Take a moment to create a space for yourself where you can find some comfort and begin this journey towards relaxation.
Perhaps going into a room where you can close the door and set a boundary around this time for yourself.
Resting your body on a couch,
Bed or the floor and finding all those supports you may need such as a pillow under the head,
A pillow under the knees,
Tucking yourself in with a blanket,
And a blanket of your own.
And then,
You can take a moment to create a space for yourself where you can feel the space tucking yourself in with a blanket if that helps you feel safe and comfy just beginning to settle in.
Getting any wiggles or squiggles out of the body and bringing your attention to the connection that your body makes with the support underneath.
Allowing yourself to sink into that support a little bit.
You are supported and have everything you need to relax for the next little while.
If you haven't already,
Closing the eyes or softening your gaze and slowly shifting your awareness to the sensation of the breath rising and falling,
Expanding and letting go.
Taking a few clearing cleansing breaths now by inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the nose or mouth.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Staying with the breath and observing how the body moves with each breath.
Inhaling and expanding,
Exhaling and letting go.
And just following that tidal rhythm from a little bit of a distance.
Observing the ebb and flow of the breath.
Giving yourself the space to be here now in whatever state of being you're in.
And now I'll invite you to focus only on the sound of my voice,
Allowing all the other possible noises around you to begin to fade away.
Just staying focused here on my instructions to guide your experience.
Try to stay alert and aware mentally while your body,
Your body,
Your body,
Your body,
Your body,
Your physical body begins to slowly drift off into deeper states of relaxation.
Your mind will remain completely alert and aware,
Fully present.
Beginning to turn that gaze inward to your mind space,
This area right behind the center of the eyebrows.
Turning your gaze into this mind space or Chidakas.
And observing this space as you would a screen or a room that is just for you.
Noticing any particular images or patterns or colors looming up against your mental mind space.
Seeing what you can notice.
And now I'll invite you to set your intention or sankalpa.
I'd like to suggest that for today's yoga,
Today's yoga nidra,
Our sun kalpa be something relating to being at home in the body,
Physically grounded.
So seeing if that works for you to create a sun kalpa that is present tense,
Simple and positive,
Something such as I am present.
I am grounded.
I am safe.
I am home.
I am immersed in abundance.
Finding a sun kalpa that feels authentic to you at this time.
And repeating this internally three times.
And now I'll ask you to move your mind and your mind only around different parts of your body.
This is the rotation of consciousness.
As I say a body part,
Try to bring all of your awareness to that body part.
And if you can allow that body part to experience fullness and a sense of relaxation.
Starting with your right thumb,
Right second finger,
Right third finger,
Fourth finger and the fifth finger,
The back of the right hand,
Center of the right palm,
The entire right hand,
Looking within the right wrist,
Right forearm,
Right elbow,
Right upper arm and the right shoulder,
Feeling the entire right arm with your awareness and allowing the entire right arm to relax.
The entire right arm is relaxing.
And now moving your mind over to the left thumb,
Left second finger,
Left third finger,
Fourth finger and fifth finger,
The back of the left hand,
The center of the left palm,
The entire left hand,
Looking within the left wrist,
Left forearm,
Left elbow,
Left upper arm and the left shoulder,
Filling the entire left arm with your awareness and allowing the entire left arm to relax.
The entire left arm is relaxing.
Very good.
And now moving your mind down to the right big toe,
Right second toe,
Right third toe,
Fourth toe and the fifth toe,
The sole of the right foot,
The top of the right foot and the heel,
The entire right foot,
Looking within the right ankle,
Right shin and calf,
The right knee,
Right thigh and the right hip and buttock,
Allowing the entire right leg to be filled with your awareness.
The entire right leg is relaxing.
And now moving your mind over to the left big toe,
Left second toe,
Left third toe,
Fourth toe and fifth toe,
The sole of the left foot,
Top of the left foot and the heel,
The entire left foot,
Looking within the left ankle,
Left shin and calf,
Left knee,
Left thigh and the left hip and buttock,
Allowing the entire left leg to be filled with your awareness.
The entire left leg is relaxing.
And now moving your mind to your pelvis,
All the contents of the pelvic bowl,
The lower back,
Allowing the belly to soften as you move your mind now to the middle back,
The rib cage,
The chest,
The chest and the upper back,
The collarbones and the shoulder blades,
Filling your entire torso with your awareness.
The entire torso is relaxing.
And now moving your mind to your throat,
The muscles in the neck,
Lower jaw,
Upper jaw,
Both lips,
The cheekbones,
The eyebrows,
Noticing all the muscles surrounding your eyes,
The eyelids and the eyeballs themselves resting in their sockets,
Allowing all of the muscles in the face to smooth out and drain of any expression,
Moving the mind to the skin on the scalp,
The ears and everything in between the ears.
And finally,
The base of the skull,
Filling the entire head with your awareness and allowing the entire head and mind to relax the entire head and mind relaxing.
And now holding in your mind's eye,
The entire body at rest,
The entire body,
Front,
Back,
Sides,
All resting.
Very good.
And now using the creativity of the mind,
I'll ask you to sift through some moments in the recent past and find a moment in time where you may have felt uprooted far away from home,
Ungrounded,
Searching your mind for a memory in the recent past where you felt uprooted and observing what that felt like in the body and in the mind and allowing that to pass and be in the past.
As we now shift the awareness to finding a moment from the recent past where you felt grounded and safe at home,
Sifting through those moments to find a time where you felt safe and at home,
Nourished and grounded and noticing and observing what that feels like or felt like in the body and mind for a moment.
And then letting it pass and letting that be a thing of the past.
And now bring your attention and all of your awareness to the area behind the center of the eyebrows again,
This mental mind space or Chidakas is the seat of your intuition and an expression of your higher self.
So observing and witnessing anything happening here in the mental mind space and then using this creative seat to imagine and visualize in your mind's eye,
Imagining the image of an elephant,
Bringing this elephant into your mind's eye.
Maybe you can notice the wrinkled gray skin or smiling eyes,
Graceful trunk that curls protectively around her baby.
Notice her legs,
Which are thick and strong.
And as she begins to walk away from you,
Perhaps you can feel the thud of her heavy footsteps vibrating into the earth.
And as this mother elephant looks back at you,
She issues a silent invitation for you to follow her.
Follow her down a red carpet.
As you tread on this lush red carpet with your bare feet,
Notice the velvety soft feel of the carpet underneath and draw this comfort up into your legs.
While on this adventure in your mind,
You are perfectly safe and healthy.
Walking behind mother elephant on a red carpet,
You can hear the sounds of singing and cheering in the distance.
And the sound fills your heart with a sense of belonging.
As you draw closer,
You can begin to make out rows of happy smiling faces,
Blinding the carpet,
Waving and cheering for your return.
And some of the faces begin to come into focus.
And you see all of those that you welcome as part of your family or tribe.
Noticing all of the people in your life who have touched you or whom you have touched in some way and there too are all of your relatives,
All of your ancestors reaching back as far as time goes,
Welcoming you home.
Seeing in your mind's eye this elephant turning off of the red carpet away from this line of ancestors into what appears to be an expansive grove of trees.
You follow her again into this sun dappled forest.
The air is fresh.
The earth beneath your feet is yielding.
And you walk towards what you now see is one tree,
A tree so huge that it fills your whole field of vision.
This elephant has led you to the great Banyan tree.
Its huge branches radiate out while aerial roots like curious veins find their way into the earth below,
Creating a system of many fingers reaching down,
Connecting branches above and roots below like a village of tendrils.
Overhead,
There is a lush canopy of trees that are growing in the forest.
A lush canopy of green.
And in this protected den of the great Banyan tree,
You feel a sense of safety and security.
Leaning your body against the great Banyan tree,
Which has stood for hundreds of years in the same spot,
Growing taller,
Widening out,
Deepening down.
You begin to sense the connectedness of it all as these branches,
Roots and leaves unify with a single purpose to survive,
To grow,
To be.
Allowing yourself this moment to be,
To be in your body,
Cradled by the great Banyan tree,
Connected yourself as a branch on the human tree,
Connected to all living beings,
Supported by the earth.
And now time to leave this beautiful ancestral tree behind.
As we begin to come back to this mental mind space.
Coming back into your mind space,
Where you are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now,
You are now.
Coming back into your mind space or Chitakas at the center of the eyebrows and taking a moment longer to observe any images,
Patterns or colors and into this fertile bed of your mind,
Planting the sankalpa or intention once again,
Setting a sacred promise to yourself,
As we did in the beginning,
The same sacred promise.
I am present.
I am grounded.
I am safe.
I am home.
I am immersed in abundance,
Choosing the sankalpa that feels right for you and repeating it three times internally.
Very good.
And now we begin to come out of the yoga nidra,
Coming back into the body,
Noticing all the supports,
Noticing the edges of your body,
The boundaries that make up this vehicle for your spirit,
Noticing the sounds around you both near and far,
And taking your awareness to the breath once again,
Moving in and out,
Taking a cleansing breath or two as you make your way back from the yoga nidra space into the space around you,
Very slowly beginning to move the body,
Perhaps swallowing,
Licking the lips,
Moving the head from side to side,
Blinking the eyes open,
Stretching the arms overhead,
And very slowly pushing your way up to a seated position.
Thank you so much for your practice today.
Namaste.
