Yoga Nidra For Grief

This Yoga Nidra practice can help you acknowledge and understand grief as a beautiful part of life. Through Awareness, you can find your heart's strength and power to know when to release grief. Through this practice, you will discover that your grief is a manifestation of your love and a testament to your power.

Transcript

Welcome to Yoga Nidra for Grief with Scott Moore.

Grief is a regular part of life.

Whenever grief comes to visit you in your life,

Rather cyclically or in unique moments,

It's always an invitation to practice deep awareness.

Yoga Nidra is a way of practicing sourcing our deepest strength by experiencing our true nature,

That of awareness itself.

From this place of deep awareness,

You will not replace grief with other emotions,

But rather learn to welcome it,

See it for what it is,

And be the witness of it.

Doing so,

You will come to know your grief for its unique power to help you experience yourself as awareness.

This is the part of you that is powerful enough to survive any loss,

And powerful enough to sanctify or make holy any event that occurs in your life,

As you continue to weave together the beautiful and textured tapestry of life.

As you come to know yourself as awareness,

You will free yourself from being identified as and attached to grief.

Doing so allows you to welcome grief,

To hear its message in your heart,

And ultimately release grief to the cycle out of orbit when its time is over.

If you're feeling grief in your life right now,

I invite you to give yourself a moment and ground yourself to whatever your body is feeling in this moment.

Give yourself a moment to open to your senses,

Start to relax and close your eyes.

Maybe send a few breaths out your mouth with a sigh.

As we begin our yoga nidra practice,

Open up to whatever you're aware of in this moment,

Feeling your body,

And start to simply welcome anything that you're aware of,

Recognizing it for exactly what it is,

And just practice being the witness of it.

Whatever arises either through my suggestion or spontaneously into your awareness through this practice,

Follow the same pattern of just welcoming,

Recognizing,

And witnessing.

Remember that as long as it feels safe,

Whatever arises during our practice,

We will simply welcome,

Recognize,

And witness.

I'd like to create a sankalpa.

This is the seed of our intention that will sort of act like our guiding star throughout our practice.

This is a positive statement of truth,

And I invite you to repeat this positive statement in your mind.

I acknowledge my grief as a witness of my love,

A testament of my strength,

And a guide leading me toward my highest being.

I acknowledge my grief as a witness of my love,

A testament of my strength,

And a guide leading me toward my highest being.

As you continue to relax,

Bring to mind a place that for you is a sanctuary.

Remember or imagine a time where you felt love,

Where you felt wholeness,

Calm,

And peace.

And remember this by using your senses,

Not as if you're seeing it on a screen or hearing a story about it,

But as if you're actually seeing those colors with your eyes.

So in this moment,

See the scene with your eyes,

In the scene where you felt love,

Where you felt wholeness,

Calm,

Or at peace.

Notice whatever smells are in the scene here in your sanctuary.

What sounds exist,

Tastes perhaps,

Sensations from textures to temperature.

And invite that feeling,

The emotion of wholeness,

Of love,

Of calm,

And peace.

And notice where you feel that in your body.

Know the sanctuary you can always come back to whenever you feel like you need it.

Anything ever feels unsafe during this practice or you feel like you'd just like to return,

Come back to this place by using your senses.

As we continue along in our yoga nidra practice,

I want you to connect yourself to the feeling of your body.

We're going to allow ourselves to be grounded with deepening layers of awareness as it's connected to our body.

In this moment,

All you need to do is simply be aware of,

To welcome the sensation of body,

To recognize it as sensation,

And to merely be the witness of body.

Allow yourself to relax as you feel the sensation of your mouth,

Your eyes,

Your ears.

Feel the sensation of your nose.

Welcome the sensation of the entire plane of your face,

From forehead to chin,

Ear to ear.

Feel your entire face.

Simply welcome it as sensation.

Recognize it as sensation.

And your only job in this moment is to witness your face as sensation.

Feel yourself relax as you feel the crown of your head and the back of your head.

There's nothing to do but experience your head as sensation.

Feel your face,

Your scalp.

Feel your entire head as sensation.

Nothing to do,

Nothing to change.

You're simply experiencing your head as sensation.

Now trace the sensation of collarbones and shoulders.

Trace the sensation of your body down the arms to elbows,

Through forearms to hands.

Pay particular attention to the sensation of your left palm,

Left thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Fourth finger,

Little finger.

As you bring your awareness to these parts of your being,

Simply allow them to relax.

Simply witnessing your left hand.

Nothing to do or change.

You're just noticing its presence.

Likewise,

Begin to notice your right hand.

Center of your hand,

Your palm,

Right thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Fourth finger,

Middle finger,

Little finger.

Experiencing your right hand merely as sensation,

Merely being the witness to sensation of right hand.

Feel left hand again.

Right hand.

Feel both hands simultaneously.

Feel them as one thing,

Aware of both hands simultaneously.

Notice whatever you happen to be aware of in this moment.

And while you'll notice that sensations will come and go,

What doesn't change is awareness.

And it is the sensations that are revealing an unchanging awareness.

In this moment,

Be awareness itself.

Your awareness experiencing itself as sensation.

And as awareness,

Feel yourself as the sensation of chest,

Of heart.

And as you linger on the sensation of your heart,

If anything spontaneously arises,

Be that emotion or a felt sense of lightness or heaviness,

Remember,

We're simply welcoming,

Recognizing and witnessing.

Nonetheless,

If at any time anything feels a little bit too heavy or something you don't want to work on in the moment,

Go back into your mind to that sanctuary,

The time using your senses where you felt love and wholeness,

Calm and peace.

Otherwise if it feels safe,

Bring the attention really to the sensation of heart,

To belly,

Chest,

Feel back,

Shoulder blades and spine,

Your ribs and lower back,

Simply welcoming your entire trunk as sensation,

Your chest and belly and back.

Feel yourself becoming increasingly more relaxed as you simply witness yourself,

Feeling the sensation of body.

Your awareness itself,

Experiencing itself as the sensation of body.

Bring your attention to the sensations of your pelvis,

Front of pelvis,

The back of pelvis,

The right and left sides of pelvis.

Bring your attention to the sensations of pelvis without anything to do,

Change.

You're simply experiencing the sensations of pelvis.

Feel the sensation of your body,

Tracing the sensation as it moves from pelvis down your legs to your knees.

Trace the sensation from knees to ankles,

From ankles to feet.

And put a little bit of attention on the sole of your left foot,

Your left toes,

The sole of your right foot,

Right toes.

Now bring your attention to the sensation of the entire left side of body from head to toe,

Just feel the left side.

I'd you to adopt the feeling of lightness,

Your whole body is becoming light,

Almost weightless.

Feel your entire left side as light.

Now feel the entire right side of your body and adopt this feeling of lightness.

Your entire right side is feeling light,

Nothing to do,

Nothing to change.

You're simply experiencing right side of your body as light.

Now feel both sides simultaneously,

Your entire body feels light.

Notice whatever you're aware of in this moment,

Internally or externally,

Be that sensation or feelings,

Body or thoughts or emotions.

Simply welcome whatever you're experiencing,

Recognize it for exactly what it is.

And remember,

You're merely the witness to whatever you're experiencing.

And the sensations and thoughts or experiences,

These will all come and go,

But they reveal an unchanging awareness.

Be the unchanging awareness,

Experiencing itself in anything that you're aware of in this moment.

Be awareness itself,

Experiencing itself as whatever you're aware of in this moment.

I want you to notice in this moment,

Whatever energy you feel in your body right now.

Notice whatever energy you feel in your body,

Prana.

Prana is the life force energy of all things and it can manifest by feeling heaviness or lightness,

You can see colors or feel vibrations or just sense into however energy is feeling for you in this moment.

Notice how and where you feel energy,

Does it have a color or a vibration?

Now if it feels safe in this moment,

I want you to remember or recognize how grief feels in your energy,

In your body.

From place of relaxed awareness,

Invite grief to the surface for a moment to simply observe it,

Welcome it in,

Recognize it as energy,

As an emotion,

Nothing more but nothing less and just be the witness to this energy,

Whether it's color,

It's vibration.

You're not trying to fix it or change it,

Shoo it away or hold on to it,

Merely be curious about the feeling of grief.

Now don't get attached to it.

In this moment,

I want you to conceptualize the opposite of grief.

For you,

What is the opposite of grief?

And remember or imagine what that feels like in its energy,

Where you feel that in your body.

What is the opposite of grief?

Invite that to the surface and remember or imagine what that feels like in its energy in your body.

Does it feel like it has a color or a vibration?

Now let go of that and for a moment,

Pick up grief and this opposite at the same time.

Hold grief and the opposite at the same time.

Remember this doesn't need to make sense.

It's hard to conceptualize,

Feel like you're holding grief in one hand and it's opposite in the other,

But you're holding them simultaneously.

Now while grief may come and go,

As does its opposite,

The part of you that is aware is larger than grief or its opposite,

But can hold either of these readily.

While grief may come and go,

The part of you that we're accessing is larger than grief.

Through your yoga nidra practice,

You're simply allowing yourself to welcome,

Recognize and witness all the ways that grief affects your being.

Remember your awareness itself coming to know itself in part in this moment through grief.

Now as awareness itself,

What are your thoughts around grief?

Your awareness itself,

Experiencing self as thoughts.

Maybe grief leaves your thoughts or when you think of grief,

You have particular thoughts,

But in this moment simply welcome whatever you're thinking around grief,

Whatever thoughts or memories and practice merely being the witness.

Remember we're welcoming,

Recognizing them and witnessing them.

Just like emotions,

Thoughts will come and go.

What you are is larger than thoughts,

But as thoughts come and go,

They reveal that thing that doesn't change,

Awareness itself.

Be awareness itself,

Experiencing itself as thoughts.

I want you to go with me on a visual journey.

Visualize a moment when your grief has passed you.

It's passed you by and it's been replaced with a sure loving knowledge in your heart,

A knowledge of the power of your love,

Of your strength and your increased wisdom.

This visualization,

See it not as if you're watching a screen,

But you're seeing it with your own eyes,

Sensing it,

Hearing that with your ears,

Smelling the scene with your nostrils,

Feeling this in your heart and with your body.

This is a moment when grief has passed you by and it's been replaced with a sure loving knowledge,

A wisdom in your heart.

This is the knowledge and wisdom of the power of your love,

Of your strength.

As awareness itself,

You're experiencing this vision,

This moment when grief has passed you by.

And now I invite you to remember or imagine what it feels like to have joy in your life.

Remember or imagine love,

Peace,

Pleasure,

And perhaps you take one of these or all of them,

Joy,

Love,

Peace,

Pleasure,

And feel that in your body.

Notice exactly where you feel it.

Tap into your senses again,

What anyone or all of these together,

What they look like,

What they feel like,

What it smells like and tastes like,

And give yourself over completely to the feeling of joy,

Love,

Peace,

And pleasure.

Despite any event that may occur in your life,

These parts of you still always exist.

And as awareness itself,

You're simply aware of joy,

Love,

Peace,

Pleasure.

Notice how in your body you feel these things.

Simply welcoming,

Recognizing,

And witnessing them.

Your awareness itself,

Experiencing itself as joy,

Love,

Peace,

And pleasure.

And in this moment,

Go back to that vision,

The moment when grief has passed you by and it's been replaced with that sure loving knowledge in your heart,

The knowledge of the power of your love and your strength and increased wisdom.

As awareness itself,

Witness whatever thoughts you may have around grief.

Be awareness itself as you witness any energy that the emotion of grief evokes.

Or any other emotion you may be aware of in this moment,

Which could be the opposite of grief.

Remember the colors and the vibrations where you feel it in your body.

As awareness itself,

Witness the sensations in your body,

Maybe revisiting the place where it feels like grief lives in your body.

Or notice whatever you're most aware of in the sensation of your body.

And you may be curious as to whether or not anything feels like it has changed.

Remember in this moment your sanctuary.

This is your place of solace,

The time when you felt love,

Wholeness,

Calm,

And peace.

Remember the scenes,

That scene with the smells and the tastes.

And in your mind,

I want you to repeat your sankalpa.

Repeat after me.

In your mind,

I acknowledge my grief as a witness of my love,

A testament of my strength,

And a guide leading me toward my highest being.

I acknowledge my grief as a witness of my love,

A testament of my strength,

And a guide leading me toward my highest being.

In a few moments,

We will finish our yoga nidra practice.

And because of this practice,

You will move forward along the pathway of your grief.

This practice is the power to strengthen you,

Even after it's finished,

It will continue to work through you.

Do this practice as often as you feel you need to.

Through experience yourself as awareness,

You source your grief to access the limitless wellspring of your heart.

This gives you immense power.

This power will fuel you to live your highest purpose in your life.

May your heart be strong and your love everlasting.

In a moment,

I will count down from five and that will signal the end of our yoga nidra practice.

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Yoga Nidra is over.

Reviews

Thank you. My body needed that.

Beautiful practice inviting us to witness how grief moves through our physical, mental and emotion body. It helped me remember grief is not forever, I can hold lightness and grief at once and that grief is a portal into the heart. There is music at the end but no bell which I appreciate. Thank you for this offering!

The san Copa was so beautiful I had to write it down

Very soothing, helping me to accept what I'm feeling as, well as calming myself. Thank you.

Scott, your sankulpa…brought tears to my eyes. It was just what I needed after losing my brother. I will write this down to use over and over and pass it on to my family.

With all my thanks and gratitude. 💙

Great

Thank you for this sleep inducing, calmitude. Namaste

So to-the-point and soothing. Thank you so much

Thank you 🙏🏽

What a gentle safe space you’ve created, for allowing what is. 🙏

Wow. Wow. Gratitude. Peace. Wow.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom in skillful guidance

This brought such healing and peace on a really hard day, when a dear loved one passed. Thank you 🙏

That was lovely to be able to come back into my body and feel. 🙏🏻

Very powerful. I resisted at first but am glad I ended up trusting the process in part due to your matter-of-fact way of speaking. I felt myself as pure awareness for a brief time. Thank you.

Very helpful. The mantra is perfect and helps calm the heaviness of the heart.

This really helped me today. Thank you.

I value his intuitive understanding of grief as a valued guest and honored visitor in our life.

Iincredibly powerful, beautifully executed, this is a practice I will do again and again to help heal the grief of losing my son. This is a powerful new perspective on grief, held within the beautiful space of yoga nidra. Thank you so much for this!

thank you for that