Discover Your Essence Yoga Nidra
This Yoga Nidra is designed to help you remember your essence, your authenticity, the depth of who you are. Who you are is not this body, this mind, these thoughts, these emotions. Who you are is so much deeper than all of that. This is a reminder of all of the resources always available to you within your being.
Transcript
So taking the first few moments to get really comfortable,
Settling into the nest you've built for yourself for this practice of yoga nidra.
And just pause and notice how you feel in this moment.
Does my body feel heavy or light?
Does my body in this moment feel restless or still?
Does my physical body feel hot or cold?
And checking in with the mind,
Does my mind feel calm or restless?
Does my mind feel dull or sharp?
Does my mind feel cloudy or clear?
And checking in with your breath,
In this moment,
Does my breath feel smooth or rough?
Does my breath feel deep or shallow?
Does my breath feel constricted or expansive?
And as you continue arriving in your nest of comfort,
Accepting everything that's here in this moment,
Not attempting to push anything away,
Imagine now lying inside your own outline and with an exhale,
Releasing all the ways you're holding yourself,
Letting go of how you're holding yourself up,
Letting go of how you're holding yourself together.
Can you allow yourself to be completely held by the earth,
By the support under you?
Imagine how your physical body might spread out.
Imagine how your shape might expand beyond your outline,
Feeling bigger,
Softer,
More spacious,
Allowing everything a little more room and maybe even a little more spacious.
And to get spacious,
We don't have to be better and do more.
We have to be here and do less.
Can you get spacious and do less?
Bringing your awareness now to your tongue,
Can you imagine even your tongue getting more spacious?
As if the outline of your tongue is widening,
Expanding away from the roof of the mouth.
Each exhale,
The tongue is softening,
Getting more spacious.
Can you imagine the tongue taking the jaw with it?
So as the tongue gets wider and more spacious,
The jaw releases,
Gets more spacious,
Wider,
Easier.
And now bringing your awareness to the space inside the forehead,
Can you imagine your mind like a muscle or a fist unclenching?
Imagine the mind getting more spacious,
Unfurling,
Tightness,
Grasping,
Holding.
Imagining the mind like a fist that's slowly,
Very slowly opening,
Becoming a flower and blooming open.
Enlivening and softening the eyes and the space around the eyes,
Behind the eyes.
Softening the space between the ears.
Bringing your awareness now to the shoulders and imagine again that unclenching,
That fist of tightness in the shoulders slowly opening.
And that sensation of letting go is washing down the arms,
Into the forearms,
And into the hands and fingers.
All ten fingers,
Unfurling,
Unclenching,
Letting go.
Checking in now with the right thumb.
Become aware of any sensations inside the right thumb.
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger.
All five fingers of the right hand letting go.
The palm of the right hand widening,
Moving into the right wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder.
Imagine the armpit,
Unclenching,
Opening,
Widening,
Softening.
Loading your awareness into the left thumb,
Left index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger.
All five fingers of the left hand letting go of their grip.
Open the palm of the left hand,
Opening.
Left wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
The left shoulder.
Taking a few breaths into the left armpit,
Releasing any holding,
Any clenching,
Any tightness,
Unfurling.
Feel the sensation of the breath on the back of the throat.
And then moving down into the chest.
Imagine the whole chest widening into the outline.
Like even the skin on the chest could widen,
Stretch,
Soften.
The skin of the chest draping over the organs in the chest,
The lungs,
The heart.
Taking a few breaths into this upper chest area.
Moving your awareness now into the ribs.
And imagine all those intercostal muscles unclenching,
Widening,
Letting go,
Expanding into the space between the ribs.
Ribs dropping onto the earth.
Moving down to the belly.
Perhaps feeling the sensation of the breath in the belly.
And all the organs in the whole abdominal cavity.
Imagine you could breathe into the organs.
And as you breathe into the organs,
They too are letting go,
Unclenching,
Opening,
Softening,
Releasing.
Breathing into the right buttock,
Right thigh,
Knee,
Shin and calf,
Right ankle,
The top of the right foot,
And the sole of the right foot.
Imagine you could breathe into the right foot.
And all five toes of the right foot,
Right big toe,
Second,
Third,
Fourth,
Fifth.
Breathing into the left buttock,
Left thigh,
Knee,
Shin and calf,
Ankle,
Top of the left foot,
And the sole of the left foot.
Imagine you could breathe into the left foot,
Including all five toes of the left foot,
Left big toe,
Second,
Third,
Fourth,
Fifth.
Visualizing now the entire body.
Becoming aware of the entire body being breathed.
Bring your awareness to the left side of the body and the right hemisphere of the brain.
The right side of the body and the left hemisphere of the brain.
The left side of the body and the right hemisphere of the brain.
The right side of the body and the left hemisphere of the brain.
Visualizing now two opposite limbs,
The right leg and the left arm.
The left leg and the right arm.
The left arm and the right leg.
The right arm and the left leg.
The entire body.
The entire body.
The entire body.
Feel the entire body now getting heavy.
The whole body getting heavier.
Heavy dense weighted legs.
Heavy dense weighted arms.
The whole torso seemingly filled with lead getting heavier and heavier.
Head sinking onto the pillow.
The whole body heavy.
The whole body so heavy it feels like the earth is hugging.
Pulling it close through gravity,
Pulling it down,
Down,
Down.
Heavier still.
Let go of the heaviness and imagine now a lightness filling the arms,
The legs,
The torso,
The head.
Your whole body getting lighter and lighter.
Lighter still as if now the sky has gravity pulling you up.
Or your body is filled with helium so light it begins to float off the ground.
So light that your limbs might be being moved by the breath as if you're using your limbs to fly now.
And again,
Let go of the feeling of lightness and come back to heavy,
Heavy dense earth bound body feeling pulled down,
Down,
Down.
The whole body so heavy you couldn't even lift a finger if you tried.
And moving back into that sensation of lightness,
Airiness.
Your whole body as light as a ball of cotton.
Lighter still.
The body getting so light it begins to float up to the ceiling.
And from the ceiling,
Look down to see the body lying on the floor.
Who is watching?
Fence your effortless breath now bringing you deeper and deeper.
Allow your breath to sink even deeper into the depth of your authenticity,
Your essence.
As I mentioned the following images or words or phrases,
Allow yourself to see them on any level that's available to you.
No striving or efforting.
Maybe you actually see what I'm describing.
Maybe there are colors and shapes.
Or perhaps there will just be sensations in your body or ideas in your mind.
Whatever happens for you,
Know that it's exactly what you need in this moment.
A brilliant summer sunset.
High mountains with snow-capped peaks.
Clouds floating across a clear sky.
A muddied windshield.
You're sitting in the driver's seat.
And the windshield is so caked with mud you almost can't see anything.
A clear windshield looking out at the open road on a clear and sunny day.
A stagnant,
Congested stream clogged with debris.
Limbs.
All kinds of debris.
No movement in the stream.
A blue-green river flowing majestically.
Two teenagers lost in their separate devices,
Their phones or iPads,
Oblivious to the world.
Young people at the beach throwing sand at each other,
Laughing and frolicking.
Yourself aching with frustration.
Yourself feeling fulfilled,
Satisfied,
Crystal clear.
A pink rosebud frozen in a block of ice.
A pink rose blooming wide open.
Yourself micromanaging,
Worrying about getting a project exactly right,
Just the way you want it.
Yourself in a flow state,
Trusting everything is unfolding exactly as it's needed,
As it's appropriate.
A pink thousand-petaled lotus.
A thousand-petaled lotus.
A thousand-petaled lotus.
And here is Eagle Poem by poet Joy Harjo.
To pray,
You open your whole self to sky,
To earth,
To moon,
To sun,
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more that you can't see,
Can't hear,
Can't know except in moments,
Steadily growing,
And in languages that aren't always sound but other circles of motion.
Like Eagle that Sunday morning over Salt River,
Circled in blue sky,
In winds swept out hearts clean with sacred wings.
We see you,
See ourselves,
And know that we must take the utmost care and kindness in all things.
Breathe in knowing we are made of all of this.
And breathe knowing we are truly blessed because we were born and die soon within a true circle of motion.
Like Eagle rounding out the morning inside us.
We pray that it will be done in beauty.
Pausing for just a moment to see if there is a sankalpa,
An intention,
In your heart for this practice.
If an intention arises,
Phrase it in an I am statement in the present tense.
Such as I am guided and supported.
I am fully healthy and healed or something else entirely.
And whether or not words are coming up for you,
Know that your deeper self is fully aware.
And so release this intention,
This sankalpa now to the universe,
To all the forces on earth and in heaven.
And so feel free to stay longer in your safe haven.
And so feel free to stay longer in your safe haven.
And so feel free to stay longer in your safe haven.
And so feel free to stay longer in your safe haven.
And if you're ready to transition to resume your day,
Just do that very,
Very slowly,
Mindfully,
Respectfully,
And joyfully.
Namaste.
