Yoga Nidra: A Moment Of Calm In Your Busy Day (12 Minutes)

Let's take the next few moments to settle into the space around you.

Just give yourself the next few moments to arrive here in this present moment.

You might like to choose to do this practice sitting up today or laying down in traditional yoga nidra fashion.

Whatever position you choose to take,

Just getting really comfortable and settled.

As you open all your five senses into this present moment,

Becoming aware of the surface beneath you,

Supporting you.

And become aware of any thoughts or emotions that might still be circling around in the mind.

And acknowledging that for just these next few moments,

You can set them aside and take this next few moments for you.

And then settling into the heart space.

Arriving into the energetic heart space.

And feeling into the warmth that might be present.

Noticing any physical sensations,

Perhaps the beating heart.

Feeling the ribcage expanding on the inhale,

Releasing on the exhale.

And then taking a few moments to open with an intention for this practice.

It could be very simply allowing yourself to take these next few moments as your moment of calm.

No matter what is happening around you today,

You can come back to it.

But right now,

Opening with the intention of allowing this space for you.

Feeling into the heart space as your heart beats.

Pumping fresh energy into every single cell of the body.

Noticing this intention flood every single cell in the body.

And then noticing of this intention flooding every single cell of the body also carries with it a deeper heartfelt desire.

Grounding into this moment of calm.

Feeling into that calm,

Grounded,

Peaceful you.

And from this heart space,

Feeling into your inner anchor.

If it's helpful to visualize or think back to a time when you felt peaceful,

Really calm.

If there's a memory or a place that brings about these feelings of calm,

Visualize yourself in this space.

What do you see?

What are you hearing?

What do you smell?

And feeling into the physical sensations within the body that this brings about.

Is there a warmth?

An expansion?

Feeling safe.

And then allow some of these images and memories to simply fade away,

But anchor and ground yourself in these feelings within the heart space of your inner anchor.

Starting to feel waves of relaxation and calm fall over you,

Washing over you.

Just let go and allow yourself to sink a little deeper.

And relax the whole face.

Relax the jaw.

And feeling relaxation down the back of the neck and the throat.

Relaxing across the tops of both shoulders.

And then feeling these waves of relaxation and calm down the arms,

Both wrists,

Both palms and all ten fingers.

Now feeling this peace and relaxation simply washing through your torso,

Front and back,

Left and right.

And feeling this wave of relaxation and calm move through the pelvis and hips,

Down both thighs,

Front and back,

Both knees,

Both shins,

Front and back.

And relax down into the feet and all ten toes.

Feeling this wave of relaxation and calm from head to toe washing over you,

Bathing you with this deep calm,

Grounding and anchoring you into this inner anchor.

Awakening into your intention and heartfelt desire.

This moment of calm right now.

Becoming aware of the breath.

And noticing the belly expanding and rising on the inhale.

Belly releasing on the exhale.

Just a few rounds of simply bringing the breath into the belly.

Deepening into the inhales.

Breathing into the exhales.

Continuing to deepen into the inhales and exhales.

Or if you'd like to try this with me,

On the next inhale for a count of four and exhale for a count of eight.

So altogether,

Take the next inhale and then exhale.

And let's begin.

Inhale two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Inhale two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Inhale two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Continue in your own count.

Inhaling for a count of four.

Exhaling for a count of eight.

If you're struggling to get to the end of the exhale on a count of eight,

Simply reduce the ratio down so that you're inhaling for a count of three and exhaling for a count of six.

So keeping the inhale to exhale ratio of one to two.

If you have a longer breath,

You might like to increase this ratio by one more.

So inhale for a count of five and exhale for a count of 10.

And as you continue with the counting of the breath,

Noticing that the inhales and exhales are still continuing from deep in the belly.

Bring that breath deep in the belly.

Feel the belly rising on the inhale and releasing on the exhale.

One more round in your own time.

And when you're finished with the next round,

Simply releasing all control of the breath and rest for a few moments.

Noticing the physical sensations.

Noticing if there might be any emotions or thoughts that may be present.

Allowing everything to be exactly as it is.

No need to change where you're at.

Simply allowing the body to breathe itself.

Noticing the peace and calm of this present moment.

Noticing that even through all of the changing sensations,

Emotions or thoughts that may be present,

This deeper sense of peace and calm is always present,

Underlying everything.

This deeper sense of presence and awareness is always here.

Touching back into the joy of this present moment.

Sighing into the heartfelt desire pumping through every single cell and this intention that you set for this practice.

And then taking a moment to thank yourself for taking this time,

Taking these few moments for this moment of calm.

Taking as much time as you need if you'd like to stop this recording,

To simply stay in this moment of calm you're very welcome to.

Otherwise very slowly,

Gently wriggling the fingers and the toes.

Opening the eyes.

Ready to take on whatever life might have in store for you today.