Hello and welcome to your yoga nidra practice.
This practice is going to explore the third Niyama in Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga,
Which is Tapas.
And Tapas is often thought of as an internal fire or discipline that helps us to move forward with our lives and keeps us motivated,
Which it is.
But it's also indicative of consistency,
Moving forward with slow burn,
With the ability to turn up the heat whenever we need to,
Coming and returning to your practice every day.
This is discipline in its truest form and this is what we want to develop in our yoga nidra practice.
The ability to have that discipline,
Self-discipline,
And the ability to control the fire within.
Tapas.
So that's our intention for today.
So with that in mind we would like to lie down in a Shavasana and get yourself as comfortable as possible.
Take a moment and then if you're working with a set intention that's fine,
Keep that sankalpa.
If however you want to set an intention to do with discipline,
For instance,
I practice my yoga class every day or I meditate with intent,
I get deep within my meditation,
The fire of inside of me burns brightly.
I am motivated to move forward.
Any of these kinds of things would invoke tapas.
So when we're moving through the body today I'd like you to think of a warmth within you,
The warmth that's generated by the body,
By the metabolism,
That keeps you alive,
Keeps you warm,
And keeps you functioning.
So we will start again with the right thumb.
Take your awareness to the right thumb,
The index finger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger,
And the pinky finger.
Feel the warmth in your hand,
Feel warmth in your hand,
And allow that warmth to move up,
That feeling of warmth to move up to your elbow,
Your shoulder,
Into the ribcage,
The waist,
And the hip,
The thigh,
The knee,
The ankle,
And your foot,
Your right foot.
Feeling the warmth in your right foot,
And the sensations between the toes,
Feel the sensation between the toes.
Coming over to the left side,
The left thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And pinky finger.
Feeling the warmth in your hand,
Moving up through the forearm to the elbow,
Then to the shoulder,
Ribcage,
Waist,
Hip,
Thigh,
Knee,
Shin,
Ankle,
And the warmth in your foot.
Feel the sensations between the toes,
And the warmth that's generated there.
Bring your awareness to the back of the body,
The right heel,
The left heel,
The right calf,
The left calf,
The right buttocks,
The left buttocks,
Base of the spine,
Middle of the spine,
Top of the spine,
The whole spine together.
And feel the warmth inside of you,
Inside of the torso.
Feel your face,
Your eyes,
Your nose,
And your mouth.
Notice the slippery wetness within the mouth,
The front body,
All the way down to the toes.
Feel your legs,
Your torso,
And your head.
Feel your whole body lying in yoga nidra.
Your whole body lying in yoga nidra,
Allowing cares and worries to dissipate.
Being right here,
Right now,
And following the breath.
Feel the breath moving in and out of the body.
Cool on the way in,
And warm on the way out.
Feel the difference in temperature,
Your body regulating constant heat.
Feel the prana and warmth flowing through your body.
Much deeper now.
Coming down deeper with the breath.
Take your physical eyes and gently gaze at your third eye.
Gently gazing there.
Rest there.
And then feel the warmth once again in your body.
The energy of the body.
And now feel cool.
Feel cool.
And now hot.
It's a hot,
Sunny day,
And you're sweating hot.
And now you're cold.
Very cold.
Beautiful warmth pervades.
A beautiful warmth pervades.
Once again,
Become involved with third eye.
Watch the third eye.
I'm going to suggest some images.
I'd like you to visualize them to the best of your ability within that space.
A cold winter's day.
A cold winter's day.
Putting on a warm coat and hat.
Putting on a warm coat and hat.
Feeling the warmth against the cold.
Feeling the warmth against the cold.
Running down the path,
Hot and sweaty.
Hot and sweaty.
A cool pond.
Diving in.
Diving deep.
Much deeper now.
Much deeper now.
A clearing in a forest.
Fire in clearing.
Roaring flames.
Red and orange embers.
A beautiful penetrating heat.
A beautiful penetrating heat.
Sitting down by the fire.
Warming your back.
People coming from outside of the forest,
Moving toward you.
These people are your friends.
These people are your ancestors.
These people support you.
All sitting down by the fire.
Holding hands.
A feeling of warm love.
A feeling of warm love.
If you introduced sankalpa at the beginning of the practice,
Let's repeat it now.
Bring it to mind.
Repeat three times and let go.
Just let go.
Recognize the energy that pervades with throughout your body.
The warmth that keeps you alive.
And gently start to move the body.
Gently move the body.
Stretch out.
Stretch and breathe.
Coming back to this space.
Coming back now.
And you may like to roll over.
And you may like to sit up.
If you're sitting,
Bring your hands to namaskar.
Prayer pose mudra.
May we have love in the heart.
Truth in the speech.
Gratitude in the mind.
The practice of yoga nidra is finished.
Thank you ever so much for joining me.
And if you enjoyed this practice,
There are more in the series that I'm putting together on the eight limbs of yoga.
A journey through the eight limbs of yoga using yoga nidra.
Thank you once again.
Hopefully we will be in touch soon.
Goodbye and namaste.
