Yoga Nidra For Cooling - Somatic Rest For Heat Balancing

Welcome to this somatic rest practice for balancing heat in the body.

This practice can balance different types of heat,

Such as physical heat from the climate,

Cooling down after exercise,

Or emotional heat from emotions such as stress,

Anger,

Or irritability.

Before we start,

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Make yourself comfortable and take a few moments to move into a position that feels restful and cosy.

Notice if there is any tension or discomfort that you are accepting and see if you can make a small movement to just get yourself a little more comfortable.

Take a moment to gently sense into where your attention is placed without changing it.

Just noticing with curiosity where your attention is mostly placed.

You may feel attention in your thoughts,

Or you could be scanning your environment for sound.

You may even be replaying events from your day or your to-do list.

Now you've gathered the sense of where your attention is mostly placed,

Imagine that you could gather all of that attention and gently guide it to move down into your body.

Moving down away from the thinking mind into the body.

Notice what feelings are coming up as your attention becomes more placed within your body.

You may be drawn to feelings of heat or restlessness in your body.

You may sense some hot emotions such as irritation.

Notice where you're feeling these sensations or emotions within the body.

Allow these feelings to be exactly as they are.

Just noticing as the observer how these feelings are showing up in your body.

If you can,

Name the sensations that you're feeling in your body.

For example,

Irritation may show up in your body as a twitching leg muscle,

Or heat burning in your cheeks,

Or even tightness in your jaw.

Find the words in your mind to describe the emotions and how they're translating to sensations in your body.

Now drift your attention away from these feelings and notice instead where you feel the breath in your body.

Without changing anything,

Just noticing where you feel the breath in your body.

It may be in your chest,

Nostrils,

Stomach.

And rest here with the sensation of your body being breathed.

Just noticing.

No need to change anything.

As you're noticing your body being breathed,

Allow any sensations or thoughts to come into your frame of consciousness.

And allow them to drift back out as you drift your attention back onto the breath once you've noticed them.

If your teeth are currently parted,

Gently allow both rows of your teeth to come together.

And on your next inhale,

Suck the air in through your teeth.

And then exhale the cool air out through your nose.

Breathe like this again,

Bringing the air in through your teeth.

And exhaling out through your nose.

Breathe in this way another time and feel into the cooling sensation that is created as you breathe the air in through closed teeth.

And breathe it out through your nose.

You can take this breathing practice into your waking life if you are feeling the sensation of heat building up throughout your body.

Now release the attention of your breath and allow a visual to come to mind that represents trust and comfort for you.

This could be a symbol,

A figure like an animal,

Even a word or simply a deep knowing.

Allow your intuition to guide you here and resist the need to refine the image or whatever comes to your mind and your body,

Simply allow it to be.

As you see this symbol in your mind's eye,

See this symbol as permission to let go of any expectations or attachments.

This symbol may act in a certain way that allows you to let go,

May transform or interact with you,

Simply allow it and allow your expectations and attachments to release.

This symbol is allowing you to trust in the inherent wisdom of your inner being.

There is nothing more to do,

There is no efforting required in your practice today.

You are free to simply be as you are here and now,

Allow the symbol that has come to your mind to support you and allow you to practice without the weight of expectation.

You may visualise your symbol literally lifting a weight off your body,

However it interacts with you,

Allow yourself to feel the sensation of lightness and relief.

Expectations have been lifted.

Now with your visual symbol of trust and comfort in your mind's eye,

Ask it a question and simply wait for the answer.

If the answer doesn't come forward straight away or the symbol doesn't change,

That's okay,

Simply trust the answer will unfold at the perfect time when you need it.

So ask yourself,

What has led me to this practice today?

This is your intention,

Your deepest desire for the practice today.

In whatever way your intuition guides you to imagine,

Imagine that your symbol of trust and comfort accepts this intention.

See it accepting your intention for the practice today.

Rest your attention now on your third eye centre.

And experience the space that exists here in your third eye,

In the centre of your forehead.

This space is as vast as the sky and is holding your intention like a star or constellation in the vast sky.

So simply rest here at your third eye centre.

Drift your attention now to the crown of the head,

And as you place your awareness on each body part that I name,

Allow your attention to notice the different sensation and energy moving around each part,

And imagine that your attention is bringing a cooling wave to each body part,

Beginning at the crown of the head,

Allowing a cool wave to the crown of your head.

Third eye centre.

Your right eyebrow.

Space between your eyebrows.

Left eyebrow.

Right eye.

Left eye.

Right ear.

Allow a ripple of cooling energy move from your right ear to the space between your ears,

Bending at your left ear.

Your right nostril.

Feeling the cooling breeze in your right nostril.

And now your left nostril.

Cooling energy being drawn up through your left nostril.

Both cheeks.

Lower lip.

The space between the lips.

The inside of your mouth.

Sensing into the temperature and environment of the inside of your mouth.

The middle of the throat.

The pit of the throat.

Feel the cooling wave moving down to your heart centre.

And now your left shoulder.

Upper arm.

Elbow.

Lower arm.

Palm of your hand.

Sensing into the cooling sensations at the palm of your left hand.

Your thumb.

And all five fingers together on your left hand.

Imagine a wave of cooling energy moving from your left hand,

Jumping over to your navel centre.

Allowing the coolness to cool you down at your core and your navel centre.

And your abdomen.

And drifting up to your heart centre.

And now your right shoulder.

Upper arm.

Lower arm.

The palm of your right hand.

Your right hand thumb.

And now all five fingers together.

And allow the wave of cooling energy to move from your right hand and your fingers all the way over to the right of your pelvic bowl.

Expanding from the right of your pelvic bowl all the way over to the left of your pelvic bowl.

And cooling at the tip of the tailbone.

And now your left thigh.

Knee.

Calves.

Top of the foot.

Base of the foot.

And all toes on your left foot together.

Now drifting the attention and the cooling sensation to your right thigh.

Knee.

Top of the right foot.

Base of the foot.

And all your toes together.

And allow your cooling sensation to move from your toes all the way up like a wave to your lower abdomen.

Expanding to your navel centre.

Your heart centre.

The hollow of the throat.

Your eyebrow centre.

And the crown of your head.

Imagine that you could feel into the space that surrounds your body as you're resting here deeply.

Feel into whatever sensations come up as you feel into the space that surrounds your body.

Rest here deeply.

Allow your body to bask in the deep rest knowing that you are being supported by the earth beneath you and the space that surrounds you.

Allow yourself to rest back in stillness.

And now allow yourself to sense into a part of your body where you feel a sensation of heat or warmth.

Notice this part without any judgement,

Simply as an observer.

This may be your face,

Such as your cheeks or your forehead.

Or it could be your extremities,

Your feet or hands.

Just allowing this part to be focused in your frame of consciousness.

And imagining your body is like a heat map.

See the area of your body experiencing this warmth in a colour that represents heat.

You may see variations of the colour depending on the level of heat in the area and the spread of warmth.

You may have a particular hot spot that then cools out as it expands.

Simply allow your intuition to guide you here to show you how this sensation is represented in a heat map colour.

And allow yourself to experience this without judgement.

And now imagine this warmth or heat is like sunlight glowing on your skin.

This warmth and the colour is providing you with the vital energy that keeps you warm and nourished.

Allow the sensation of heat to be as it is as you relax back here in stillness.

And now imagine that the warm sensation is being slowly eclipsed by a cooling,

Refreshing breeze washing over your body.

Really sense into this feeling of the breeze almost like a window is open and you're catching a refreshing draft.

Now you have this felt sense of the breeze,

Allow it to take the form of a colour that feels cooling.

Maybe a soft blue or a cloudy white.

Be guided by your intuition here.

And now as you feel the physical breeze moving over your body and the hot spot area of heat,

Allow it to take its colour as it fans you.

Pay extra attention to the area of your body where you are feeling the most warmth.

And watch as this area moves from the colour of warmth to the colour as the breeze fans over the area of your body.

Almost as if this cool breeze is neutralising the colour of the warm area.

Allow the area of warmth to take the colour of the breeze.

Really sense into the felt feeling of the breeze.

Really sense into the neutralising effect this breeze is having on the area of warmth in your body.

And now simply allow the breeze to fan gently over your entire body,

Your face,

Chest,

Arms and hands,

Abdomen,

Legs and feet.

With your whole body being gently brushed by the neutralising colour of this refreshing air.

Allow your body to bask in this refreshing sensation of cooling,

Neutralising air.

And with your attention still placed on sensing a refreshing breeze,

Bring back a feeling of warmth in your body so that you're holding the sensation of a cool breeze and warmth simultaneously.

Gently hold the sensation of warmth and a cool breeze together with as little effort as you can.

Now release that and attune to a feeling of comfort,

Ease or lightness in your body.

In the colour of the cool,

Refreshing breeze and imagine that feeling of ease is spreading.

Spreading all through your body as you rest deeply here.

Basking here in deep rest.

Allow any sensations to come and go as you rest here deeply.

Basking in deep rest.

Completely at ease being just as you are.

Allow yourself to take in the restful experience here.

And bring back your intention for the practice as you rest here deeply.

Notice how your body responds to your intention.

Allowing your intuition to guide you to a part of the body that feels receptive and accepting of your intention with lightness and ease.

And notice if you can focus in on any sensations in your body that feel comfortable.

If you can't find a sensation of comfort,

Simply feel into an area that seems neutral.

And bathe in this feeling of being cocooned in regulation.

Even if your body is experiencing sensations you can still be regulated and at ease.

Rest here as you bathe in this comfort that you have created for yourself.

And whenever you're ready,

With your eyes still closed,

Begin to bring in the sense of the environment around you.

And allow your attention to focus back in on my voice as you become attuned to the external world.

And as you begin to bring yourself back into your waking life,

Bring one of your fingers to your thumb on whichever hand you wish.

And gently,

Rhythmically,

Tap your finger and thumb together in a slow,

Gentle rhythm.

And as you're doing this,

Once again,

Focus in on this relaxed,

Cocooned state that you have created.

This tapping action is an anchor that rewires your brain to bring in this state of relaxation whenever you tap your finger and thumb together.

This may require a few sessions to fully rewire your neurons to associate the tapping motion with your relaxed and regulated state.

But once it is connected in your mind,

You can use this anchor to bring in regulation whenever you need it in your waking life.

And now allow yourself to gently move the rest of your body in whichever way feels wakeful,

Slowly and lightly.

This practice is now complete,

So whenever you're ready,

Open your eyes and allow yourself to be awake and present.

I hope that you have enjoyed this practice today.

In this somatic rest,

You have connected your mind and body in a way that supports the rewiring of neural connections,

Whilst also allowing you to process feelings and emotions without a story or judgements.

All whilst you are in this deeply restful state that is more receptive to updating the connections in your brain.

This reprocessing can enable you to come back to balance,

And with it,

Balance the heat within your body,

Which was the focus of this practice today.

Take a moment to reflect on how you feel now compared to when you began.

With practice,

Your mind becomes more accustomed to the neural rewiring that comes with somatic rest,

And you will gain even more benefits from the practice.

But for now,

I would love to hear about your experience in the comments.

If you have enjoyed this practice,

You're welcome to subscribe.

Each subscription helps to bring my practices to support more and more people all around the world.

Thank you so much for being here today,

And I hope to see you soon practicing with me.

Enjoy the rest of your day.