Yoga Nidra Exploring Centeredness

I hope everyone is doing well this afternoon.

Thank you for joining us for our Thursday afternoon Yoga Nidra practice.

Now take a few more moments just to allow yourself to settle into Shavasana,

Our posture that we utilize for Yoga Nidra.

Go ahead and make whatever adjustments you need and let your intention be to really surrender into your math.

Just start to let go to remember that you do not need to control everything all the time.

Surrender can feel truly wonderful and be very healthful and cleansing.

Now take another moment to make whatever final adjustments you need.

And if your eyes aren't already closed down,

Go ahead and let them close down now.

Now say to yourself silently,

I am going to practice Yoga Nidra.

My intention is not to move,

But to remain completely immobile.

Now bring your attention to your breath and notice the breath flowing in and flowing out.

Feel how when you breathe in,

Your body expands.

When you breathe out,

There's a slight contraction in the body.

Breathing in,

Feeling the expansion and breathing out.

Feeling the very slight contraction of the whole body.

Follow the flow of the breath and the movement of the body with the breath.

Two more breaths,

Just like that.

And one more.

Now bring your awareness to heart center and let your awareness rest there for a moment.

Notice the heart space as one place where you may find centeredness in both your body and your mind.

Let your awareness rest at heart center.

If you notice the awareness,

Your attention moving away from heart center,

Which it might do,

Just gently nudge it back so that you're always in the process of bringing awareness back to heart center.

Now bring your awareness to eyebrow center,

The space between your eyebrows.

You may know it as the third eye.

Let your awareness rest there,

Right at eyebrow center.

And recognize eyebrow center as another place in the body where you feel that sense of centeredness.

If your awareness moves,

If it heads off somewhere else,

Once you notice that's occurred,

Just gently encourage awareness back to eyebrow center and let it rest there.

Take awareness at eyebrow center.

Let's now release a little bit of tension that you may still have in your body.

What I'd like you to do is to intentionally induce more tension in the arms,

The hands,

And the shoulders.

And do that by squeezing your hands,

Making fists,

And then squeeze the arms.

They're not moving.

They're just tightening.

And now tighten the shoulders.

Tighten the hands,

Tighten the arms,

Tighten the shoulders,

Tighten up even more,

Even more,

Even a little bit more.

Now take a huge breath in and then exhale and release the tension.

Just let it all go.

Feel the flood of energy moving into the arms.

Just rest in that beautiful release of tension.

Now let's induce tension in the lower body.

Take tension in the feet,

The lower legs,

The calves,

The upper legs,

The quadriceps,

And the hamstrings,

And even into your butt.

Now squeeze,

Tighten,

Tighten even more,

Even more.

Now take a deep breath and exhale and release it all.

Let it go.

Feel the beautiful flow of energy into the legs as you release tension.

Now induce tension in the whole body,

The hands,

The feet,

The arms,

The legs,

The torso,

The face,

The neck,

Everything.

Tighten it all up.

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Tighten even more.

Now take a huge breath in.

Keep breathing in.

And now exhale.

Let the breath go.

Let it all out.

Feel the flow of energy into the whole body.

Now begin to feel your whole body relaxing,

Surrendering,

And softening.

We begin now with the rotation of consciousness.

I'll name parts of the body.

And just let your awareness,

Let your attention flow with my words.

Let's begin to the thumb on the right hand.

Just let your attention rest on the thumb on the right hand.

Now bring your attention to the first finger on the right hand.

The second finger.

Third finger.

Pinky on the right hand.

Palm of the hand.

And back of the hand.

The right wrist.

Right elbow.

Right shoulder.

Arm pit.

Right hip.

The right leg.

Right knee.

Back of the right knee.

Right ankle.

Top of the right foot.

Now bottom of the right foot.

The right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

And pinky toe on the right foot.

Now the pubic bone.

The navel.

Solar plexus.

Heart space.

Throat.

Bow center.

Top of the head.

Thumb on the left hand.

First finger.

Second finger.

Third finger.

And pinky on the left hand.

Palm.

Back of the hand.

The left wrist.

Elbow.

Left shoulder.

The armpit.

The left hip.

Left knee.

Back of the left knee.

Left ankle.

Top of the left foot.

Bottom of the left foot.

Next big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Pinky toe on the left foot.

Pubic bone.

Navel.

Solar plexus.

Heart.

Throat.

Eyebrow center.

Top of the head.

Top of the head.

Top of the head.

Eyebrow center.

Right eyebrow.

A left eyebrow.

Right eye.

Left eye.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Right ear.

Left ear.

Tip of the nose.

Right nostril.

Left nostril.

Upper lip.

Lower lip.

Chin.

Throat.

Heart.

Solar plexus.

Navel.

Pubic bone.

Pubic bone.

Pubic bone.

Pubic bone.

The anus.

The tailbone.

The low back.

The mid-back.

The space between the shoulder blades.

Back of the neck.

Back of the head.

Top of the head.

The whole right side of the body.

Heart center.

Eyebrow center.

The whole left side of the body.

Heart center.

Eyebrow center.

The whole right leg.

The whole left leg.

Heart center.

The right arm.

The left arm.

Eyebrow center.

Bring your awareness now to both nostrils.

Begin to feel the breath as it flows in and out through both nostrils.

Follow the breath as it flows in and flows out through both nostrils equally.

The ever-flowing breath.

The next time you breathe in,

Breathe in through the left nostril only.

And then breathe out through the right nostril only.

Now breathe in from the right nostril.

Breathe out through the left nostril.

Continue letting the breath flow from side to side in this way.

Alternate nostril breathing.

It is not necessary to block the nostrils.

Just direct the breath with your mind.

Breathing in and breathing out from side to side.

Continue breathing in this way.

About five times.

Following the breath as it flows from one side to the other.

Always returning to center.

Keep your total awareness on the breath.

Flowing from side to side.

Nadhi shodhana.

Alternate nostril breathing.

Allow the breath to continue to flow.

And notice now how you have become a part of that flow.

You too are moving from side to side with the breath,

But always coming back to center.

Follow the continual flow of your breath.

Now release the alternate nostril breathing and keep your awareness on both nostrils.

Notice the next time you inhale that the breath is flowing in through both nostrils.

And then on the exhale,

Feel the breath flow out through both nostrils.

Flowing in evenly through both nostrils and flowing out through both nostrils.

Bring your awareness now to your whole body and begin to cultivate the sensation of heaviness in the body.

Begin to feel your whole body getting heavier and heavier as if gravity were weighing you down more and more deeply.

Feel heavy in the head,

Heavy in the torso,

Heavy in the arms and the hands,

Heavy in the legs,

Heavy in the feet.

Heavier and heavier.

Deeply and profoundly weighed down.

The sensation of heaviness.

Now cultivate the sensation of lightness in the body.

Begin to notice how your body is feeling lighter.

And lighter.

The feet are feeling light.

The legs.

The torso.

The arms and the hands.

And the head is feeling light.

Your whole body is feeling remarkably light.

Light like a feather.

You can almost begin to float above the mat.

Your soul light.

The sensation of lightness.

Bring your awareness now to your navel.

And allow your whole body to feel somewhere in the middle between heaviness and lightness.

But keep your awareness right at the navel.

Notice that you feel neither heavy.

Nor light.

But just between those two extremes.

Awareness remains at the navel.

Now bring your awareness back to your body and begin to cultivate the sensation of heat,

Of hotness in the body.

Allow your body to feel hotter and hotter and hotter.

Maybe hot.

Like walking on hot sand with bare feet at noon.

Profoundly hot.

Hotter and hotter.

The feeling,

The sensation of heat in the body.

Now begin to cultivate the sensation of coolness.

Start feeling cooler and cooler.

Maybe think back to a time when you were really,

Really cold.

As though you were walking barefoot on ice.

Start to feel colder and colder in the whole body.

Now bring your awareness to the heart.

Keep your awareness at the heart space.

And begin to feel somewhere between the sensation of heat and the sensation of cold.

A temperature that's right in the middle.

That's just right.

Keep your awareness at the heart space.

Now cast your mind back to a time when you felt profoundly angry.

Feel the deep anger.

Remember what it was like.

Remember what it felt like in your body.

Remember how you tensed up.

Remember how you felt almost completely out of control.

You're so angry.

The emotion of anger.

Deep,

Deep anger.

Relive that emotion.

Let it surface and experience it again.

Now let go of the anger.

Begin to feel a profound calmness.

Remember a time where you felt deeply and profoundly calm.

Where everything was okay.

Where everything was soft.

Everything felt completely and utterly peaceful.

Remember that feeling of peacefulness.

Now bring your awareness back to your heart space and let your awareness rest there.

Rest somewhere midway between anger and calm.

Keep the awareness at heart center.

Now release awareness from heart center and begin to picture a wide,

Gently sloping beach.

And a gentle,

Calm ocean resting off of the beach.

Become aware of the long line where the ocean meets the beach.

Imagine you're looking left as far as the eye can see.

Seeing that line where the ocean meets the beach.

And then look off to the right as far as you can see.

Everywhere you look,

The ocean meeting the beach.

Now recognize that this is where the water meets the earth.

Now look out into the ocean and begin to see the long line where the ocean meets the sky.

The ocean is below and the sky is above.

Now turn and look away from the ocean and see where the land meets the sky.

Look from one side to the other,

Noticing the long,

Long line where the sky and the land meet.

Now release the images and bring your awareness to eyebrow center.

You've been here before.

Let your awareness rest right on the surface.

And right at eyebrow center.

Now move beyond and below the surface of awareness.

Dive deeply into a vast,

Dark void that rests below eyebrow center.

Just let yourself rest there,

Noticing the darkness but not feeling afraid.

It actually feels comfortable.

It's completely dark wherever you'd look,

To the right or left or up or down.

Complete and total darkness.

Now continue looking straight ahead and begin to notice off in the far distance a very,

Very dim light.

Almost not perceptible.

It's so dim.

Keep watching.

And now see that light begin to grow brighter and brighter.

Now begin to notice that the light in the darkness is a flickering candle.

Bring your awareness to the flame,

The gentle,

Small flickering flame.

See the flame as it dances from side to side.

And see the flame as it moves up and down,

Getting larger and smaller.

Transfixed by the little flame.

Keep your awareness there.

Now see that flame right in front of you.

Almost arm's length away.

So close you can almost begin to feel heat coming from the gentle flame.

Keep watching the flame.

Notice the colors as they change.

Whites and yellows and reds.

Blues and purples.

Awareness on the flame.

The flame now is beginning to move away from you.

Follow it as it moves slowly away.

Eventually the flame comes to a place where you can just see a very dim light.

That light is getting dimmer and dimmer.

And eventually the light ceases.

And now you're aware again of complete darkness.

Rest in that darkness for another moment.

Feeling safe and secure.

Now rise to the surface of awareness.

Come out from the darkness and bring your awareness to eyebrow center.

Now bring your awareness to your whole body.

Remember that your body is resting on the floor.

Remember that you're gently breathing in and out.

Notice that you are the center of all experience,

Both real and imagined.

Now feel yourself coming more and more back into your body as consciousness completely returns.

Bring your awareness now to your right hand.

Just let it rest there for a moment.

Begin to notice as the fingers on the right hand start to move.

And then bring your awareness to your left hand.

Begin to notice now how the fingers on the left hand are also starting to move.

Become more and more aware of your body.

Then begin to remember the room where you're resting.

Remember the walls and the ceiling and the floor.

Remember that you are resting gently on the floor.

Begin to feel your breath deepening now.

And once you feel like you've come back fully into your body,

Bend your knees and roll to your side,

Keeping your eyes gently closed.

Once on your side,

Just gently rest.

And as you do that,

Imagine a very gentle flame arising from the palms until you feel the palms getting pretty warm.

Once you're seated,

Bring your hands to heart center.

We're going to palm the eyes.

So begin rubbing the palms together pretty briskly.

Then stop and open the palms to the sky and bring your palms to your eyes.

Once the palms are on the eyes,

Slowly open the eyes.

And then let the hands return.

To the lap.

This completes our practice of Yoga Nidra.