Yoga Nidra | Deep Rest, Deep Acceptance

Welcome to this practice of deep rest through yoga nidra.

Let's start by coming into a comfortable position,

Preferably laying down.

Just notice where you want to place your arms.

Maybe today it feels really nice to let your hands rest on the lower belly.

Maybe you want to feel a sense of spaciousness of your arms to the side.

Sometimes we can be really purist in yoga nidra and say that there's one specific way to lay down,

But I think it can be much more valuable to really check in what is needed in this moment for me right now.

And sometimes we simply just need a little bit of a different position to find that place where we can invite rest more deeply.

So once you've found that place,

If you haven't done so already,

This might be a beautiful time to allow your eyes to gently close.

So allowing your body to rest here in the safety of this yoga nidra space that you created.

Allowing your backs of your heels to become a little heavier.

Allowing the lower legs and the upper legs to just become a little heavier into the ground beneath you.

Feeling your hips softening,

The muscles of the buttocks softening.

As you feel your whole back weighing down,

Both arms weighing heavily down.

As you feel some softness wash over the hands all the way into fingertips.

A softness in the back of your neck,

Softness within your throat.

And a softness washing over your whole face,

Washing away any type of expression.

Feeling the softness of an empty open face with soft lips,

Two soft cheeks.

Very,

Very soft eyelids touching,

Covering your two heavy eyes that become a little heavier with every exhale.

Feeling the softness of your whole forehead.

And feeling a sense of softness and openness even within the head.

Feeling a softness within the space inside your head.

Letting that softness now wash through the whole body.

Feeling the whole body at once.

Exactly as it's laying down here,

As it is,

In this moment.

Letting yourself know that in this practice there's no way to do this right or wrong.

We're not doing anything.

You're just here,

Open to whatever will arise,

Open to whatever is here.

So let's feel the breath as it is in this moment,

Flowing in and out through your nose.

In no way trying to fix your breathing or make it any better or deeper or interesting.

It's just here.

Simply welcoming your breath as it is.

Curious of what your breath is like in this moment.

Really welcoming it.

And like that,

In this practice we're really welcoming any feeling,

Any sensation with complete openness.

Not trying to fix or make it any different than it is.

Just welcoming all that's here.

So from your breath can you spread out awareness again into the whole body.

The softness of your body from crown of head to tips of your toes.

What does it feel like to welcome your whole body in this moment?

Just as it is.

And within your body.

Noticing a place that feels quite spacious and quite comfortable.

Is there a place within your body that feels quite easy to be with?

Can you locate a place in the body where you feel that?

Resting awareness there for a moment.

And now notice if there is a place within the body that maybe feels a bit more tensed or closed.

Maybe even some level of discomfort.

Maybe even some pain.

Can you rest your awareness fully there?

Not trying to fix or change.

Just feeling that place within your body.

Being the space for that.

And can you now feel both these places?

That place of feeling comfort,

That feels spacious and that place where there's a bit more discomfort.

At the same time.

Feeling both these places simultaneously.

Welcoming both equally.

Not favorizing one or the other.

Both are you.

And both are welcome.

Now let's flow your full awareness into the palms of your hands.

Just feeling the palms of your hands in this moment.

And from here we're going to make a rotation of our consciousness throughout the body.

Starting in the right thumb.

The right index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Spaces in between your fingers.

Tips of the right fingers.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Right shoulder.

Armpit.

Right side of the waist.

Middle of the right hip.

Back of the knee.

Shin.

Ankle.

Heel.

Sole of the foot.

Top of the foot.

All five toes of the right foot.

Tips of the right toes.

All right side of the body at once.

Now flow awareness into the left thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

And little finger.

Spaces in between left fingers.

Tips of the fingers.

Palm of hand.

Back of hand.

Left wrist.

Forearm.

Upper arm.

Left shoulder.

Armpit.

Left side of the waist.

Middle of the left hip.

Back of the knee.

Forearm.

Shin.

Ankle.

Heel.

Sole of the foot.

Top of the foot.

All five toes of the left foot.

Tips of the toes.

Right side of the body.

Now feeling into the navel.

Feeling the heart space.

Feeling the whole right arm.

And the whole left arm.

Feeling the heart again.

And both arms left and right.

At the same time.

Feel the middle of the throat.

Feeling both lips.

The upper teeth and gums.

And lower teeth and gums.

Feeling the tip of the nose.

Inside of the right cheek.

Inside of the left cheek.

Tip of the nose.

Right eye and left eye.

Point between both eyebrows.

The whole forehead.

Both ears at the same time.

The space between both ears.

Feel the crown of the head.

The back of the head.

Both shoulder blades resting down.

Both arms at the same time.

Then feel both legs at the same time.

Now feel the right foot.

The left foot.

The right hand.

The left hand.

Now feel both feet.

And both hands at the same time.

Now feel the whole body.

At once.

Whole body within your awareness.

Whole body filled with sensation.

Body resting within your awareness.

Feel how you're just resting here.

Just resting in the feeling of spaciousness that is your body.

Resting in the magic that is your body.

Welcoming this deep rest within your whole body.

Blow your full awareness back into the space of your heart again.

All resting awareness within the heart.

Becoming aware of your breath.

Not changing the breath.

Just feeling your effortless breath flowing.

And just at the point whenever your next inhalation arises,

You move awareness from the middle of the heart into both hands.

So flow awareness on an inhale from the heart into both directions through your arms all the way into the hands and fingertips.

And as you exhale,

You move awareness back from fingertips back into the space of your heart.

Every inhale guides the awareness from the heart into fingertips.

Every exhale,

They make that same movement back until awareness rests back in the space of the heart.

Every inhale,

You feel that sense of spaciousness moving out from the heart.

And every exhale,

That gentle coming back.

That resting in the middle of the heart within your safety,

Within your heart.

Now on your next inhale,

You don't feel breath moving to the hands but this time you feel awareness move from the heart space towards the crown of head and the tips of your toes.

And the exhale moves awareness back from those two places back into the space of your heart.

Every inhale from the heart to crown of head and tips of toes.

The exhale guides awareness back into that single point of the heart.

Keep feeling that movement with every breath over that vertical line of the body.

Now as you keep breathing,

Can you invite all those directions in the same inhale at the same time?

So every inhale,

Feeling from the heart the movement to crown of head,

Tips of toes,

And both hands.

And every exhale from all four points,

Awareness moves back into the middle of the heart.

Every inhale like a cross through your body,

Moves awareness into both the hands,

The crown of head and tips of toes.

And that gentle contraction,

That landing back into the safety of the heart with every exhale.

Gently letting go of that breath exploration.

As you feel a gentle wave of calm flow through your body from the crown of head all the way into the feet.

Welcoming these deep states of rest within the body.

To deeply rest.

And I will now count back from 8 to 1.

And with every count,

You will feel your whole body sink into a deeper state of rest.

8 7 2 Allowing the body to sink into it.

Becoming aware again of your whole body resting here.

Filling your whole resting body with your awareness.

And while allowing the body to rest so deeply,

You feel your awareness move a little bit above the body.

You feel your awareness rise a little bit above,

A little bit higher.

And you notice as awareness keeps rising,

How you can watch your laying body from above.

Watching your calm and peaceful body laying down.

As you look down upon of it from above.

Seeing yourself laying down here.

Exactly as you are.

With all your qualities.

With all your beauty.

And with all the things that you might perceive as flaws.

Everything is here.

You see everything just exactly as it is.

Looking at it with so much love.

Your body.

Your being.

What does it feel like to welcome every part of it?

Truly welcome.

Truly accept.

Exactly as it is.

Can you send love down towards your body laying down?

Can you shower yourself with love from above?

Looking at yourself with the deepest sense of true love.

Gently allowing your awareness to move down closer to the body until it eventually lands back down into the body laying down.

Awareness within your whole body laying down.

As you feel within that all of you is welcome.

Deeply feeling that within every cell.

It is not through fixing anything.

But it is through the deepest and truest acceptance of who we are in this moment.

That we are able to step into the new version of what we might become.

Only aware of your body.

Aware of this state of being.

Allowing yourself to sink into that.

Sinking deeper and deeper into that.

As you start to become aware of awareness itself.

Floating within this sense of deeply being.

Where all is welcome.

Where all is loved.

Starting to feel into your body again.

As you slowly might deepen your breath a little.

Letting the mind and the body know that it is time to come back to a more wakeful state of being.

Let's start to help the body a little there by very gently rolling over your head from left to right.

Very gently.

Maybe bringing back some small movements in fingers and toes.

Giving yourself a really nice stretch out overhead reaching your arms away from you,

Your legs away from you.

Keep your eyes closed as you slowly roll yourself over to the right side of your body.

Just staying there for a moment.

Now let's take a deep breath in through the nose.

And a sigh out through the mouth.

And from here gently start to make your way out of this practice while seeing if you can still cultivate that feeling of deep rest you've created within.

And I'd like to thank you for practicing yoga nidra together with me.

And I wish you a beautiful rest of your day.

Thank you.