Welcome to this practice of yoga nidra.
In this practice we're going to take awareness through the body and as we do the aim is simply to notice sensations that are arising and if you do notice any particular sensations of discomfort so tension or tightness then you can have an attention towards letting go so physically letting go of any tension or tightness if you happen to notice any and then otherwise just noticing whatever sensation arise and do so with an attitude of interest and curiosity you're taking awareness through the body with an attitude of wanting to be aware of what you are experiencing what's arising so there will be sensations of temperature sensations of heaviness or lightness and sensations of where your body's touching surfaces supporting you and so on so it's simply a matter of keeping the attention on these various sensations as we take our awareness through the body and to personalize the practice for where you're at right now just asking you a question to mentally repeat the answer for yourself what's a quality that you would like to develop right now that you would like to be experiencing right now either to bring it into your experience or to be experiencing more of it so we're focusing on positive qualities such as calm,
Present focus,
Confident,
Relaxed whatever is going to meet you where you're at and help to bring about a more positive quality of experience so I'm just going to invite you to create a short statement that you mentally repeat about this quality in your life then letting go of that intention which will repeat again towards the end of the practice and just checking that your body is supported in the position you're in make any small adjustments if you could be slightly more comfortable and then bring yourself to a commitment to being still for this practice allowing the body to rest and the mind to rest but to remain awake alert as you take awareness through the body so we're beginning the practice focusing on the right hand thumb noticing sensations in the right hand thumb first finger of the right hand second finger third finger fourth finger the palm of the right hand back of the hand wrist forearm elbow upper arm shoulder armpit right side of the waist right hip thigh knee lower leg ankle heel sole of the right foot top of the foot right big toe second toe third fourth fifth toe left hand thumb first finger of the left hand second finger third finger fourth finger palm of the left hand back of the left hand wrist forearm elbow upper arm shoulder armpit left side of the waist left hip thigh knee lower leg ankle heel sole of the left foot top of the foot left big toe second toe third fourth fifth toe and now bringing awareness to the back of the head the back of the neck the right shoulder blade the left shoulder blade middle of the back lower back right glute left glute base of the spine the whole length of the spine from the base of the spine to the top of the spine top of the head forehead right side temple left side temple right eyebrow left eyebrow eyebrow centre right eye left eye right ear left ear right nostril left nostril tip of the nose upper lip lower lip tongue chin front of the jaw front of the neck right collarbone left collarbone right side chest left side chest centre of the chest upper abdomen lower abdomen pelvis hips the whole right leg the whole left leg both legs together in awareness the whole right arm the whole left arm both arms together in awareness the whole right side of the body the top of the head down to the tips of the toes the right side of the body and then the whole left side of the body from the top of the head to the tips of the toes aware of the whole front surface of the body the back surface of the body front and back surfaces together aware of the whole body together the whole body aware of the whole body relaxing releasing moving to a deeper place of stillness within the body as you notice the natural rise and fall of each breath and drawing attention to the breath at a particular place in the body perhaps the abdomen the ribcage or the nostrils and just following the breath with an easy attention perhaps even effortless attention to the breathing and we're now going to count the breath as a way of keeping our attention focused in the present moment just going to count the breath back from 12 to 1 in this manner breathing in 12 breathing out 12 breathing in 11 breathing out 11 and so on so in time with your own breathing aiming to stay focused on this mental counting of the breath from 12 to 1 noticing where you are in the counting of the breath perhaps already at 1 perhaps somewhere else in the counting just noticing and we're just going to let go of that process and just check in with quality of your breathing right now noticing the length and depth of each breath and also noticing the natural pause in each breath cycle and then expanding awareness also taking in the body so just noticing sensations in the body aware of the whole body the position that you're in just noticing any growing sense of ease and relaxation in the body as you have this light awareness to the whole body noticing the breathing at the nostrils how the air flows effortlessly in and the breath in and then out again on the exhalation just continuing to follow the breath at the level of the nostrils and then lifting the awareness up slightly the eyebrow centre and in front of closed eyes there's this blank black screen that we can imagine and onto this blank black screen inviting back into awareness your personal intention that you have for your life at this time positive quality or qualities you wish to cultivate and praising your intention as a short statement of positive intent and then taking awareness from this screen of the mind to the whole face,
Just noticing what you're experiencing in the face in terms of sense of ease and relaxation and then the neck and the arms,
Hands the torso front and back of the torso legs and feet once again aware of the whole body resting in stillness
