Summer Yoga Nidra - Finding Ease And Pleasure

In this Yoga Nida meditation, we seek ways to let go, to release our weight and give ourselves into gravity and into the earth. From invite the pleasure of giving ourselves to the support of the earth. After finding this grounding, we let the warm light of the summer sun infuse our skin with its vibrant energy. We seek ways of inviting this energy deeper and let the pleasure seep into our entire body.

Transcript

Welcome to this practice of yoga nidra.

Yoga nidra means yogic sleep and in this practice we meditate lying down on our backs,

On the floor,

On a sofa or on a bed.

Prepare your space,

Make it as comfortable and cozy as you can.

Silence your phone,

Perhaps dim the lights,

Pad the floor or prepare your sofa or your bed.

I personally like to practice on the floor with a cushion below the head and one behind my knees,

But feel free to prepare in whatever way may support your practice.

We will begin this practice with a short breathing exercise,

Followed by a body scan,

Shifting the attention between different parts of the body.

You will then be invited to repeat what's called in yoga nidra a sankalpa.

The sankalpa is a kind and generous wish for yourself that you repeat three times at the beginning and at the end of yoga nidra.

This wish can be as small or as big as you want,

Whatever is easy right now.

Most importantly it really needs to be kind.

So start with the simplest wish,

Something like having a cozy evening and let the sankalpa slowly evolve with every time you practice.

Now the purpose of this particular yoga nidra is to find comfort,

Ease and pleasure.

It is the height of the summer here and as the weather is getting hotter and hotter,

The overbearing heat can sometimes lead us to seek ease,

To do less.

Alongside that,

Summer can also bring a sense of aliveness,

A seeking of pleasure,

Of fun,

Of connection,

All of which can also bring their own sense of ease and joy.

And in this practice we will begin with finding ease in the non-doing and in deepening our attention to the sensations of our body.

Then through guided imagery,

We will slowly and gently invite the sweet sensations of comfort and pleasure to really seep into our bodies.

We will end with rotating the attention along our bodies,

That is,

Moving our attention from one part of the body to the next,

And by doing that we will plant the sensations of ease and pleasure that we found deeper into each part of our bodies.

The practice of yoga nidra begins.

Gently lie down on your back,

Legs slightly apart,

Arms to either side of the body,

Slightly away,

Or maybe with your palms on your belly.

You may close your eyes now,

Or if it's more comfortable,

Soften your gaze.

Keep in mind that you are now practicing yoga nidra.

Have the form of your attention be,

I am practicing yoga nidra.

Become aware of the whole body.

Feel the whole body which is lying on the floor.

The whole body lying on the floor.

Gently direct your attention to your breath.

There is no need to change anything at all.

In your breath,

Just observe every breath in its own time.

This breath.

And that breath.

This breath.

And that breath.

Any rhythm or depth are okay.

Just softly observe your breath.

Rising and falling.

Rising and falling.

I will now guide you through an imagined alternate nostril breathing.

As you breathe,

Imagine that you are inhaling through one nostril,

And then exhaling from the other,

Even if this does not really occur.

Without moving your hands,

Imagine that you are inhaling deeply,

Through the right nostril.

And exhaling slowly and fully through the left nostril.

Now inhale from the left nostril.

And exhale from the right nostril.

Repeat this pattern.

Inhale from one side.

And exhale from the other.

Then inhale from the other.

And exhale from the first.

Don't worry if you make a mistake.

Just return to the alternate breathing.

Do this six more times.

Inhale from one nostril.

And exhale from the other.

Then inhale from the other.

And exhale through the first.

Inhale from one nostril.

Exhale from the other.

Inhale from the other.

And exhale through the first.

Now let that go.

Take a few deep breaths,

Through both nostrils and into the abdomen.

And exhale slowly and fully from your mouth.

Inhale deeply.

And with each exhale,

Release your body further into the floor.

Perhaps sigh as you breathe out.

Or make any sound of release with your exhale.

Continue taking these deep breaths.

And with each exhale,

Sink further into the floor.

Release your weight into the support of the floor.

Feel the pleasure of giving your weight into the floor.

Continue taking these deep breaths.

And with each exhale,

Sink further into the floor.

Release your weight into the support of the floor.

Feel the pleasure of giving your weight to the floor.

Feel how every inhale rises from the floor and every exhale sinks back down.

Now let your breathing do whatever it likes to do.

And turn your attention to the weight of your body.

Feel the weight of your legs.

The weight of your arms.

The weight of your torso sinking into the floor.

Feel the weight of your head.

Feel the weight of the whole body sinking into the floor.

Feel the weight of the whole body pouring into the floor.

The whole body.

The weight of your whole body.

Now the sankalpa.

You will repeat your sankalpa three times,

Imagining as it sinks with your weight into the ground.

A simple,

Concise and kind wish.

Repeat your sankalpa three times.

The sankalpa is a seed that we sow in the practice of Yoga Nidra.

A seed that will surely be nourished and grow in time.

Now,

Imagine that you are lying in a meadow.

The green meadow stretches far and wide with a few trees standing here and there.

The long grass is a soft cushion under your body.

You are lying down on soft grass.

But this grass is also long and tall all around you.

And the tall and long vibrant blades provide you with your own little space.

You are nestled in their midst.

Above you the sky is blue.

The sun is shining warm and gentle.

The cool air gently caresses your warm skin in a way that is very pleasant.

From where you are,

You could see the canopy,

The crown of the tree,

Peeking in between the blades of grass and enjoying the sunshine just as you are.

Feel your whole body resting on the grass.

Relax your body.

Release your limbs,

Your neck,

Your head,

Your face.

And allow them to be heavy.

With every exhale,

Feel the weight of your body making an imprint on this cushiony grass.

Release into the earth below you.

Release into the grass,

The surface layer of the ground beneath you.

And sink even further and further into the earth.

As you sink further and further down,

Feel the embrace of the deeper layers of earth beneath you.

Nestled in the earth,

As you breathe deeply in,

See the nourishment of the earth seeping through the back of your body.

Seeping through the pores of your skin,

This delicious,

Slow but confident earthly goodness is flowing into your body.

With every exhale,

You savor the sweet release into the earth.

With every inhale,

You drink the goodness of the earth pleasurably through your skin and into the depth of your body.

Feel the pleasure of releasing into the earth.

Feel this nourishment seeping into the depths of your heart space.

Slowly arriving into the depths of your heart space.

Feel the pleasure of releasing on every exhale and of nourishing in every inhale.

As you ground yourself in this goodness,

Slowly surface your attention from the depths of the earth below you through the cushiony grass to the back of your body and up towards your belly,

Your chest,

Your face.

Feel the breath in your nostrils.

Feel the air coming in and cooling your nostrils and coming out slightly warmer.

Feel the cool soft breeze that is crossing the meadow and caressing the surfaces of your skin,

Caressing your arms,

Your feet,

Your face.

Feel the spaciousness of the air around you and the coolness of the caressing wind on your skin.

Feel the lightness of your lips,

Your eyebrows,

Your eyelids,

Your forehead.

Feel a lightness in the front of your chest,

Your belly,

The arms,

The legs.

Above you,

The sun is shining bright and lovely in the vibrant blue sky.

Feel the warmth of sunshine touching the front-facing surfaces of your skin.

Feel this pleasurable and gentle light tickling your skin,

The millions of cells of your skin relishing this heavenly gift of light and warmth,

The delight of a nice day and a clear blue sky.

The light brings an excited liveliness.

Feel the tickling liveliness of the sun over your forehead,

Your eyebrows,

Your eyelids.

Feel this pleasurable tickling sensation inviting you to release your cheeks,

Your jaws,

Your upper lip,

Your lower lip.

Feel how the pleasurable warmth of the sun is trickling from the skin deeper into your body,

Into your chest,

Your upper arms,

Your lower arms,

The hands.

Feel this exuberant vitality trickling into your upper abdomen,

Your navel,

Your pelvis,

Your thighs,

Your calves,

Your feet.

Feel the liveliness of this kind light coming from the sun into your skin.

It awakens the soul of your right foot,

The soul of your left foot.

Both of your feet awakened lively.

And feel as this light awakens the top of your head.

Feel this warm delightful light filling your body with bright pleasure.

And feel how this sensuous exciting light slowly finds its way to the heart space.

With each breath the deep heart space is being slowly filled with the sense of bright aliveness.

Pleasure slowly seeping to the heart space Imagine in your heart a smile.

I will be silent for five minutes and then ring the chime.

The kind light of the sun is touching your skin and awakening a pleasurable sensation.

This sensation seeps from the front facing surfaces of your body into its depths.

You feel this liveliness in your cheekbones,

In your lips,

In your mouth.

You feel it brightly in your hands and in your feet.

Feel this lively beautiful light as it travels from the soles of your feet all through your body the heart center to the top of your head.

Notice this bright vibrating vibrant and lively energy the aliveness in the heart space.

As I name one part of the body after another you will now bring your awareness to that part.

Each time your awareness lands on another part of your body the pleasurable lively energy of light and the deep and nourishing energy of the earth will be gathered and planted as a seed in that part of your body.

Let your attention rest on the point between your eyebrows bring your awareness to the point between the eyebrows bring your awareness to your throat bring your awareness to your right shoulder to your right elbow your right wrist the tip of your right thumb the tip of your right index finger the tip of the right middle finger the tip of the right ring finger the tip of the right little finger the right ring finger the right wrist the right elbow the right shoulder the throat bring your awareness to your left shoulder to your left elbow your left wrist the tip of your left thumb the tip of your left index finger the tip of your left middle finger the tip of your left ring finger the tip of your left little finger your left elbow your left shoulder your throat bring your awareness to the space between the breasts to your navel to your lower abdomen bring your awareness to your right hip to your right knee to your right ankle the tip of your right big toe the tip of the right second toe the tip of the right middle toe the tip of the right fourth toe the tip of the right little toe bring your awareness to the right ankle the right knee the right hip the lower abdomen bring your awareness to the left hip your left knee your left ankle the tip of the left big toe the tip of the left second toe the tip of the left middle toe the tip of the left fourth toe the tip of the left little toe the left ankle the left knee the left hip bring your awareness to the lower abdomen bring your awareness to the navel to the space between the breasts bring your awareness to the throat bring your awareness to the forehead after the sankalpa I will chant Om Shanti and Hari Om Tatsat after which I will guide you to end the practice of yoga nidra now repeat your sankalpa your wish three times Shanti Shanti Shanti Hari Om Tatsat Hari Om Tatsat Hari Om Tatsat the practice of yoga nidra is over become aware of the sounds around you become aware of your immediate surroundings and your body which is lying over the floor slowly begin with small movements wiggle your toes and fingers rotate your wrists the ankles maybe stretch when you feel ready open your eyes and end this meditation