Welcome to Yoga Nidra.
Yoga Nidra is a meditation practiced lying down in Shavasana.
So please take a few moments to set up comfortably so that you can enjoy and benefit from the meditation.
Take the time to settle in and find the most comfortable position.
Enjoy your practice.
Once you settle in,
Make final adjustments so that maybe you get a little bit more comfortable.
When you get there,
Close your eyes and begin to tune in to your breath.
Keep your lips sealed and observe the breath going in and out through the nose.
So if you can soften your face,
Your jaw.
Once you soften your jaw,
You might notice your upper teeth and bottom teeth separate while you keep your lips sealed.
Take the next few moments to keep observing your breath,
Allowing yourself to tune out from whatever you were doing and tune in to your body and mind here.
Just tune in to your breath.
Now just start to notice your body on the ground.
And observe the feeling of the body touching the ground.
And notice all of the meeting points between the body and the ground.
Like the back of your head and the ground.
Upper back,
Middle back,
Lower back and the ground.
The back of your arms and the ground.
The back of your hands and the ground.
And feel your whole body settling into the ground.
Feel the ground support your body.
And to just notice the sounds,
All the sounds that you hear.
One by one,
No effort.
Just let yourself,
Let your mind go from one little sound to the next.
And we'll introduce our resolve,
Our intention for the practice.
Working with our compassion theme,
You can repeat to yourself the following three times.
Compassion connects me to others.
You can say it to yourself three more times.
Now bring your awareness to the right hand.
Feel the tip of your right thumb,
The tip of the index finger,
The tip of the middle finger,
The tip of your ring finger,
Pinky finger,
Palm of the right hand,
The back of the right hand,
Right wrist,
Right lower arm,
Right elbow,
The right upper arm.
Right shoulder,
Right armpit,
Right waist,
Right hip,
Right thigh,
Right knee,
The right shin,
Right ankle,
The top of the right foot,
Sole of the right foot,
Heel of the right foot,
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and fifth toe.
Move the awareness to the left hand,
The tip of your left thumb,
The tip of the index finger,
Tip of your middle finger,
Tip of your ring finger,
Pinky finger,
Palm of the left hand,
Back of your left hand,
Your left wrist,
The left lower arm,
Left elbow,
Left upper arm,
The left shoulder,
Left armpit,
The left waist,
The left hip,
Left thigh,
Your left knee,
Left shin,
The left ankle,
Top of your left foot,
The sole of the left foot,
The heel of the left foot,
Your left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and fifth toe.
And now move your awareness to the back of your head,
The back of your neck,
Feel the upper back,
Your middle back,
The lower back,
Feel your entire back.
Then feel your spine.
Just be aware of your spine.
The right butt cheek,
Left butt cheek,
And the back of the right leg,
Back of your left leg.
Now move the awareness to the top of your head.
Feel the scalp,
The forehead,
The right eye,
Left eye,
Right ear,
Your left ear.
And feel the insides of your ears,
The outer rims of your ears,
Right cheekbone,
The left cheekbone,
Right nostril,
Left nostril,
And the tip of your nose,
The upper lip,
And the bottom lip.
Feel the insides of your mouth,
The tongue,
The upper teeth,
Bottom teeth,
The roof of your mouth.
Now feel your throat,
The right side of your chest,
Left side of your chest,
Center of your chest,
Your navel,
Lower abdomen.
Now feel the right leg and then feel the left leg.
Feel both of your legs together.
Feel the right arm and feel the left arm.
Feel both of your arms together.
Feel the right hand,
Feel the left hand.
Feel both of your hands together.
Now just feel your entire body.
Feel the right and the left of your body,
Front of your body,
The back of your body.
Feel your entire body,
Your body effortless on the ground.
Your legs effortless,
Your hips effortless,
The belly effortless,
The ribs and the chest effortless,
The shoulders effortless,
The arms effortless,
The hands effortless,
Your throat effortless,
And the head effortless.
Your body is calm,
Grounded,
And effortless.
Now begin to sense your body breathing,
Keeping your lips sealed,
Your jaw relaxed,
Your face relaxed and effortless.
Notice the air going in and out through your nose.
Air going in and out effortlessly through your nose.
And then bring your awareness to the center of your chest,
Your heart space.
Visualize the warm golden light right at the center of the chest,
Shining so bright,
A warm soft golden light.
Now as you happen to breathe in,
Visualize the light expand out of your chest like a bubble.
And as you breathe out,
The light comes back to the heart.
As you breathe in,
The golden light expands,
Expands so much that it covers your whole body.
As you breathe out,
The light comes back to the heart.
And keep breathing like this.
Light expands,
Covers your whole body.
Light comes back to the heart on the exhale.
Now let go of that visual and keeping the natural flow of your breath,
Count backwards 27 to 1.
So you're counting your breaths effortlessly on each exhalation.
If you lose the count or finish,
You go back to 27 and start over.
So no rush,
No effort.
Count your breaths 27 to 1,
Counting on the exhale.
Now let go of your count.
And then remember a time when you felt judgmental towards someone.
Maybe someone you didn't understand at a time at that time.
Just let that feeling come to your awareness.
And now remember a time when you felt compassion,
Understanding towards someone.
And then welcome that feeling into your body and mind.
And then go back to that feeling of judgment.
And then go back to that feeling of compassion and understanding.
And then welcome both at the same time.
Judgment,
Compassion.
And then bring your awareness to that space between the eyebrows.
And then imagine yourself sitting at the top of a mountain,
Tall green mountain,
And in front of you you see a beautiful ocean spreading throughout and white puffy clouds in the sky,
Birds flying and a beautiful sunset right behind the mountains in front of you.
And then on the right side of you,
Visualize someone you really care about,
Someone you love.
Visualize them sitting right next to you.
And then on your left side,
Visualize someone you don't get along with so much.
Maybe someone you misunderstand.
And then come back to that space at the center of your chest and visualize that warm golden light.
Expand that light out of your chest like a bubble.
This time the light covers your whole body,
That person you care about,
And that person you don't get along with.
So one big bubble,
Warm golden light covering your body,
That person you care about,
The person you don't get along with.
And then you add the breath again,
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Expanding the light out of the chest,
Covering the three of you.
And breathe out,
The light comes back to the heart.
Take the next few moments just like that.
Breathing in,
Light expands.
Breathing out,
The light comes back.
Now let go of that visual and then come back to your intention,
Your resolve.
Compassion connects me to others.
You can say that three more times to yourself.
Compassion connects me to others.
When you're ready,
You can start to bring your awareness back.
Gently wiggle your fingers and toes,
Bend the knees one at a time.
And then when you're ready,
Roll to fetal position on the right.
And when you're ready,
You can come up to sit,
Keeping the eyes closed.
And take the hands together at the center of your chest.
Let's take a final deep breath in here to close our practice.
A deep breath in through your nose,
And out through your mouth.
Thank you.
