Yoga Nidra: Through The Garden To Open Awareness

This is a half-hour yoga nidra practice, taking you into a state of deep relaxation. It unfurls towards a connection with the wide open space of pure awareness. While in theory, this is a practice of deep wakefulness, it's totally fine if you fall asleep... it might even aid that.

Transcript

Let's begin this practice of Yoga Nidra by finding a comfortable position. The traditional posture for this is Shavasana, So lying flat on your back on the ground, Maybe on a mat or a carpet, Something comfortable but firm. If you need a little pillow under your head, That's fine, And the legs are out long on the ground in front of you. Feel to relax so the feet drop off gently on either side, Arms are on either side of the body, Little distance away from the body, Palms facing up if that's comfortable, Allowing the eyes to close gently, And if you don't get on with Shavasana, With your legs out long on the ground in front of you, Constructive rest position is a useful alternative. This is lying on your back, But with your feet on the floor and your knees bent, Pointing up towards the ceiling, Placing your hands, Your arms, However you're most comfortable. Most important thing is to take a few moments now to make your body as comfortable as you can get it, Lying on your back, Making any small adjustments that can facilitate that. If you need to loosen a belt or undo a top button, Anything like that, Just make yourself as comfortable as possible. Can you make yourself a tiny bit more comfortable? Any possibility of that. Settling into stillness when you're ready. Yoga Nidra means yoga sleep, But it's not a sleep sleep. We really relax the body through the process, But the subconscious, We're tapping into that. Make a gentle commitment to yourself, Not too dogmatic about it, But sort of make a gentle commitment to yourself not to sleep. Don't be saying to yourself, I will not sleep during the practice of Yoga Nidra, And just letting the body soften and relax. Let's take awareness out now. Allow your awareness to expand outwards, To listen to sounds as far away from where you are as you can hear. Scan out with your awareness and notice whatever sounds you can hear in the distance, Allowing awareness to move from sound to sound. Not trying to analyze what they are or make any judgments about whether they're good sounds or bad sounds. Just taking pure sound in your awareness. Slowly start reeling that awareness in towards where you are. Picking out any sounds you hear as you start drawing the attention inwards until maybe you're able to notice sounds in the room you're in, Nearby sounds, Perhaps even the gentle sound of your own breath. If you'd like to make a resolve, A sankalpa, Now's the time to do it. This is a simple resolve that you make to yourself relating to your personal development. It could be anything really, But just to give a couple of examples, It could be, I'll spend more time in nature, I'll go easy, Anything. If you'd like to make a resolve, Repeat a short simple sentence to yourself along these lines three times. We're now going to rotate consciousness through the whole body. This means you'll be moving awareness from one part to another quite quickly. I'll be naming the parts of the body and you simply move your awareness from one part to the next. If it's helpful, You can say it quietly to yourself, But feel it mainly. So let's begin by taking awareness to the right hand and to the right thumb, Right forefinger, Middle finger, Ring finger, Pinky, The back of the right hand, The palm of the right hand, The wrist, The lower right arm, The elbow, Upper right arm, Shoulder, Armpit, Right side of the body from armpit to hip, The right thigh, The right knee, Right shin, Right calf, Right ankle, Top of the right foot, Sole of the right foot, The heel, The big toe, The second toe, The third toe, The fourth toe, The fifth toe. Moving awareness now to the left hand and to the left thumb, Forefinger, Middle finger, Ring finger, Pinky, The back of the left hand, The palm, The wrist, The left forearm, The elbow, Upper arm, Shoulder, Armpit, The left side of the body from armpit to hip, The left thigh, The left knee, Left shin, Calf, Ankle, Top of the left foot, The sole, The heel, The big toe, Second toe, Third toe, Fourth toe, Fifth toe. Moving awareness to the back of the body, Starting at the back of the head, The back of the neck, The right shoulder, Left shoulder, Right shoulder blade on the floor, Left shoulder blade, The middle of the back, The place between the shoulder blades, Middle back, Low back, Back of the pelvis, Right buttock, Left buttock, The spine and the back, The right side of the spine, The left side of the spine. Moving awareness to the crown of the head, The forehead, The temples on either side, The right eyebrow, The left eyebrow, The space in between the eyebrows, The right eyelid, The left eyelid, The nose, The nose, The right nostril, The left nostril, The right cheek, The left cheek, The right ear, The left ear, The jawbone, Both sides, Top lip, Bottom lip, Top row of teeth, Bottom row of teeth, Tongue, Roof of the mouth. Moving your awareness to the throat, Both sides of the neck, The right collarbone, The left collarbone, The right side of the chest, The left side of the chest, The sternum, The breastbone in the middle of the chest, The right side of the front ribcage, The left side of the front ribcage, The abdomen just below the ribcage, The navel, The lower abdomen, The right leg, The left leg, Both legs together, The right arm, The left arm, Both arms together, The whole back of the body, The whole front of the body, The whole head, The whole body together, Be aware of the whole body together, The whole body. And again, Moving awareness to the right thumb, Forefinger, Middle finger, Ring finger, Little finger, Back of the right hand, Palm of the right hand, The wrist, The right forearm, The right elbow, Upper arm, Shoulder, Armpit, Right side of the body from armpit to hip, The right thigh, The right knee, The right shin, Calf, Ankle, Heel, Sole, Top of the foot, Big toe, Second toe, Third toe, Fourth toe, Fifth toe, Bringing awareness to the left thumb, Left forefinger, Middle finger, Ring finger, Little finger, The back of the left hand, The palm, Left wrist, Forearm, Elbow, Upper arm, Shoulder, Armpit, The left side of the body from armpit to hip, Left thigh, Knee, Shin, Calf, Ankle, Heel, Sole, Top of the foot, Big toe, Second toe, Third toe, Fourth toe, Little toe, Taking awareness to the back of the body, Starting at the back of the head, Bring your awareness to the back of your head, Moving to the neck, The right shoulder, The left shoulder, The right shoulder blade, The left shoulder blade, The space between the shoulder blades in the middle of the back, The mid back, The lower back, The pelvis, Right buttock, Left buttock, The spine in the middle of the back, The right side of the spine, The left side of the spine, Bringing awareness to the crown of the head, The forehead, The temples on either side of the forehead, The right eyebrow, The left eyebrow, The right eyelid, The left eyelid, The right eye, The left eye, The nose, The right nostril, The left nostril, The right cheek, The left cheek, Right ear, Left ear, The jaw, Both sides, The whole lower jaw, Top lip, Lower lip, Top row of teeth, Bottom row of teeth, The tongue, The roof of the mouth, Awareness moves to the throat now, Both sides of the neck, The right collarbone, The left collarbone, The right side of the chest, The left side of the chest, The sternum or breastbone in the middle of the chest, The right side of the front ribcage, The left front ribcage, The abdomen just below the ribcage, The navel, The low belly, The whole right leg, The whole left leg, Both legs together, The whole right arm, The whole left arm, Both arms together, The whole back of the body, The whole front of the body, The head, The whole body together, Be aware of the whole body together, The whole body, Bringing awareness now to the points of contact between your body and the floor, Wherever you can feel your body making contact with the floor, Just let your awareness settle on them, Either back of your head, Whatever parts of your back are in contact with the floor, Back of your pelvis, Backs of your legs, The heels or the feet, The arms, Allowing the body to relax a little bit more, As you notice the contact it makes with the floor, Move your awareness now to your eyelids, In particular the line formed where the two eyelids on each side join each other, So really noticing where the eyes close on both eyes, On both eyes, Similar idea now with the lips, Noticing the line formed where the lips are gently closed, And then become aware of your breath, Sensing, Feeling the breath moving in your body, See if you can feel the gentle rise and fall of your body, With each inhale, With each exhale, Going to start counting the breath down now from 54, So something like in 54, Out 54, In 53, Out 53, In 52, Out 52, And so on, Just gently counting the breath down, And if you lose track of where you are, Simply start again at 54, Just breathe now, Count the breath down, Trying not to miss a single inhale or exhale, Let the breath fall into the background now, I'm going to use the mind to conjure up some sensations in the body, So to start off with, Imagine your body is really hard, As hard as granite, Imagine your body hard, See if you can conjure up a sense of the whole body being as hard as rock, As hard as rock, Now see if you can feel soft, As soft as cotton wool, Can you conjure up a sense of the whole body feeling really, Really soft, Not cold, Can you create a sensation in the mind of coldness, Really cold, Maybe thinking, For example, Of being in the snow, Really cold, And warm, Can you conjure up the feeling of warmth, As if out in the sun maybe, Or sitting by a warm fire, But trying to conjure up the feeling of warmth in the body, Now heavy, Can you feel heavy, The whole body heavy, Like a big lump of gold, Heavy, So heavy you could sink into the floor, A couple of millimeters, You imagine your body heavy, Feel heavy, The whole body heavy, Now light, Can you feel light, So light, You could float a couple of millimeters above the ground, The whole body feeling really, Really light, Relax, Bringing awareness now to the darkness in front of your closed eyes, This is Chittikasha, Or mind space, Just gaze with your closed eyes into this darkness, You might notice it's not pitch dark, There could be patterns, Or shapes, Or other seeming movements in the space in front of your closed eyes, But notice it as you gaze but notice it as you gaze into this darkness, Can you see, Is there an end point in there anywhere, This darkness in front of your closed eyes, Can you see an end, Are there barriers on either side, Is there a top, Is there a bottom, Behind, Or can you sense the wide open space, The wideness of this mind space, The openness of it, Just let the mind settle on this open space, We'll now practice a short visualization, So imagining yourself in a really beautiful garden, Early in the morning, Just as the sun's rising, Dawn is just coming into the sky, Rosy, Golden, The grass is soft and firm, All around flowers, Blue, Yellow, Red, Orange, Purple, And you walk across the soft grass, Feeling a soft firmness, You're alone and safe, And really, Really, Really peaceful, You hear birds, The dawn chorus, You find yourself walking among trees now, Some tall straight trees going straight up into the sky, Some wide sprawling trees, And the sound of birds in the trees, A little bit louder, But beautiful, After a while among the trees, You see a small stone building, It looks like it's made from really ancient stone, It's quite beautiful, Looks like it's been there a long time, And it gives off an aura of deep peace, You approach the small building, And you open a wooden door, And you go inside, And the sense of peace is even deeper within, You sit down in the middle, You're alone, At peace, You close your eyes, And you meditate, You feel the strong positive energy of the space around you, See yourself sitting there, Meditating in this beautiful little stone building, In a lush garden, Full of life, Kissed by the sunshine of dawn, And slowly bring your awareness back to Chittikasha, The mind space, Once more gazing softly into the darkness in front of your closed eyes, Seeing if it's possible to feel a sense of shifting perspective, So no longer as if you are gazing into this mind space, But seeing if you can feel as if you are the space, As if you are this open wide space of awareness, Seeing if you can sense that, And let's come back to the body, Feeling sensations in the body, Wherever you feel them, Seeing if you can sense the body, There's a whole field of ever shifting sensations, Relinquishing the idea of a body and all the various parts we worked through earlier, And simply experiencing the body as an energy sensation, Ever changing and shifting in the space of awareness, And reconnecting with the breath now, Feeling the breath directly again, Noticing the sensations of breathing in the body, The rising, The falling of each inhale, And each exhale, And allowing awareness to expand out into the external world again, Noticing sound, Any sounds you can hear nearby where you are, Any sounds further away, Once more having a sense of the space around you, The space you're in, And when you're ready, Gently opening your eyes, And really taking your time to come back. We've finished the practice of Yoga Nidra now. Spend some time relaxing before you head off to do whatever you're doing next. Take it easy, Go easy, And thanks for taking the time to practice Yoga Nidra with me.

Reviews

Safe and relaxing--I drifted off in the Garden🍃

Sometimes a bit fast for me personally but relaxing anyway. Nice practice 🙏

I was asleep before it ended