Allowing yourself to adopt Shavasana if you aren't already there,
Adopting a comfortable place on your mat or outside in the grass or on your bed.
Wherever you are,
Allow yourself to be as comfortable as possible.
Letting the earth hug you as she spins.
Letting the spaciousness all around you.
Great openness and possibilities for your practice this evening and for your life off the mat.
Yoga Nidra is a practice of falling in love,
My teacher used to tell me,
Jennifer Cabanero,
We learned from Richard Miller about love,
What it's like to fall in love with ourselves,
With life,
With each other.
When we're falling in love,
All the little things really don't matter.
All those things that can get on our nerves when we're not feeling in love,
They just don't matter.
We just meet them with excitement and joy and it's a pretty awesome natural high.
So as you practice this evening,
Allowing yourself to connect with your self energy,
Feelings of compassion and calm,
Of curiosity without an agenda,
With confidence that we can just be who we are in all our messed up-ness and all our glory,
Our competence,
Pull on just allowing ourselves to be as we are.
We don't have to do anything else,
Just being here in Shavasana,
Allowing ourselves to be creative in our approach to our practice.
So maybe laying down is where it's at for you and you can allow yourself to rest completely and if in any given moment your body's like,
Oh,
I actually really need to move because I've been sitting way too much today or you have energy that's just coursing through you that's not really allowing you to relax and if that's the case,
Then let creativity be here.
Let yourself move.
Maybe that's just laying and stretching and moving around on your mat in some yoga poses or some stretches led by your body's wisdom or maybe you wind up standing up and stretching out and bending over.
So I invite you this evening to really let yourself be creative.
If you have a blanket nearby and you are going to just let yourself go into a yogic sleep,
Which yoga nidra can be,
Then go ahead and let that blanket cover your body because our temperature does tend to drop.
If you have a sweatshirt or something nearby,
Go ahead and cover yourself up so that you can be as comfy as possible as you come into yourself and let this practice be a practice of loving kindness,
Allowing for all the parts of us to be present.
Perhaps abundance is resonating for us and we let Deepak's words carry us into bliss and perhaps there's parts that are like,
Eh,
I feel it.
I am actually feeling really f-ing upset or exhausted from it all or just over it or maybe something challenging has happened today or this week and you're kind of laying here mulling it over.
So we're going to just open to all of these feelings.
The unpleasant and the pleasant.
And we're going to bring our attention first into our bodies and just feel what's happening here.
Notice any places that might be holding tension and bring your breath and some gentleness into these areas.
Just allow yourself to do a little body scan from the top of your head where the space between you and the rest of the universe is,
All the way down through your face and head,
Your neck,
Shoulders and as we scan our bodies in this way,
Let yourself bring your breath on this journey with us,
Literally resourcing our physical being as we move on down through our arms and our hands,
Our fingers and our wrists,
Elbows and shoulders.
And as we notice our bodies allowing on the out breath a release of anything that we no longer need.
Our bodies keep score of our experiences and when we're unconscious we tend to hold a lot of it inside in our organs and our bones and our muscles and nerves.
So as we breathe and practice we bring our attention down through the heart,
The chest,
The back,
Into the belly,
The lower back,
The hips,
The pelvic area,
On through our legs and our feet,
To our toes,
Our heels and ankles and back up through our knees,
To our hips and the spine,
All the way back through all our organs,
Up through the throat and back,
To the back of the head and the crown of the head and sending some love to our bodies,
Just thanking our physical beings for all that they do for us,
These bodies,
All that they do for others.
And if you're laying down maybe bringing your attention to your mouth and if you've decided to stand just bringing your attention also to your mouth while simultaneously feeling your feet.
Taste,
Just let yourself focus on the mouth,
The tongue and the cheeks,
The roof of the mouth,
Your teeth,
Taste and if you're standing go ahead and move in any way that feels right to you and if you're resting in either position going ahead and allowing your attention to come into your nose,
The nostrils and deep into the sinuses,
Smell.
From here allowing yourself to connect with your ears going through the canals left and right,
Sound,
All the way out to the outer ears,
The inner ears,
Sound inside us,
Sound outside us.
From here bringing your attention into your eyes,
The sockets of the eyes,
The eyeballs,
The eyelids,
The eyelashes,
Sight.
And from here letting your attention notice your skin where you're feeling cool and where you're feeling warm.
Your whole body from head to toe feeling the weight of your body being held by the surface of the earth,
Feeling the lightness of your body being pulled by the universal energy expanding,
Open.
Realizing warmth and coolness,
Weight and lightness simultaneously.
Noticing all the places that ache and all the places that feel rested and vibrant.
Bringing your attention to your heart,
Noticing all the ways it's hurting,
Noticing all the ways it's healing,
And let yourself be with both.
The pain and the salve of life.
If your mind is busy telling stories,
Let a smile arrive on your lips when you have awareness of all the novels and short stories and poems and all the ways your mind tells the stories of your life and others lives.
Just send it some love and then let that smile that's forming on your lips spread throughout your entire body down to the belly button,
Down to your toes,
From the toes all the way through the body back up through into the head so that your one big body smile.
Just let yourself hang out in joy and contentedness,
Happiness,
Ease.
Feel the warmth of your smile,
The coolness.
Let yourself be just as you are,
Allowing loving kindness to be part of your practice this evening.
With yourself and all the parts of you,
With your breath,
With your mind and your body,
With your heart,
With your spirit,
Letting your awareness expand beyond the you in this body and heart and mind,
Connecting with fellow practitioners,
With loved ones,
With liked ones,
With those who are having a hard time with us,
Those that are having a hard time with others,
Those that we're having a hard time with and those that are just simply having a hard time,
All the way out there to those that are feeling incredible,
That are doing great,
That we don't know out there to humanity and all the animals that we share the planet with,
All the elements,
Expanding your awareness on out there from earth into our universe and beyond to the mystery,
Beyond what we know.
Let yourself feel a part,
Let yourself be tiny and important and a part of something greater.
And then bringing your consciousness back into your body,
Into your toes as you begin to wiggle them and wake yourself up slowly from a deeper practice,
Just rolling those ankles around.
You can bring your arms up and if you have a pillow that you've been resting on,
Go ahead and remove that,
Get a nice stretch in,
Heels in one direction,
Crown of the head and arms and hands and fingers in the opposite direction,
Just moving now,
Rolling those wrists around,
Moving the fingers and toes,
Feet and hands,
Arms and legs.
And you could make a little pillow with your hands and bring your legs up to an inverted pose,
Leading with the heels,
Getting a nice stretch in here or you could put your hands under your lower back for a little extra support.
I'm going to hang out here for a little while if you're following my movements or feel free to be creative and do whatever your body needs.
And if you're following along with me,
Go ahead and open the legs,
Get a nice V in,
A little stretch here and bringing them back together,
Bending the knees,
Bringing them in towards the belly.
You can wrap your arms around the knees and bring your head up.
Just roll around on your lower back here,
Releasing any tension from that lower back,
The hips.
The belly is getting a nice massage as we bring the legs on in and then releasing,
Letting the head rest,
The feet come flat onto the ground,
Knees go up towards the sky.
Let's do some pelvic tilts here,
Pressing the lower back in.
You can have your hands back behind you,
A little pillow or alongside your body and just pressing that lower back in and then creating some space by lifting the lower back,
Tilting the pelvis back and forth,
Just rocking here,
Loosening up the pelvic area that can tend to get pretty tight with all the sitting that we do.
And just loosening that up.
You can get creative in this,
It doesn't have to just be a front and back tilt,
It can involve moving around a little side to side.
And then go ahead and let the legs fall to one side,
Get a spinal twist in,
Arms go to the opposite side.
Just hang out here,
Get a nice stretch in.
And then bring it over,
Legs go in the opposite direction,
Arms over to the other side.
And then you can bring yourself over to one side,
Make a little pillow,
Hang out here on the side for a moment.
We're just slowly waking our system up,
Coming out of the deeper yogic practice,
Stretching outside.
If you want to do some leg lifts here,
You could give yourself extra support with one hand,
Palm down in front of you,
The other one,
You can let your head rest and just lifting the leg up and back down again.
You could pulse at the top with the leg,
Rolling the ankles around the toes,
And then back down again.
Belly is active here,
Pressing in towards the spine,
Glutes also are active.
Using these muscles to lift the leg and then bringing the leg back down so it meets your other one and then opening the leg up so that your feet are connected and your knees are now opening up,
Separating out.
And if that's confusing and you haven't done this one before,
Don't worry about it.
Just move your legs in any way that makes sense to you as you're laying here on your side and just opening up the pelvic area.
Stretching out again,
Arms and legs in opposite directions and then coming on over to your belly.
You can rest your head in one direction and find your breath.
Just resting on your hands and arms like a little pillow.
Really giving yourself credit for taking the time today to love yourself in this way,
To slow down and be kind and conscious.
Feel the breath as it comes in,
The chest rises,
The belly fills and then it releases.
We are wired to be well,
Resourcing and releasing.
So allow this natural ability that you have to be well.
Just unfold as you practice bringing yourself over to the other side of your body,
Stretching out on the opposite side now.
Arms in one direction,
Legs in the other and then you can make a little pillow with your arm that's on the earth and the other one can be palmed down in front of you as you lift your legs up and down.
Just that leg going up and down.
Feeling the heat here,
Waking up the glutes,
The belly supporting your lower back.
And you can play around with pointing your toes and then flexing.
And then hang out at the top of the next time your leg is lifted and pulse a little bit here.
Leading with the heel and then back down again,
Up and down.
Feeling some warmth as our bodies wake up.
And then you can bring your feet and legs together,
Bring your heels towards your buttocks and then go ahead and open up from the knees.
Feet stay together and the knees are opening up.
Belly's lifting here.
And then stretching on out again,
Coming back to our belly and resting on the other side of our head,
On our pillows,
Our arms.
Finding your breath as you bring yourself up into child's pose.
We're into bridge,
Either way,
If you're going to do some cat cows,
You can just come up onto your hands and knees and round out your back.
And then bring it belly down and tail back,
Head back.
Maybe we do a few of these before we do child's pose.
Or if you're already in child's pose,
Just stretch it out there.
Knees will come out either side of the mat and then eventually down into child's pose.
So we've got our knees on either side of the mat.
Sit back as far as you can.
Reach forward with your arms,
Stretch out the back and then just let your forehead come down into the mat.
And then eventually coming back up to a seated position.
Go ahead and bring yourself back onto your stool or pillow if you have it or maybe you're just sitting cross-legged.
And checking in first with yourself,
Just connecting with how you're doing now versus how you were when you first came into your mindfulness practice this evening.
So just checking in.
Your eyes can still be closed for a few more moments as you find your breath.
Let your brain be gentle.
Working kindly with your heart.
And then gradually opening your eyes and we'll see who's here with us.
I'm going to bring you all a little closer so I can see you.
Hello everyone.
I don't know about anybody else but I feel a lot better.
So we would like to share how that meditation landed on you this evening and how you're doing,
How that life is landing on you this week.
Anybody want to lead connection tonight?
I'm not doing it.
All right.
I'm doing it.
Hi Ryan.
Okay.
You can do it.
It's okay.
Love it.
I really,
Really enjoyed Deepak's,
Or day 17 with Deepak.
It was,
I really liked it.
Something that growing up I would just naturally do,
But at some point becoming an adult and gaining responsibility,
There's expectations around you and it's just not so simple anymore.
But there was a point when it was like in this moment it totally is that simple effectively and I really,
Really appreciated that.
Thank you.
Yeah,
That resonated with me as well.
I think that moment of just breathing and in this moment you have everything that you need.
I think that especially in our daily lives we try to find what we need to do next and we're thinking about it and planning our days and our jobs and what our next goal is or what we need to make for dinner.
We're constantly feeling like we're not satisfied and just letting yourself be satisfied is kind of rare.
I don't really think about that very often,
So that was really nice.
True that,
Kimberly.
I thought that was good.
I have trouble with this everything's falling out.
What did he say?
I'm trying to remember him.
I'm going through my life carefree knowing all my needs are met.
That's pretty hard.
Yeah.
When we're not feeling like our needs are met and we're not feeling carefree it's a little hard to swallow.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah,
Totally.
That is a good point.
Yeah.
Yes.
How about the yoga nidra that allowed for those parts that were like,
Nah.
That was my favorite part of this week's practice.
Getting inside so much and really inflexible so being able to get back to yoga is hopefully going to make a big difference.
I can tell.
It's going to be a long road.
Yeah.
I second that.
I'm too stagnated lately so being able to just move the body.
Oh,
Yeah.
I've been playing around with the idea of maybe doing some standing up yoga at some point.
Yeah that would be nice,
Huh?
But at least we're stretching out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So,
Reece and Gretchen and Kimberly don't forget to say your names because there's people coming in and out that know each other and people that don't.
Reece.
Gretchen.
Yay.
I'm Kimberly.
Thank you.
Who else is here?
Oh,
Wayne's here.
Yay.
Oh,
Yeah.
I like to practice today but kind of touching out a lot of the body parts and thinking about them.
Waking them up.
Bringing them back to sleep.
Yeah,
We're all probably doing way too much sitting,
Right?
It's like,
Ahh.
Yes.
Yeah.
I really appreciated the yoga nidra today,
Especially with my asthma this week.
It's been really bad from allergies.
So just being able to be relaxed and to not be worried about my breath.
Oh,
Yeah.
I don't recommend it in the time of COVID having allergies or asthma.
Oh,
No.
You start coughing or feeling,
You're like,
Oh no,
Do I have Corona?
I'm sorry.
Thank you,
Sarah,
For reminding us of that.
So just having the time and the space to think about,
To find my breath without there being anxiety attached to it was a really nice and welcome feeling.
Sweet.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Does anyone else want to say anything before we close tonight?
I'm in San Diego.
I'm Sam.
And there's a weird shout out.
Hi,
Sam.
I didn't know you were there.
Sorry,
I'm not trying to find my face.
But yeah,
I don't have much to say because I fell asleep the entire time.
So what you were all saying about what Deepak was saying,
I have no idea.
And I had no idea he said that because I was completely knocked out.
That's amazing.
So maybe next week,
I'll be,
Last week I fell asleep also.
But maybe next week I'll be able to stay awake for it.
That's probably just what you needed.
So all good.
It definitely was.
Sweet.
Nice to have you all here.
Thank you for being you.
And I realized being here with us,
And I realized that I actually wound up recording all of our check-ins.
So if you don't want this one posted,
Just raise your hand or speak out and let me know.
Otherwise,
If you're silent,
I'm going to assume it's okay to post this on our WhatsApp.
I didn't cut it off at the end there.
So anybody prefer not to have their comments on WhatsApp with our group?
Everybody's okay with that?
Sweet.
Okay.
Well,
Thank you for being with us tonight and for being you.
And I want to invite you to go on out there into your evening and this week with the theme of loving kindness.
And maybe we're open to it being easy.
And maybe when it's not,
We can bring that reminder in that it's okay.
When it's not,
That we're okay.
Just as we are.
And I'll see you all next week.
Thank you.
Bye,
Everybody.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Hi.
Control.
I'm a communications,
Sir.
Yes.
I'm going to do it.
Hi.
Hi.
Hello.
Hi.
Hey.
At least I'm not showing up.
And I'm going to show you what that is.
Okay.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
