Welcome to your practice of yoga nidra.
Thank you for allowing me to be your guide.
You'll need the following items.
A yoga mat,
One or two blankets,
Pillows or bolsters to support the body,
Something to cover your eyes,
And loose comfortable clothing.
If you'd like to access a natural flow of your subconscious,
Be sure to have your journal nearby for the end of the practice.
You'll want to use the bathroom before yoga nidra,
Just trust me on this one.
If you need to,
Press pause and come back.
Otherwise,
Let's set up our space in the most comfy way possible.
Dim the lights to help create your space.
You can even light a candle.
Use the bolsters or pillows in a way that's most comfortable for you.
My personal go-to is a blanket open on my yoga mat,
Two bolsters under my knees elevating my legs,
A folded blanket under my head,
A blanket over my body,
And eye pads.
I highly recommend a blanket over you.
My temperature drops in yoga nidra,
Without it I get cold,
Pulling me out of my practice.
You'll be in savasana or a corpse pose,
Or simply laying on your back for the entire practice.
You want to be comfortable enough to lay here,
Body completely still,
For the duration of this practice.
Get creative using props to accomplish a supported body for your practice,
Your yoga.
Cover your eyes,
Allowing them to rest,
Turning off one of our sensory inputs.
Fidget as much as you need to allow your body to settle and relax.
In the practice of yoga nidra,
We allow the body to relax while the mind remains awake and aware.
Kamini Desai has a wonderful description of what yoga nidra is and does for us in her book,
Yoga Nidra,
The Art of Transformational Sleep.
Let's hear from her now.
Yoga nidra stills the modifications of the mind.
It removes the clouds of struggle,
Effort,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Worries,
Fears,
And memories that fill the sky.
Yoga nidra slowly takes us down into progressively quieter brainwave states until the sky is empty.
In this state,
We cannot help but notice that we are the sky.
We are the infinite,
Eternal,
Timeless self.
We recognize our connection to source,
The oneness to wholeness.
We are restored to the Garden of Eden.
The more we go there,
The more we begin to live there,
And the less we are driven to secure pleasure and fear pain.
We allow life to come as it comes and go as it goes,
While knowing we are connected to something greater than all of it.
Become aware of your body lying here on the floor.
Feel the parts of your body that touch the ground becoming heavy,
With each exhale becoming more and more relaxed,
More light,
More free.
Inhaling and feeling grounded.
Exhaling and feeling free by the feeling of warmth and vibration of every cell in your body.
Start to imagine you can feel every cell in your body as if they were stars in the universe.
By feeling the warmth and vibration of each individual cell,
Your body's burning stars.
Starting from the tips of your toes,
Move up slowly to the crown of your head.
Giving yourself the time to feel every cell,
Every star,
All that's you.
Starting from the tips of your toes,
Moving up your feet,
Up and around your lower legs.
Feel both knees.
Continue to feel every cell in your body by moving up.
Feeling your upper legs,
The warmth,
The vibration.
Notice both of your legs.
Notice all the stars in this mini universe.
Start to continue moving up the body by sensing your pelvis and whole torso.
From the organs to your skin.
Slowly traveling through each of your organs.
Being gentle in noticing of sensation.
Can you relax all 28 feet of your intestines?
Sensing all of the cells within your intestines.
Move your attention to your lower back.
Feel the warmth and vibration of the cells in your kidneys.
Move forward and to the left and reveal your stomach.
Feeling all of the cells.
Now gently glide to the right side and feel all of the cells in your liver.
Fill up your right and left lungs with this awareness.
This awareness of each individual cell.
Take three deep breaths here.
Aware of your lungs and how your breath,
Your prana,
Moves throughout your body.
Your organs,
Your muscles,
Your bones,
Your cells.
Now move your attention to the center of your chest.
Slightly tilted to the left.
Feel the warmth and vibration of your heart.
Pumping blood to the rest of your body.
All of your cells.
Giving it life.
Existence.
Add your entire torso to both of your legs.
Feeling all of your cells.
Full of the blood of life and the breath of consciousness.
Notice your whole right and left arms.
Adding this sensation to your torso and your legs.
Travel up your spine starting from your tailbone.
Moving up to your lower back.
Up to your upper back.
Notice the curve of your neck.
Expand this awareness of warmth and vibration to the back of your head.
Crown of your head.
To your third eye or eyebrow center.
And finally,
Adding your awareness to include your whole face.
Making a complete body.
You are now aware of all of the cells in your whole body.
As it lies here on the floor,
Body asleep,
While your mind is awake and aware.
Let's begin with the awareness of our breath.
Pick a number between 22 and 57.
Count backwards with your breath like this.
36,
I am inhaling.
36,
I am exhaling.
35,
I am inhaling.
35,
I am exhaling.
And so on.
If you forget what number you're on,
That's okay.
There's no need to be perfect.
Start over if you forget your place.
And with each exhale,
Allow your body to relax even more.
It's also okay if you don't make it to zero.
What number you are on is not important.
What is important is that you are aware of your breath.
I will leave you for a couple of minutes as you pay attention to your breath.
Practicing your present moment awareness.
When I speak again,
Allow me to guide you even deeper into your yoga nidra practice.
Where the mind becomes still so our truths can be heard.
Thank you.
You are welcome.
You are welcome.
Your body is relaxed while your mind is awake and aware.
If you choose to do so,
Now is the time to bring forth your intention or sankalpa.
Maybe you choose one for yourself like,
I am open or I am centered or I am confident.
Or maybe the universe chooses for you like,
I am whole or I am enough or I am valid.
Whatever your intention is,
Make it a positive statement with the pronoun I.
If you are working with feeling something that you just don't,
You can practice that feeling by stating the opposite.
For example,
If you are not feeling joyful right now,
Maybe I am joy or I am love or I am at peace feels right for you.
Your intention only needs to come from your heart.
There are no rights or wrongs.
Feel your intention with emotion,
Making it stronger,
A path for your brain to recognize and come back to.
State your intention three times to yourself as you do so,
Imagine that you are writing it into a flat,
Soft piece of clay.
When you've completed that,
Roll the piece of clay into a ball and put it into your pocket.
Let's begin our rotation of consciousness.
I will name a body part.
And as I do so,
Like you've already done before,
Sense that body part.
Feel its warmth,
Its existence and non-existence.
Feel its vibration.
Feel the energy of your consciousness.
It's okay if your attention drifts in and out.
You are practicing yoga nidja where your body is asleep and your mind is awake and aware.
There is nothing for you to do,
Only to be here,
Present.
Drift your attention to your right thumb.
Point your finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger.
Feel the tips of your fingers and thumb.
Travel down the bones of your fingers and into the palm of your right hand.
Feel the back of the hand,
Right wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Right armpit,
Right ribcage,
Right hip,
Right pelvic bone,
Right buttocks.
Feel the muscles in your legs melting,
Unwrapping the bones.
Drift your attention to the top of your right thigh,
Your right hamstring,
The right knee,
The space under your kneecap,
The space behind your knee.
Relax your right shin,
Calf,
And right ankle.
Can you sense the complexity of your ligaments and tendons in your right foot?
Can you imagine all of those pieces to have a flow like water?
Ride the tide of water from your right heel to the very tips of your right toes.
Feel the soul of your right foot.
Sense the whole right side of your body,
The whole right side of your body.
Drift your attention to your left side thumb,
Pointer finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger.
Feel the tips of your fingers and thumb.
Travel down the bones of your fingers and into the palm of your left hand.
Feel the back of the hand,
Left wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Left armpit,
Left ribcage,
Left hip,
Left pelvic bone,
Left buttocks.
Feel the muscles in your legs,
Again,
Unwrapping the bones,
And drift your attention to your left upper thigh,
Your left hamstring,
The left knee,
The space under your kneecap,
The space behind your knee.
Relax your left shin,
Calf,
And left ankle.
Can you again sense the complexity of the ligaments and tendons in your left foot?
Can you imagine all of those pieces to flow like water?
Ride the tide of water from your left heel to the very tips of your left toes.
Feel the soul of your left foot.
Sense the whole left side of your body,
The whole left side of your body.
While your body is asleep and your mind is awake,
Let's move our awareness to the back side of the body,
Starting with the soles of your feet.
Can you feel every cell in both soles of your feet?
Can you feel the air that touches the soles of your feet?
Move your attention to your right calf,
Left calf.
Feel both of your calves long and loose.
Continue to move upward and relax your right hamstring,
Left hamstring.
Feel both of your hamstrings.
Allow your hamstrings to rest,
To be free from any gripping.
Allow your right and left buttocks to hang low,
Away from the bones.
Feel both sides of your buttocks.
Release any tension in your right and left hips.
Feel both of your hips.
Move slowly up the spine,
Starting with your sacrum or tailbone,
Noticing every cell,
Every star,
Every galaxy that resides in your spine.
Feel its energy living in you.
Feel the curve of your lower back.
The lift of your middle back.
The grounding of your upper back.
And the spaciousness in the curve of your neck.
Allow your shoulder blades to be heavy,
Gliding your attention gracefully from your shoulders to your throat.
By following your collarbones inwards.
Notice that as you relax the muscles in your throat,
A soft light glows in your throat area,
As if you cracked open a chest full of golden treasure.
This gorgeous light rises out of the chest and floats upwards to the crown of your head.
Then the light softly arches,
As if it was in charge of its own trajectory and lands at your third eye or eyebrow center.
This light spreads across your forehead like a silky luminescent screen.
Welcome any colors or images that might arise for you.
Welcome the absence of colors or images.
Only watch.
Only observe.
Notice there is nothing for you to do,
Only to be.
Feel your right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow.
The roundness of your right eye.
The roundness of your left eye.
Travel down the bridge of your nose and feel your right nostril,
Left nostril.
Feel the tip of your nose.
Upper lip,
Bottom lip.
Upper row of teeth.
Lower row of teeth.
Tip of your tongue.
Follow your tongue to the base of your throat.
Feel your right ear,
Left ear.
Right inner ear,
Left inner ear.
Pay attention to the expanse of your right and left sinuses.
Notice how noticing brings in a natural and wider breath.
The breath of awareness.
The breath of the piece of us that is larger than our bodies.
Imagine that you can feel the vibration in the space between your ears.
The energy of your prana.
Here you see source.
This is where the light of your projection is produced.
You are at peace with this realization.
Notice this soft,
Loving light disperse throughout your whole body.
Feel the warmth and vibration of your whole body.
Let's move our awareness back to the breath.
Your breath traveling throughout your whole body.
Starting from your nose,
Notice your breath traveling through your nostrils,
Down your throat,
Into your chest,
Down into your belly,
Down as far as your pelvic bone,
And back up the belly,
Back up the chest,
And out of your mouth.
Do this three more times,
Noticing your breath,
Your inhale,
The breath's natural pause,
The exhale,
And again,
The breath's natural pause.
Noticing,
Noticing which part of the body rises with your breath,
Enjoying whatever arises for you as you ride the flow of your own breath,
The energy of your own breath,
Your prana.
Let's spend a few more moments here on the breath.
With your body asleep and your mind awake,
The scenery shift from its current softness to appear on a body of water.
Imagine that you are walking slowly,
Steadily,
Out to the end of this wooden dock.
It takes a couple of deep breaths to get to the end of the dock,
Where the water is the deepest.
Notice your breath as you walk to the end of the dock.
When you reach the end of the dock,
A boat or ship appears.
Don't judge what shows up for you.
Only observe,
Allowing yourself to feel whatever arises,
Allowing,
Noticing.
You decide that it's safe,
And you step onto this vessel,
This vessel that appeared before you at the end of the dock.
This vessel is quiet and seems to be unmoving.
There's no navigational system,
No on switch,
No way to direct,
Start,
Or sail this vessel.
You look around,
Curious,
Observing what's around you.
Instinctually,
You close your eyes and take three more deep breaths.
At the end of your third breath,
You feel the vessel start to move,
As if your soul became the captain.
Your soul,
Living in your breath,
Steering this vessel from your heart directly to your very own north star.
You find that navigating this vessel becomes quite easy and smooth.
You soar amongst the planets and stars,
Galaxies even.
You are astounded by the colors and patterns planets make from above.
You lack the words to describe them because you have not had this experience before.
Beautiful bursts of color in the complete absence of color,
Both present,
Both playing into the drama created on this planet,
Both having purpose,
Both a part of this canvas.
You're unsure what it is that is specifically filling your heart with joy in this moment.
Maybe it's the way it feels to steer this vessel with your own heart,
To realize how easy it can be to glide towards what is calling you,
How something as simple as three deep breaths can guide you towards your true light.
Or the joy could be from the ability of seeing something from a new perspective and finding beauty in that.
Ascending into the sky and seeing multiple planets helps you realize that Earth is a gigantic place.
Yet,
Earth is only one of the hundred billion planets in the Milky Way alone.
Earth,
One puzzle piece of a hundred billion.
The Milky Way,
One puzzle piece of two trillion galaxies.
Yet,
That is only what we do know.
There are even more stars,
Planets,
And galaxies in the universe.
You have seen it.
You are everything and you are nothing.
You are so small and yet you are so significant.
We may not be able to see the whole puzzle yet,
But there is a joy in the feeling that you're on to the connection.
Or it could be the realization of your role being with your own planet.
All of the animals,
Bodies of water,
Resources,
Other people.
Just as these stars and planets and galaxies align to create something bigger than we are able to comprehend,
There is a connection here on Earth to all of these things as well.
We may lack the words of expression,
But we cannot deny the feeling.
This feeling isn't destructive,
But of joy.
The joy of all things,
Connected,
Yet individual,
All in the same moment.
The concept of time as you knew it before is proven a limited belief as you experience planet after planet,
Star after star,
Galaxy after galaxy.
The experience is unending and yet never the same.
Each time you come back into this space,
You see,
Feel,
And experience something new,
Something amazing,
Something little,
Yet big,
Individual,
Yet connected,
Something colorful,
Yet neutral,
Something understandable,
Yet wordless.
All you know is that its source is love.
The Beatles were correct all of this time.
Love is all you need.
The more your mind is blown by the beauty of the universe,
The more your heart expands and overflows with love and kindness.
May love and kindness overflow through all of us.
This intense joy and beauty has opened your eyes.
Your heart is overflowing with trust and love.
You decide this.
In this moment,
You reach into your pocket and pull out the lump of clay that contains your sankopa,
Your intention.
You glance down as it rests in the palm of your hand,
Smiling,
Knowing you are about to release this positive energy out into the massive expanse of the universe that you just soared through and experienced.
As you smile with a knowing,
You grip the ball of clay and you throw it out into the ether.
You watch your sankopa soar as it explodes and disperses like pillowy,
Colorful fireworks.
Your sankopa,
Your intention,
Watching as it becomes a part of the universe.
And you are its witness.
The beauty is astonishing.
It's as if a show has been put on solely for you.
And you feel whole.
You feel whole.
You are whole.
With a deep sense of gratitude,
You bring your vessel back to the dock where you started,
Knowing that anytime you need access to this vessel to bring you to the stars,
You only need to start with three deep breaths.
You exit the vessel and are back on the dock.
You look at your vessel once more and touch it with the palm of your hand like you would to the side of a horse.
You are grateful for what this vessel has shown you,
As if it is alive in you.
The vessel disappears and you are filled with peace.
As you walk back to the shoreline from the end of the dock,
You take three more deep breaths and you realize you are right.
It is alive in you.
You can feel it now.
There.
Ever present.
All you need to do to access it is take three deep breaths.
Awareness and a curiosity to noticing.
You smile with this knowledge as you walk away,
Twirling in the fields with joy.
Slowly start to bring your awareness back to your whole body.
Begin with subtle movements like wiggling your fingers and toes.
When it feels right for you,
Start to make those movements bigger and bigger.
Your practice of yoga ninja is now complete.
When you feel ready,
Roll to one side in the fetal position and stay here until you're ready to move again.
When the moment is right,
Slowly push yourself back up to a seated position.
Be here as long as you'd like.
When you do decide to arise,
That is an amazing time to journal.
When I journal after a yoga ninja practice,
I find more clarity for myself in one form or another.
Let your inner voice flow through you now.
If you need help waking up,
Bring back some life into your senses.
Have a piece of chocolate or burn an aromatic candle.
Give yourself a moment before driving a car.
Thank you for allowing me to be your guide.
I hope you're willing to try all of the leaves of yoga until you find your own in what works for you.
The divine in me honors the divine in you.
