And the next time that you take a breath in,
Allow that breath to be a little bit bolder,
A little bit more expansive.
And then taking that exhale through the mouth,
Imagine the body now was like an inflatable airbed and it's just deflating down toward the ground.
Flapping down the eyes once again if you're not already in that position.
And then coming back into the simplicity of breath awareness.
Notice your natural breath without having to change,
Alter,
Shift it.
When you recognise that inhale in the chest and you recognise that exhale as that little contraction of the body,
Tapping into pure presence when you do that.
Allow the breath to be your anchor in this meditation.
So if the mind drifts off or if you need to come back to my guidance,
You might just notice the breath once again as a reminder that you're here in meditation.
Allow your awareness to stay within the movements of my voice,
Within the tone,
The quality of the speaking voice that is here guiding you.
And know that if the mind wanders off or drifts into a sleepy space,
There's always a part of you listening,
Always a part of you present.
So for this yoga nidra,
We're going to be scanning through the different parts of our body with the outer frame of ourselves still and grounded and the interior system of the mind moving to those different places.
You'll hear one gong of the bell to establish our practice after we've set our intention and you'll hear the same gong at the end of the body scan to establish the end of the body scan practice.
Allow the mind now to drift into the space of the body.
Really take inhabitants here in your body.
And with every breath you might just gently mention internally,
With every breath I re-inhabit my body.
With every breath I re-inhabit my body.
And we'll come to our sankalpa,
Our vow or intention of our practice to simplify and soothe.
So again you might repeat internally,
I simplify,
I soothe.
I simplify,
I soothe.
Drifting your awareness now to the top of your head,
The very top of your head.
Notice any sensations here in the head.
Moving into the space of the face,
The forehead,
The eyebrows,
Nose,
Left cheek,
Right cheek,
Lips,
Mouth and then moving to the left ear and the right ear,
The back of the head.
The entire head now as one,
Noticing any sensations present at all.
You might sense a tingling,
A warmth,
A coldness,
A numbness.
Be present to what is here in the sensational element of the body.
When you're present to those sensations you're meeting the moment.
And then moving down now into the left shoulder,
Left upper arm,
Left elbow,
Lower arm,
Left wrist and the left hand.
Palm of the hand and the back of the hand.
The entire left arm from shoulder to fingertips.
And you might just allow your awareness to trace up and down the arm,
Noticing what's there.
And then drifting your attention now to the right shoulder,
The right shoulder.
Moving down to the upper arm,
Elbow,
Lower arm,
Wrist,
Palm of the hand and the back of the hand.
The entire right arm from shoulder to fingertips tracing energetically with your awareness up and down the arm.
Noticing both arms together.
And then moving into the space of the chest,
Left collarbone and right collarbone.
The ribcage that wraps around and protects the lungs and your heart.
Notice the gentle movement of the ribcage here.
And then moving internally to those organs,
Heart,
Lungs,
Diaphragm,
Stomach,
Digestive system.
And then come to the base of the spine,
The tailbone.
Then slowly with your attention and your awareness within your body,
Start to move up the line of the spine.
33 vertebrae to move up through.
Tracing the natural curvature of your supportive system here in the spinal column.
All the way up to the crown of the head.
Now noticing the head,
The arms and the torso connected.
Any sensations present when your awareness is connecting those places of the body.
And then drawing your attention down,
Down,
Down into the left foot.
The left foot.
Notice the sole of the left foot for any sensations.
Maybe a tingling,
A warmth,
A numbness.
And then moving up through to the left ankle.
The shinbone,
The calf muscle,
The left knee.
Into the left upper thigh and the left hip.
Scanning the entire left leg from toes to hip.
Drifting your awareness up and down.
And then drawing your attention now over to the right foot.
The right foot.
Sole of the foot.
Toes,
Back of the foot.
Into the right ankle.
Calf and shin.
Right knee,
Right thigh and hip.
The entire right leg wrapped in your awareness.
Notice both legs together.
Notice both legs,
Both arms,
The torso and the head connected as one.
Notice the entire body.
The entire body here lying down in time and space.
Notice the simplicity of being here within the body.
Your awareness draped over the body like a loving embrace,
A loving blanket.
Feeling connected to yourself,
Feeling connected to your body,
Your breath.
Noticing how beautiful it is to simplify,
To nourish,
To nurture yourself.
And for a short visualisation here in our yoga nidra,
Bring to mind an image of simplicity.
What would simplicity look like to you?
Coming back to our intention,
Our sankalpa for our yoga nidra practice.
To simplify and to soothe.
To simplify and to soothe.
Start to deepen the breath once again.
In through the nose and you might even open the lips and just let the breath release through the mouth.
Starting to feel the awakeness coming back into the body.
Starting to feel your attention back in the room in which you're in.
Take all the time that you need to bring some gentle movements back into the fingers,
Back into the toes.
Might feel nice to roll the head left to right.
And when you're ready,
Making the eyes open,
Coming back into your space.
