As we begin our yoga nidra practice,
Finding your breath,
Your life force,
And let yourself resource completely on that next in-breath.
And release completely on the next out-breath.
Allow yourself to connect with all your senses.
Feel the coolness and the warmth.
Come and cool simultaneously.
Feel the heaviness and the lightness.
Notice the pleasantness of our full potential.
And the fear and pain it might take to get there.
What we may have already experienced.
Allow both to be present at the same time.
Notice all your parts that are activated.
And all your parts that feel relaxed and safe.
Notice that both can be co-occurring.
Free and peacefulness.
Anger and joy.
Sadness and ease.
Allowing yourself to be just as you are.
Complicated and simple.
And if you've been moving a lot already.
You may want to allow yourself to continue to rest,
To relax into falling in love with yourself at this moment,
With being.
And if movement would be welcome in your practice of yoga nidra,
Feel free to move in any way that makes sense to your body.
You allow yourself to connect with loving kindness and whatever else is here.
Open,
Gentle,
Kind.
Bringing your attention to your belly button.
Imagining a smile that spreads down through your pelvic area and into your legs and feet.
A smile that spreads on up through your torso and your back,
Your arms and hands.
Smiling all the way through your neck and your head and face.
One big beautiful smile.
Might even play a little on your lips,
From the crown of your head to the tips of your toes,
Feeling it in your heels,
Your ankles,
Your knees,
Your hips smiling,
Your shoulders and your spine,
Elbows and wrists,
All the knuckles on your hands,
Your neck,
Your face,
Your skull,
Beautiful smile,
From the top of your head all the way through your body down to your feet.
Just beginning to gently roll your toes,
Your ankles,
Wiggling toes and ankles,
Fingers and wrists,
Beginning slowly to come out of the deeper practice,
Bringing feet to the earth,
Knees up towards the sky.
Get a few pelvic tilts in as we begin to wake our bodies up,
Pressing that lower back into the earth and then creating a little space under there,
Pelvic tilts back and forth,
Just rolling on that lower back.
You may even want to hug your legs into your belly,
Bring your arms around the top of your legs and get a nice little squeeze in there,
All your organs,
Getting a little massage,
Rolling around on your lower back,
Maybe bringing your feet up,
Do an inversion pose here,
Leading with your heels,
Pressing the lower back into the earth.
You could support your lower back by placing your hands under your hips,
Under your buttocks there just kind of giving a little extra support.
We're going to hang out here for anyone who would like to a little bit longer,
Feeling the heat here.
You could open your legs into a V,
Slightly bend your knees,
Just wiggle your legs,
Just move them around a little bit.
Arms can be involved here,
You can raise your arms up towards the ceiling,
Just get a nice little stretch in.
You could do a baby pose,
Grabbing your big toes if you want to and just rolling around.
We don't have to take ourselves too seriously,
Just begin to move in any way that feels good.
You could put your feet down on the ground,
Raise your hips up,
You might want to remove your pillow if it's big here and just let that stress release out of the body,
Getting a little semi-bridge in,
Pressing into the shoulders,
Breathing.
These are all invitations,
You can do whatever your body feels like it needs at any given time and if you don't want to have to think about it,
You can follow me slowly,
Bringing yourself down so that your spine is rolling back onto the mat and then bringing your legs over to one side for a spinal twist,
Arms and hands and shoulders go the opposite direction.
Just hanging out here,
Breathing and being.
And switching over,
Bringing the legs to the other side and arms to the opposite side.
Then take a moment to roll over onto your side,
Maybe you hang out here for a few seconds,
Taking a little pillow with your arms or you could come all the way onto your belly or onto all fours,
Your choice.
Get some cat cows in or you could just rest a little bit longer.
If you're on your side,
You might want to start to bring yourself up to seated and if you're in cat cow,
Go ahead and bring yourself down into child's pose if you'd like.
Bringing your legs to either side of your mat and then just leaning down to place your forehead on the mat,
Arms can be straight.
Child's pose is a great resting way to also release tension that can build up in that lower back from all the sitting that we tend to do.
It isn't so natural for us actually.
So stretching it out and then just taking a moment to bring yourself back up to a seated position.
You can let your head come down,
Release the vagus nerve that goes from the middle of the brain down through the spine and into the perineum.
It loves to be released.
Just let that stress go,
Anything that feels excessive.
Get some neck rolls in.
Start opening stretch,
Clasping your hands in front of you,
Reaching up and over,
Up and over,
Up and back.
Reach your hands out to either side and slightly back and then move your body in any way that feels good.
Just shake it out.
And then place your hands either in prayer pose at the heart or palms down.
Just take a moment to thank yourself for practicing mindfulness and yoga nidra and being open to abundance and open to all the parts that feel like they're lacking.
See if you can bring some loving kindness into your experience,
Releasing the past to the extent that you can,
Allowing memories to be gentle.
Few more moments of letting planning be gentle in the future,
Knowing that we're wired to figure things out and know what's happening.
That's fine.
And just taking a couple more breaths right here in this moment and thanking yourself for being as you are,
For being here,
For practicing with yourself and all your parts and with others who are practicing close by and far away.
Namaste.
