Yogic Sleep: Connecting To Those We Love

Welcome to Freedom Sounds.

Today we'll be doing a yoga nidra about connecting to the people that we love.

Please get ready for relaxation.

Lie down on your back on the floor and adopt Savasana,

The corpse pose.

In this position,

Your body should be straight from head to toe.

The legs are slightly apart and the hands are a little away from the body with the palm of the hands turned upwards.

During yoga nidra,

There should be no physical movement.

So close your eyes and keep them closed throughout the practice.

And now take a deep breath in.

And as you breathe out,

Feel the cares and worries of the day flow out of you.

In the practice that follows,

You're going to develop the feeling of relaxation in the body.

It is not necessary to make movements or to deliberately relax your muscles.

Simply develop the feeling of relaxation.

Make a resolution to yourself now that I will not sleep,

I will remain awake throughout the practice.

During yoga nidra,

You are functioning on the levels of hearing and awareness.

And the only important thing is to follow my voice.

Try not to analyze the instructions as this will disturb your mental relaxation.

Simply follow my voice with total attention and feeling and if thoughts come to disturb you from time to time,

Do not worry,

Just continue with the practice.

Allow yourself time to become calm and steady.

Become aware now of sounds in the distance.

Become aware of the most distant sounds that you can hear.

Let your sense of hearing operate like a radar beam,

Searching out distant sounds and following them for a few moments.

Move your attention from sound to sound without attempting to identify the source.

And gradually bring your awareness to closer sounds,

To sounds just outside the space you are in.

And then to sounds within your space.

Now develop your awareness of your space.

Without opening your eyes,

Visualize the four walls,

The ceiling,

The floor,

Your body lying on the floor.

See your body lying on the floor.

Until awareness of your body lying in perfect stillness.

Develop your awareness of all of the physical meeting points between your body and the floor.

And then become aware of the natural breath,

The natural spontaneous breath.

Try not to concentrate too intensely for this could interfere with the natural process.

Keep on listening to me and know that you are breathing.

The practice of Yoga Nidra begins now.

Say mentally to yourself,

I am going to practice Yoga Nidra,

I will not sleep.

Repeat it to yourself.

Yoga Nidra begins now.

Now is the time to make your resolve,

To set your intention or your sankalpa for our Yoga Nidra practice.

Please state the following resolve clearly with feeling and awareness three times.

I am willing to go beyond my limitations to express and experience greater joy.

I am willing to go beyond my limitations to express and experience greater joy.

I am willing to go beyond my limitations to express and experience greater joy.

We will now begin the rotation of consciousness.

The awareness has to move through the different parts of the body.

Repeat the name of the part of the body in your mind and simultaneously become aware of that part of the body.

Keep yourself alert but do not concentrate too intensely.

Become aware of the right hand,

Right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger and fifth,

The palm of the hand,

The back of the hand,

The wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder and armpit,

The right side of the chest,

The right waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Kneecap,

Calf muscle,

Ankle and heel,

The sole of the right foot,

The top of the foot,

The big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and fifth.

Now take your awareness to the left hand.

Become aware of the left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger and fifth,

The palm of the hand,

The back of the hand,

The wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder and armpit,

The left side of the chest,

The left waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Kneecap,

Calf muscle,

Ankle and heel,

The sole of the left foot,

The top of the foot,

The big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and fifth.

Become aware now of the whole of the right leg,

The whole of the left leg and both legs together.

The whole of the right arm,

The whole of the left arm and both arms together.

The whole of the back,

Buttocks,

Spine,

Shoulder blades and the whole of the front,

Lower abdomen,

Navel,

Upper abdomen and chest.

The whole of the back and front together,

The whole of the head,

The whole body together,

The whole body together,

The whole body together.

Stay awake with total awareness,

The whole body on the floor,

Your body is lying on the floor.

See your body lying on the floor as you visualize this image in your mind.

Become aware of your breath,

Feel the flow of your breath in and out of your lungs.

Do not try to change the natural rhythm,

The breathing is natural and automatic.

You are not doing it,

There is no effort.

Begin now to awaken the feeling of heaviness in your body.

Become aware of heaviness in every single part of the body.

Your feeling so heavy,

It seems as if you are sinking into the floor,

Awareness of heaviness,

Awareness of heaviness.

Now begin to awaken the feeling of lightness in the body.

Awaken the feeling of lightness,

A sensation of lightness and weightlessness in all parts of the body.

Your body feels so light,

It seems to be floating away from the floor.

Awareness of lightness,

Awareness of lightness.

Withdraw your mind now and start to focus on the space in front of your closed eyes.

Imagine before you a transparent screen through which you can see infinite space.

A space that extends as far as the eyes can see.

Create on this dark space and become aware of any phenomena that manifest within it.

Whatever you see is the manifesting state of your mind.

Feel your awareness of this space,

But do not become too involved.

Practice detached awareness only.

In this dark space,

Start to visualize a scene from your imagination.

A calm,

Safe,

Clearing in nature,

Which may be a place that you have been before or a space straight from your imagination.

See this outdoor clearing and visualize yourself standing in the center of it.

Notice the time of day.

Look up to the sky,

Notice what is ahead of you.

Notice any sounds,

The ambient temperature.

And realize that you feel safe and free within this space.

As you stand in this clearing,

You start to feel the soles of your feet connecting with the ground.

And as you notice this meeting point,

You find that small roots of glowing white light are to grow from the soles of your feet and burrow down into the earth.

The roots grow and grow down through the different layers of the earth.

Past slabs of rock,

Gold and collections of crystals.

Through pockets of gas and layers of slate down through the surface of the earth.

Soon your roots reach the lava magma layer of the earth,

A ball of glowing heat.

And instead of this layer burning your roots,

You feel a warm,

Healing sensation from this flow up through your roots into your body.

Your roots grow through this layer and eventually come to the center of the earth,

A ball of glowing white light,

The same color as your roots.

Your roots rest in this light and this white light sends healing energy all the way up your roots through the soles of your feet and through your entire body.

Soon your body is glowing with a white healing light,

A light that fills you up with feelings of love,

Peace,

Groundedness and connection.

You look down at your hands and see them glowing with all of this energy.

You have a deep feeling to use this energy to connect to those that are close to you.

And so you kneel down and firmly press your hands down into the ground.

As this happens,

A wave of white healing light emits from your hands and starts to spread out across the surface of the ground.

As this happens,

You begin to bring to mind people close to you that you would like to connect to.

You think about your family and see this white light spreading from where you are to where your loved ones exist on the earth.

It fills up their homes,

Fills up their bodies,

Sending healing and loving energy through them.

Next you bring to mind friends that you would love to connect with.

You press your hands down into the ground once again and see a wave of light follow its way through the ground to your friends.

Again the light engulfs your friends' homes and wraps around them,

Engulfing them in a warm feeling of love and connection.

You bring to mind anybody else that you would love to connect to now.

And for the third time,

You press your hands down into the earth and see the light flowing away from you all the way to the people that you would like to connect with.

Visualize them being wrapped around in your warm,

Healing,

Loving light.

Lastly it's time to bring to mind anyone you would like to connect with that is no longer in our physical world.

As you bring to mind these people or beings,

You start to see yourself as a tree.

You lift your arms up towards the sky and just like your roots of light,

Branches of light start to branch out of your arms,

Out of your fingers,

Reaching up through the cosmos,

Past the sky and into the universe.

Your branches extend as far into space as you can imagine until they reach the very beings that you are longing to connect with.

They connect to these beings that are already glowing with light and your love and healing energy wraps around them,

Covering them with a sense of love and remembrance.

You take a moment to feel your connections with all of these special people in your life.

Your connections with the earth,

Your connections with your friends and families and your connection to those who have passed.

And as you notice this,

You feel your heart begin to glow with that same warm healing light that you emitted as you realize that the very people you have connected with are sending you their own healing love and energy your way.

After receiving this energy,

You gently begin to dissolve this visualization,

Sending a pulse of gratitude and thanks to all who have given you love and healing today.

The scene dissolves into black.

Now is the time to repeat our resolve,

The same resolve we made at the beginning.

I am willing to go beyond my limitations to express and experience greater joy.

I am willing to go beyond my limitations to express and experience greater joy.

I am willing to go beyond my limitations to express and experience greater joy.

Relax all efforts,

Relax all efforts.

Become aware of the breath,

Awareness of the whole body and awareness of breathing.

Your body is lying totally relaxed on the floor.

You're breathing slowly and quietly.

Develop awareness of your body from the top of the head to the tips of the toes.

Becoming aware of your body lying on the floor and then beginning to visualize the room around you,

Becoming aware of your surroundings.

Relax quietly for some time,

Giving yourself time to adjust.

The practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.

Very slowly start wriggling your toes,

Wriggling your fingers.

Gently turn your head from side to side,

Releasing into your neck and gently waking your body up.

When you're ready,

Lift your arms up overhead,

Interlace your fingers,

Point your toes,

Give yourself a full stretch out and open your mouth,

Sigh out and release.

Gently bend your right leg,

Bringing your right foot onto the floor,

Then the left and then hug your knees into your chest,

Embracing yourself and thanking yourself for dedicating your time and effort to your practice today.

Then gently roll onto one side,

Coming into the fetal position,

Resting your hand on your arm,

Giving your spine some time to adjust.

And only when you are sure that you are wide awake,

Sit up slowly and when you are ready,

Open your eyes.

It has been an absolute pleasure to guide you through your practice today.

Have a lovely rest of your day or evening.

Namaste.