Dark Moon Yoga Nidra

A yoga nidra recorded during the waning moon, approaching the dark moon. You are so welcome to lie down and melt into this practice, rest and release. Includes breath awareness, body scan in the Satyananda tradition, opposites (light & dark) and visualisation of the lunar cycle. Ends with grounding and returning words.

Transcript

Welcome to this Yoga Nidra,

Recorded at a time of the waning moon,

Approaching the dark moon,

An astrological in-between time,

Liminal space if you like and this Nidra can be viewed as an in-between kind of practice,

An in-between journey where we find the state and the place of Yoga Nidra,

A place of neither full wakefulness nor complete sleep,

Neither fully awake nor fully asleep,

So you can practice Yoga Nidra lying down,

Find somewhere comfortable to practice,

Somewhere really comfortable,

Lie down if you like,

Nestle into blankets and cushions,

Cover yourself softly and melt into your chosen shape and know that there is no way that you can practice Yoga Nidra wrong,

That all you need to do is lie here and follow my voice and that although I invite you to be still once you've settled to find stillness,

I also encourage you to move if you need to in order to find comfort and release,

So welcome,

Settle in,

Welcome to Yoga Nidra,

A journey and a destination,

Welcome home,

If it feels okay and you haven't already allow your eyes to softly close,

Take a full breath in through your nose,

Part your lips and allow a long slow soft sigh out,

Release,

Exhale and be,

Just allow your breath to arise now as it naturally does and perhaps if you like begin to follow its rhythm with your awareness,

So notice the four parts to the breath,

The perhaps familiar four part cycle of breath,

The in,

The pause,

The out and the pause,

In,

Pause,

Out,

Pause and maybe in your head begin to attach some words to each part of the cycle,

So as you breathe in,

Waxing at the peak of your inhale,

Full,

As you exhale,

Waning,

At the depth of your exhale,

Dark,

Waxing,

Full,

Waning,

Dark or maybe just waxing,

Waning and you might begin to picture the beautiful lunar cycle as you breathe here,

The thin crisp crescent,

Growing plumper,

Wider and more abundant,

Becoming gibbous and reaching a bright full peak before dropping back down again and ending in a moment of inky darkness,

Waxing,

Waning,

Waxing,

Waning and next time you reach the dark depths at the end of your exhale,

Allow your awareness to settle down into your core,

Your physical centre,

This might be your heart or your belly or your pelvis or whatever the word core means to you and just allow your awareness to rest here and notice anything that arises,

Any sankalpa,

Any intention,

Any words,

Any essence and if it does,

Welcome it,

Embrace it,

Hug it deep into your core and commit to it,

Repeat it,

Nurture it,

Allow it to dwell here with you in this space between things and if nothing in particular arises,

Welcome that too,

That pause,

That moment of connection with yourself and perhaps if it feels right,

Just allow your awareness to rest and maybe repeat here the words,

I release,

I release,

I release and rest,

I'll invite you now to follow my voice as I guide you in a rotation of consciousness around the body,

So you don't need to do anything other than listen to my voice and bring your awareness to the body part that I name and if this doesn't come easily to you,

You might instead choose to repeat the name of that body part yourself in your head after I say it,

Beginning with the right thumb,

Bring your awareness to the right thumb,

The right index finger,

The right middle finger,

The ring finger and the little finger,

The top of the right hand,

The palm of the right hand,

The lower right arm,

The elbow,

The upper right arm,

The shoulder,

The right collarbone,

The right ribs,

The right side waist,

The right hip bone,

The right buttock,

The right thigh,

The knee,

The right calf,

The top of the right foot,

The heel of the right foot,

The sole of the right foot,

The big right toe,

The second toe,

The third toe,

The fourth toe and the fifth toe,

The whole of the right side of your body,

Then bring your awareness to your left thumb,

Allow your awareness to rest at the left thumb,

The left index finger,

The left middle finger,

The left ring finger and the little finger,

The top of the left hand,

The palm of the left hand,

The left lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

The left collarbone,

The left ribs,

The left side waist,

The left hip bone,

The left thigh,

Knee,

Calf,

The top of the left foot,

The heel of the left foot and the sole of the left foot,

The left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and little toe,

The whole left side of the body,

Bring your attention back up to the back of your head,

The nape of the neck,

The shoulder blades left and right,

The upper back,

The middle back,

The lower back,

The sacrum,

The buttocks,

The whole of the back of the body,

Bring your attention now to the crown of the head,

Resting your awareness at the crown of the head,

The forehead,

The space between the eyebrows,

The left eyebrow,

The right eyebrow,

The bridge of the nose,

The right eye,

The left eye,

The space between the nostrils,

The left cheek,

The right cheek,

The upper lip and lower lip,

The jaw and the left and the right,

The chin,

The space between the collarbones,

The sternum,

The belly,

The pelvis,

The whole of the front of the body,

The whole right side of the body,

The whole left side of the body,

The whole back of the body,

The whole front of the body,

The whole of the body,

The whole of the body,

Resting and breathing,

Waxing and waning,

Waxing and waning and you can,

If you like,

Stay here with your breath,

Allowing my words to wash over you or you can follow my voice as I invite you to bring to mind a visualisation.

Picture a clear late evening sky on the night of the balsamic moon,

The dark moon.

As dusk settles there is not a sliver of moonlight to be seen in the darkening sky.

Blues and pinks darken to navy and the velvety black and slowly,

Slowly,

Tiny sprinkles of light begin to appear as the stars make themselves known.

Begin to focus on the starlight and notice how clear and how bright it is,

Shining across all that distance,

Blazing away in the depths of the universe.

It's light and bright and shiny and then move your attention to the sky between the stars.

It's dark,

So dark,

Almost matte black,

A total absence of light,

Nothing to make out,

Nothing to see except deep,

Deep darkness and now come back to the stars,

Light,

Bright,

Shining,

Illuminating and back again to the sky,

Deep,

Dark,

Hidden and picture the two at once,

The night sky,

Simultaneously dark,

So dark and so bright with light,

At once soft and velvety and sharp and find light and dark,

Light and dark,

Waxing and waning,

Waxing,

Waning.

As you picture the sky everything seems to speed up.

You see out of nowhere in particular,

Out of the dark depths,

A tiny thin crescent moon appear,

Sickle shaped and as you watch it,

It grows,

It becomes more solid,

More present,

Filling out,

Expanding until it becomes full,

A beautiful silver orb and you feel the energy of the moonlight almost as bright as the daytime,

Ethereal,

Magical,

Pouring down onto you and then the moon begins to wane,

Slowly,

Slowly,

You barely notice,

The light starts to soften,

The moon begins to shrink before your eyes and as she shrinks,

The soft,

Velvety darkness seems to deepen until finally the last glow disappears and you are left in the warmth of the comforting night again and you rest and come back to your breath,

Waxing,

Waning,

Waxing,

Waning and at the end of your next exhale allow your attention to settle once more into that place in your core and notice again any sankalpa or intention or essence that arises and repeat it,

Nurture it,

Acknowledge it and if there was no particular intention that arose,

Perhaps returning to those words again and repeating them in your head or out loud as you prefer,

I release,

I release,

I release and now as the practice of yoga nidra comes to an end know that you don't need to do anything just yet other than rest here,

Continuing to follow the waxing and waning of your own beautiful cycle of breath and perhaps beginning to bring just a little more presence to that breath and maybe inviting a yawn to signal to your body that it's time to return back to your day and the space that you are in and allowing any movements that feel they naturally arise following that yawn,

Maybe wiggling the fingers and toes,

Maybe rocking from side to side and slowly,

Ever so slowly,

In your own time returning back to the room that you are in and when you are ready,

Continuing with your day.

Reviews

Lovely silent background. No music. Very fast pace through the body kept my attention. 3/30/24

Lovely nidra practice❣️♾️☮️☯️⚛️⚘️☄️💫
Namaste🙏🏼✨️🪔🕯🖤🌜🌟🌚⭐️🌙

Wonderful thank u