23-Minute Gratitude Yoga Nidra

Hello,

This is Amanda and I will be guiding you through your Yoga Nidra practice today.

Yoga Nidra or the Sleep of the Yogi is a systematic meditation technique that guides you through body awareness,

Breath,

And visualization to reach a state of conscious deep rest.

It helps release tension,

Balance the nervous system,

And awaken a deeper connection to your inner self.

Let's get started.

Begin to settle in for your Yoga Nidra practice.

You can lie on your back,

On a floor,

On a couch,

Or on a bed.

You can place a pillow under your knees as well as a pillow under your head to support the neck.

You can cover yourself with a blanket and place a covering over your eyes,

Allowing yourself to be as comfortable and cozy as possible here in your Yoga Nidra nest.

Allow your body to become heavy and supported by the earth beneath you.

There is nothing you need to do here.

Nowhere to go.

Just rest and listen to the sound of my voice.

As you settle in,

Feel the gentle rise and fall of your breath,

Natural and effortless.

Feel your belly rise as you inhale,

And fall as you exhale.

We'll take a couple of deep breaths together here.

Take a deep inhale in through your nose,

And as you're ready,

Exhale inside out through your mouth.

Twice more,

Deep inhale here,

Exhale inside out through your mouth.

Once more,

Deep inhale breath,

Exhale inside out.

Continue to breathe nice,

Deep inhales and exhales as you settle into your practice.

What can you do to get 5% more comfortable here?

Can you allow your head to sink into the pillow beneath you?

Can you relax your eyes,

Your jaw,

Your tongue?

Encourage full body relaxation,

Soften the face,

Shoulders,

Heart,

Belly,

Relaxing fully into the earth beneath you.

We will continue by setting a sankalpa or an intention.

The sankalpa that I will offer for today's practice is my heart is open to receive and appreciate life's blessings.

My heart is open to receive and appreciate life's blessings.

My heart is open to receive and appreciate life's blessings.

Repeat this in your mind to yourself three times.

Allowing it to settle inwards as though you're planting a seed within.

And now rotating attention throughout the body,

Letting your attention move from place to place as you listen to my voice.

The only thing there is for you to do here is listen,

Sense,

And feel.

Moving your attention to different parts of your body as you hear them named,

Following the sound of my voice.

Bring awareness to the center of your chest.

Feel the rise and fall of your inhale and exhale.

Feel the rhythm of your beating heart in your chest.

Bring awareness to your right shoulder,

Upper arm,

Elbow,

Wrist,

Back of the hand,

Palm of the hand,

The right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Waist,

Hip,

Lower leg,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

All five toes,

The whole right leg,

The whole right side of the body,

The whole right side of the body.

Give some time for your attention to move back into your chest.

Bring awareness to your heart center.

Imagine a soft,

Warm light glowing there.

With each breath,

This light expands,

Filling your chest,

Your whole body,

And the space around you.

Feel your breath.

Notice your heartbeats.

Feel yourself deeply rooted to the earth from the center of your chest.

Now bring awareness to your left shoulder,

Upper arm,

Elbow,

Forearm,

Wrist,

Back of the hand,

Palm of the hand,

The left thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Waist,

Hip,

Lower leg,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

All five toes,

The whole left leg,

The whole left side of the body,

The whole right leg,

The whole left leg,

The whole right arm,

The whole left arm,

The whole face,

The whole body,

Front and back,

Left and right,

The whole body,

Sensing the whole body.

And now welcome the feeling of softness in your body.

Sensing all of the places where natural softness is occurring.

Feel all the places in your body where softness resides.

How does softness feel in your body?

Where do you feel it?

And now welcome the feeling of rigidity in your body.

Sensing all of the places where a natural density and rigidity is occurring.

Feel all the places where hard,

Rigid tissues reside within your body.

How does rigidity feel in your body?

Where do you feel it?

Coming back to the feeling of softness,

Feeling all the areas that are soft.

And welcoming density and rigidity once again.

Can you sense both opposing sensations simultaneously?

Softness and rigidity.

Softness and rigidity.

And now I feel your body as contracted,

Tight,

Tense,

Stiff.

Feel contraction in your body.

Where do you feel tension and contraction?

And now feel expansion.

Feel openness,

Spaciousness.

Feel your body expanding,

Open and spacious.

And now feel contraction again,

Tight and tense.

And now go back and forth between feeling contracted,

Open,

And spacious.

How does it feel to feel spacious?

And now go back and forth between feeling contracted and spacious.

Contracted and expansive.

Back and forth between the two at your own pace.

And now feel them both together.

Welcome the feeling of being contracted and expanded at the same time.

Contracted and expanded.

Contracted and spacious.

Resting back into spacious awareness for the next few moments.

And just noticing the sensations that you're experiencing in your body.

Now bring to mind one simple thing you feel grateful for today.

The warmth of the sun.

A kind word.

The breath flowing through you.

Notice how gratitude feels in your body.

The warmth.

The ease.

And the expansion.

Imagine yourself surrounded by everything you love.

People.

Places.

Memories.

Each one is a spark of gratitude.

Gently glowing around you.

Imagine yourself surrounded by everything and everyone that you love.

People.

Places.

Memories.

Feel the sparks of gratitude glowing gently all around you.

Feel yourself resting in this field of appreciation.

Held.

Supported.

And content.

I'll give you a few moments here.

Bring your attention to your belly.

Begin to notice your belly expanding and contracting as you inhale and exhale.

In and out.

Up and down.

Begin to deepen your inhales and exhales.

Feeling the expansion in your belly.

Your chest.

Your lungs.

We'll take a moment to revisit our intention.

My heart is open to receive and appreciate life's blessings.

My heart is open to receive and appreciate life's blessings.

My heart is open to receive and appreciate life's blessings.

We'll continue by taking three deep breaths.

We'll take two inhales in through the nose and then an exhale and sigh out through your mouth.

Let's start with two sips in through your nose.

Exhale,

Sigh it out through your mouth.

Twice more just like that.

Exhale,

Sigh it out.

Once more just like that.

Inhale,

Two sips of air.

Exhale as you're ready.

Sigh it out through the mouth.

Release and return to your regular inhale and exhale.

Feeling the chest and the belly expanding in and out.

Up and down.

As you're ready,

Begin to bring awareness to your physical body.

Feel your body on the earth.

Begin to sense the space around you.

Feel gratitude for this moment.

For the body that carries you.

And for the breath that sustains you.

Begin to wiggle fingers and toes.

Rock your head side to side and up and down.

Perhaps stretch your arms above your head if that feels good.

Reawakening the body to the environment around you.

Slowly and at your own pace,

Roll onto one side.

And as you're ready,

Make your way to a seated position.

As you begin to come out of your yoga nidra,

Tune into how you feel.

I'd like to invite you to consider what has come to fruition in this time together.

In this time where you went inwards.

And perhaps you will choose to carry this feeling of gratitude into the rest of your day.

I would invite you to reflect internal on your yoga nidra experience.

And anything that came up for you today.

Your yoga nidra practice is now complete.

Thank you so much for practicing with me today.

And I'll see you next time.

Namaste.