Welcome to your yoga nidra practice today.
My name is Em and I will be guiding you through yoga nidra meditation techniques that bring your body-mind into a state of deep rest.
So begin to let your body land in a position where you feel cocooned or nestled.
Yoga nidra can be practiced in shavasana on your back with your arms straight and your palms upwards.
However if this isn't comfy for you,
You can rest your hands wherever is needed and cushion your body with pillows.
This helps support any spots that can feel restless when still for a sustained period of time such as the lower back,
The knees and the head.
So any support that you can give your body supports your ability to reach deeper states of rest.
And whenever you're ready,
Rest back and allow your body to be still now.
All you need to do for this practice is to listen and sense.
Receive the practice in whatever way you receive it today.
And as you begin to relax back,
You may wish to close down the windows of your eyes or take a soft gaze and begin to notice the sounds in your environment.
Just noticing as you step into the role of the observer,
As you open your hearing wide to the soundscape in your environment.
Without judgment,
Simply allow any sounds to wash through your awareness here.
Notice the quality of the sounds around you.
Notice if the sounds you hear are near or far.
Now bring your awareness to your body being supported by the surface that you're resting on.
Sense into the feeling of being held and supported by the earth and ether around you.
Notice how the space around you supports your stillness and your rest here.
And allow your body to rest back even more here.
And now imagine you could bring your mind's eye to each part of the body that I name here.
Almost like an inner vision witnessing each part as you rotate your consciousness around your body.
Beginning with the right thumb,
Bringing your mind's eye to notice the right thumb and any sensations that you notice here.
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fifth,
The palm of your right hand,
Right shoulder,
Mind's eye to the right side of the waist,
The right heel,
Mind's eye to the sole of the right foot,
Top of the foot,
Right big toe,
Fifth toe,
Mind's eye to all five toes,
Right side of the torso,
Mind's eye to the left thumb,
Second finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of the left hand,
Back of the hand,
Elbow,
Shoulder,
Mind's eye to the left side of the waist,
Mind's eye to the left heel,
Sole of the left foot,
Top of the foot,
The left big toe,
Second,
Third,
Fifth toe,
All five toes together in your mind's eye,
The whole left leg,
The left side of the torso,
The back of the right shoulder,
Back of the left shoulder,
Right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
The glutes,
Mind's eye awareness to the base of the spine,
The mid spine,
The top of the spine,
The whole back together,
Mind's eye awareness to the top of the head,
The centre of the forehead,
The right eyebrow,
The left eyebrow,
The eyebrow centre,
The right ear listening,
The left ear listening,
The right cheek,
The left cheek,
The bridge of the nose,
Tip of the nose,
The right nostril,
The left nostril,
The upper lip,
The chin,
The jaw,
The centre of the throat,
Right collarbone,
Left collarbone,
The right side of the chest,
Left side of the chest,
The middle of the chest,
Your heart centre,
The navel centre,
The abdomen,
Both legs together,
Both arms together,
Whole back of your body,
Whole front of your body,
The whole head and face,
Mind's eye awareness to the whole body together,
The whole body together,
Resting,
Notice the subtle physical meeting points between your body and the ground,
Sense these subtle points between the back of your head and the ground,
Meeting points at the shoulder blades and the ground,
Meeting points between the arms and the ground,
Meeting points between the backs of your legs and the ground,
Meeting points between the heels and the ground,
Mind's eye awareness to the whole body and the meeting points between your body and the ground,
Notice the sensation of all points of the body meeting the ground evenly,
Sense into the energetic breath at your abdomen,
Just noticing how your breath feels at your abdomen,
And now imagine the breath is being drawn in through your navel centre on your inhale up to the throat and exhaled back down from your throat and out the navel centre,
And now allow your breath to be natural,
No need to change the depth or rhythm,
Notice the energetic breath drawn in from your navel,
Inhaling up to the throat and exhaled from your throat out through your navel centre,
Inhale navel centre to throat,
Exhale throat to navel centre,
And as you breathe from the navel to the throat and back down,
Count down your breath from 11,
Inhaling up to your throat 11,
Exhale down to your navel 11,
Inhale 10,
Exhale 10,
Continue at your own pace,
And now bring your awareness to your third eye centre and notice the space in front of your closed eyes,
Watch this space with the detachment that you'd be watching a screen,
Just noticing with interest the colours,
Patterns or darkness in the space in front of your closed eyes,
Allow any thoughts to come and go as you watch your screen of awareness,
This is your inner space for rest and solace,
Feel your body resting deeper into stillness,
Feel your body being supported by the surface you're resting on,
And tune in to the feeling of being held and supported by earth and ether,
Feel the space around you fully supporting your rest,
Notice your natural breath placed at your nostrils,
Sense in to the flow of air naturally in and out of your nostrils,
And with each inhale and exhale,
Notice wakeful energy spreading throughout your whole body,
With each breath drawn in through the nostrils,
Feel the wakefulness spreading through the body,
Down into your face,
Wakefulness in your hands and your torso,
Legs and feet,
Bring wakeful awareness back into your whole body,
And begin to notice the sounds in the environment around you and the tone of my voice,
And take a deep inhale through the nostrils,
And see if you can pick up any lingering aroma,
And then exhale with a sigh out through the mouth,
And with your eyes still closed,
Make some small supportive movements,
You may wish to place both of your hands in the center of your chest,
Or gently circle your palms around your eyes,
Allow your body-mind to move you to whatever feels supportive and wakeful,
This may be stretching,
Or relaxing,
Your yoga nidra practice is now complete,
So whenever you're ready,
You may wish to open your eyes and begin to adjust back into your waking life,
And as you adjust back,
Take a moment to allow the benefits of your practice to fully integrate,
Trusting your body-mind's pace of adjustment here,
It can be beneficial to sit just for a few more moments as you adjust,
And I hope you feel rested after this practice today,
I would like to invite you to share your experience in the comments if you wish,
I enjoy reading each unique experience of the practices,
So if you feel drawn to share,
Please do,
And thank you so much for choosing to share this space with me today,
And until you're ready to practice again,
Take care.
