Welcome to your Yoga Nidra practice.
My name is Christine.
Choose where you'd prefer to lay most comfortably,
Perhaps beneath a blanket,
With the option to place a pillow beneath your knees.
Shift your upper arm slightly beyond your torso.
Create a bit of spaciousness in your armpits,
Chest,
And upper back.
Rest your hands most comfortably,
Palms either face up or down,
Beside you or upon you,
Aware of any angle in your wrists.
Gently nestle into the surfaces beneath your head,
Hips,
And heels,
And release any effort of nestling.
Soften your eyes to close,
And know you can reopen them whenever you need.
When ready,
Gently release the breath you are within,
And exhale.
Receive a smooth breath in,
And a longer breath out.
Try that once more.
Begin to rest your breath as you begin to rest your bones,
Your bones and your breath.
The resting rhythm of your breath,
However soft,
However subtle,
Rest within a rhythm you are aware of,
Aware of the presence of your breath across your chest.
Any sly movement of your breath between your ribs,
Within your ribcage,
The resting rhythm of your breath.
Place your awareness within your lungs,
Both lungs.
Gently move your awareness from your lungs to your heart,
Your whole heart.
From within your heart,
Invitation to place a wish to rest within your practice,
A desire of your heart named by your mind,
Your sankalpa for your nidra practice.
As you breathe,
Begin to dream up your desire,
A wish from within your heart.
Gently translate your desire into a statement,
A declaration,
With simple language in the present tense.
As you sense your wish from within your heart,
Silently repeat your sankalpa three times within your mind.
Gently release your sankalpa as you release your breath,
Exhale.
Receive a smooth breath in and a longer breath out.
Try that once more.
Rest your breath,
Rest your heart,
Place your awareness within your chest bone,
Your sternum,
Your collarbones,
Your ribcage,
The front side of your ribs,
The left side of your ribcage,
The back side of your ribs,
The right side of your ribcage.
Move your awareness into your right armpit,
Your right shoulder,
Right elbow,
Right wrist,
Your right palm and your right palm lines,
Aware of your right thumb,
Right thumbprint,
Right fingers,
Right fingerprints and the knuckles of your right fingers,
Thumb included.
Move your awareness into the back of your right hand,
The bones of your right hand,
The bones of your right forearm,
Your upper right arm bone,
Right shoulder blade,
Your upper back,
Your left shoulder blade,
Left armpit,
Left shoulder,
Left elbow and left wrist,
Your left palm and your left palm lines,
Aware of your left thumb,
Left thumbprint,
Left fingers,
Left fingerprints and the knuckles of your left fingers,
Thumb included.
Move your awareness into the back of your left hand,
The bones of your left hand,
The left forearm,
Your upper left arm bone,
Aware of your left lung,
Your right lung,
Your heart,
Your whole heart,
Your chest,
Your whole chest,
Your throat and your tongue.
Move your awareness to the place beneath your tongue,
The inside of your right cheek,
The roof of your mouth,
The inside of your left cheek,
Your gums,
Your teeth,
Lips,
Jaw and cheeks,
Both cheeks,
Your right temple,
Right eye,
Your left eye and your left temple,
Your forehead,
Your eyebrows and the place between your eyebrows,
Your nose,
Nostrils and brain,
Aware of your brain,
Aware of your skull and the base of your skull,
Your neck,
Sacrum and tailbone,
Your right glutes,
Right hip,
Right knee and your right ankle.
Move your awareness into your right heel,
The sole of your right foot,
Your right toes and the knuckles of your right toes,
Aware of the top of your right foot,
The bones within your right foot,
The bones within your lower right leg,
Your right thigh bone and your right hip bone,
Your pelvis,
Your whole pelvis,
Your left hip bone,
Left glutes,
Left hip,
Left knee and your left ankle.
Aware of your left heel,
The sole of your left foot,
Your left toes and the knuckles of your left toes,
The top of your left foot,
The bones within your left foot,
Bones within your lower left leg and your left thigh bone,
Your glutes,
Sacrum,
Pelvis,
Reproductive organs,
Belly button,
Abdominal organs and diaphragm,
Your heart and brain.
Receive the awareness of your brain,
Receive the awareness of your forehead and the place between your brain and your forehead.
Move your awareness to the right side of your brain,
The left side of your brain,
The right side,
The left side,
Aware of both hemispheres of your brain simultaneously.
Move your awareness to your right ear,
To your left ear,
Your right ear,
Your left ear,
Aware of both ears simultaneously.
Return your awareness to your forehead and the place between your forehead and your brain.
From this place beneath your forehead,
Begin to sense your bones,
The stability of your bones within your body.
The bones within your body,
From your bones to the backside of your body,
Sense the stability within you.
From the backside of your body,
Begin to sense the surfaces beneath your body,
The stability of the surfaces beneath you.
From the surfaces beneath you,
Begin to sense the earth beneath you,
The stability of the earth beneath the surfaces beneath your body.
Invitation to guide your imagination towards the soil and the rocks within the earth beneath you.
What else might you envision within the earth beneath you?
Perhaps tree roots,
Gemstones,
Or dinosaur bones.
How deep do the roots grow?
What colors are the gemstones?
How large are the dinosaur bones?
Invitation to guide your imagination towards the center of the earth,
The center of the earth.
Begin to sense the pull of gravity from the center of the earth,
The gravitational pull beneath your body,
The pull of gravity holding you,
The sensation of earth holding you.
The sensation of stability beneath you and within you.
Gently place your awareness within your low spine,
Your low spine.
From your low spine,
Begin to sense the presence of gravity beneath your sacrum,
The presence of gravity beneath your heels,
The back of your hips,
And the back of your heart.
Sense the stability of your heart.
Your heart held.
Your hands held.
Your shoulder blades and the back of your head held.
Your bones and your whole body held.
Your whole body held.
The sensation of stability from your bones to your breath.
From your breath to your brain.
Return your awareness to your brain,
Your forehead,
And the place between your brain and your forehead.
From this place,
I invite you to follow my voice through a sequence of rapid visualizations to connect further with your intuitive,
Imaginative nature,
The place of your limitless creativity.
As if observing from the place beneath your forehead,
Gently receive each image,
Then release that image as the next visual is placed.
Gently soften your inner gaze.
Imagine a red apple.
A pine cone.
A full moon.
A shooting star.
A zebra.
The flame of a candle.
A lemon.
A field of grass.
A gentle stream.
An orange pumpkin.
A tall tree.
A purple flower.
Gently release any imagery.
Gently release the breath you are within.
Exhale.
Receive a smooth breath in.
And a longer breath out.
Try that once more.
As you breathe,
Follow your breath into your body.
As you inhale,
Where does the breath go?
As you exhale,
Where does the breath come from?
Rest within the path of your breath.
Rest within your body.
As you breathe,
Gently revisit your bones.
Gently revisit your heart.
Invitation to reimagine your sankalpa from within your heart.
Your wish which you placed at the start.
From within your heart,
Silently repeat your sankalpa three times.
Release your sankalpa.
Release your breath.
Exhale.
Receive a smooth breath in.
And a longer breath out.
Try that once more.
Bring your awareness from your breath to your bones to the back of your body to the surfaces beneath you within the room you are within.
Invitation to keep your eyes closed.
Become aware of the air above you and beside you.
Sense the walls.
The ceiling.
The floor.
And your body within the room you are within.
Aware of the room and your body simultaneously.
Choose to either extend your stay as is and allow my words to wash on over you or begin to wiggle your right fingers.
Rest your right fingers.
Receive the stillness after the movement is complete.
Wiggle your left fingers.
Rest your left fingers.
Receive the stillness.
Wiggle your right toes.
Rest.
Wiggle your left toes.
Twirl your wrists and ankles.
Pump your feet and your calves.
Treat yourself to any other movement that may simply feel nice.
Choose how you prefer to be positioned to close your practice.
If you choose to rearrange,
Receive the stillness after the movement is complete.
Gently meet what's here now.
Receive a couple rounds of a gently deliberate breath.
When you choose to reopen your eyes,
Slowly gaze around the room you are within.
Thank you for choosing to rest.
May you receive with joy,
Integrate with ease,
And release with grace.
Rest well.
