So coming to a comfortable seat for a moment,
Let us find a comfortable seat,
Close the eyes and feel the pelvis on the ground and just begin to connect to the breath.
Connect to the body.
Connecting to what is underneath the body.
And just taking a few moments here to arrive,
To center,
And to listen and notice.
How are you?
How are you in this moment?
Just listening to and connecting with the various aspects of you.
How is the mind?
How are the thoughts?
How is the heart?
What emotions might you be noticing?
What emotions might be present that might be beneath the surface of the noticing?
Noticing the physical sensations in the body that are speaking in the form of subtle sensations,
Perhaps warmth or coolness,
Tingling,
Perhaps a prickliness or just the presence of sensation in the body.
Notice what the body feels and what the body is aware of in this moment.
Noticing perhaps as you close the eyes that there is an awareness of darkness,
Of spaciousness,
Of the unseen,
Of the void.
Notice what is your relationship with the shadow,
In this moment,
What is your relationship with darkness,
With the unseen?
And sensing the ground underneath the body,
And sensing in a subtle way that the body,
The sitting bones,
The pelvis can receive energy like electrical currents of energy and light from the ground,
From the earth.
And this ripple energy wave of light can move from the pelvis up the spine to the crown of the head and forming a sense of length,
Of liftedness,
Of inherent dignity and presence through the body,
Through the spine.
And bringing the awareness to the navel center,
Noticing the body breathing,
And perhaps visualizing a tiny flame right at the solar plexus.
Sensing your eternal flame,
Your infinite nature,
This fire,
This warmth,
This light.
As the body inhales,
Sensing that the breath is fanning the flames of this fire,
This light.
And as the body exhales,
The fire is emitted outward.
It grows in strength.
And very slowly now,
We're going to come to bring the pinky fingers to touch and the ring fingers to touch.
So just the pinky fingers are touching,
And ring fingers are touching very gently and holding the hands a couple of inches in front of the navel,
In front of the body.
And bringing the awareness to the dominant hand.
Bringing the awareness to your dominant hand and sensing that this hand represents and symbolizes the conscious mind,
Your limited consciousness,
That which you can know and see and touch,
That which you are aware of and know that you know.
And bringing the awareness to the non-dominant hand.
And the non-dominant hand represents and symbolizes your unlimited consciousness,
The subterranean unknown,
That which is deeply known but beneath the surface of conscious awareness.
And then bringing the awareness to the subtle space where the fingers are meeting,
Where the pinky fingers are touching,
Where the ring fingers are touching.
Noticing the merging of these two worlds.
Where do they meet?
Where do they intersect?
Where do they cross over?
Where do they reside?
And I will now chant the mantra to the goddess of yoga nidra,
Inviting us into this space of preparing to yield,
To let go,
To rest,
And connect to the inner light that continues to shine brightly on the darkest of days.
Ya devi sarva buddhe shu nidro rupena samsthita namastasye namastasye namastasye namo namah ya devi sarva buddhe shu nidro rupena samsthita namastasye namastasye namastasye namo namah ya devi sarva buddhe shu nidro rupena samsthita namastasye namastasye namastasye namo namah ya devi sarva buddhe shu nidro rupena samsthita namastasye namo namah ya devi sarva buddhe shu namastasye namo namah ya devi sarva buddhe shu nidro rupena samsthita namastasye namo namah ya devi sarva buddhe shu moving slowly and gently and sweetly and carefully as if you were tucking a sweet babe into a night of rest notice if there's anything that your sweet babe needs a pillow underneath the head or an extra pillow to go underneath the knees or a blanket over the body tucking in your sweet self to your resting pose and the recommended position for the body is feet about hips with distance apart and arms slightly away from the body and palms facing up in a gesture of receptivity on your next exhale notice what it might feel like to offer offer the bones,
The muscles,
The tissues,
And the cells of the body over into the earth notice what it feels like to yield to mother nature to the earth herself,
To the goddess of yoga nidra and allow her to hold you,
To support you,
To welcome you,
And to guide you home to your natural resting state as the body inhales,
Sensing the ground rising,
Swelling to hold the body and as the body exhales,
Sensing the body resting,
Softening,
And letting go into the support of that hold and gently noticing as the body inhales the body receives the support of the ground as the body exhales,
The ground receives the weight of the body and to whatever degree feels most appropriate for you letting go,
Letting go,
Letting go,
Noticing the subtle nuanced relationship relationship between ground and body between body and ground and beginning at the number 10 counting each individual exhaling breath starting at 10 and moving all the way down to zero and letting the body go,
Letting the mind soften letting the weight release into the earth with each exhaling breath and if you lose count,
Simply begin again back at 10 and releasing that counting breath wherever you are,
Letting that go gently bringing the awareness to the space between the eyebrows the skin of the third eye center and imagine placing a healing starlight vibration of eternal healing light right at the center of the third eye and as the body exhales yielding and releasing,
Softening and letting go in the mind in the center of the throat and as you exhale,
Softening,
Softening,
Softening,
And letting go in the right shoulder joint and as you exhale,
Softening,
Softening,
Softening,
And letting go placing a healing eternal starlight flame of light exhaling,
Letting go right elbow joint right wrist joint tip of the right thumb tip of the index finger tip of the middle finger tip of the ring finger tip of the pinky finger right wrist joint eternal starlight light starlight point of light right elbow joint right shoulder joint center of the throat left shoulder joint left elbow joint right wrist joint left wrist joint tip of the left thumb tip of the index finger tip of the middle finger tip of the ring finger tip of the left pinky finger left wrist joint healing starlight point of light left elbow joint left shoulder joint center of the throat center between the chest eternal starlight point of healing light right side of the chest left side of the chest center between the chest navel center point right hip joint right ankle joint tip of the big right toe starlight point of eternal light second toe third toe fourth toe the little toe on the right foot right ankle joint right knee joint right hip joint left knee joint left ankle joint tip of the big left toe second toe third toe fourth toe the little toe on the left foot third toe left ankle joint left knee joint navel center center of the midbrain third eye center sensing the presence of eternal starlight illuminating with effervescent cleansing light rippling and reverberating radiating through the whole body filling every cell with sacred spacious sensing the palpability of this radiance the potency of this glow the presence of this light sensing that all of this inner starlight could gather into one ball of eternal light and this force field of light could be projected upward into into the night sky until the body is lying beneath the radiant glow of this light which now resides within you and is warmly projected around you holding you in a cosmic cocoon of warm protective light cradling you holding you allowing you to be in this space and bringing the awareness to the body breathing notice how the breath naturally moves into the body and notice how the breath is offered and gently pulled into the surrounding space and bringing the awareness to the places and spaces where the physical body is in direct contact with the ground feeling the earth and bringing the awareness to the hands and the fingers feeling the aliveness the presence of life and energy in the hands and bringing the awareness to the feet and the toes feeling the presence of life and energy in the feet and gently begin to wiggle the toes and brush the thumbs against each of the other four fingers one at a time and slowly bend the knees and bring the feet onto the ground feeling the soles of the feet make contact with the earth and then come to roll onto the right side of the body and taking a few moments here to be with the energy of the mother cradling holding supporting nourishing and nurturing you in this space sensing that you can receive these qualities from the divine mother and also offer these qualities to yourself as a generous act of grace and very slowly come to a comfortable seated position moving nice and slow taking your time and as you come to your comfortable seat sitting here for a few moments to bask in the presence of you and the energy that has been cultivated within you through this practice of rest and when you're ready inhale to reach the arms overhead take a big beautiful stretch upward and exhale bring the hands to the center of the chest palms press bowing the chin towards the chest bringing the head towards the heart and lifting the heart towards the head in gratitude for this opportunity to remember and cultivate this inner radiance and this deep peace may the radiance and peace that we have cultivated internally in this practice be offered externally as a unified intention and vibration and prayer for peace both deeply within ourselves and also in our relationships our communities and our world deep full inhale and deep complete exhale letting it all go and begin to rub the hands together create some friction some heat some warmth in the hands and bringing the hands over the eyes gently cupping the eyes in a gesture of sweet and subtle spacious and grace filled transition and when you're ready let the eyes flutter open let the finger separate notice what you see
