Dear friends,
Welcome to the practice of Yoga Nidra.
Please make yourselves comfortable.
Lie on the back,
With your legs slightly apart,
Arms a little away from the body with your palms open and turned upwards,
Chin in a straight line with your spine column,
The eyes and mouth gently closed.
Breathing in,
Coming into here and now,
Breathing out,
Let go of the past and future.
Breathing in,
We feel our whole body,
From the toes to the top of the head,
Breathing out,
Let all tensions melt away.
Withdraw yourself away from the daily tasks,
Duties,
Projects,
Different kind of interests,
Hobbies and so on.
In a short way or with a few words we may say,
Put aside everything that is personal to you.
Just like when we go to sleep,
But here in our practice we are staying awake,
And the awareness is now spread through the whole body,
From the toes to your head.
And let the experience of your body lying on the floor fill your consciousness completely.
In this moment nothing needs to be done,
Nowhere to go,
Just relax,
Feel your presence here,
In the room where you are just now.
Notice the sounds around you,
If there are some other than this voice,
And let them become a part of the environment in which you are just now.
No need to analyze those sounds,
Just notice one and then move to the next.
And then bring your awareness to the sound of your breath,
Feel the movement that's happening within your body,
The inhalations,
Belly rising,
Exhalation,
Belly falling,
The chest expanding and contracting,
Feel the natural movement of your breath,
And with the observation of the breathing come into your inner space of the body.
Feel the energy,
The aliveness of your whole physical body that is lying in a comfortable position on the floor.
And without moving any part of your body,
You still know that your body is alive.
Feel the energy in your legs,
Your hands,
Your feet,
Your toes,
Your both arms,
Shoulders.
Feel and relax your whole back muscles.
Also allow your face muscles to relax,
Perhaps your eyebrows especially,
And the jaws.
Let that natural relaxed expression of your face reappear again.
The collarbones,
Chest and the abdominal muscles relaxing.
And now bring your awareness to the heart center.
And at this point,
The beginning of the yoga nidra,
We can set an intention or a resolve,
What we call the sankalpa,
For your practice.
And that wish can be anything,
Something that is really good for you,
Good for everyone else,
Good for your body,
Your mind and your soul.
If something just comes without straining your mind spontaneously,
Just make a short sentence in your mind and repeat three times innerly your sankalpa.
That energy,
It will definitely come true when the time is right.
And once you have repeated your sankalpa,
Let it drift away from your mind and return back to your breathing.
Feel the breath,
The inner,
Peaceful,
Natural movement.
And that oneness of your body and your breath.
As the breath comes in,
The trunk of the body expanding slightly,
And with the exhalation contracting.
Now imagine that with every exhalation,
You are just returning as if you are standing on a stepladder.
And you are returning down into a very peaceful space within you.
With every exhalation,
You are distancing from the whole world of the mind and its thinking into something quiet,
Peaceful within you.
Now,
The whole body resting.
And there are 27 steps like this.
Innerly in your mind with the breath,
Begin to count down.
Inhalation.
Inhalation,
27.
Exhalation.
26,
Inhale.
Exhale.
And carry on this way,
Counting with every breath from the 27 down to zero.
And if you forget,
You get lost,
Then start again from 27.
And if you happen to reach the zero,
Then again start from 27.
Slowly stepping down into your inner peace,
Leaving behind all the tensions.
And now you can let go of the breathing,
Let go of the counting,
And bring your awareness,
Your fullest attention to the right hand.
Without moving,
Feel your right hand thumb,
The index finger,
Middle finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And small finger.
The palm of your hand,
Back of the hand,
The wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
And the shoulder.
Feel the whole right arm,
From the shoulder to the fingers,
Relaxing beside your body.
Bring awareness to the right armpit,
Right side of the chest,
The right side of the waist.
Feel the right thigh,
Your knee,
The kneecap,
Shin,
Calf,
The ankle,
Heel,
The sole of the foot,
The heel of the foot,
Top of the foot,
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third,
Fourth,
And fifth.
All five toes together,
Your whole right leg,
The right side of the torso,
And right arm,
Hand,
And fingers.
The whole right side of your body.
Then we're shifting our attention awareness to the left hand,
Left hand thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And the small finger.
Feel and relax your palm,
Palm,
Back of the hand,
The wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
And your shoulder.
Feel the whole left arm,
From your shoulder to the fingers.
Bring your attention awareness to the left armpit,
Left side of the chest,
Left side of the waist,
The thigh,
Top and the back,
Left knee,
The kneecap,
Shin,
Calf,
The ankle,
Heel,
The heel,
The sole of the foot,
Top of the foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third,
Fourth,
And fifth.
Feel your whole left leg,
From the toes to the hip,
The left side of the torso,
From the hip to the shoulder,
And your left arm,
From the shoulder to the fingers.
The whole left side of your body,
Is now relaxed,
As well as the whole right side.
Now we will move with our awareness through the back of the body,
Come down to your heels,
Just feel the contact of your heels with the floor,
Relax your calf muscles,
Backs of the knees,
Hamstrings,
Buttocks,
Feel and relax the lower back,
The middle part of your back,
The right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
The middle of the shoulder blades,
Feel your whole spinal column,
From the base to the top,
Feel the muscles on the right side,
From the spinal column,
And on the left side.
Relax your both shoulders,
Neck,
Let your shoulders soften and sink down to the floor.
And then we come to the back of the head,
Feel the contact with the floor or the cushion,
The top of your head,
Right side of the head,
Left side of the head,
Right temple,
Left temple,
Left temple,
Feel,
Relax your forehead muscles,
The right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow,
The eyebrow center,
The eyebrow center,
Feel your eyelids,
Gently closed,
Relax and feel the right cheek,
Left cheek,
Right nostril,
Right nostril,
Left nostril,
The bridge of the nose,
The lips,
Chin,
Relax your jaws,
Relax,
Relax all muscles inside the mouth,
Your whole face muscles relaxed,
The throat,
Right collarbone,
Left collarbone,
Middle of the collarbones,
The right side of the chest,
Left side of the chest,
The middle of the chest,
And relax the abdominal muscles.
The whole body,
Relax and feel your whole body,
From the toes,
All the way up to the top of your head,
Completely relaxed,
Relaxed,
Free from all tensions,
Comfortable,
Happy.
Go with your attention into your heart center and innerly say to yourself,
Relax my friend,
Just relax and let me be one with myself,
Whilst being in your inner space,
Your inner peaceful space of your heart.
Remember your sankalpa,
Your resolve,
Your wish that you had at the beginning of the Yoga Nidra.
And repeat again three times with same words,
With the same energy of being sure that it will come true.
And begin to feel the whole body again,
Expanding your awareness from the center of your chest let that inner peace feel the whole body and melt away all remaining stress and tensions,
Feeling the contact with the floor,
Your presence,
Your being in this room where you are just now.
Slowly,
Slowly we are externalizing our minds,
Our awareness to the world around,
Hearing the sounds.
With closed eyes visualize the space,
The walls around you,
The ceiling.
Exhaling.
Begin to take a deeper,
Longer inhalations,
Exhalations.
And slowly start to move your body,
Gradually begin to move your fingers,
Your toes,
Your arms,
Your legs.
Continue,
Move your body intuitively and then with the next inhalation stretch the whole body,
Lifting your both arms up over your head if you have space,
Otherwise just stretch the whole body any way that's possible.
And then exhale,
Release the stretch.
Relax.
Bring your both palms together and rub your palms,
Try to make your palms a little bit warmer,
Activating the energy and then place your warm palms on your face,
Eyes are still closed.
Feel the warmth of your palms,
Feel the contact with your face,
Your eyelids,
Your nose.
Relax.
And then open your eyes,
Remove the hands and with the help of your hands slowly come up to sitting.
And we will chant the OM together three times and OM Shanti,
Shanti,
Shanti to complete our practice of Yoga Nidra.
Any position that you feel comfortable take a deeper inhalation and chant with me.
OM OM Shanti Shanti Shanti The practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.
