Welcome to the Yoga Nidra Meditation for a sweet release.
Yoga Nidra has become a beloved feature of my yoga practice at home.
Today I'll take you through a short sweet release of your body.
We'll be moving from your feet to your head,
Allowing everything to receive your breathing,
Opening and softening and gently steering you into a meditative rest.
This is wonderful to practice while in bed or you can do it in the middle of your day when you feel you need a burst of energy.
Whatever works best for you,
There are no rules.
I want you to find a quiet space where you know you won't be disturbed for the next ten minutes or so.
Come to lie down if you can,
So this meditation is best done lying down on the ground or on a bed.
You may wish to cover your eyes with an eye pillow and use a bolster or some pillows to rest under your knees.
Anything that you need to feel supremely comfortable and go inside.
You may even cover yourself up with a blanket.
Just taking a couple of moments here to set yourself up.
It's been said that we live in a chronically exhausted and overstimulated world.
We all know this to be true.
And that's the very reason we love our yoga practice so much.
Yoga Nidra is a systematic method of complete relaxation,
Holistically addressing our physiological,
Neurological and subconscious needs.
Today we'll practice a little bit of guided imagery and body scanning to aid relaxation and release any unnecessary tension from your body or simply to just quieten your mind.
And in that quiet space our body can completely rejuvenate itself naturally.
Yoga Nidra uniquely unwinds the nervous system which is the foundation of the body's wellbeing.
Let's begin our Yoga Nidra.
I want you to close your eyes here and bring your awareness to your feet.
Allow your heels to become heavier on the floor.
You can actually just let them fall open.
This can feel quite delicious.
Let the feet fall open and let the legs fall open.
We want to get to a place where your heels are resting and your feet and legs are feeling comfortable.
And from this awareness in your heels you can gently move this attention up your shins,
Your calves,
Feeling the weight of your calf muscles on the floor,
Up into your knees.
You can gently let your knees get looser and softer here.
And as you rest through that midpoint in your legs let the breathing in your lungs expand out to the sides.
Feel your torso full of light and oxygen here.
And return your awareness to your knees.
Let that same quality of fullness and opening with oxygen come into your knees and travel up your legs.
Breathe deeply and fully here.
Fully coming up through your thighs and into your hips.
Feeling the whole structure of your pelvis weighing down into the floor.
Feel the evenness on both sides of your pelvis.
And if it feels imbalanced take a moment to balance out the weight on both sides.
Feel from the soles of your feet,
Your heels all the way up into your pelvis a real restfulness there.
Begin to move your attention up into your belly and we'll spend a little time here.
Let your belly get soft,
Open,
Spacious and so full of light.
Feeling any discomfort in your belly dissipating as you bring the light of your breathing and attention there.
And letting your belly expand as you inhale and release as you exhale.
Expand as you inhale and release here as you exhale.
Bring your attention now up to your ribs.
From your rib cage,
Your lungs,
Down into the depths of your belly a big connection at softening.
Let your breathing expand all of that space.
Let your diaphragm come up and into that space as you exhale.
Begin to bring your breath now up underneath your collarbones and expand the space under your collarbones so that you can feel your breath rising up inside of your body on the floor.
Each time you breathe there's almost an expansion through your arms all the way up to your fingertips.
As you exhale everything settles and softens and sweetens downwards.
Now bring your attention up into your neck,
Your shoulders.
Feel everything spread out gently on the floor.
Feel a nice softening through the sides and the back of your neck.
Bring your breathing into the front of your trot and as you exhale let it soften into the back of the trot as the base of your skull lengthens away from your heart gently.
Chin to the chest so it's just a touch and the back of your head gets a little heavier on the floor.
Now bring your attention out behind your eyes.
Let the backs of your eyes get softer,
Lighter to the top of your head.
Let there be a nice opening through the top of your head as you breathe in and out here.
Feeling as though the top of your head is the sweetest little window you could open and allow what isn't needed to be released and invite what is beneficial to be received.
Taking a few breaths here.
You can gently feel your whole body,
A steady unified vessel of light receiving and releasing as needed restfully.
Starting to bring yourself back gradually and slowly.
Just start by making some small movements in your fingers,
In your toes.
Start to take some deeper breaths than normal here.
When you're ready you can start to roll to the right and bring yourself up to a comfortable seat again.
Today I bow to you.
Namaste.
So please use this yoga nidra meditation time and time again for a sweet release.
Whenever you just need to release from your body that which is no longer serving you.
Namaste.
