Welcome to this yoga nidra practice.
Yoga nidra itself is not a meditation.
Yoga nidra is a state of being.
Yoga nidra is often referred to as yogic sleep and it allows the mind and body to go into a much deeper state of consciousness,
Helping you make dramatic changes to your health and welfare through your intention,
Relax the body,
Release tension and let go of anything stressful,
And to really settle deep into a nurturing practice.
One of the most wonderful things about yoga nidra is practiced lying down.
So you can take this practice and do it in bed,
On the floor.
Wherever you are,
Make yourself as comfortable as you can,
Placing maybe a blanket or bolster underneath your knees to release the tension in your back,
Taking your feet a little bit wider,
Dropping the arms out to the side,
Palms rolled up,
Gentle tilt inward to the thumbs,
Maybe putting something underneath your head to give you a little neck support or head support.
And if you think that the room is a little bit cool or temperate,
You might even want to grab like a light blanket or something to give you a little soft warmth in case you get a little too cold.
Settle in and make yourself as comfortable as you possibly can.
Turn down the lights.
If you want,
You can use an eye pillow over your eyes.
Take a few breaths here to jiggle out any excess energy,
To really settle the body into your comfortable supine position.
And once you've settled in,
Go ahead and start to notice your breath.
Notice as you lie here that maybe your breath is a little bit easier because you're not having to support yourself.
Notice the breath,
Whether it's shallow or deep,
Whether your breathing is fast or slow.
And as you become more aware of the breath,
You automatically begin to notice your breath.
And as you become more aware of the breath,
You automatically begin to regulate it.
So start here with just smoothing the breath out.
Maybe taking some deeper,
Fuller,
Richer breaths.
Belly,
Chest,
Collarbones,
And exhaling out.
Filling the breath into the side body,
Into the back body.
Not a complete full rich breath,
But a comfortable rich breath.
One that helps you feel more settled and grounded,
But also feels like you're getting more oxygen to the entire body.
And as you begin to soften and settle,
You'll notice that your exhale may become a little bit more extended.
You'll notice that your exhale may become a little bit more extended than your inhale,
And that's just fine.
Extending the exhale a little bit longer than the inhale,
One to three to five counts longer.
Naturally,
Just letting it go there will help you slip into the parasympathetic nervous system just a little bit faster.
That rest and heal and digest part of the nervous system.
Feel the breath moving throughout the body,
And with each inhale,
You get a little bit lighter.
In each exhale,
Everything sinks a little bit more into the floor or into the surface that you're lying on.
And once you begin to count your breaths from the number 10 backwards,
Inhale and exhale nine,
Inhale exhale eight,
And so on from there.
And if you find yourself having been distracted or gotten lost in the count,
Don't worry about it.
Just return to your breath,
Extending that exhale a little bit longer,
Settling in.
Now I want you to just follow my voice.
We're going to be moving from place to place throughout the body.
I just want you to land your awareness on that space without judgment or without lingering too long.
Just settling and softening into these spaces.
Gently bring your awareness to the center of your forehead.
Imagine here a soft light,
A warm light with a warm energy that helps smooth out the brow and the jaw and the face,
And move your awareness to the center of your throat,
Maybe swallowing a time or two to help clear the energy of the throat and open the space.
Then moving your awareness to the center space between your collarbones,
Feel that warm energetic light helping spread the collarbones wide,
Helping your shoulders to soften,
Your chest to open,
Your breath to get deeper.
Then move your awareness to the center of your right shoulder,
Imagining here a point of light,
Helping release any tension in the right shoulder,
Bringing softness to the space.
Move your awareness down to the upper arm,
Right elbow,
Lower right arm,
And down to the right wrist.
Bring your awareness to the center space of your palm,
Here again imagining a point of light,
Warm soft energy,
Allowing your awareness to gently brush these spaces that we are going through.
Bring your awareness to the tip of your thumb,
Right pointer finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And pinky.
Back to the center of your right palm,
Right wrist,
Lower right arm bone,
Right elbow,
Upper right arm bone,
Right shoulder,
Back to the center space between your collarbones,
Just allowing this warm energy of light to spread a little bit further into the collarbones and down through the shoulders.
Now bring your awareness to the center of your left shoulder,
Imagining here a warm point of light,
Feeling the release of the left shoulder.
Bring your awareness down to the upper left arm bone,
Bring your awareness down to the upper left arm bone,
Left elbow,
Lower left arm bone,
Left wrist.
Bring your awareness to the center of the left palm,
Feeling a warm light here spreading out through the fingers,
Relaxing the entire left arm.
Bring your awareness to the tip of the left thumb,
Pointer finger,
Ring finger,
Excuse me,
Middle finger,
And pinky.
Back to the center of the left palm,
Left wrist,
Left lower arm bone,
Left elbow,
Upper left arm bone,
And left shoulder.
Back to the space between the collarbones,
Feeling a great deal of softness in the back side of the shoulders and neck and out through the arms.
Gently move your awareness to the center of your heart space,
Point of light here,
Bring your awareness over to the right side of the heart,
Back to center,
Left side of the heart,
And back to center,
Filling the mid and upper back and chest,
Light,
Airy,
Open,
Your breath fuller and richer and crisper.
Move your awareness to the center space right above your navel.
This is a space we often hold a lot of tension,
So allow this warm energy to relax the space of the belly,
Releasing the lower back,
Bring your awareness to the center of the heart,
Relax the space of the belly,
Releasing the lower back,
Bring your awareness to the center of the pelvis,
Moving your awareness to the center of the right hip,
Upper leg,
Right knee,
Lower leg,
Ankle,
To the arch of the right foot,
Feeling that warm light spreading out through each one of the toes one by one,
First toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
And fifth,
Back to the center of the right foot,
Right ankle,
Right lower leg bone,
Right knee,
Right upper leg,
Center of the right hip,
And back to the space of the pelvis,
Filling the body,
Settle and soften into the ground.
Filling the body,
Settle and soften into the ground.
Bring your awareness over to the center of the left hip,
Left upper leg,
Left knee,
Left lower leg,
Left ankle,
The center of the left arch of the foot,
And out through the toes,
The energy spreading warm and soothing to first toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
And fifth,
Back to the center of the left foot,
Left ankle,
Left lower leg,
Left knee,
Left upper leg,
And back to the center of the pelvis.
Feel the warmth spreading down through each one of the legs equally,
Out through the hips and down through the feet.
Sense that energy and awareness right at the navel space,
The center of the heart,
The center of the throat,
And the space right in between the eyebrows.
Sense the entire body as a moving field of energy from the very bottoms of your feet to the crown of your head,
From the crown of your head down to the bottoms of your feet.
Feel your breath light,
But your body heavy and grounded.
Now we're going to set a sankalpa or an intention.
A sankalpa is a phrase or word said to yourself three times for something that you want to happen or want to come true in your life in the next 12 to 18 months,
Something you really aspire to or dream of.
And you'll phrase this intention or this affirmation as if it has already come true.
If you want to find more peace in your life,
Your sankalpa will be,
I have more peace in every aspect of my life or my life is filled with peace.
And as you repeat the sankalpa to yourself,
Feel a sense of gratitude that this has already come true and come to pass,
That your intention has manifested.
Gently releasing your intention to the universe,
Bring your awareness back to the body.
We're going to experience a few different opposites.
So let's start with the first one.
So you're going to experience the awareness of the body.
So you're going to experience the awareness of the body.
And you're going to experience the awareness of the body.
We're going to experience a few different opposites.
So imagine your body feeling super warm,
As if you're standing next to a giant bonfire,
You're outside on a warm summer's day,
You feel really warm all the way down into your core.
Feel that sense of heat,
Of fire.
Now imagine as if you are outside on a cold winter's day,
Maybe it's snowing,
It's icy cold outside.
And feel that cold all the way down into your center.
Feel cold.
Imagine feeling heavy,
Like a rock or a mountain,
Grounded and secure and stable to the earth.
Feel that weight of the earth,
The heaviness.
Feel heavy and dense.
Now imagine feeling as light as a bubble blowing in the breeze,
Wandering this way and that,
Feeling free and open and light.
Imagine being light and weightless.
Imagine the darkest night or darkest place you've ever been in,
Maybe out camping on a really dark night overcast in the forest.
Or the darkness has a texture like velvet.
Feel the darkness,
The absence of light.
And now imagine being in a bright sunny day where the sun is overhead,
Not a cloud in the sky,
Brilliant bright light,
So bright you almost have to cover your eyes.
Sense this lightness,
This brightness,
This brilliance.
Now letting go of these opposites,
Recognizing that in every aspect of our lives,
Physical,
Mental or emotional,
There is a balance.
There is light and dark,
Hot and cold.
All of these exist within us.
In our bodies alone,
We have top and bottom,
Left and right,
Front and back,
Inside and out.
Our intent in this practice is to bring greater balance to all these opposites that exist within us,
Welcoming the yin and the yang in our lives.
And now bring to your imagination a place that you have been in your life that brings you great serenity and peace.
Perhaps it's a beach or a forest retreat or a special place in your garden or your home.
Wherever it is,
That one place that brings you great peace and serenity that you love being,
Bring everything to mind about that space.
The colors,
The textures,
The sounds,
The smells,
Maybe even the taste.
On a beach,
Air would taste salty,
Smell like salt and ocean water.
In a forest,
It would smell like pines and green.
Fill the textures,
The cool air against you,
The warm air,
The fill of water or trees or sun,
Rain.
Use all of your senses to really experience this place as if you were there.
And as you bring yourself to this space,
Fill the sense of quiet and serenity of this place settling over you.
Feel the peacefulness of this special place.
Not just settle into your external perception,
But your internal perception.
You have no place to go right now,
No place you need to be.
Nothing is needed from you other than to spend quiet,
Peaceful time in this beautiful space that you love so much.
Know that this place exists for you at any time that you need it,
That you can return here whenever you are in need of some peace and serenity.
This is your special place.
Gently begin to sense the textures and the sounds and the smells immediately around your body.
And as you do,
Begin to expand that awareness a little bit further out to the sounds further away,
The smells,
The textures.
Bring yourself back to the present moment in the present space.
Beginning to wiggle your fingers and your toes,
Finding a little movement in the body if that feels appropriate.
Then taking the arms up overhead,
Stretching out with your fingertips and through the toes,
Making yourself long and tall,
Your spine lengthened out.
And gently rolling over to your right side,
Using your right arm as a pillow,
Take a few breaths here.
Notice how you feel.
Notice how your mind is working.
Some people say that 30 minutes of yoga nidra is equivalent to about four hours of good sleep.
Helping bring the mind and body back to balance,
Returning us to our true selves.
Bringing us back to peace and serenity,
Helping us focus on what is truly important in our lives and what we most wish for.
Whenever you are ready,
Press yourself up into whatever seated position you like best.
Bring your hands,
Palms up or palms down onto your knees.
Take a few moments here to check in with the mind and the body,
Sensing where you are now,
Then from where you were at the start of this practice.
Savoring the quiet,
Knowing that at any time you need this,
It is here for you.
Whenever you feel ready,
Open your eyes.
I wish you the very best day.
Peace and namaste.
