Please get ready for yoga nidra.
Yoga nidra is a gradual process intended to take you deeper into an altered state of consciousness between awake and asleep.
You will be fully conscious but your body and mind are fully at rest and ease.
Unlike in a dream state,
In yoga nidra you're the captain of your dreams.
When you set a conscious intention or a sankalpa at the beginning of your yoga nidra practice and allow for deep relaxation of the body,
Mind,
And emotions,
Your unconscious opens up to new ways of thinking,
Healing,
And fulfilling your conscious intentions.
Begin by lying down flat on your back,
Keeping the spine in one straight line.
Allow yourself to be comfortable and supported,
Maybe setting a pillow underneath your knees,
Covering yourself in a blanket to stay warm,
Or anything else to allow your body to rest in shavasana.
Feel the ground beneath you,
Supporting you.
As you enter into this meditative experience,
I invite you to welcome all sensations,
Emotions,
Thoughts,
Urges,
And images as messages that can lead you to awareness and wholeness.
I invite you to become aware of your natural state of being,
One of love,
Peace,
And unchanging equanimity.
To begin to sense that there is a part of you that is okay,
No matter what else is happening to your body,
Your mind,
And in your life,
When you are able to access this inner wisdom,
You are able to welcome all that life has to offer you,
To allow,
Accept,
And know how to respond to all that you encounter in your life.
Your unchanging essence of peace and wisdom is always there and can always be accessed.
You are a timeless presence in which everything arises and dissolves.
I invite you to affirm to yourself,
I am awake,
I am aware,
And I am at ease.
As you feel the earth beneath you and supporting you,
Is there a heartfelt desire that lives inside you right now?
Is there something that you want more than anything else in the world?
Perhaps it is to be whole or healed,
To be healthy or to trust and be at peace with everything that life brings,
Or perhaps it is to live a life full of joy.
There are no right or wrong answers.
If you have discovered a heartfelt desire,
Place your desire in the present as if it were a fact.
I am whole.
I am healed.
I am deeply connected to myself and others.
Allow yourself to experience this as truth within your entire body.
If you cannot think of your heartfelt desire,
That is perfectly okay.
It is part of your experience in this moment.
Notice the thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations that are arising and dissolving.
Let your heartfelt desire go.
It may show up later in practice or at a later time.
Reaffirm,
I am awake,
I am aware,
And I am at ease.
Explore with a sense of curiosity what it is like to be you today.
Bring awareness to your physical body.
What does it feel like today?
Perhaps there are areas of relaxation or tension.
Sinking or floating,
Tingling,
Numbness,
Pulsing,
Contraction,
Spaciousness,
Electricity,
Flowing,
Fluttery,
Or a lack of sensation.
Can you sense witness?
Allow and accept all sensations and thoughts that arise.
Allow your awareness to flow into the jaw inviting in sensation.
Inviting awareness and sensation in the lips,
Mouth,
Roof of the mouth,
Sides of the mouth,
And the bottom of the mouth.
Inviting awareness and sensation in the tongue,
Then sensing the whole mouth and tongue simultaneously as an orb of radiant sensation.
Become aware of the sensations in the entire mouth from the lips to the back of the throat.
Guide your sense of attention from the back of the throat to the space just inside the ears.
Notice what you can feel within the ears.
Notice what you feel on the lobes and the upper ear.
Become aware of the sensation of the left and right cheeks,
The cheeks just below the eyes,
The space between the cheek and the bottom of your eyelid,
The top of your eyelid,
The space between both eyelids.
Become aware of and completely relax the space behind the eyelids.
Feel how deeply you can sense the feelings within the eyeballs,
The eyes sinking into the back of the head.
Become aware of your whole head all at once,
Feeling the spaciousness of your whole head.
Allow the head to be heavy and relaxed.
Become aware of the sensation in the neck,
The space at the front of the throat where the breath is drawn in and out,
The sides of the neck where it connects to the shoulders on the left and on the right,
The space of the back of the neck connecting to the back of the head.
Drawing your awareness of sensation into the left shoulder,
Feel the whole left shoulder and upper arm,
The space of the left elbow and the left forearm,
The left wrist and the left hand.
Become aware of the space within the right shoulder and the right upper arm.
Notice what sensations you can feel in the right elbow,
The right forearm.
Allow yourself to feel fully the right wrist and the right hand.
Become aware of both arms at once,
Allowing them to stay completely still.
Reaffirm,
I am awake,
I am aware,
And I am at ease.
Become aware of the front of the torso,
The space between the breast bones,
The right rib cage,
The left rib cage,
The right shoulder blade,
And the left shoulder blade.
Feel the sensation in the whole spine.
From back of the neck all the way to the tailbone,
Become aware of the feelings within your spine,
The feeling of the left hip,
The left hip and the left thigh,
The knee,
The calf and the shin,
The left ankle and the left foot.
Become aware of the right hip,
The right leg from thigh to hip.
Allow yourself to feel the right knee,
The right calf and shin.
What does it feel like in the space of your right ankle and your right foot?
Feel both legs all at once,
Noticing each sensation within both legs.
And from head to toe become aware of what it feels like to be within your own body.
Notice the sensations,
Invite awareness of these sensations from head to toe.
Feel the whole body full of sensation.
Be aware of the whole body,
Noticing what it feels like to be you in this present moment.
Say to yourself,
I am awake,
I am aware,
And I am at ease.
Bring awareness to your breath,
Awareness to the flow of your breath.
Notice the breath coming in,
The breath going out.
Become attuned to your natural pattern of breathing in this moment.
Don't make any efforts to change it or to concentrate on the process,
But just feel the ebb and flow of life's force coming in and going out.
Allow each breath coming in to nourish you.
Allow each exhalation to bring your body to relaxation.
Feel the connection between the body and the ground beneath you.
Feel your body supported by the ground beneath you.
Can you imagine a time or place where you felt completely safe and at ease?
An inner resource where you feel peaceful or loved,
Whole,
Connected,
Complete.
It could be a place that is real or a place that you have imagined.
A time or place that is from the past,
The present,
Or within your mind.
Bring this to mind and maybe it's not a place,
Maybe it's just a feeling,
Or maybe it's the company of a loved one,
A presence.
Perhaps the feeling of the sun warming up your face as you sit on a beach,
Or snuggling close to a child or a pet.
Perhaps the feeling of wind on your face.
If you've found your place of safety,
Can you enliven it with all your senses?
Become aware of what you see in this space.
What can you hear?
What can you smell?
Can you embody a sense of safety and ease?
What does it feel like to be in your body,
To be safe and at ease?
A place of safety may not have shown itself to you today.
That's part of your perfect experience.
Perhaps in time an inner resource may present itself to you.
This resource you can turn to at any time you need to feel centered,
Safe,
And at ease.
We welcome the opposite sensations within the body.
Allow your attention to wander through the body,
Noticing sensations and exploring with curiosity what it feels like to be within your body.
Knowing that if you have your inner resource of peace you can return to it at any time.
Notice in the body perhaps that there are some areas of tension or relaxation.
Areas of warmth or of coolness.
Areas of heaviness or lightness.
Spaciousness or constriction.
Allow your awareness to settle in on one sensation.
Notice if you can give up analyzing and describing.
Just be with your body with your awareness on that one sensation,
Allowing it to be.
What is the texture of the sensation?
Where is it located?
See if you can sense this sensation rather than analyzing it.
Concerned with its origins.
Just observe it with curiosity.
Does the sensation move?
Does it change in intensity?
Watch and allow all thoughts to come up.
All sensations and emotions passing by,
Arriving and dissolving.
And once you have a hold of this sensation can you locate the opposite sensation within your body?
If you felt warmth look for that space of coolness.
If you felt constriction looking for spaciousness.
Feeling relaxation,
Find tension.
Notice what that feels like in your body going back and forth between the two opposite sensations.
Be curious about these feelings.
Can you feel both sensations at the same time?
No worries if you can't.
There's no right or wrong way to feel.
Accept what you do feel in this moment.
Simply exploring what is there.
Accepting what isn't.
It may not happen today but perhaps with time and practice feeling both sensations in the same moment.
Let go of this experience.
Letting it dissolve.
I am awake.
I am aware.
I am at ease.
And now we will explore welcoming the opposite sensation of emotions and beliefs.
Using a sense of curiosity to gradually build up the tolerance for sensation and the capacity for acceptance and emotional flexibility through the exploration of dualities.
Healing through welcoming both the positive and the negative.
Bring your awareness back to the ground.
Feeling it support you.
As before allowing any space that's needed for that space of peace returning to that tranquil location within your mind.
Now explore what it feels like when you believe you are capable.
When you feel powerful,
Vital,
Trusting in yourself and trusting in your power.
What does it feel like when you have that fire inside of you?
Can you feel a sensation?
Where does that sensation live within your body?
Warmth,
Capability,
Vitality,
Power,
Trust,
Fire.
Can you feel these sensations within your body?
And can you explore,
Invite the sensation of the opposite emotion and belief?
How it feels to be disconnected,
Incapable,
Confused,
Untrusting in yourself or others,
Collapse.
Where do you notice these qualities residing in your body?
Can you let them in without rejecting or pushing away?
Coolness,
Disconnection,
Incompetence,
Confusion,
Untrusting,
Collapsed.
Feel the ground beneath you.
Staying grounded with the body,
Can you alternate between these two opposites?
Warmth and coolness,
Capability and incompetence,
Power and vitality,
Confusion,
Trust,
Untrusting,
Fire,
Ice.
Going back and forth between the two opposite sensations without trying to hold on to one or push the other away.
Be curious if you can feel both sensations at the same time.
You may not be able to feel them simultaneously.
Simply go back and forth between the two feelings and beliefs.
And now letting go of that experience.
Choose a memory that brings positive emotions and sensations into the body.
A memory that brings an embodiment of great joy,
A time when you felt blissful.
Perhaps it was an event,
Time spent with a loved one.
Welcome the memory into your awareness.
Allow all of the senses of perception to participate in the experience.
Seeing this memory,
Hearing what's around you,
Perhaps the voices of another,
The sounds of nature.
Invite the experience of tasting and smelling.
What aromas and flavors do you associate with this memory of joy?
What can you feel on the skin?
What thoughts are you having within this memory?
Allow all of your senses to live within this experience.
And if you are able to find this joy,
Explore it.
What does it feel like to have joy embodied?
Where do you feel the sensations of joy within your body?
And now alternating between experiencing through the senses and observing.
Step into the experience and really feel the joy,
Saying I am joy.
What does it feel like to be one with the experience?
And then stepping out and being aware of the feeling sensations.
I am aware of the joy.
What is it like to be aware of the experience?
Once again stepping in,
I am joy.
And stepping out,
I am aware of joy.
Stepping in and out,
Letting the I dissolve,
Being joy,
Being aware of joy.
Joy in the present moment,
Awareness in the present moment.
Letting go of this experience,
Feel the grounding of your body,
Feel your mat and the supports underneath you.
Bring your awareness to your internal experience,
Allowing all thoughts,
Emotions,
Behaviors and images to enter your mind as messages,
Leading you to your authentic self.
From within this space you may begin to open the eyes just softly enough to see the world around you,
Noticing the play of light and shadows.
Hear the sounds that exist in the room around you.
Perhaps you can see something in your peripheral vision,
Just noticing,
Exploring your external experience,
Moving between the inner landscape and then focusing on the external landscape.
Taking note of what you can feel within,
Observing what you can explore without,
Internal and external,
Back and forth between these two opposites.
When you are ready,
Allow the eyes to remain open,
Beginning to softly let a little movement come into your fingers and toes,
Repeating to yourself one last time your greatest desire and arriving from this practice into the embodiment of that desire.
The practice of yoga nidra is now over.
