Welcome to this practice for when you're experiencing anxiety.
I am your guide and I will shortly be taking you through a sequence to support you in accepting your anxiety in this moment,
Which will support the anxiety to move through your body and into a more regulated nervous system state.
Before we start I would like to invite you to subscribe so that you get early access to my brand new Yoga Nidra practices.
Now make yourself comfortable and take a few moments to move into a position that feels restful and cosy.
To activate your vagus nerve you might find it supportive to massage your right ear from the top all the way down to the earlobe in whichever way feels most calming to you.
Trust your intuition and your body of how to massage your ear so it feels the most calming.
Continue to massage the outside of your right ear.
The outside of your right ear.
And whenever you're ready,
Move over and massage your left ear.
This simple regulating practice activates the vagus nerve,
Supporting your nervous system to get a little more regulated.
Even if you still have the anxiety,
This practice helps to support the feelings of anxiety in moving through and out of your body.
If you notice yourself beginning to yawn or even noticing just a slight shift,
This is a sign that your nervous system is regulating.
Now whenever you're ready,
Relax down into the support below you.
Yoga Nidra is traditionally practiced lying down with your eyes closed,
But you may find it more supportive for you to take a soft gaze.
Now notice if there is any tension or discomfort that you're accepting in your body.
Notice where this discomfort sits and see if you can make just a small movement to make yourself just a bit more comfortable.
As comfortable as you can be in this moment.
Move your attention to the position of your tongue and relax it down.
And relax your jaw so your teeth are comfortably apart.
Now take a moment to gently sense where your attention is currently placed,
Without changing or judging.
Simply notice with curiosity where your attention is mostly placed.
You may feel a lot of your attention is in your thoughts or your emotions.
You may be focused on sounds and light.
Wherever your attention is,
Allow it to be and just notice as an observer for a few seconds.
Now simply imagine that you could place all your expectations for this practice along with your worries,
Fears and feelings into a jar.
Imagine you could place them all into a jar.
All into a jar.
Visualising this in whichever way feels most intuitive here for you.
As you place each expectation or worry into the jar,
Sense into the relief in your body of being free from them for the duration of this practice.
They'll be there for you if you wish whenever this practice has finished,
But for now,
For now,
Allow your expectations,
Your worries to be placed into a jar for safekeeping.
Feel the release of all expectations now.
Take a deep breath in through the nose and imagine that you're breathing through the left nostril and exhaling back out of your right nostril,
Just imagining.
Just imagining.
And whenever you're ready,
Repeat it on the other side,
Imagining that you're breathing through in your right nostril and exhale through your left nostril.
Repeat this now,
Alternating on both sides in your own time.
Feel the breath at your nostrils as you inhale and exhale.
Now release your attention from the breath and drift it over into your third eye centre,
Sensing into the space between your eyebrows.
Feel your consciousness relaxing back into your third eye centre.
Sensing any sensations or feelings that arise in this third eye centre space.
Now place a question at your third eye centre.
Ask yourself,
What do you feel when you close your eyes?
What brought you here today?
Whatever answer that you received from your mind,
Your intuition,
This is your sankalpa,
It's the basis of your sankalpa.
Translate it now to a supportive I or I am statement.
If nothing has appeared,
That is okay.
Trust that it will reveal itself whenever it is ready to.
Here is a sankalpa that may resonate with you today.
I release mental tension and embrace the sensations in my body with curiosity and strength.
Feel your sankalpa gently reverberating throughout your entire body.
This is your body accepting your sankalpa,
Your intention today.
There is nothing more you need to do with this intention.
Your body and your third eye centre are keeping it safe.
Your intention is accepted,
You are accepted.
You are accepted along with any intention or desire,
Just the way you are.
There is nothing that you need to change,
You simply can just be and rest here,
That is enough.
Now imagine your sankalpa becoming a soft glowing ring of light,
You can visualize this in your mind and see the colour of the light,
Is there a colour that feels more supportive and healing?
Build a sense of the quality of the light of your intention,
It may be bright,
Fuzzy,
It might be a pinpoint or even a larger area.
As I call out each body part,
Imagine you can place this supportive ring of light on each body part that I name as you experience the unique sensations in each body part,
Allowing the sensations to be exactly how they are without changing a thing.
Move your supportive light of intention and attention to the top of your head,
Forehead,
Right eyebrow,
The eyebrow centre,
The left eyebrow,
The left eyelid,
The right eyelid,
The right ear,
The space between your ears,
Your left ear,
Both cheeks,
The nose,
The tip of your nose,
Both nostrils together,
Upper lip,
Lower lip,
Chin,
Jaw,
The middle of your throat,
The base of your throat,
The left side of your chest,
Left shoulder,
Left armpit,
Left upper arm,
Elbow,
Lower arm,
Wrist,
The palm of your left hand,
Your left hand thumb,
Placing supportive light here on the left hand thumb,
Amplifying any sensation that you have here on your left thumb,
The left hand thumb,
Sense all your other fingers together on the left hand,
Now move your attention to your navel centre and the sensations that reside here,
The left waist,
Left hip bone,
Thigh,
Left knee,
Calf muscle,
Ankle,
Heel of your left foot,
The sole of your left foot,
Feel the sensations as your warm light amplifies the sensations on the sole of your foot,
Top of the left foot,
And all your toes together,
Now drift your attention to your right foot,
The sole of your right foot,
Top of the foot,
All of your toes together,
Heel of the right foot,
Ankle,
Calf muscle,
On the right leg,
Your right knee,
Thigh,
The right hip bone,
Your navel centre,
Your heart centre,
In the centre of your chest,
Feel into the sensations here,
Allowing your light to soothe and amplify your attention on any sensation here,
In the centre of your chest,
Your heart centre,
Your soothing heart centre,
Your right shoulder,
Right armpit,
Upper arm,
Elbow,
Lower arm,
Your wrist,
Feel the sensations in the palm of your right hand,
Your left hand,
Feel into the sensations amplified here in your right thumb,
And now hold all of your fingers together on your right hand in your attention,
Move all of your attention back to your navel centre,
And sense into the whole of your right leg,
Now the whole of your left leg,
Sense both legs together,
The whole of your right arm,
Taking your complete attention here,
And now drift your attention to the whole of your left arm,
Now both arms in your attention together,
Sense into the whole of your back,
Now switch your attention to the whole of your front,
The whole of your head and your front side together,
Now sense into the whole body together as one,
Holding the entirety of your body as one in your attention,
The whole body together,
Place your attention at the base of your spine,
And imagine that you could breathe in from your root chakra,
The base of your spine,
All the way up each vertebrae,
All the way up to your third eye centre in your forehead,
Inhale up your spine all the way to your third eye centre,
And then exhale back down from your third eye,
Exhaling to the base of your spine,
Inhale up each vertebrae all the way up to your third eye centre,
Exhale down from your third eye to the base of your spine,
Continue breathing in this way,
Using a tempo that is comfortable and natural for you without changing the shape of the breath,
Release your attention now on your body,
And move your attention back into the mind,
As I name each symbol,
Bring to mind whatever comes to mind for you,
There is no need to refine the image or place any meaning on what comes up here,
You are simply the observer,
So allow your mind to process and integrate,
Simply noticing as I name and just move on to the next,
So bring to mind a butterfly landing on a flower,
So bring to mind a butterfly landing on a flower,
A beautiful gemstone,
A geometric mandala,
A serene landscape,
A serene landscape,
Bring to mind the mantra of OM,
The mantra of OM,
A tree with supportive roots,
A lotus flower opening,
A lotus flower opening,
A smooth pebble in your palm,
A majestic bird in flight,
Now place your attention on your third eye centre,
And simply rest here in stillness,
Allowing your mind and body to integrate,
You do not need to do anything more here,
If thoughts pop up in your mind that is completely normal,
Simply allow them to drift by out of your frame of awareness,
And focus back in on your third eye centre,
Now bring back your sankalpa and whisper it in your mind's eye three times,
I release mental tension and embrace the sensations in my body with curiosity,
And strength,
Now in your mind whisper,
I am practicing yoga nidra,
I am practicing yoga nidra,
And with your eyes still closed,
Gently start to feel where you are in relation to the room,
The environment that you're in,
Notice the support beneath you,
Listen to any sounds around you or my voice,
Take a deep breath in through your nose and try and pick up any scents that are in your environment,
Whenever you're ready,
Begin to move in whichever way feels wakeful as you start moving in to your waking life,
And whenever you're ready feel free to open your eyes as your practice of yoga nidra is complete.
Thank you for joining me today,
If you have enjoyed this yoga nidra practice for anxiety and you feel like sharing your experience with the wellness words community then please do leave a comment,
I really enjoy reading everyone's experiences of these practices,
And if you would like more practices like this one today then subscribe for more meditations on the wellness words.
