Yoga Nidra: On Love

This Yoga Nidra is inspired by the wisdom of nature and a medicine wheel teaching about LOVE which comes from the Siksika/Sauk (Blackfeet) people and was offered by an elder with permission to share here. The words and structure follow the iRest method.

Transcript

Welcome to this practice of Yoga Nidra.

This session is guided by me,

Simone McKay.

Before we begin,

I'd like to credit these teachings to the great mystery that is life.

The teaching regarding love comes from the Siksika Sauk people and was passed to me through an elder and shared here with permission.

I also use the words,

And structure according to eye rest or integrative restoration as taught by Richard Miller.

Let's begin.

Please settle into your practice of Yoga Nidra in a comfortable position,

Seated or lying back in Shavasana.

Arrange your body so that you feel completely supported for going into a deep state of self-inquiry.

Allow your legs to be apart,

Arms away from your body or gently resting in your lap if seated,

And palms turned upwards.

If lying back,

Place support under the back of your head so that your chin remains below the level of your forehead to assist your thinking mind to unwind,

And support your back by placing a blanket under your knees,

And place an eye bag over your eyes to ease the tension in your brain.

Now,

Allow your senses to be wide open,

Tasting,

Hearing,

Smelling,

Seeing,

Tactile sensation,

The feeling of the space within and around the body.

Sense the earth beneath you that is embracing the weight of your body,

Allowing each perception to come to you,

Feeling yourself as an openness of receptivity.

Without thinking about how to do this,

Simply allowing perceptions to arise naturally just as they are.

Welcoming.

In Yoga Nidra,

This is your opportunity to learn how to welcome and respond to your every perception,

Your every sensation,

Emotion,

Thought,

And experience.

As a messenger,

This is welcoming you back home to your natural ease of authentic being.

During this practice,

Take time to recognize the impulse that arises within you to desire things to be other than they are,

The impulse within you that wants to change what is into something else.

Simply note this tendency,

This tendency of your mind to want things to be other than they are,

And welcome this tendency too,

So that you find yourself accepting everything that is arising,

Just as it is,

Just as it is.

Now,

We will focus on our sankalpa.

This is a way of being that is born from the heart.

We will explore three parts to the sankalpa.

We will set an intention for this practice,

Then go deeper into your heartfelt desire,

And then explore an inner sanctuary that allows us to connect deeply to a place of safety and peace within the very ground of our being.

Intention.

Be aware now of your intention for this practice,

Perhaps to remain awake and alert,

Or to be aware of the feeling of your body as it shifts from one state to another,

Or it may be to remain present,

Aware,

And receptive to the full journey you are about to embark on.

Whatever your intention,

Affirm and deeply feel it with your entire body.

Heartfelt desire.

Now,

Feel into your heartfelt desire.

This is the heart's deepest purpose or code of values that guides you from within,

That lives inside you for health,

Healing,

Or awakening,

Allowing your heart's deepest longing to emerge as a tactile feeling and words that represent it.

Language it in the present tense,

Your heartfelt desire as an expression of present reality,

As an accomplished statement of fact.

Repeat it to yourself,

Several times.

Affirm and deeply feel it in your entire body.

Then let it go and revisit it again when prompted at the end of the practice.

Inner Sanctuary.

Welcome your inner resource,

An inner sanctuary.

Allow for a feeling of well-being in your body of ease and calmness.

Welcome all your senses to help evoke this inner sanctuary that fills you with a sense of well-being.

Sounds,

Smells,

Tastes.

This is a special place.

Perhaps other beings are present,

Like loved ones or animals or power animals,

A wise person or sacred objects that bestow blessings upon you.

Perhaps you are in a place in nature,

In a field,

By a lake,

On a beach,

In a forest,

On a mountaintop.

Bringing to mind other resources that evoke the feeling of deep peace and well-being.

And then allow these images to fade away and remain with the felt sense of well-being in your body.

Feeling secure,

Safe,

Protected,

And at ease.

During this practice,

Or any other time in life,

Should you feel distressed,

Remember and experience your inner sanctuary sensing yourself at ease,

Secure,

And comfortable.

And then return to meet,

Greet,

And welcome the distressing event while feeling your inner sanctuary of well-being.

The sheath of sensation.

Body sensing.

Sensing your mouth.

Lips.

Teeth.

Gums.

Ceiling of the mouth.

Floor.

Nails left and right.

Back of the throat.

Tongue.

Jaw.

The entire mouth and jaw as an orb of radiant sensation.

Shift all your attention to sensing and give up being involved with thinking.

Welcoming sensation just as it is.

Sensation of the left ear.

Right ear.

Welcoming both ears simultaneously as radiant sensation.

Left nostril.

Right nostril.

The flow of air and sensation inside both nostrils.

Left eye.

Eyebrow.

Temple.

Cheekbone.

Eye socket.

The entire left eye as an orb of radiant sensation.

Right eye.

Eyebrow.

Temple.

Cheekbone.

Eye socket.

The right eye as an orb of radiant sensation.

Both eyes simultaneously as a field of radiant sensation.

Without analyzing.

Sensing your way.

Mouth.

Ears.

Nose.

Eyes.

Forehead.

Scalp.

Back of the head.

Neck.

Inside the throat.

Left shoulder.

Left upper arm.

Elbow.

Forearm.

Wrist.

Left hand and fingers.

The entire left arm as radiant sensation.

Right shoulder.

Right upper arm.

Elbow.

Forearm.

Wrist.

Right hand and fingers.

The entire right arm as radiant sensation.

Give up analyzing.

Welcoming both arms as radiant sensation.

Upper chest.

Middle chest.

Abdomen and belly.

Upper back.

Middle back.

Lower back.

The entire back of the torso.

Front of the torso.

Sensing only.

Letting go of thinking.

The entire torso inside and outside as a field of radiant sensation.

Pelvis.

Sacrum.

The pelvis and sacrum as radiant sensation.

Left buttock.

Left hip.

Left thigh.

Left knee.

Left lower leg.

Ankle.

Left foot and toes.

The entire left leg as radiant sensation.

Alert.

Attentive.

Sensing the right buttock.

Right hip.

Right thigh.

Right knee.

Right lower leg.

Ankle.

Right foot and toes.

The entire right leg as radiant sensation.

Sensing both legs simultaneously as radiant sensation.

Sense the front of the body.

Back of the body.

Left side of the body.

Right side of the body.

Inside the body.

Sensing the entire body.

The entire body as radiant sensation.

The entire body as radiant sensation.

Welcoming all sensations.

Your full experience that are now present in awareness.

Reaching back into awareness and feel yourself dissolving into being awareness.

In which all these changing sensations are unfolding.

The sheath of breath and energy.

Sense your body breathing itself and the natural flow of sensation as air enters and leaves your nostrils.

The gentle rise and fall of the chest and abdomen with the breath.

Now bring attention into the left nostril while being aware of the entire left side of your body.

Sensation in the left side of the body from head to toes.

Front and back.

Inside and out.

Sensing and exploring the left side of the body and nostril.

Now shift attention into the right nostril while being aware of the entire right side of the body.

Sensation on the right side of the body from head to toes.

Front and back.

Inside and out.

Sensing and exploring the right side of the body and nostril.

And now begin alternating attention from one side of the body to the opposite.

At the top of each inhalation while gently retaining the breath,

Shift sensation across the midline into the opposite side of the body and nostril.

Exhaling,

Sense this nostril and side of the body.

Going back and forth at your own breathing speed.

Is soft and at ease.

Give up thinking.

Simply noting sensation first in one nostril and side of the body,

Then the other nostril and side of the body.

When distracted by a thought,

Bring attention back to the body breathing itself.

Alert and attentive to the breath alternating from one side of the body to the other.

Give time during retention for sensation to transfer across the midline of the body,

Saturating the side of the body with sensation before exhalation.

Now shift attention into both nostrils while sensing the entire body breathing itself naturally and easily.

Sense the whole body as radiant sensation.

Awareness.

Notice how your attention is naturally focused on the objects,

The perceptions that are arising and present within your body and mind.

Unwelcoming a sensation or an image or an emotion or a thought.

Meeting,

Greeting and welcoming each perception as it arrives in your awareness.

But take this moment to also shift your attention from being aware of these objects,

These perceptions,

To being attentive to the feeling of awareness itself,

To emphasizing being awareness,

Wherein you orient to awareness in which the objects of perception are arising as welcoming presence.

This awareness is immeasurable,

An openness ungraspable to the mind,

A vast open unchanging and ever-present spaciousness in which everything is arising,

Unfolding and dissolving,

A welcoming of everything just as it is.

And now we will take a journey.

Bring your attention to the dark space in front of your eyes.

See and sense yourself as a little seed beneath the dry earth.

You are enveloped by comfort and darkness.

You are content in simply being held by the dry earth.

You feel coolness,

Darkness,

Dryness and contentment.

Now you sense warmth creeping through the earth that arrives on rays of light and you sense a pitter pattering and with the rays of light you sense wetness of raindrops,

Water flowing through the dry earth.

Find within yourself the sense of coolness arriving on moisture,

Coolness,

Coolness.

And now you sense warmth arriving on light,

Sense warmth,

Warmth.

Now sense coolness and then warmth,

Coolness and then warmth.

Go back and forth at your own pace.

Now sense coolness and warmth together simultaneously.

Now as this little seed,

A curiosity grows inside you.

Curiosity to burst out and reach beyond the comforts and contentment of being in the earth.

From contentment grows curiosity.

Feel your contentment.

Now feel curiosity.

Go back and forth between the two emotions at your own pace.

Feel contentment and then feel curiosity.

And now feel both contentment and curiosity at the same time.

Driven by your curiosity,

Little green fingers sprout forth from the heart of your seed shell and you reach towards the warmth,

Light and moisture until you burst through the earth,

Out into the open transparency of air and reaching through space for the fireball in the sky.

Gently you feel yourself swayed to and fro by this mysterious invisible air that only makes itself known through your very own dance and movement in it.

Your tendrils multiply in many directions and beautiful green lush leaves unfurl casting wondrous shadows onto the moist earth.

Creatures big and small are drawn to you for the nourishment you provide.

Your leaves are gently nibbled on for sustenance and enjoyment and like love itself,

Your shade is cast beneath you drawing every kind of being to find shelter beneath the protection of your shade.

For your shade,

Like love,

Does not discriminate against anyone sitting beneath it.

You welcome all beings here.

You don't dictate who is deserving of your shade or not,

Be it a spider,

A human,

A kitten or a snake.

Love holds everything.

And your shade,

Like love,

Is not self-conscious.

Your shade does not doubt itself by wondering whether it is casting the right kind of shade or whether that fireball in the sky is casting sun spots through your branches down onto the creatures and therefore needs to be fixed or changed.

No,

Like love,

Your shade does not doubt itself and requires no effort from you to change how you are.

And your shade,

Like love,

Has no need to control who sits under it.

Your shade offers itself freely to anyone who wants to sit beneath it,

Including to those who choose to remain in the sweltering heat of the fireball in the sky,

For they are all free to choose.

Your shade,

Like love,

Does not force anything on anyone nor to do anything differently and therefore is considered the great allower.

And your shade,

Like love,

Needs and asks for nothing in return.

Love,

Like your shade,

Needs nothing in return for what it offers.

Your shade,

Like love,

Is owed nothing for what it offers.

Call love by its true name.

As time goes on and the elements continue to work their magic on you,

Little pink blossoms appear which draw the joy of the bees and the birds to you.

And then little hard and sour fruits begin to sprout from your branches.

And some grow faster than others.

Some are hard and sour and some ripen quickly,

Becoming soft and sweet.

Sense hard and then sense soft.

Hard.

Soft.

Go back and forth between the two.

Hard.

And soft.

Add your own rhythm back and forth.

Now feel hard and soft simultaneously as each exists in you at the same time,

Held in awareness by you,

This majestic tree.

And like this mighty tree witnesses growth of its own branches and its flowering and ripening of its fruit,

Your awareness is able to hold every event that arises within and moves through you with the same ability and grace,

Changing phenomena occurring within unchanging awareness.

And now the fire in the sky burns less brightly.

The winds pick up and one of your ripe fruits drops to the ground.

The same life force that runs through you,

The same life force that runs through that vibrant,

Alive tree,

Also runs through that small,

Ripe fruit.

Indeed,

The same life force runs through every creature that was fortunate to sit beneath your shade,

Even the forces that enliven everything—the earth,

Water,

Fire,

Air,

And space—are alive with that same life force.

And that little fruit lets go,

As it must,

And lands back on the earth.

Here,

You as the fruit begin to shrivel and melt back into the moist earth and only a small,

Hard seed remains,

Enveloped again by the darkness,

Coolness,

And contentment of knowing that next season will begin the journey anew.

The life cycle that is shared by all,

Whether it be a sentient being or an emotion or a season within nature,

All is subject to the same cycle of life,

And so we simply let it be.

And you can take great joy in knowing that you are the life force that runs through it all,

That you are the consciousness coursing through that seed,

That tree,

The shade you cast as pure love itself,

The elements,

And that which holds it all,

Pure awareness,

Pure beingness—love pouring through everything in every moment.

Remaining with the sense of joy or happiness in your body,

Or recall a memory of a particular person,

Animal,

Place,

Or circumstance that invites joy or happiness into your body.

Experience the feeling of joy or happiness expanding throughout your entire body,

Every cell in your body welcoming its natural feeling of joy and happiness.

Perhaps experience an inner smile radiating from your heart,

Radiating throughout your entire body.

Joy,

Happiness,

And an inner smile radiating throughout your body,

Face,

Torso,

Arms,

And legs.

Your entire body alive with the feeling of joy or happiness.

Notice all the perceptions that are arising in awareness.

Feel back into awareness itself,

Sensing spacious,

Unchanging awareness in which all these changing perceptions are arising and unfolding.

Sense how changing perceptions reveal unchanging awareness,

Always here,

Always accessible.

Allow yourself to dissolve into the feeling of simply being,

Nothing to do,

Nowhere to be,

Just the delightful feeling of being.

Rest here,

Awake,

Aware,

At ease,

Everything just as it is,

Sensing yourself connected to yourself,

To the world around you,

And to all of life.

As you're ready to return to your eyes-open state of consciousness,

Take a few moments and welcome in the feeling of gratitude for taking this time to experience your innate connectedness and wellbeing,

For allowing love to flow in its true essence,

And for taking this time to practice yoga nidra.

Affirm to yourself,

As you begin moving and returning to your daily activities,

The felt sense of your underlying interconnectedness within yourself,

The world around you,

And with life itself.

Sense yourself as an exquisite and unique expression of life,

But in fact,

Not separate from the wholeness of life.

As you're ready,

While feeling your whole self and affirming,

Once again your sun kalpa,

A way of being that is born of your heart,

Your heartfelt mission,

And the felt sense of life living you with meaning,

Purpose,

And value.

Affirm what you wish to take with you into your daily life.

Affirm the truth that in every moment,

You always have within you the perfect response to each situation and circumstance in your life.

Take your time now,

Transitioning back into your everyday waking life at your own pace,

Your body fully coming back to its natural state of eyes open,

Wakeful presence,

Attentive,

Awake,

And aware of your surroundings.

Come fully back when you're ready,

Grateful for taking this time for yourself,

For the practice of yoga nidra,

And for experiencing your true essence,

Your underlying interrelatedness with all of life.

Namaste.

We come in peace,

And we go in peace.

All my relations.

Reviews

Beautiful, thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻