nose,

The sensation of the breath inside the right nostril,

The left nostril,

The right cheek,

The left cheek,

Both ears.

Is it possible to imagine the space between the ears?

Bring your awareness to the upper lip and the lower lip,

The roof of the mouth,

The bottom of the mouth.

Become aware of the whole space inside your mouth.

And notice what do you sense inside the mouth,

Warmth,

Coolness,

Moisture,

Dryness.

Become aware of your whole head.

Now sense or feel the entire body,

The entire body,

The entire body being breathed.

And moving past the layer of the body,

The sheath of the body,

Into the pranamaya kosha,

The sheath of the breath and the movement of energy.

So just notice your breath and begin to count your breath backwards,

Assigning the same count to the inhale and the exhale.

Beginning at 17,

Breathing in 17,

Breathing out 17,

Breathing in 16,

Breathing out 16,

Breathing in 15,

Continue at your own pace.

If you lose track of the count,

Begin again at 17.

Release the counting,

Release the breath.

Notice how you feel and moving further still into the consideration of opposites.

Feel your body now resting on support.

And imagine your whole body now is getting very,

Very heavy,

Heavy,

Dense,

Filled with lead sinking onto the surface under you.

Legs,

Feet,

Even the toes heavy,

Buttocks heavy,

The whole back sinking onto the ground.

Maybe imagine gravity pulling the whole body down,

Making it even heavier.

The head,

Heavy,

Arms,

Hands and fingers heavy.

You couldn't even lift a single finger if you tried.

Imagine now the earth holding you close,

So close that you're becoming part of the earth.

You're remembering that you are earth.

And now all of a sudden imagine noticing that your toes and your feet are getting lighter,

Your legs getting lighter,

Your hips and buttocks,

Your whole torso light.

Like all of a sudden you're being filled with helium.

Your head,

Arms,

Hands and fingers light,

Airy,

Floating.

Imagine your whole body getting so light,

It begins to float off the support underneath it now.

Imagine your body so light it's being blown around by your own breath.

And then all of a sudden the earth begins to draw you close again through gravity,

The body gets heavy,

Dense,

Filled with lead,

Sinking onto the surface under you.

Dense,

Heavy.

And revisiting that sense of being light and airy,

Floating,

The whole body now getting light.

Loading off support.

Is it possible to imagine feeling both heavy and light at the same time?

You won't be able to do this with the mind.

See if you can do this with the body.

Sensations of heaviness and lightness at the same time.

Or perhaps resting in the space between heavy,

Dense,

Weighted body and light,

Airy,

Floating body.

And moving further still into this practice,

Continue to follow my guidance.

Pause and notice how you feel.

And imagine now a beautiful mountain.

Maybe a mountain you've seen before.

Maybe it's your favorite mountain.

Or perhaps just make up a mountain in your mind.

Imagine its overall shape.

Notice how the mountain is rooted on the earth.

This space is rooted on the earth.

And then look all the way to the peak of the mountain up to the sky.

This solid,

Unmoving,

Strong mountain.

Bring the mountain now into your body.

Imagine your body as the mountain.

Maybe imagine your head as the peak of the mountain,

Your shoulders and sides the gradual sloping down of the mountain.

And consider how a mountain stays steady in its nature always.

A mountain just sits,

The same steady mountain as the sky darkens.

As the sun rises the next day,

The mountain stays steady through seasons,

Through weather systems.

The mountain is unchanged.

It's steady.

It's always there.

Visitors may come to the mountain,

Exclaim over its beauty or its elegance,

Or complain about adverse weather which keeps them from seeing all of the mountain.

Throughout all of that,

The mountain remains unchanged.

No matter what anyone says,

No matter the weather,

The climate in the world,

The mountain stays unchanged.

Can you imagine being that mountain?

The mountain can be with the wind,

Allow the wind,

Allow the changes.

Be the mountain.

Can you find that steadiness within you?

Maybe this is what it means to be grounded.

To be grounded also means to have a wakefulness,

Aware of everything changing,

Swirling,

Evolving.

The mountain stays steady.

Sounds around the mountain,

The light around the mountain is always changing.

How does it feel to imagine yourself as the mountain?

Grounding is a way of remembering that we're part of the earth.

In the purest sense,

Grounding is really a way of coming out of the imaginations of the mind.

Many times we find ourselves falling victim to our overactive minds,

Our minds accustomed to being in charge,

To having control.

Can you imagine being the mountain coming out of the mind into the body,

Feeling,

Sensing the earth holding you close?

Glennon Doyle in Untamed says,

To be humble is to be grounded in knowing who you are.

It implies the responsibility to become what you're meant to become,

To grow,

To reach,

To fully bloom as high and strong and grand as you were created to.

It's not honorable for a tree to wilt and shrink and disappear.

And it's not honorable for a woman to either.

And some words by J.

R.

Wren,

Flying starts from the ground.

The more grounded you are,

The higher you fly.

And from Steve Goodyear,

Get yourself grounded and you can navigate even the stormiest roads in peace.

So slowly,

Very,

Very slowly begin to deepen your breath.

And begin to slowly come back to your body,

Perhaps bringing the image of that mountain,

The strength,

The solidity,

The groundedness of that mountain and yourself as that mountain with you.

Knowing you can go through all weather systems,

All changing climates,

All of the thousands of changes happening constantly all around us.

And you can stay steady,

Grounded,

Safe,

Secure.

Maybe take one more moment to revisit your Sam kalpa,

Your intention.

And if the words are not returning to you now,

Don't worry.

One part of you knows and will make sure that you move toward that ideal.

So you can begin to wiggle,

Move fingers or toes,

Stretch,

Sigh.

Take your time.

And when you're ready,

Then bring the lessons,

The realizations of this practice of yoga nidra with you back into your day or your evening or even your week.

Thank you for sharing your practice with me.

Namaste.

Be the mountain.