Yoga Nidra - Pure Awareness

Hello and welcome to Yoga Nidra Pure Awareness.

Come and lie in Shavasana.

Take some time to arrange yourself so that you are completely comfortable and able to stay in this position for approximately 20 minutes.

Be sure to have some cushion under your head for some padding and a blanket to cover you if you feel chilled or cool.

Become aware of yourself lying on the floor,

Your entire body lying on the floor.

Become aware of the room that you are in,

Visualizing the room you are lying in and listen to all the sounds around you.

Gradually bring the sounds closer in until the sound of your own breath is in the foreground of your awareness and everything else except my voice falls away.

Invite your body to relax fully,

Cultivating a sense of deep inner stillness.

Yoga Nidra is a meditative practice.

The intention is to stay awake and follow along on an inner journey.

If you find yourself falling asleep,

Gently draw yourself back to consciousness.

Repeating silently to yourself now,

I am practicing Yoga Nidra.

I will stay awake.

I am practicing Yoga Nidra.

I will stay awake.

I am practicing Yoga Nidra.

I will stay awake.

From within,

We're going to connect to a heartfelt intention.

Saying this phrase quietly to yourself,

Letting go,

I take this time to care for myself.

We're going to repeat this resolve three more times.

Letting go,

I take this time to care for myself.

Now,

We begin the rotation of consciousness by taking a trip through the different parts of your body.

Imagining that you are lying back in a shady grove.

The soft green grass beneath you.

A light breeze brushing each part of your body as I name it.

Leaving it feeling refreshed and invigorated.

We will move your awareness swiftly through your body as you follow along with my voice.

Beginning on the left side with the hand,

The thumb,

The index finger,

The middle finger,

The ring finger,

The pinky finger.

The palm of the hand.

Become aware of the palm.

The back of the hand.

The wrist.

The lower arm.

The elbow.

The arm.

The shoulder.

The armpit.

The ribcage.

The left side of your waist.

The left hip.

The left thigh.

Knee cap.

The calf muscle.

The ankle.

The heel.

The sole of the left foot.

The top of the foot.

The big toe.

The second toe.

The third,

Fourth,

And fifth toe.

Feel the entire left side of your body fanned with the passing breeze.

The soft earth cradling you.

Moving to the right side.

The thumb,

The index finger,

The middle finger,

The ring finger,

The pinky finger,

The palm of the hand.

Become aware of the palm.

The back of the hand.

The wrist.

The lower arm.

The elbow.

The upper arm.

The shoulder.

The ribcage.

The right waist.

The right hip.

The right thigh.

The knee cap.

The calf muscle.

The ankle.

The heel.

The sole of the right foot.

The top of the foot.

The big toe.

The second toe.

The third toe.

The whole right side of the body fanned with the passing breeze.

The moist earth cradling your body.

Now moving your awareness to the back of the head.

Letting it sink to the ground,

Feeling embraced by the soft cushion of grass.

Experience the sensation of moisture,

Like dew,

Trickling down the back of the neck,

Along the spine and across the back.

Around the buttocks and down the backs of the legs.

Now go to the top of your head.

Feel the top of the head and the forehead fanned by the breeze.

The breeze blowing across the temples.

The left eyebrow.

The right eyebrow.

The space between the brows.

Your left eye,

Then the right eye.

The left ear,

Then the right ear.

The left cheek,

Then the right cheek.

The left cheek,

Then the right cheek.

The nostrils.

The tip of your nose.

The upper lip and the lower lip.

The chin.

The throat.

The left breast.

The right breast.

The center of your heart.

The abdomen.

The pelvis.

A light gust brushing over your skin.

Like a soft feather.

Focus your awareness on the navel center,

The abdomen,

And the pelvic girdle.

Let your attention gather there.

Have a sensate awareness of the rise and the fall of the belly with each breath.

Noticing a sense of spaciousness within the belly and the spaciousness all around the belly.

With each breath,

Encourage a deep release and relaxation in the abdominal cavity.

Surrender the weight of the body to the cool,

Embracing earth.

And let the flow of the breath,

Like the flow of the breeze,

Waft within you and around you.

Feeling the coolness of the air as it brushes the inside of the nostrils and the back of the throat.

And as you breathe in,

Say the word balance silently to yourself.

Let the exhale be slow and deep.

Feeling the release of tension and say calm silently to yourself with each outgoing breath.

Inhale,

Balance.

Exhale,

Calm.

As you breathe in and out,

Begin to imagine the inhalation breath first entering through the left nostril.

And the exhalation breath exiting through the right.

Then,

Inhale through the right nostril and exhale through the left.

Continue to breathe this way.

Inhale,

Left.

Exhale,

Right.

And then inhale,

Right.

Exhale,

Left.

Inhale,

Balance.

Exhale,

Calm.

Experience the breath like an inner current.

Its confluence coursing through you like the gentle wind,

Cleansing your insides,

Bringing complete balance and calm.

.

Be aware of the content of your consciousness,

Just as it is.

Without any need to change or modify your experience.

Relax and be with everything just as it is.

Be aware of being aware.

Bring your sensate awareness to your physical body,

Thinking to yourself,

I have a body and I am aware of this body.

This body experiences different conditions of health and sickness,

Stress and relaxation.

I have a body and I am aware of this body.

This body is an experience unfolding in my awareness.

I have a body and I am more than the experience of this body.

I am aware of this body.

Be aware of the emotions that come and go in this body.

I have emotions and I am aware of these emotions.

These emotions are experiences unfolding in my awareness,

Changing,

Sometimes contradictory,

Swinging from love to hatred,

From calmness to anger,

From joy to sorrow.

I have emotions and I am more than the experience of emotions.

I am aware of these emotions arising in the field of unchanging awareness.

Be aware of the thoughts that run through the mind and are constantly changing.

I have thoughts,

I have a mind,

But I am more than this mind filled with thoughts,

Thoughts changing,

Chasing one another within this mind.

I am the awareness that perceives this mind and it's constantly changing conditions.

Be aware of all objects in awareness,

Sensation,

Feeling,

Thought and experience.

Notice how each arises in the ever present field of awareness,

Saying silently to yourself,

I experience sensation,

Feeling and thought.

I am not separate from them.

All of these move within the field of my awareness.

I am the one who is aware of them.

I am aware and distinct from these movements.

I am the one who is aware.

Now,

Tap into the sensate feeling of this.

I am who is aware.

Tracing the feeling of I am down from the brain and into the body.

Locate and feel the bodily location of I am in the heart center and rest in the heart as the feeling of pure awareness.

Be with the experience of I am without judgment,

Free of any need to do or change.

Simply be with the purity of I am abiding in a sea of awareness,

A sea of consciousness.

Returning your attention to the flow of the breath.

Inhale,

Balance.

Exhale,

Calm.

Inhale,

Balance.

Exhale,

Calm.

Feel the rib cage in the belly expand with each inhalation breath and release with each exhale.

Become aware of your body lying on the floor.

Feeling your body lying on the floor.

Become aware of the room around you,

The sounds around you.

Bring to mind the heartfelt prayer from the beginning of the practice.

Letting go,

I take this time to care for myself.

Repeating after me three times.

Letting go,

I take this time to care for myself.

Letting go,

I take this time to care for myself.

Letting go,

I take this time to care for myself.

Begin to gradually come back to the present moment.

Opening your eyes.

Letting them open and close several times.

Rocking gently between the interior world and the exterior world.

Allow the eyes to naturally come to focus and receive the light as they are ready.

And stretching your body,

Bringing your knees slowly into your chest and resting on your right side for a few breaths.

Taking your time as you slowly transition to a seated position.

Yoga Nidra is now complete.

Thank you for joining me for this practice.

Namaste.