The River Becomes The Ocean

The yoga nidra practice starts right now.

Go ahead and create your yoga nidra nest.

You can place a bolster under your knees as you lie down on your back in the corpse pose in the shavasana pose.

You can cover your eyes with an eye pillow or a scarf or a blanket.

You can cover yourself because you do get cold in yoga nidra as you will be asked to not move.

So if you'd like to add an extra layer of clothing,

A sweater or socks,

Maybe you want to cover yourself with a blanket.

Take about a minute to settle down on your back,

Feeling the earth supporting you,

Holding you,

Protecting you.

And draw your attention to the breath.

And observe the flow of your breath in and out.

And allow it to become gentle,

Soft,

Without any hesitation,

Without any jerks,

Without any pauses.

In yoga nidra,

Two things are essential.

One is no movement.

You want to try to be still throughout the practice over the next 20-25 minutes or so.

So this is an opportunity to move now,

To do anything that you feel you need to do.

So adjust your posture,

Make sure you're comfortable,

Nothing is bothering you,

Nothing is distracting you.

And the second thing is not to try and fall asleep,

Not to use this opportunity as an opportunity to sleep,

Instead of stay conscious.

The body will go to sleep,

You will go to sleep,

But you will be asleep while you're fully conscious.

You'll be aware of yourself in deep sleep,

Which is pretty magical.

And the third thing is to be aware of yourself in deep sleep.

Which is pretty magical.

So you don't want to miss that opportunity.

Now start scanning your body and start at the crown of the head.

Be aware of the crown of the head,

The back of the head,

The center of your eyebrows,

The forehead.

Be aware of your temples,

The right temple and the left temple,

Right eyebrow and left eyebrow,

Right eye and left eye,

Right cheek and left cheek,

Right ear and left ear,

Be aware of the bridge of your nose,

The right nostril and the left nostril,

Be aware of the inside of your nostrils and the nasal cavity,

Be aware of the breath as it enters through the nostrils and as it gets closer to the nose.

As it enters through the nostrils and as it gets separated by that other bridge between the nostrils and see if you can feel the quality of your breath,

The temperature of your breath,

The texture of your breath inside the nostrils.

And then visualize those two streams of breath connecting at the nasal cavity and filling your brain with fresh breath,

With oxygen,

And then filling the head and the throat and the chest and the belly,

The arms,

The legs,

All the way to the tips of the fingers and the tips of the toes.

And be aware of the breath as it also leaves the body,

Filled with all the stuff that your body doesn't need,

Filtering through and just like that keep your attention on the breath,

Entering through the nostrils and exiting through the nostrils.

A gentle flow,

An inhale and exhale,

Flowing in and out of the nose,

A gentle flow,

An inhale and exhale,

Flowing in and out of you,

Bringing in what the body needs and releasing what the body doesn't need.

And be aware of the upper lip and your lower lip and be aware of your lower lip and your lower lip.

And be aware of your tongue,

Your jaw and your chin.

Be aware of your throat and your neck,

All sides of your neck,

The front and the back,

The right and the left side.

Be aware of your clavicle.

Be aware of the right shoulder,

The right elbow,

The right wrist,

The right palm,

The back of the right hand,

The right thumb,

The right index finger,

The right middle finger,

The right ring finger,

The right pinky finger.

And be aware of the right hip and the right hip joint and the tailbone and the right groin and the right knee and the right ankle and the top of the right foot and the sole of the right foot and the right big toe and the right big toe,

The right second toe,

The right third toe,

The right fourth toe and the right pinky toe.

And feel the right side of your body getting heavier and heavier.

Release it into the earth.

And draw your attention to your throat and your neck and all sides of your neck,

The front side,

The back,

The right and the left side.

And draw your attention to the left shoulder,

The left elbow,

The left wrist,

The left palm,

The back of the left hand,

The left thumb,

The left index finger,

The left middle finger,

The left ring finger,

And the left pinky finger.

And draw your attention to the left hip and the left hip joint and the left hip joint and the tailbone and the left groin,

Left knee,

Left ankle,

Top of the left foot,

Sole of the left foot,

The left big toe,

The left second toe,

The left third toe,

The left fourth toe,

The left pinky toe.

And feel the left side of your body get really heavy.

Now both sides are very heavy.

And your whole body is very heavy.

Resting on the earth.

Feel the earth rise to meet you and hold you even more.

And take about a minute in silence,

Allowing yourself to merge with the earth.

So now be aware of the whole body,

The head,

The torso,

The right arm and left arm,

The pelvis,

The right leg and left leg.

And release your whole body into the earth.

Draw your attention to the center of your chest,

Right behind your sternum,

The size of your fist,

As a doorway to the cave of your heart,

Home of your capital S self,

Your higher self,

Your higher intelligence,

Your higher intuition.

Take a peek inside first.

And then slowly,

Gently start floating inward.

And see if you can get deeper and deeper behind the sternum.

Exploring your own depth,

Exploring your own vast universe.

And visualize a river flowing gently and freely from the top of the mountain,

From the top of the river,

From the top of the river,

From the top of the river,

Gently and freely from the top of the mountain,

Through rocks,

Through cities,

Through villages,

Seeing people,

Seeing nature and never stopping,

Simply flowing.

Follow that stream within your heart center.

And watch your own river as it finds its way.

Notice how your river goes around obstacles,

Rocks and trees,

Sand and pebbles.

Watch your river observing all kinds of people and never,

Never stopping.

Never,

Never getting attached to people or things or scenery.

And as you enter the yoga nidra state of consciousness,

Be aware of your breath,

Be aware of your thoughts,

And be aware of your intention.

If you haven't set an intention for your practice yet,

It's not too late.

And whatever your intention,

Repeat it to yourself several times.

And give it time to repeat itself back to you.

And now release that intention and start counting back from 17 to one.

And when you arrive at one,

You will release as you enter your yoga nidra state of consciousness.

If you make a mistake,

Start over.

If you make a mistake,

Start over.

If you lose the numbers,

Start over.

So you and whatever you are in the counting,

You can release the counting now and gently flow inward without hesitation,

Without fear.

So so so so so so so so so so so so and gently start waking yourself from your yoga nidra state of consciousness.

So come out of your yoga nidra take one deep inhale and wiggle your toes.

When you do that,

You indicate yourself that you are out of the yoga nidra state of consciousness,

State of being.

And just as we enter the yoga nidra state of consciousness,

Gently increase your awareness of the state of consciousness.

And just as we enter the yoga nidra state of consciousness,

Gently and compassionately,

We're going to also come out gently and compassionately.

So start returning to senses by swallowing,

By squeezing your hands,

Squeezing your hands,

Squeeze the toes,

Start moving your hands and your feet,

Move your head side to side.

And once you're out of the yoga nidra state of consciousness,

When you start moving around,

Find your favorite position to be in shavasana in the deep relaxation posture.

You can remain on your back for shavasana,

You can roll over to one side or the other,

You can roll all the way over to belly.

So either take the fetal pose on the right side or the left or stay in the shavasana pose or roll over to the crocodile pose on your belly.

And as you rest in shavasana,

I'll be reading you a poem by Khalil Gibran.

The name of the poem is Fear.

It is said that before entering the sea,

A river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled from the peaks of the mountains,

The long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,

She sees an ocean so vast that she enters,

There seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.

The river cannot go back.

Nobody can go back.

To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean because only then will fear disappear because that's where the river will know it's not about disappearing into the ocean,

But it is about becoming the ocean.

One more time,

Take a deep inhale and exhale.

And now wake yourself up from your shavasana.

So one more time,

Take a deep inhale and exhale.

And now wake yourself up from your Shavasana and start returning to the physical breath and the physical space and the physical body.

So take all the time you need to return.

Make sure that you release your intention,

Make sure that you release your yoga nidra practice and you release your Shavasana.