Yoga Nidra Long Practice

In this Yoga Nidra practice, while restoring the nervous system, we bring restful awareness to thoughts and beliefs that are causing resistance and suffering in our day-to-day lives. We drop quickly as the binaural beats in the background offer healing brainwave entrainment. We come out of the practice feeling deeply rested, blissfully calm, and ready to get back to our day or drop off to sleep.

Transcript

What is Yoga Nidra?

Yoga Nidra is an ancient meditation that is typically done lying down in Shavasana,

Although it can be done in a seated position as well.

The meditator's only task is to make themselves as comfortable as possible,

Remain alert and awake and listen to the meditation guide.

That's me.

The practice asks us to resist nothing that is coming up in awareness and to instead welcome all.

When we resist challenging feelings,

Thoughts or beliefs,

Those very challenges persist and can create great anxiety.

Yoga Nidra has been shown to help with sleep,

Healing psychological wounds,

Managing stress including PTSD,

Depression and many other challenges that we face in our modern world.

This practice is designed to allow us to enter a sleep-like state while remaining awake and alert thereby sidestepping the chatter and anxious thoughts of the mind so that we can drop deeply into a healing meditative state.

It is a powerful method of witnessing the impermanence of all aspects of life and can help us tap into the unchanging peace found within each of us no matter what is going on externally.

Take a moment to encourage yourself for wisely setting aside this time out of your day to support your health and well-being in such a powerful way.

So begin your practice of Yoga Nidra lying or sitting down.

You can do this practice in your bed,

But I recommend a mat on the floor or even the couch as the subconscious associates the bed with sleep.

We want to commit to remaining awake and alert.

A blanket and socks are recommended as the body temperature will drop as we move into deeper meditative states.

Place your arms away from the body but not touching the body with your palms facing up and adjust your legs so that your feet are at least hip width apart and then allow them to relax completely.

Perhaps a pillow or a bolster under your knees will allow the body to be supported even more comfortably.

An eye pillow placed over the eyes will allow you to experience deeper states of meditation as the weight of the eye pillow helps to ease tension in the brain and softens the muscles around the eyes.

Your only task right now is to get your body as comfortable and cozy as possible and then to listen to my voice as I guide you through the practice today.

So make any final adjustments to be even more comfortable here so that you can commit to lying still and remaining awake for the duration of the practice.

Having the chin slightly below the level of the forehead helps the thinking mind relax and become still.

You'll notice in stillness that the body naturally breathes itself here with no effort required.

Inhaling and exhaling.

Feel the movement of the breath as it comes into the body and goes out of the body.

Bring to mind an intention,

A personal resolve.

Using an intention enhances your yoga nidra experience immensely and transfers the benefits received from this practice to your daily life.

Perhaps you have an intention you are already working with,

Go ahead and use that one.

Or perhaps use the intention,

I am calm and I am peaceful.

Be sure to language your intention to yourself in present tense as though it is already true.

So rather than may I be calm and peaceful,

Place it in the present tense.

I am calm.

I am peaceful.

Feel your intention now and repeat it silently to yourself and sense what it would be like if it were already true.

How would things be different?

Take a big breath in and let it go.

Feel as though you are in a place where you feel peaceful and calm.

This can be a real place you have been to before or it can be created right now in your imagination.

This is a place where you feel fully relaxed,

Completely at ease.

In this place you are totally comfortable in your own skin.

Perhaps you are resting in a forest sitting at the base of a tree with birds chattering around you,

The scent of pine in the air,

A warm breeze blowing over your skin.

Perhaps you are at the ocean in a hammock held up by two palm trees,

The warmth of the sun on your body,

The sound of the surf filling your ears,

The feeling of the hammock gently swinging in the breeze,

Or any other place you've been to or in your imagination where you feel safe and comfortable.

Bring this place of comfort fully alive in your mind now.

Allow yourself to be completely relaxed and quiet in this place.

Allow all of your senses to come alive,

Absorbing sights,

Sounds,

Feelings.

You feel totally safe and secure here.

Take it all in.

As you breathe,

Feel even more restful and calm,

Content and at ease.

Return to this safe place anytime you need to during your practice or in your life throughout your day,

Whenever you need to have a few moments of calm,

Peace and security.

Inhaling and exhaling,

Relaxing,

Noticing the body breathing itself here.

Inhaling the belly fills,

Exhaling the belly empties.

Bring all of your attention to the breath moving in and out without any effort on your part at all.

Become utterly curious about the movement of your breath.

I will now guide you to move your awareness through different parts of your body.

Be aware of how each body part feels without changing anything or wishing for anything to be different.

Stay awake and alert.

Commit to stillness,

Which will allow your body to deeply rest and welcome whatever is arising in awareness.

Bring your full attention to the space between your eyebrows.

Feel the space between your eyebrows.

Feel your throat,

Right shoulder,

Right elbow,

Right wrist.

Feel the thumb on your right hand,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger.

Moving back up,

Feel the right wrist again.

Feel the elbow,

Shoulder.

That's the throat.

Left shoulder,

Left elbow,

Wrist,

Left thumb,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger.

Feel the left wrist,

Elbow,

Shoulder.

Feel the center of the chest,

Right side of the chest,

Center of the chest,

Left side of the chest.

That's the belly.

Feel the right hip joint,

Knee,

Ankle,

Sole of the right foot.

Feel all the toes on the right foot.

Back up to feel the right ankle and the knee and the right hip.

Surf over and feel the left hip joint now.

Sense the left knee,

Ankle.

Feel the sole of the left foot and feel all the toes on the left foot.

Feel the ankle and the left knee.

Back up to the left hip joint.

Feel the belly and the navel.

Feel the center of the chest,

The throat,

And the space between the eyebrows.

Feel the flow of sensation throughout the entire body.

Feel the whole body,

The whole body resting in stillness.

Now watch the flow of the breath,

Witness the body breathing itself.

Gather all of your attention to your breath.

Become fascinated by the movement of breath in and out.

On the inhales,

Breathe deeply through your nose,

Filling your lungs fully and completely with air,

Belly rising away from the spine.

On the exhales,

Empty your lungs completely,

Belly falling back toward the spine.

And now as you inhale,

Breathe in through your heart center.

Feel your heart expanding,

A sense of spaciousness in the heart.

And as you exhale,

Empty your mind of expectations and empty your body of tension,

Letting go even more.

Each inhale fills the lungs with healing oxygen,

Dropping into an even deeper level of stillness.

Each exhale,

Feel the balancing,

Relaxing impact of the breath,

Of full attention on the sensation of breath moving within the body.

Take your inhalation to the exhalation and make your breath circular.

Let the breath soften and return to normal.

Allow the body to simply breathe how it wants to in this moment.

Turn your attention inward and drop into the deepest level of silent stillness.

Let go,

Surrender,

And relax even more.

As you rest in this deep state,

Allow the following feelings and emotions to be present as I name them without judgment or preference.

Notice all that arises when you experience these opposites without thinking about them.

Nervous and calm.

Sharp and dull.

Right and wrong.

Sadness and joy.

Tense and relaxed.

Uncomfortable and comfortable.

Peaceful and disturbed.

Lonely and content.

Resistance and surrender.

Disgusted and delighted.

Hateful and loving.

And now relax,

Resting back in awareness.

Breathing in and breathing out.

And now go deeper still into surrender and rest.

Find a place inward where your knowing,

Your wisdom,

Your truth is alive and well.

This is the place where the insights and intuition you have been searching for can find you now.

During this restful time,

Allow yourself to be open and receptive,

To receive insights and wisdom that will serve your highest purpose.

Allow my words to become your words.

I am eternally peaceful.

I am without fear.

I am totally serene amidst the turmoil of the outer world.

I am calm.

I am loving and lovable.

While breathing so softly and feeling the whole body simultaneously,

Be fully present and notice whatever you are experiencing.

Perhaps a sensation of inner calm.

Maybe feelings of peacefulness.

The sensation of being open,

Spaciousness.

Sense a place where inner joy dwells.

A place to rest in joy,

In calm and stillness.

Draw breath in and out through your heart center,

Feeling the heart swell on the in-breath,

Inviting joy into the body with the breath.

Perhaps a beautiful memory that invites happiness,

Joy into awareness.

Perhaps a memory of a time you laughed so hard you could barely stop.

Use the memory now to call back the felt sense of joy and laughter in the body.

Set the memory aside now and experience the felt sensation,

The feeling of joy,

The purity of joy itself expanding throughout the body from the top of the head down the arms to the fingers radiating down the torso to the legs and the feet and out to the tippy toes.

Joy radiating throughout the whole body,

Every single cell emanating,

Smiling with joy.

Breathing in through the heart center and out through the heart center.

Observe how sensations,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Emotions,

And beliefs are all unfolding in awareness,

Coming and going,

Arising and dissolving.

You are aware of these qualities.

You are witnessing this impermanence,

This constant changing of states,

And you are distinct from them.

Everything in life that arises also dissolves.

You are witnessing this movement,

This changing,

This impermanence in the awareness that you are.

You are not the thoughts or the feelings or the beliefs.

You are pure awareness,

Allowing yourself to be present and in touch with that aspect of your knowing self that does not change.

Let everything free to be just as it is,

Welcoming everything,

Resisting nothing.

Come back to your awareness,

Your intention,

Your resolve.

Be consistent.

Silently repeat your intention three times with feeling from your heart,

Allowing it to sink in deeply and meaningfully and gratefully and imagine what it would be like if it were already true.

I am calm.

I am peaceful.

Now become aware of this physical body,

This home for a lifetime.

Become aware of its position lying in Shavasana,

Practicing Yoga Nidra.

On the physical,

Mental,

Emotional,

And spiritual levels,

You have become so quiet,

So peaceful,

And at the same time so fresh,

So revived,

Open,

Awake,

And aware,

Welcoming everything,

Refusing nothing,

Inhaling and exhaling.

Take your time and keeping your focus quietly inward,

Begin to become aware of your surroundings,

The walls around you,

The surface beneath you,

The ceiling above you,

Your body,

Your breath,

Your calm.

And as you next inhale,

Stretch your body as though you are just waking up to a brand new day.

It is time to come back to full wakefulness and to bring back with you all of the benefits of this practice to help yourself as well as to help others.

On your next exhale,

Curl yourself up and roll over onto your right side.

Just there for a breath or two,

No rush.

Thank you for practicing Yoga Nidra today.

Reviews

Enjoyed the explanation and the lovely Nidra. Thank you.