Yoga Nidra, Autumnal Journey

Welcome to Yoga Nidra.

This practice will induce you to a deep state of relaxation.

You can take it at any time of the day or before sleep.

To receive the practice,

You can be sitting down or lying on your bed or on the floor.

Some take this practice even walking.

So,

Taking your time,

Choosing the position of your choice,

And making sure you are not going to be disturbed during the practice,

And making yourself as comfortable as possible to receive this practice.

In Yoga Nidra,

We have a concept called Pratyahara.

Pratyahara is a state between awake and asleep,

Which is acquired gradually by not moving.

Hence,

We take extra care at the beginning of the practice to make ourselves as comfortable as possible.

So we eliminate any involuntary movement during the practice.

Should you need to move,

You will do so and easily come back to the practice.

When in that state of Pratyahara,

You obtain a deep relaxation of the muscles and the nervous system,

Which will have the effect of boosting the immune system as well.

The second concept is called Sankalpa.

Sankalpa is a desire wish,

A positive statement starting with I AM.

It's a wish for transformation,

A desire.

For example,

I am happy,

I am healthy,

I am grounded,

I am here now.

Those are examples.

If nothing comes to your mind,

You can use the sound OM instead.

I will invite you to bring your Sankalpa or the sound OM to your practice at the beginning and at the end.

And at the end of yoga nidra.

The practice of yoga nidra is beginning now.

Lying down or sitting,

Take a moment to visualize with your eyes closed or imagine the body lying in the room where it is.

Visualize the four walls of the room,

The ceiling,

The floor underneath.

Now take a deep breath,

Breathing in and tensing the whole body.

The whole body is tensing,

Your fists,

Your legs,

Your arms,

Your feet,

Your face.

And release,

Releasing all your worries,

Your concerns to the earth.

Repeat one more time,

Inhaling,

Big inhale.

Tensing the whole body,

Building some tension,

Tension even in the face and the legs,

The arms,

The abdomen,

The back.

Maximum tension and exhale,

Release all those tensions.

The body is releasing to the floor,

To the earth.

And now with your eyes closed,

Bring your awareness to the sounds.

Close sounds within the room where you are.

It can be the sound of your breath.

And any other sound within this room without labeling the sound.

The ear is attuning to the sound.

And now bring your awareness to the sounds outside of this room.

The ear is attuning to the sounds outside of the room.

Without trying to attach any meaning to it,

Just listening to the sounds for what they are.

And now bringing your awareness back to the body,

Lying on the ground.

Feeling the point of contact between the body and the ground.

A single plane of contact between the body and the ground.

No part of the body is omitting.

It's a single plane of contact between the whole body and the ground.

Almost an abstract experience.

A state in between the body and the ground.

Now bring your awareness to your lips.

Upper lip,

Lower lip.

The plane of contact between the lips.

Feel that plane of contact.

And now the body and the ground.

The lips again,

The plane of contact between the lips.

And now becoming aware of your eyelids.

Upper eyelid,

Lower eyelid.

The plane of contact between the eyelids.

Feel that plane of contact.

And now the body and the floor.

The lips again,

The eyelids,

Lips,

Eyelids,

Body,

Floor.

Now bring your awareness to the point between the eyebrows.

Feel that point.

And bring to your mind now your sankalpa or the sound um instead.

And with faith and compassion,

Repeat now three times your sankalpa or the sound um in your mind.

Beginning now.

Releasing your sankalpa.

I will guide you through a rotation of awareness.

Parts of the body will be mentioned.

When each part is mentioned,

Bring this part to your mind,

Visualize it,

Feel it,

Become aware of it.

The rotation will start with the right side,

Followed by the left side,

Back of the body,

Front of the body.

The rotation will go quite swiftly from part to part.

Starting now with the right hand,

The thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger.

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Right side of the body,

Thigh,

Knee,

Back of the knee,

Shin,

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

Instep,

Sole of the right foot.

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

The five toes together,

The whole of the right side,

The whole of the right side,

The whole of the right side.

Now the left side,

The thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger.

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Left side of the body,

Left hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Back of the knee,

Shin,

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

Instep,

Sole of the left foot.

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

The five toes together,

The whole of the left side,

The whole of the left side,

The whole of the left side.

Now the back body,

Right buttock,

Left buttock,

Right lower back,

Left lower back,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade.

The spinal cord,

Neck,

Back of the head,

Crown of the head,

The whole of the back body,

The whole of the back body,

The whole of the back body.

Now bring your awareness to the front body.

Forehead,

The forehead,

The forehead,

Right temple,

Left temple,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Right eye,

Left eye,

The nose,

Tip of the nose,

Upper lip,

Lower lip.

Both lips together,

Teeth,

Tongue,

Root of the tongue,

Chin,

The whole face,

Right side of the chest,

Left side of the chest,

The center of the chest,

Diaphragm,

Abdomen,

Navel center,

Groin.

The whole front of the body,

The whole front of the body,

The whole front of the body.

The right arm,

The right arm,

The right arm,

The left arm,

The left arm,

The left arm,

Both arms together,

The right leg,

The right leg,

The left leg,

The left leg,

Both legs together.

The whole body,

The whole body,

The whole body.

Breathing with your whole body,

The whole body breathing.

Bring your awareness to your breath.

The body has been still some time,

But with the breath there is still movement.

Even in stillness there is a seed of movement.

Bring your awareness to the parts of the body moving with the breath.

You might notice your nostrils moving,

Your chest,

Your abdomen.

Maybe you notice some movement in your back as well,

The lower lungs.

Back of the body expanding with the breath.

Sides of the body also expanding with the breath.

And front of the body.

Bring your awareness now to the nose.

Feeling the breath in the nose.

Its texture might be different from the inhale to the exhale.

The temperature.

Notice the difference between the inhale and the exhale.

Cooler air on the inhale,

Warmer air on the exhale.

Pure awareness.

A few more seconds on the nose.

Breath in the nose.

Feeling the journey of the breath entering your nostril and leaving your nostril.

And now release this focus.

Breathing with the whole body.

I will now guide you through a sequence of images or journey.

With each image mentioned,

Make the colors as vivid as you can,

The sounds clear,

The scents.

Trying to imagine or visualize the words or the images as clearly as you can.

Starting now with a tree leaf.

You look at the color of a tree leaf you are holding in your hand.

The colors are orange and yellow.

And you look at the way the light is reflecting on the color of this autumnal leaf.

And you bring it towards the sky and notice the contrast between the blue sky above you and the colors of the leaf you are holding.

Now you lower the leaf and you look around.

And you notice that you are in a forest of trees.

And on the floor there are many leaves on the floor in these autumnal colors like brown,

Yellow,

Red,

Brown.

Some might be a bit still green.

And you've got a place for yourself.

You feel safe in the forest.

You hear some birds singing in the trees.

And in front of you,

Beneath your feet,

You see a path.

So you decide to walk on the path and follow where it leads.

There is an atmosphere of tranquility where you are.

You look on the side,

You see a rabbit.

The rabbit is looking at you,

Curious of your journey.

You continue a bit further and you see a deer.

The deer is acknowledging you,

So you are acknowledging the deer as well.

And you continue your path.

You look at the sky.

You see a flock of birds flying in the sky.

It's mid-morning.

There is a bit of coolness in the air,

But you are not cold.

There is a very gentle breeze which you can feel on your cheeks.

And ahead of you,

You see a tree.

A tree which is larger than others in the forest.

And you decide to walk towards that tree.

When you arrive near it,

You place your hands on the trunk.

You feel the rough texture of the bark under your hands.

And you decide to wrap your arms around the tree and place your ear on the bark of the tree,

On the trunk,

Listening to the tree.

You feel its sap,

Vibrant within the trunk.

And with your closed eyes,

You visualize or imagine its root going deep into the earth and anchoring it to Mother Earth.

You feel safe,

At peace,

At one with the tree and with your surroundings.

You close your eyes.

And when you open them again,

This time you are on the beach.

You are standing on the beach.

Your feet feel warm under the sand.

And the sun is going down on the horizon.

You see the sea,

The sun going down from the beach.

The colors reflecting on the sky are magnificent.

They are orange,

Yellow,

Red.

And the lights of the sun are reflecting on the sea,

Here,

In the waves,

Gentle waves of the sea.

You look around.

You've got the beach for yourself.

You feel safe.

And again,

You close your eyes,

Absorbing the moment,

Enjoying it.

And when you open them again,

It's midnight.

You are on a bench,

Sitting by a lake.

There is a full moon reflecting on the surface of the lake.

You watch the reflection of the moon on the lake.

You can hear the nightingales singing around you.

Again,

You've got the place for yourself.

The night is full of stars.

You look up.

You see the moon,

The full moon,

Many stars,

Some even shooting stars.

And in this atmosphere of tranquility,

Peace,

You decide to close your eyes.

Now bring your awareness to the point between the eyebrows.

Feel that point.

And bring to your mind now your sankalpa or the sound um.

And in your mind,

Repeat now three times your sankalpa or the sound um.

Becoming aware once again of the point of contact between the body and the floor.

Feeling the weight of the body on the floor,

Supported.

Bring your awareness to the sounds,

Close sounds,

Within the room where you are.

Listening to all the sounds within the room without attaching any meaning to it.

And now sounds outside of this room.

Coming back to the body lying on the floor or sitting.

Visualize yourself where you are.

Visualize the four walls in the room,

The ceiling,

The floor.

Feel the warmth of your clothes or the blankets if you have any on you.

And maybe the coolness on your cheek,

On your face.

Now bring your awareness to your feet.

Now bring your awareness to your feet.

Start moving the feet,

The legs.

Bring your awareness to your hands,

Start moving the hands,

The arms.

The head moves side to side.

If that resonates with you,

Take a big inhale now.

Give yourself a stretch.

And when you are ready,

Floating the knees towards your chest.

Or if you are about to fall asleep,

Going to sleep after,

Just staying in the lying down position.

If not,

Knees folding over the chest.

And now coming to a side-lying position,

Fetus position.

Supporting the head if that's helpful.

And in your own time,

Not rushing.

How we come out of this practice is as important as how we come in this practice.

So in your own time,

Coming to a seated position.

The practice of yoga nidra is complete.

Aryum tatsat,

Aryum tatsat.

Thank you very much for practicing with me.

Namaste.