Yoga Nidra For Clarity

Welcome to the practice of yoga nidra.

This entire practice will be done from the position of savasana.

So lie on your back with palms turned up towards the sky.

Use any support you need to find your most comfortable position.

This may include placing a blanket over your body,

Putting a pillow or a bolster beneath your knees or neck.

Ensure that you do have enough layers to keep warm,

As your body temperature will naturally drop as you relax.

Keep adjusting as you settle.

Listen and respond to where your body leads.

Find somewhere you want to stay for the duration of the practice.

Know that if you need to move,

You're free to move,

But seek out your natural desire for stillness and release.

Resolve to stay awake for the duration of the practice.

But know that even if you do fall asleep,

Your body is still taking exactly what it needs.

Close your eyes and receive the comfort beneath you.

Imagine your body like dust that's been swept up by a passing wind,

Now settling back to the ground once again.

Coming home to the ground.

Feel your body melting and spreading over the surface below.

Feel how the earth rises up to support you,

So you can yield your weight onto the floor,

Spreading the weight of your body across the floor,

The ground below.

Now take your attention to the space where head and spine meet.

This space is between your ears right in the center of your head,

Where the bottom of your skull and the top of your spine meet.

It is the space where your brain connects to its stem and to all the nerves that carry electrical signals throughout your whole body.

Breathe in a sense of spaciousness and length here,

Releasing any tightening around this space as you exhale.

Breathe in ease,

Breathe out any holding.

Notice how that length and spaciousness trickles down through your whole spine,

Your whole spinal cord,

And out through every limb.

Breathe in spaciousness and ease through the whole body.

Release any tightening,

Any holding on the breath out.

Imagine your breath now as a cleansing light,

A cleansing light that flows in and out of your body as it softens and spreads.

Your breath cleanses your body with light as you expand into spacious ease.

No need to change anything,

Nowhere to be,

Nothing to do.

Witness your body just as it is in this moment with a sense of ease and tenderness,

Each breath a cleansing new beginning.

As you become aware of thoughts,

Simply return to the sound of my voice,

Soften any thinking,

Any analyzing or evaluating,

Thoughts ride the breath out.

Let your thinking mind rest,

Rest your awareness instead in your body and in the sound of my voice.

If you notice yourself drift away,

Come back to the sound of my voice.

At any moment you are lost,

Simply re-meet your practice of yoga nidra.

From this spacious softness,

Move your awareness to the beating of your heart.

Feel into the rhythm of your heartbeat.

Tune in.

From this space,

Ask yourself,

What is your heart's deepest longing?

What,

In this moment of your life,

Does your heart most need to strengthen your own inner resource?

Allow your sankalpa to naturally arise from the space of your heart as an answer to these questions.

Your sankalpa is a short,

Positive statement made in the present tense.

It is the seed of a new way of seeing,

A way of moving beyond a belief that limits you.

Write your sankalpa in I am terms as if it were already true,

Because on the deepest levels it is.

If you are practicing yoga nidra just to improve the quality of your sleep,

Your sankalpa may reflect that,

I am capable of deep sleep.

Or if you're struggling from a lack of meaning,

Your sankalpa may be,

I belong or I matter.

Or I am valued.

Let your sankalpa deliver itself to you from the beating of your heart.

Plant the seed of your sankalpa by repeating it silently to yourself three times.

If no sankalpa has come,

Simply take this moment to wonder into what your sankalpa may be.

Now let the awareness of your sankalpa dissolve.

Trust that each time you visit your sankalpa,

You nurture the seed so that the roots will begin to grow deeply into the soil of your consciousness and the benefits will flower into your daily life.

Bring your attention now into your physical body.

Rotate your awareness through your body as I name each part.

No need to think or feel any particular thing.

Simply sense each part of your body beginning with your right hand thumb.

Notice how you become aware of your thumb without needing to move it or see it.

All your awareness to your right hand thumb.

First finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

The palm of your right hand,

Back of your hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Shoulder joint where arm and torso meet,

Whole right arm.

Travel through the right side of your chest,

Right ribs,

Right side body,

All the way down to the right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

That's the sole of your right foot,

Top of your foot,

Right ankle,

Right lower leg,

Right knee joint,

Right thigh,

Right hip joint where leg and torso meet.

Feel your whole right leg,

Whole right side of your body,

Whole right side of your body.

Now travel your awareness to your left side.

Notice your left thumb,

First finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

Palm of the left hand,

Back of your hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Shoulder joint where arm and torso meet,

The whole left arm.

Travel through the left side of your chest,

Left ribs,

Left side body,

All the way down to your left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

That's the sole of the left foot,

Top of the foot,

Left ankle,

Left lower leg,

Left knee joint,

Left thigh,

Left hip joint where leg and torso meet.

Feel the whole left leg,

Whole left side of the body,

Whole left side of the body.

Now feel both right and left side of the body,

Whole body alive with sensation.

Bring awareness back to both soles of your feet,

Both heels,

Achilles tendons,

Calves,

The back of your knees,

Back of your thighs,

Buttocks,

Base of your spine,

Curve of your lower back,

Mid back,

Upper back,

Both shoulder blades,

The backs of both arms,

The backs of both hands.

The tips of all 10 fingers,

Travel up the arm to the back of your neck,

Bottom of your skull,

Back of your skull,

The crown of your head,

A whole back side of your body,

Whole back side of your body alive with sensation.

Bring your awareness to the space where head and spine meet.

Travel forward to the space between your eyebrows,

Third eye center,

Eyebrows,

Eye sockets,

Eyeballs,

Upper sinuses,

Nasal passages,

Cheekbones,

Upper jaw,

Lips.

Feel the tongue inside of your mouth,

Lower jaw,

Travel through your throat.

Focal folds inside of your throat,

Both collarbones,

The space of your heart,

Both lungs either side of your heart,

The ribs above and around your heart and lungs,

The dome of your diaphragm.

Feel your belly,

Whole belly soft and broad,

Soft organs,

Sense the bones at the top of your pelvis,

Pubic bone,

The front of both thighs,

Kneecaps,

Shins,

Tops of your ankles,

The tops of your feet.

Sense the tips of all 10 toes,

Whole front side of your body,

Whole body now,

Alive with sensation.

Imagine flows through your whole body,

Whole body,

Whole body.

Watch your breath flowing through your body as if watching from above.

Imagine the light of your breath flowing into the base of your pelvis and out to the crown of your head.

Simply trace your breath as it comes in,

Flowing deep into your pelvic floor and out up through the crown of your head.

Follow your breath like a cleanser through your body from the base of your torso to the crown of your head.

Mind is quiet and aware,

Body is relaxed.

Imagine your breath as pure light.

Notice how your breath occupies the space surrounding your body.

Notice the field of heat and energy that surrounds your whole body.

Imagine breathing in light from the surrounding space and breathing out light back into this space.

A cocoon of light surrounding your whole body.

Notice how you naturally radiate this light in all directions beyond the borders of your physical body.

From your cocoon of light,

Feel a sense of heaviness in your whole body,

Whole body heavy.

Feel the weight in your bones sinking into the surface below you.

Heavy mind,

Heavy heart.

Feel the weight of your organs,

Whole self heavy.

Now feel light in your whole body.

Whole body is floating.

Light is the air,

A sense of lightness in your mind and heart floating up.

Whole self light.

Now feel heavy again,

Heaviness through your whole self.

Now feel light.

All of you,

Light as can be.

Now feel both heavy and light in equal measure.

Don't overthink this.

Simply hold heaviness and lightness in your awareness all at once.

Call in the experience of cold in your body.

Cold,

A chill traveling through your spine to your whole body.

Feel cold through your blood as it circulates in your body.

Breathe in cold air,

Whole self cold.

Now call in the sensation of warmth through the whole body.

Heat soaking in through your skin and spreading through your whole body.

Whole body warm,

Heat radiating through every part of your body.

Now awaken the experience of cold once again.

Feel the chill of coldness through your whole body once again.

And let that sensation change to heat.

Whole body feels hot,

Warm through the body.

Now feel both cold and hot together all at once.

And both hot and cold in your awareness all at once.

Last time,

Call in the sensation of feeling lost through your body.

No need to think this.

Just imagine the physical sensations of being uncertain,

Confused,

Unsure of your way.

Feel the sensations of being lost fill your whole body,

Your mind,

And your heart.

Whole self experiences being lost.

Now imagine the sensation of absolute clarity.

Feel what it feels to be completely sure and confident of your path.

Mind is crystal clear,

No doubt,

No concern.

Feel the experience of clarity through the whole body.

Now again,

Feel lost.

And feel again,

Clear,

Certain,

Confident,

And assured.

You now feel both lost and clear at the same time in equal measure.

Now simply return your awareness to your radiant body of light.

Expand into this space as your consciousness flows into a more dreamlike state.

Say to yourself,

I am awake and aware as you enjoy the experience of receiving each image I describe.

Follow the unfolding images like a dream appearing before you.

If you get lost,

Come back to the sound of my voice.

See the void of black from behind your eyelids.

Now see blue.

See the blue become a brilliant blue sky all around you in all directions.

From somewhere on the right to somewhere on the left,

A bird flies across your sky,

Swooping and soaring as it passes across a high,

Bright sun.

See yourself immersed in a vast desert landscape all around you,

An open plane of warm desert sand.

Feel the warm sand underneath your feet and between your toes.

Take in this landscape all around you in all directions.

And see up ahead a majestic arch of red rock.

Journey forward to pass through the arch.

Under the high rock walls,

You hear the whispering echoes of wind and smell the cool scent of minerals.

On the other side of the arch,

You see an oasis of clear blue water.

Walk toward the water's edge and gaze down at the serene surface of the water.

See your reflection in the pool of water with crystal clarity.

See yourself exactly as you are in this moment,

Entirely free of your past.

What is it like to see yourself in this way,

Untethered to any history?

What does your reflection look like on the serene surface of the clear blue water?

Thank this vision of yourself as you crouch beside the pool.

Dip your hands into the cool water and take a drink.

Imagine the water trickling down your throat,

Filling your body with a sense of vitality and wisdom.

This water can refresh you completely.

It can quench the thirst you have long been carrying.

Now satisfied from the water,

You can watch as night enters the sky above in a brilliant sunset.

Cascades of color dance across the reflection on the water until the last rays of sun descend into darkness.

Feel this peaceful darkness in yourself.

Rest in this quiet darkness,

At home as pure awareness.

Stay here.

Rest here as pure and simple awareness.

In the darkness,

A vivid expanse of stars appears overhead.

Gazing up at the stars,

You see a constellation emerge.

The constellation spells the words of your sankalpa across the clear night sky.

Read your sankalpa in the stars,

Repeating it three times silently to yourself now.

Let the starry sky dissolve and bring your awareness back to your vision,

Seeing the darkness of your closed eyelids.

Softly ever so slowly,

Bring your attention back to your breath,

Back to your body.

Feel into your tiny impulses for movement through your fingers,

Toes,

Gentle rock of your head from side to side,

Softly coming back,

Reemerging from a divine restorative sleep as the practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

Fairly net celebration peak.

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