Meditating On Boundaries: A Yoga Nidra Practice

This deep-guided yoga nidra recording brings you into full-body relaxation and transformational visualization to break down the barriers that separate us from others. It is beneficial for clarity and creativity. This meditation ends with gentle yoga stretching and a return to your everyday state of awareness. If you would like to use this practice for sleep, just turn off the recording when you are guided to deepen the breath and begin gentle movements through the hands and feet.

Transcript

Welcome to Meditating on Boundaries,

A Yoga Nidra practice with Sammy Aaron.

You find yourself in a comfortable position.

If you're lying down,

You want to be sure your knees are supported.

There's a soft cushion under the back of your neck.

You have a blanket,

Since your body temperature will go down as you begin this practice.

If you're seated,

Make sure that you're supported,

Your back is supported.

You might want to have a pillow or a blanket on your lap so that your arms have something comfortable to rest on,

So that you can feel perfectly supported,

That you'll not be leaning left or right.

Be sure you're in a place where you'll be undisturbed for about the next hour.

The door is closed.

You ask the people that you live with to give you this space and time.

So taking a look around your surroundings as you begin to settle in,

Closing down your eyes.

Begin to bring your body into alignment,

Paying attention to the position of your shoulders,

Are they equidistant from your ears to your hips?

Is one hip skewed?

Are you in alignment through the low body?

Tapping into the alignment of your spine.

Do you feel a nice straight line from the tip of the tailbone all the way up to the back of the neck?

Feel your shoulders open.

Feel the front of the chest is receptive.

The shoulder blades are pushing back against the floor,

Against the chair.

Make sure your arms are very well supported,

Jiggling out through the shoulders and the neck.

Making fists with the hands and then releasing,

Letting go any tension through the fingers,

Through the palms,

Through the thumbs.

Bring your awareness into the hips and jiggle around through the back body.

It might feel right to put your hands behind the sacrum and just gently draw the flesh from the sacrum down along the glutes,

Lengthening out through the tailbone.

Feel your thighs and your knees very well supported and relaxed,

Wiggling out your toes and your ankles and letting go any tension still remaining through the legs.

Bring your awareness into your face and your head,

Maybe scrunching up your face and then releasing that tension.

Swallowing once or twice,

Allowing the lower teeth to separate from the upper teeth.

Releasing the tongue down into the lower palate.

The lips are soft,

No tension through the TMJ area in the back of the throat.

Today's meditation has to do with boundaries,

The boundaries that we set for ourselves about who we are or what we can do,

Boundaries about what defines us from our past,

Perhaps boundaries that someone else may have set for us telling us we are or are not certain things,

We are or are not capable of certain activities.

Boundaries also have to do with our connection to others.

Do we see boundaries between ourselves and other people?

Have we set up this line that says I'm this but they are that?

And we're just going to explore that in today's meditation.

So I invite you as you settle into this practice to take just a couple of moments and let the concept of boundaries in your life just come into your mind.

Letting go all other thoughts,

Everything else going on in your busy life,

All other worries and cares and just simply settle on the one concept of a boundary,

A line that defines and seeing if you can identify some area of your life where you notice a boundary and perhaps you'd like to explore the nature of that boundary,

Explore whether or not it's a true boundary,

If it's a boundary that perhaps used to work for you and now no longer suits you,

Whatever it might be.

Just bring into your awareness something going on in your life that you might want to find a little clarity,

A little understanding,

Perhaps a little insight about.

And then bringing your awareness to your breath at the nostrils,

Noticing the cool air on the inhalation and the warmer air on the exhalation,

Being aware of any scents or aromas that you notice,

Perhaps the scent of a blanket,

Maybe you have a scented eye pillow and just bring to your awareness the sensation of smell and how that feels within your nose.

What does your body do when you notice a scent,

A stench,

An aroma?

How do those muscles react?

What happens inside your nose when you inhale?

And see if you can just allow that to soften.

Part of the yoga nidra practice is to allow all your senses to come to rest.

So feeling the sensation of being aware of smells inside the face,

Inside the nose,

See if you can soften the activity around aroma,

Around your sense of smell,

Just allowing whatever comes in to come in without even your awareness,

Without feeling that you have to pay attention to it,

Identify it.

And then bring your awareness into your eyes.

Notice that even with your eyes closed,

There's still a sense of alertness.

Your eyeballs are still active.

You have your inner gaze and your thoughts that bring up memories that bring visualizations along with that.

And feel the sensation of being on alert every moment as we look in a particular direction or on alert.

We catch sight of something out of the corner of the eye.

We're trying to be aware of it.

We're trying to be aware of something,

Looking for something,

And just feel that sensation in your body.

What does that feel like to have your eyes active every moment?

And then could you soften the muscles,

The skin,

The eyeballs themselves,

Just allowing that sensation of your sense of vision,

Your sense of sight,

To just release and just allow this time for the eyeballs,

The temples,

The eyelids,

The eyelashes to just be at rest.

Nothing you need to worry about,

Look for,

Be attuned to.

We're at this place of stillness in a yoga nidra practice,

And the eyes can simply be at rest.

Bring your awareness into your mouth.

You may wish to swallow one more time,

Push the tongue up against the roof of your mouth and then soften it and let it go.

And bring your awareness to your sense of taste,

The taste of your saliva,

The taste of all the foods you've ever eaten,

The texture of the foods,

That sensation within your mouth,

Something that's sweet and spicy or bitter,

Something that tastes awful,

Knowing that there's always an awareness going on,

A level of alertness with everything that comes into our mouths.

Is this good for me?

Is this the right food?

Does it taste good?

Is it too hot or too cold?

Should I be eating this or not?

And just allow your awareness of this sense of being on alert about the food that comes into your mouth.

Allow that to just go,

Softening through the cheeks,

Through the tongue.

All of the taste buds in the mouth can be at ease.

Nothing we need to think about in terms of the sense of taste or swallowing or digestion.

As we practice yoga nidra,

We just allow this,

Even this sense to come to rest.

And bring your awareness into your ears.

Get that sensation of walking down a busy city street,

Being on alert for sirens,

For traffic,

For people passing you on a sidewalk.

The sensation of being alert,

Listening for the sound of a baby or children playing.

Always having that awareness that sounds can alert us to danger,

Something we need to react to,

To something we need to take action for.

And just simply allow that sense of hearing to soften.

Notice where you feel that alertness to sound in your ears,

Around the ears and the skull,

In the ear canals,

And just let it be.

The only thing you need to do here is allow the sound of my voice to come in and soften into it,

Relax into it,

And just let it be part of your reception without feeling that you also have to go out and look for sounds,

Be alert for sounds.

If you hear noises around you,

Simply allow them to come in and go out.

Nothing you need to be attuned to or react to at this moment.

Bring your awareness to your skin around the entire body.

Notice where your skin touches your clothing.

Notice the weight of the blanket or your clothes on the skin.

Notice the sensation of the skin being pushed from the floor or the cushions behind you.

Notice the movement of air across your face.

Feel the sensation of the skin where your hair follicles grow.

The sensation of your skin being pushed from the floor or the cushions behind you.

Feel the sensation of your skin through your ears,

The outer ears,

Around your nose,

Your eyes,

Your lips.

Keeping the sensation of your skin always being on alert to protect your body,

To keep it in its proper shape,

To alert you to something that might be too hot or too cold or too sharp.

And allow that sensation of being on alert through your skin to just go.

Feel your skin simply melt into whatever it's touching.

It knows what to do.

It knows how to keep your body in the appropriate shape and dimensions without any sense of being on alert.

So just soften the skin around the entire body.

Being aware now of all the five senses.

Your sense of smell and taste and sight and sound and touch and let it go.

Bring your awareness to your right hand and into your right thumb.

Visualize the bone,

The skin of the right thumb as if you could sense the thumb itself energetically.

Can you feel that it's alive from the inside?

As if you could sense the thumb itself energetically.

Can you feel that it's alive from the inside?

And then draw that same awareness into the first finger from the knuckle to the tip into the second finger.

The bone on the inside,

The skin on the outside.

Draw your attention into the third finger.

Noticing the nail,

The fleshy pad on the inside.

Bring your awareness to the pinky finger.

Notice where it touches its neighbor and where it touches something else on the other side.

Maybe the air or a blanket.

Drawing your awareness into all five fingers and then bring your attention to the back of the hand from the knuckles up to the wrist and down into the palm of the hand.

The fleshy pad around the palm,

The deep center of the palm itself.

Bring your awareness into the wrist.

The soft skin on the inside,

The bones on the outside.

And then bring your attention up the forearm,

The inside and the outside,

Up into the elbow.

Finding the crease at the elbow,

The bony knob of the elbow.

And then bring your awareness up the upper arm from the crotch to the wrist.

Bring your awareness up the upper arm from the crease at the inside of the elbow through the upper arm into the armpit.

And then from the bony knob of the elbow up the outer arm all the way up to the top of the shoulder.

Bring your awareness into the right shoulder joint.

Noticing where the bone attaches into the joint.

And then draw your awareness into the right armpit,

The right side body,

The right waist,

The right hip,

Notice the glute and the groin,

The right thigh,

And down into the right knee.

Be aware of the knee cap,

The crease at the back of the knee.

And then draw your attention from the knee down through the shin,

Through the calf,

To the ankle.

Noticing the ankle itself,

The bones on either side,

The Achilles tendon.

And then draw your awareness to the sole of the foot.

All the fleshy pads at the bottom of the sole,

The bottom of the toes,

To the arch of the very center.

And then draw your attention to the top of the foot from the base of the ankle down to the toes.

Bring your awareness into the big toe as we did with the fingers.

Noticing it from the inside,

The bone on the inside.

Moving to the second toe with your awareness.

Noticing where it touches the other toes.

And the third toe.

Can you identify the nail of the third toe?

And the fourth toe.

Notice the fleshy pads at the back of the fourth toe.

And the pinky toe.

Noticing the shape slightly different on this toe.

The shape of the nail,

The outer edge.

And then draw your awareness from the toes through the foot of the lower leg,

Past the knee,

The thigh.

Through the hip,

The waist,

The side body.

Through the armpit and the shoulder,

The upper arm,

The elbow,

The forearm,

The wrist,

The palm,

The back of the hand,

And all the fingers.

And release.

Feel the entire right side,

The arm,

The side body,

The leg.

And let it relax.

Notice the difference in sensation between the right side now and the left side.

And one more time with awareness through the entire right side.

Let it go.

Bring your awareness now into the left thumb.

Finding the skin on the outside.

Noticing the wrinkles of the knuckle and the joint.

Moving into the first finger.

From the base of the finger through the bone up to the tip.

The second finger.

Noticing the skin all around that finger.

Notice where it touches the fingers on either side.

And then move your awareness into the third finger.

The sensation of connection of the bones into the joint.

The bones into the knuckles.

And the pinky finger.

And the pinky finger.

Noticing again the difference in the awareness of the pinky finger.

How it touches the finger on the right.

And there is no finger to touch on the left.

Bring your awareness to the back of the hand.

From the knuckles up to the wrist.

And then down into the palm of the hand.

Around the fleshy pads.

And deep into the center of the palm.

Draw your awareness into the wrist.

The inner wrist.

The bones on either side.

And then bring that attention from the wrist up the forearms.

The top of the arm.

The inner arm.

Into the elbow.

Finding the crease of the inner elbow.

The bone on the outside.

Draw your awareness from the elbow up through the upper arm now.

Through the inner arm to the armpit.

The outside of the upper arm up to the top of the shoulder.

And then going inside find your awareness in the shoulder joint.

Deep within the armpit.

Draw your attention down the side body.

The side ribs.

The waist.

Into the hip.

Deep within the hip joint.

The glute.

The groin.

Draw your awareness from the hip joint through the thigh.

All the way down into the knee.

The knee cap.

The crease at the back of the knee.

And then follow the bones from the knee through the shin.

Through the calf.

Down into the ankle.

Notice the Achilles tendon.

The bones of the ankle.

Draw your attention down to the sole of your foot.

From the heel.

Along the edges.

The pads at the bottom.

The bottom of the toes.

Deep in the center of the arch of the foot.

And then draw your awareness to the top of the foot.

From the ankle.

Along the smooth skin down to the base of the toes.

Bring your attention into the big toe on the left foot.

Going deep inside the flesh of that toe.

Finding the second toe.

Noticing the nail from the inside.

Noticing the nail from the outside.

Moving to the third toe.

Feeling where it touches its neighbors.

And the fourth toe from the base of the knuckle.

Through the joint to the tip.

And the pinky.

Noticing the nail of the pinky.

The outer edge of the pinky toe.

And then draw your awareness through all five toes.

Up through the foot.

Along the sole.

Through the ankle.

Through the lower leg.

And the knee.

Along and through and inside the thigh.

To the hip.

To the waist.

To the side body.

Into the armpit.

And the shoulder.

Down the upper arm.

Through the elbow.

Through the forearm and the wrist.

Through the hand to the fingers.

And let it go.

Be aware of the entire left side of the body.

The left arm.

The left side of the torso.

The left leg.

And release.

Bring your awareness to both sides now.

Both arms.

Both legs.

Both sides of the body.

And feel them separate away from the midline of the body.

The arms are heavy.

The legs are totally relaxed.

Bring your awareness now to the tip of the tailbone.

Begin to notice the back body.

The right glute.

The left glute.

And feel them just separate away from the spine.

Bring your awareness up into the sacrum area.

The back of the pelvis.

Feel the right side separate from the left side.

And then draw your attention up into the waist.

Notice the right side of the waist can release.

The left side can release.

Beginning to feel openness through the spine.

From the tailbone,

Through the sacrum,

Through the waist.

Move your awareness up to the back of the kidneys.

And soften the right kidney away from the spine.

And the left kidney away from the spine.

Draw your awareness now up to the shoulder blades.

Notice the right shoulder blade.

And the left shoulder blade.

And feel them soften away from the spine.

You almost feel that the spine could be a little bit heavier there.

Now that it no longer supports the muscles around it on either side.

Bring your awareness to the upper part of the back.

Feel the top of the right shoulder and the right back soften away from the spine.

Feel the left shoulder and the left side of the back soften away from the spine.

Bring your awareness to both sides of the back body.

The right side and the left side from the glute up to the shoulders.

And release.

One more layer of tension relaxing in and around on either side of the spinal column.

Draw your awareness now to the front body.

Beginning with the pubic bone.

Finding it situated right at the center point of the pelvis.

Feel that you could soften the right groin away from the left groin.

The internal organs at the lowest part of the belly softening the right side away from the left side.

Draw your awareness to the navel.

Noticing more of the internal organs now through the soft belly.

Feel the right side and the right waist soften away from the navel.

The left side of the belly and the left waist soften away from the navel.

Finding this midpoint from the pubic bone through the navel now into the sternum.

Softening from the navel to the sternum the right side of the solar plexus area away from the left side.

Imagine the liver on the right softening away from the spleen on the left.

Bring your awareness into the sternum.

From the notch at the base of the sternum up to the notch at the base of the throat.

And be aware of the ribs on the right side of the chest.

Be aware of the right breast.

The right lung.

Just let that soften away from the midline.

Bring your awareness to the ribs on the left side of the chest from the sternum.

Each rib growing out away from the sternum towards the left.

The left breast.

The left lung.

The heart.

And feel the left side of the ribs soften away from the sternum.

Be aware of both sides of the ribs.

Imagine that you could soften the muscles that connect each of the ribs.

Allowing each rib to separate slightly and release from its neighbor.

The right side of the rib cage softening away from the left side.

Bring your awareness to that notch at the base of the throat.

And the upper part of the spine where the neck meets the back.

Finding that midpoint there.

And notice all the muscles on the right side of the neck.

The right side of the spine.

The right side of the notch at the base of the throat.

And release through the neck on the right side.

Notice the sensation.

The inner ear.

The base of the temper mandibular joint.

The bottom of the skull on the right side.

And then draw your attention to the left side.

Perhaps the left carotid artery.

The lower jaw.

The inner ear.

The top of the shoulder.

Feel both sides of the neck through the front and through the back.

Just soften away from each other.

Bring your attention to the midpoint of the chin.

Noticing the right side of the jaw all the way back to the TMJ there.

Noticing the left side of the jaw all the way back.

Even to the inner ear canal.

And soften the right side of the chin.

The left side of the chin.

Away from the midline.

Finding the space at the very center point of your lips.

The place where your front teeth separate.

You have the teeth on the right side.

The teeth on the left side.

And feel those muscles just soften.

The right cheek.

And the left cheek.

The right ear.

And the left ear.

Bring your awareness to the space between your nostrils and the bridge of your nose.

Softening through the right side of the nose.

The right cheekbone.

All the way out to the right temple.

Right eye.

And eyebrow.

Bringing your attention back to the center point between the nostrils.

The bridge of the nose.

The space between the eyebrows.

And soften the left side,

The left nostril and cheekbone.

Left eye,

Eyebrow and temple.

And feel the entire face along the center point.

And soften the right side of the face.

Away from the left side of the face.

Bring your awareness into your skull.

At the forehead,

Through the back of the skull.

And notice the right side of the brain could soften from the left side of the brain.

Feeling that openness,

That release,

Even through the inside of the skull.

And then bring your awareness to the entire body now.

From the crown of the head all the way down through both hands,

Through both feet.

And bring into your awareness the midline of the body,

The spine at the back body.

The points of contact through the middle of the front body.

The pubic bone,

The navel,

The sternum,

The chin,

The bridge of the nose,

The eyebrow space.

All the way to the crown of the head and feel the entire right side of the body soften.

Feel the entire left side of the body soften.

Allowing your brain to just relax with this awareness that we can soften the rights and the left sides away from each other.

We're going to begin to find the actual midline.

So starting with the outer edges of the body,

The legs,

The arms.

Bring your awareness closer towards the midline.

Saying to yourself,

I can identify my right arm versus my left,

My right leg versus my left.

Coming into the torso and the sides of the face,

I can identify my right ear and left ear,

My right hip and left hip.

My right ribs and left ribs.

Coming closer and closer into the midline.

Bring your attention to the sternum.

Noticing where the right ribs attach and the left ribs attach.

Notice the right side of the sternum and the left side of the sternum.

And allow your awareness to come even closer towards the midline.

Each molecule touching its neighbor.

Is it on the right or the left?

Can you bring your awareness closer and closer into that spot where you begin to realize there is no midline?

It becomes a point,

Whether you're looking at it at the sternum or the middle part of the torso,

The back of the spine,

Between the shoulders.

There is no actual line.

It becomes a place where it's blurred.

You cannot tell which side this particular cell belongs to.

And releasing the tension that comes with that awareness.

Releasing the right side from the left side.

Allow yourself to simply become a feeling body,

Being awareness as we go through this exploration of the boundaries.

Don't feel that you need to analyze this,

That your brain needs to be active.

But simply become 100% awareness and sensation as we explore the sense of the boundaries of our body.

Bring your awareness to your lips.

Notice the upper lip,

The outline of it,

The shape of it,

The corners.

Draw your attention to the lower lip.

Begin finding the outline,

The corners.

Notice where the two lips meet.

Finding your attention from the upper lip to the lower lip.

Begin to identify cell by cell which is the upper lip,

Which is the lower lip,

Until you get to the place where you cannot distinguish.

They appear to be the same from your awareness,

From the sensations.

There is no boundary between the upper lip and the lower lip.

Bring your awareness into your eyelids.

Noticing the upper lids first,

Drawing your attention from the eyebrows along the skin of the eyelids down over the eyeballs to the edge of the upper lids,

The eyelashes.

And then bring your awareness to the lower lids,

Starting at the cheekbones,

Following the skin up until you notice the bottom of the eyeball and the edge of the lower lids.

Being aware of the eyelashes on the lower lids.

And then notice where the two lids come together.

Softening both of the eyelids,

Upper and lower,

Left and right.

Finding that place where they touch.

Being aware of the intermingling of the eyelashes.

Could you identify whether an eyelash comes from the upper lid or the lower lid?

Can you follow that sensation of the skin of the lids,

Which is the upper and which is the lower,

And find that awareness that at some point there is no border.

Bring your awareness to your skin through the entire body,

Your skin touching your clothing,

Your props,

Your blanket,

The air.

Bring your awareness to any point on your body where you know your skin is touching something.

And can you identify what is your skin and what is not your skin?

Do you feel that sensation that you could merge with your blanket,

With your eye pillow,

With the floor?

The skin is simply open and receptive.

You feel each molecule of the skin touching and connecting and intermingling with the molecules of whatever it touches.

Imagine that with a sensation of complete openness through the skin that you were able to have an out of body experience.

You feel yourself lifting out of your body and you find yourself out in space in the heavens,

Looking around,

Seeing the planets,

The stars.

And you notice the Earth far,

Far beneath you.

You notice the shape of the Earth.

You can distinguish some places are blue or green,

Some places may be brown.

And you gradually get closer to the Earth.

And now the continents come into your perception.

You notice what is Earth and what is water.

And you come closer and you begin to identify individual continents,

Recognizable oceans.

And as you come closer,

You notice the edges and how clean and sharply defined are the edges of the land versus the water.

And you come closer still and you identify a spot where there is that boundary between the Earth and the ocean.

And as you get closer,

You notice that there is a path,

A place you could walk right along the edge of the Earth,

The edge of the ocean.

And you drop down into this path.

As you're walking along the path,

You see the Earth on one side,

You see the ocean on the other.

As you glance down at the path,

You notice that it doesn't follow the exact line,

The exact boundary.

And on the other side of the path,

There might be sand or grasses,

So you move closer to the boundary.

And as you get closer to the boundary,

You begin to notice the water lapping on the shore.

And you realize there is no boundary.

What may be covered with water at this moment in the next moment is covered with sand.

And in your awareness,

You realize there is no line that separates the Earth from the ocean.

So allow your awareness to simply open up to this perception,

There is no separation between you and anything else.

There is no separation between you and anyone else.

There are simply lines that we draw in our minds that helps us identify,

This is me,

This is mine,

And that is them,

That is theirs.

I invite you to bring back into your memory now the boundary that you had thought about earlier in the practice,

A boundary,

A distinction that you had settled on to bring you a little more clarity or awareness.

And as you keep this sensation of absolute openness,

Connectivity,

Awareness that we are not bound by our boundaries,

I invite you to bring your awareness to your breath as you allow these thoughts of your own particular situation to simply float on this awareness of openness.

With each inhalation,

You breathe in the intellectual mindset that you have about this boundary.

With each exhalation,

You allow it to just simply float on this awareness.

No decisions to be made,

Simply allowing yourself to open up to the possibility that you could begin to break down these barriers,

This boundary that you have set for this particular issue in your life.

You soften into it,

Release into it,

And just allow the sensations to flow in and flow out.

And visualizing from this out-of-body experience that you now come back into your body.

You come in through this awareness of absolute openness and connectivity,

And you float as if you could just settle into your heart center.

You bring the awareness of yourself,

Who you are,

Into the heart center,

Into the space,

The back of the lungs,

The inside of the shoulder blades,

And feel that heaviness,

That awareness at the back of the chest,

Drawing with you into this space,

This issue in your life,

This worry,

This care,

And drawing it in with you to your heart center,

Imagine that you could just allow it to be.

Imagine that you could have no judgment over what's right or wrong about it,

But you could simply nurture this awareness in your heart center,

Breathing in and breathing out.

And then beginning to draw all your awareness back into your body,

Feeling your skin now,

Distinct from your blankets,

Your props,

Your supports.

Begin to notice the heaviness of your physical body,

Allowing the breath to deepen,

Noticing the inhalation and exhalation at the belly.

With each inhalation,

You feel the belly open,

Expand,

Fill up.

Each exhalation,

You begin to be more active and draw the navel down towards the back body,

Emptying out with control.

Your next inhalation becomes a little bit longer and stronger,

Filling up through the middle part of the ribs,

Perhaps all the way up into the throat.

As you exhale,

You empty out completely from the throat,

Through the ribs,

Through the upper belly,

Through the lower belly,

Pushing out all the air with your exhalation.

With your next inhalation,

You begin to wiggle your fingers and your toes.

Each breath,

Slow,

Smooth,

Deep,

Beginning to wiggle your head,

Maybe little circles with your chin,

Giving yourself a nice bear hug,

Wrapping one hand around the opposite shoulder and the other hand around that opposite shoulder,

Opening the muscles through the back body,

Through the shoulders,

Through the neck,

And then relaxing the arms,

Bending through one knee and then the other as you draw the soles of the feet flat on the ground.

If you're in a chair,

You might want to grab one knee at a time,

Bringing it into the chest.

If you're lying down,

Do the same,

Drawing one knee at a time into a nice bear hug,

Eventually drawing both knees up if that feels right.

And then wherever you are,

Find yourself on the ground,

Rolling over onto your belly,

Pushing away any props that you have,

And come into Child's Pose.

The toes are together,

The knees are separated wider than your hips,

The belly is soft,

Nestled in between the knees,

The torso is long,

The forehead is against the ground or perhaps resting on a pillow or a prop.

The arms feel very long,

Stretching the arms and walking the fingers out past the skull,

Feel that openness through the back body,

Drawing the hips closer to the heels.

The arms are engaged,

The elbows are raised off the ground,

And then relax everything.

Let the elbows come down to the ground,

The shoulders soften and breathe,

Feeling the openness through the back body.

Feel the pressure of the belly as it pushes against the thighs on each inhalation and it softens on each exhalation.

And then lifting the head just an inch or two,

Walk both hands off to the right a couple of inches,

Again elongating through both elbows,

Feeling the palms stretch into the earth,

Growing long through the back body,

Noticing the stretch now on the left side through the armpit and release,

Allow both elbows to soften to the earth,

The shoulders round just slightly and continue to breathe and notice that sensation of openness from the left sit bone,

The left groin,

Through the left side body and armpit,

All the way through the left arm.

Each breath continues to be slow and smooth.

And then lifting the head just an inch or so,

Walking both hands now to the left side,

Stretching only as far as feels comfortable,

The arms are engaged,

The palms are pushing away from the head,

Opening through the right side body,

The right armpit,

And release,

Allow the elbows to come to the ground,

The forehead softens,

The shoulders soften,

And breathe now through the right side body,

Feel the longest breath from the right groin through the side body,

The armpit,

Relaxing through the entire right side,

And then walking your hands back to center,

One more deep stretch,

Equally through both sides,

And then push yourself up to hands and knees,

Following with hip circles,

First in one direction,

Opening through the sacrum,

Through the hip joints,

And then through the other direction,

Really feeling open through the upper part of the thighs and the small of the back,

And then walking your fingers back towards your knees as you come upright.

Reviews

Wonderful

Really wonderful, the detailed journey through and beyond the body and it's boundaries. Very effective and enlightening.
Thank you 🌺

Great body scan. But lack of san kalpa/dedication is disorienting
The very long reawakening at the end was disappointing... I'm trying to sleep! This would make a good morning practice, but in that case it would be too long
.. I look for long practices at night, w the hope that I will be asleep before the end...

Most excellent! The time flew by and I had very little wandering mind. Deep deep Nidra practice. Very thorough very mellow. Thank you so much. ☮️💖🙏

What a wonderfull experience! The body scan part is really intense, I'll be back tomorrow for some more floating in space... Thank you so much!

Thank you. So much detail, I felt I learned a lot. My favourite Yoga Nidra so far.

Thank you Sami. A wonderfully grounding yoga nidra. It brought me in to a much deeper body awareness than I usually experience and it gave me some helpful breakthroughs about next steps I need to take around something I have going on in my life.
I was surprised by the yoga poses and deeper breathing at the end as I was lying in bed but I definitely look forward to trying them another time when I am doing a daytime yoga nidra practice. It might be worth noting that the practice includes these aspects on the notes as I know many people on Insight Timer use yoga nidra to get to sleep and this doesn’t feel like the right meditation for that.