Hello,
Dear,
Beautiful one.
Welcome to this guided yoga nidra practice created to help you recover from burnout and restore your nervous system.
You may be here because you're running on empty.
Because you've been giving and giving and giving until there's almost nothing left.
If so,
You're in the right place.
Burnout isn't a personal failing.
It's not a sign of weakness or proof that you're doing life wrong.
It's what happens when a nervous system has been asked to perform,
Produce,
And push through for far too long,
Without enough time to rest,
Without enough time to restore.
Your body has been so faithful to you.
It's been showing up,
Carrying on,
Holding it together.
Even when it was depleted.
Today we're going to do something different.
We're going to stop asking your body to perform.
Instead,
We're going to invite your body to simply be.
And to receive.
You do not have to earn rest.
You are worthy of it simply because you are human and your nervous system needs care.
This is a practice of remembering that you are allowed to rest before you collapse,
Not after.
My name is Wendy,
And I'm so honored to hold this space with you today.
Welcome.
Let's begin by finding your most comfortable position.
You may lie down fully supported by pillows under your head and under your knees.
With a blanket covering you like a gentle cocoon.
Or you may prefer to sit in a supported chair,
Hands resting in your lap.
There is no perfect position,
Only the one that allows your body to finally let go.
Take whatever time you need to allow your body.
To relax.
This is your time.
No one needs anything from you right now.
When you're ready.
Allow your eyes to gently close.
If they're not already closed.
Let's begin with a long,
Slow inhale through your nose.
And a full deep breath out.
Through your mouth.
Exhaling releasing any effort to hold it together.
Let's do one more like that,
Breathing in deeply.
And exhaling out.
Letting your shoulders drop just a little further away from your ears.
And now let your breath return to its own natural rhythm.
There's nothing to control here.
Just notice the breath.
Breathing itself.
Notice that your body already knows how to do this.
You don't need to manage it.
Your body has been managing so much for so long.
Let this be one thing.
It doesn't have to manage.
Bring your awareness now to the weight of your body.
Feel where your body is touching the surface beneath you.
And with your next exhale.
Allow yourself to sink just a little more into that support.
You are being held.
You do not have to hold yourself up right now.
Now let's set an intention,
A sankalpa,
For your practice.
In Yoga Nidra,
We plant this intention early.
Like a seed gently planted.
This isn't a goal to strive for.
It's a truth we're gently planting into the soil of the relaxed mind.
To support your recovery and calm your nervous system,
You may choose something like this.
I am allowed to rest.
Or my worth is not measured by my productivity.
Are.
I release the need to hold it all together.
Or perhaps simply,
I am safe to receive.
Choose whatever resonates most for you right now,
In this moment.
And when you have your intention.
Silently repeat it to yourself three times.
As if you were planting it deep within you.
Beautiful.
Let that seed rest now and trust that it's already beginning to grow.
Even while you rest.
Now we'll move through what's called a rotation of consciousness.
A gentle journey of awareness through your body.
You don't need to do anything.
You don't need to move anything.
Simply let your awareness travel to each place I name.
Let's begin.
Bring your attention to your right hand thumb.
Your index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger the palm of your right hand.
The back of your right hand.
Your right wrist.
Your right forearm.
Your right elbow.
Your right upper arm.
Your right shoulder.
This right shoulder that has carried so much.
Let it be witnessed.
Let it be honored.
Now your left hand thumb.
Your index finger.
Middle finger Ring finger.
Little finger the palm of your left hand.
The back of your left hand.
Your left wrist.
Your left forearm.
Your left elbow.
Your left upper arm.
Your left shoulder.
This left shoulder that has carried so much.
Let it be witnessed.
Let it be honored.
Both shoulders together now.
Releasing just a little more.
With each breath.
You're not.
Your throat.
This place where so many unspoken words often live.
Simply let it be sawed.
Your job.
Let it unclench and hang loose,
Just slightly open if that's comfortable.
Your tongue is resting heavy in your mouth.
Your eyes soft in their sockets.
The space between your eyebrows,
Where we often carry the weight of decisions,
Deadlines,
And other people's needs.
Let that space smooth out.
Your forehead your scalp.
The crown of your head.
Now travel down through your chest.
Your heart space.
This place that has kept beating for you.
This place that has kept showing up for you,
Even on the days you didn't think you had anything left to give.
Thank your heart.
And offer your gratitude to it.
Moving on to your upper back.
Your shoulder blades.
So much gets stored here.
Simply notice.
No need to change anything.
Your middle back.
Your lower back.
This whole structure that has held you upright through it all.
Your belly.
Let it soften completely.
You don't need to hold it in right now.
Your hips.
Your pelvis.
You're right there.
Right knee.
Right shin.
Right ankle.
Right foot.
All five toes on your right foot.
Your left thigh.
Left knee.
Left shin.
Left ankle.
Left foot.
All five toes on your left foot.
And now sense your whole body at once.
Every part you've just visited.
Resting.
Unguarded.
Unhurry.
Unbothered Now we're going to work with sensation.
We'll use a technique that helps the nervous system learn what safety and ease feel like.
Bring your awareness to your hands and imagine them becoming heavy.
Heavy as if they were made of warm,
Wet sand.
And now the opposite.
Imagine your hands becoming light.
Light as if they could float upward.
Light as a feather resting on air.
Notice you don't have to believe it or force it.
Just imagine it.
And to let your nervous system experience the possibility of both.
Now imagine warmth.
A gentle warmth spreading through your whole body.
Like sunlight on your skin.
And now imagine coolness.
A light,
Refreshing coolness,
Like a breeze moving across your face.
Your nervous system has spent so long stuck in one gear.
Always on.
Always alert.
Always bracing for the next demand.
This simple practice of moving between opposites reminds your body that it's safe to shift.
It's safe to change states.
It's safe to come back to rest.
Now let's take a healing journey together.
Imagine yourself walking along a quiet path.
The kind of place that exists nowhere.
And everywhere.
A place your mind can build in the exact way you need it right now.
Maybe it's a forest,
Hushed and green.
Maybe it's a shoreline at dusk.
Maybe it's simply a soft,
Quiet room filled with golden light.
Wherever you are,
Notice that there is nothing required of you.
As you continue along this path.
You come upon a well.
An old deep well made of smooth stone.
Humming faintly with a warm,
Steady light from somewhere within it.
This is your well of rest,
Your own reservoir,
The place where your energy,
Your creativity,
Your patience and your joy have always been kept.
For a long time,
You've been drawing from this well faster than it could refill.
Giving to your work.
Your family.
Your responsibilities.
Your obligations.
Drawing.
And drying.
And dry.
And today,
This well is finally allowed to fill back up.
Look inside the well.
And notice the light growing there.
Notice its color.
This is your color of restoration.
With every breath you take.
Imagine that light rising toward the surface,
Just a little higher in the well.
You don't have to do anything to make this happen.
It happens all on its own.
The way water finds its level.
The way your body finds healing when it's finally given the chance.
Breathing in,
The light rises.
Any resistance to receiving softens.
Just a little at a time.
Now imagine reaching down into the well.
And drying up a small vessel of this cool,
Light-filled water.
Bring it to your lips and drink.
Feel it moving through you,
Into your tired shoulders.
Into your overworked mind.
Into your heart.
All of which have carried you for so long.
With this water comes a quiet knowing.
You were never meant to run on empty.
Rest is not something you have to earn.
It is something you are allowed simply because you are alive.
And simply because you are human,
Worthy of care.
Feel this restoration settling into your cells.
Into your bones.
And into the very core of your being.
You are not behind.
You are not failing you are healing Stay here by your well.
Drinking as much as you need.
There's no rush.
There's nowhere else you need to be right now.
And rest here until you hear the sound of my voice again.
And now.
Whatever you need next.
Whether that's drifting off into sleep.
Or slowly making your way back to your day.
Know that the well you visited is always within you.
You can return to it anytime you need to.
If sleep is calling to you.
Simply let yourself go.
You have full permission to rest.
If you're returning to your day.
Let's begin to make our way back gently.
Without any rush.
Begin to deepen your breath.
Ever so slightly.
Bringing a little more awareness.
To the air moving in and out of your body.
And now begin to invite small movements back into your hands.
And into your feet.
Wiggling your fingers Wiggling your toes.
And maybe taking a gentle stretch.
Bringing your arms up and over your head.
Doing.
Whatever feels good to your body right now.
Maybe rolling,
Rotating your wrists.
Rolling and rotating your ankles.
Honoring whatever your body is asking for.
Before you open your eyes,
Silently repeat your intention to yourself one more time.
I am allowed to rest.
My worth is not measured.
By my productivity.
I release the need to hold it all together.
I am safe to receive.
And now.
Bring your hands together at your heart.
In Anjali Mudra.
And take a moment to thank yourself.
Are showing up today.
For choosing rest,
Even when so much in your life may be telling you to keep pushing.
Your choice matters.
You matter.
When you're ready.
In your own time.
Gently begin to open your eyes.
And remember as you move forward through the rest of your day and your week.
Your worth is not tied to your output.
May you continue to fill your well a little more each day.
May you be gentle with yourself.
In the way you would be gentle with someone you deeply love.
And may you remember that you are so much more than everything you do.
Thank you for sharing this practice with me today,
Dear one.
I'm wishing you a beautiful day ahead.
And I'm sending you so much love and compassion.
Until we meet again Namaste.
You
