Yoga Nidra Meditation, Journey to Awareness

This time is set aside only for you,

Allowing this time to be solely yours,

A soothing and relaxing time and space.

Preparing now for Yoga Nidra,

Adjusting your body as needed,

Just allowing yourself to be as comfortable as possible,

Gently closing your eyes,

Allowing them to remain closed during the practice,

Taking a deep breath in and as you breathe out,

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

During Yoga Nidra,

We are functioning at the level of hearing and awareness,

Simply focusing your attention on following my voice,

Trying not to overanalyze or overthink any of the instructions as that may keep you from fully relaxing,

Simply following my voice with total attention and feeling,

And any thoughts or sounds that come into your awareness,

Just letting them go,

Just letting them pass by like clouds in the sky,

Allowing yourself to be calm and steady,

Remaining that way throughout the practice.

And taking a moment now to become aware of any sounds in the distance,

Allowing your hearing to radiate outward,

Noticing the most distant sounds you can hear,

Searching out those distant sounds and following them for a few seconds,

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

And now gradually bringing your attention to closer sounds,

Sounds that are just outside,

And then to sounds that are inside,

And to sounds inside the room you are in,

And to the sounds of your own body.

And now developing your awareness of the room you are in,

Without opening your eyes,

Visualize the walls of the room or the space you are in,

The ceiling,

The floor,

Your body laying wherever it is.

Visualize your body laying down,

Becoming aware of the existence of your physical body resting where it is,

Laying in perfect stillness,

Noticing all of the points where your body touches the surface beneath it,

Noticing the temperature of the room,

Imagining where your body is in the room.

And now becoming aware of your natural breath,

Your natural spontaneous breath that occurs without any effort.

Follow the in-breath,

Notice the out-breath.

With every breath,

Slow and deepen the breath,

Allowing it to bring you into a state of deep relaxation.

And as you inhale,

Feeling the breath as it goes deeper,

Moving all the way into your belly.

And as you exhale,

Inviting the feeling of relaxation into your body,

Allowing each breath to assist you in letting go of the stress and tension in the body.

Inhale into where you feel the stress in your body,

Exhaling to release the stress.

Gently continuing with this breath awareness,

Allowing your breathing to guide you in a state of total relaxation,

Noticing every part of your body becoming heavy and relaxed from head to toe,

As if it were a wave gently rolling over the body to completely relax you,

Bringing a sense of profound calm as it moves in and washing away any strain or effort as it recedes,

Noticing that you are becoming more and more comfortable and relaxed.

And as you relax more and more,

You can say to yourself,

I am practicing Yoga Nidra.

I will remain awake and aware throughout the practice.

Repeating this to yourself a few times.

The practice of Yoga Nidra begins now.

And now feeling where your back and body connect to the surface beneath you,

Feeling so heavy,

So deeply comfortable and supported.

And in this moment,

You can now make your resolve,

Which is Sankalpa in Sanskrit,

Going deep inside to the desire in your heart,

Noticing what is it that you desire for yourself or your life at this moment in time.

It is often the first thing that comes to mind,

Allowing yourself to choose a resolve or resolution that you would like to embrace,

That resonates for you.

Allow this to flow into your awareness naturally and gently.

And now phrasing that resolve as a short positive statement,

Using simple language in the present tense,

It may sound something like,

I move through life with ease and peace.

I give and receive love freely and unconditionally.

I receive with ease and joy.

And as you are now discovering and stating your Sankalpa,

Allow yourself to say it three times quietly within,

With clarity,

Awareness and feeling.

Your Sankalpa made during Yoga Nidra will plant a seed in the fertile soil of your mind to help bring about what you desire in your life.

And once you have stated your resolve,

Allow yourself to let it go for now,

Knowing and trusting that it is so.

And now allowing your awareness to shift gently to the sensations of your body.

Beginning now a systematic journey of sensory awareness throughout the body,

Gently following with your awareness to different parts of your body as you are hearing them named,

Welcoming each sensation just as it is and saying the name to yourself as we go.

Beginning the practice on the right side,

Right side,

Right hand,

Right thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

Left side,

Left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Now going to the back of the body,

Right heel,

Left heel,

Right calf,

Left calf,

Right thigh,

Left thigh,

Right buttock,

Left buttock,

Lower back,

Middle back,

Upper back,

The entire spine,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Back of the neck,

Back of the head,

Front side,

Top of the head,

Forehead,

Right temple,

Left temple,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Middle of the eyebrows,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Right nostril,

Left nostril,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Both lips together,

Chin,

Jaw,

Throat,

Right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

Right side of the chest,

Left side of the chest,

Upper abdomen,

Navel,

Lower abdomen,

Right groin,

Left groin,

Pelvic floor,

The whole body,

The whole right leg,

The whole left leg,

The whole right arm,

The whole left arm,

The whole face,

The whole head,

The whole torso,

The whole body,

Notice the whole body,

Feeling now the body resting on the earth,

Noticing your body as sensation,

As energy,

As radiant vibration pouring your awareness like liquid into all the spaces of your body,

Feeling the root between your sitting bones,

Navel center,

Solar plexus,

Heart center,

Throat center,

Space behind the eyebrows,

Crown of the head feeling your body as a whole,

The complete entity of your body,

The sensation in your entire body and now bringing your attention to the natural quiet breath,

Becoming aware of the breath,

Moving through the nostrils allowing yourself to feel as if your entire body is being breathed,

Joining yourself with your breath completely,

Feeling a total connection with your breath noticing your natural spontaneous breath that occurs without any effort at all noticing how the breath flows through both nostrils,

Meeting at the top of the nose to form a triangle at the eyebrow center becoming aware of the breath passing through both nostrils together now becoming aware of both nostrils separately,

Thinking of the breaths as starting separately from the distance,

Drawing near and uniting in the eyebrow center like a triangle concentrating on each breath,

Determining its temperature,

Going back and forth and comparing the temperatures in yoga we say the left nostril breath is Aida Moon,

And the right nostril breath is Pingala Sun Aida,

The left breath is cooler,

Pingala,

The right breath is warmer noticing this as you breathe and continuing your awareness of breathing,

But imagine that you are now breathing through alternate nostrils breathing in through one nostril and out through the other,

Up and down the sides of the triangle and back again breathing in through the right nostril and out through the left nostril and now breathing in through the left nostril and out through the right nostril continuing to ride the breath up and down the sides of the triangle and back again maintaining your awareness of breath and counting each breath with full attention now counting the breath backwards from five inhaling five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One and exhaling five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One inhaling five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One and exhaling five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One maintaining a total awareness on your breathing as you count thinking of the breath as waves on the ocean as you inhale,

The waves in the breath come in and as you exhale,

The waves in the breath go out now remaining aware only of the breath without counting just inhaling and exhaling deeply through both nostrils with total awareness relaxing into your breath and now imagining in your mind that your body is becoming very heavy awakening the feeling of heaviness in the body imagining that your body is leaving an imprint in the floor the head is heavy,

The limbs are heavy the torso is heavy,

The entire body is heavy feeling your body becoming heavier and heavier and sinking into the floor and now imagine the entire body becoming light feeling as though your body could float away from the floor towards the ceiling becoming light and weightless the head is light and weightless the limbs are light and weightless the torso light and weightless the entire body is light and weightless so light that you are rising higher and higher away from the floor now going back once again to the feeling of heaviness and then returning to the feeling of lightness going back and forth between heaviness and lightness and now bringing your awareness to the eyebrow center keeping your focus on this point we will name a variety of different objects and as each one is named try to visualize it following along and if you cannot,

Don't be concerned sometimes we will go slowly and other times we will go quickly you may also come back to an image more than once some of the images may be known to you and others may not trying not to think too much about it just following along envisioning each image as it is named darkness pink rose waves on the ocean blue sky in the evening dark night tiny stars shining in the heavens high mountain range with snow-capped peaks ships sailing on the open seas white sandy beach pristine forest with tall dense trees a galloping horse a small cottage in the woods a burning fire in the hearth a stormy night full moon,

Mountain stream lonely rock in the mountains big garden of blooming flowers rising sun keeping your awareness focused at the eyebrow center now visualizing a large lake with lotus flowers a sailing boat people swimming a quiet wooden hut in the mountains an empty valley,

High mountain with snow-capped peaks a quiet evening beautiful sunset,

Chirping birds tiger in the jungle elephants,

The sound of a bell ringing waves on the ocean a ship at sail full moon,

Calm and quiet evening in a moonlit valley refreshing cold dip in a mountain stream the experience of exhilaration coming back again to the middle of the eyebrows visualize the rising sun with bright orange clouds gathering in the sky pink rose drizzling rain fog all around sunflower,

Apple,

Lettuce leaf hot water spring tall pine tree cluster of grapes,

Quiet wooden hut snow-capped peaks mountain stream,

Cold dip ship at sail,

Lotus on a lake swimming now returning back to your original resolve or sankalpa that we established at the beginning of the practice,

Allow yourself to repeat your sankalpa as a heartfelt intention to yourself three times with clarity and feeling feeling that intention beginning to integrate into the very essence of your being,

Knowing that it is a part of you and always has been and having faith that it will come to pass believe that it will be and know that it is so now we are coming to the time of completing our yoga nidra practice together slowly and gently,

Beginning to become aware of the whole body,

Visualizing your whole body and where you are in the room for the moment keeping your eyes closed just visualizing the surrounding room imagining where you are in the room and the other objects around you coming back to the feeling of your breath flowing in and out of your nostrils maintaining your awareness of breath as you develop the awareness of your physical body your body is relaxed lying still,

Feeling the container of your skin and clothes and props that are supporting you noticing the heaviness of your body as it rests,

Moving your awareness into all the points that are touching down the back of your heels,

Thighs,

Buttocks shoulder blades,

Arms,

Hands and head become aware of your position laying in shavasana as we begin the process of completing yoga nidra knowing that as a result of this relaxation the whole body,

The physical,

Mental emotional and spiritual levels has become so quiet tranquil and peaceful and still it is so alive and revived and energized the whole body,

Tranquil and peaceful,

Alive and energized,

The whole body continuing to lie quietly until you feel ready to move and as you are ready,

Begin to slowly move your hands and feet taking your time as there is no hurry and when you feel ready,

Gently drawing your knees to your chest and rolling on to whichever side is most comfortable,

Allowing yourself to be cradled here on your side for a few moments and when you feel ready use your hands to press yourself up to a comfortable seated position,

Bringing your hands to your heart center the heart is the center and seat of our desires and passions the place from which your resolve or sankalpa was born,

Taking a few breaths here and envisioning your connection to your heart center and your intention and now with both hands together at the heart noticing the space where the joining of all opposites heals all opposites and now with your hands together,

Drawing your head to your heart we now close this practice together may you move into the rest of your day with ease,

Self love,

Joy and peace.

Namaste