Yoga Nidra For Peace And Equanimity

This is an original Yoganidra guided meditation.

Its structure draws inspiration from all four of the major Yoganidra lineages that are in common practice today.

Those include the Swami Satyanyanda lineage,

The Himalayan lineage of Swami Rama,

The Yoganidra style of the Amrit Institute,

And the I-Rest method developed by Richard Miller.

Begin by gathering the props that you're going to need.

Those may include bolsters,

Blankets,

Or pillows.

You may also want to put a cloth over your eyes just to keep the light out.

It's common to put a bolster or rolled-up blanket under the knees as you lay on your back so that the knees can be slightly bent.

However,

Make sure that your feet reach all the way to the floor so that the feet aren't dangling above the floor,

Which would cut off the blood flow to the legs.

You might also want to support the neck with a rolled-up blanket.

Sometimes it can feel good to put a folded blanket on your belly,

Just providing a little bit of weight,

A little bit of grounding.

Go ahead and assemble your props,

Then lay down on your back,

And get comfortable.

You'll probably want to use a blanket on which to lie.

Also make sure the lights are turned down low and there isn't a lot of distracting noise.

And once you're situated and settled,

Let your eyes close down.

Once your eyes are closed,

Let your body begin to settle down.

Just allow a sense of relaxation to come over you.

Make an effort to let go of any tension in the body,

And then settle into your blanket or whatever you're laying on.

Now make adjustments to the body before you finally settle down,

Knowing that you're not going to need to move for the duration of the practice.

Take a few moments now to bring awareness to the breath.

Notice as your breath flows in and flows out,

And feel how the body reacts,

Both to the inhale,

Perhaps expanding slightly,

And to the exhale,

Perhaps contracting just a bit.

Notice the natural rhythm of your breathing,

And begin to tune in to the flow of the breath,

Flowing in and flowing out,

Much like a wave flows to the shore,

Then back out to the sea.

Feel into the rhythmic nature of the breath.

Now begin to draw a deep breath in through the nose,

And then open your mouth to exhale and sigh.

Do that a second time.

Breathe in deeply through the nostrils,

And then on the exhale,

Open the mouth and sigh.

Let's do that one more time,

Breathing in even a little bit more deeply this time through the nostrils,

And then as you exhale,

Open the mouth and let everything go.

Now let your mind begin to settle and relax.

Let go of memories of the past,

And let go of the need to plan for the future.

Once you let go of the past and the future,

You'll find yourself rooted in this present moment.

Stay with the present moment,

And if awareness drifts back to the past or forward to the future,

Just gently nudge it back until the awareness is firmly trained on the present.

If you have an intention for this practice of yoga nidra,

Bring it to mind now.

An intention in Sanskrit is called sankalpa.

You may have a sankalpa that you're working with,

Or one may spontaneously occur to you now.

A sankalpa is usually a present statement.

For example,

A sankalpa might be,

I embody peace in my actions.

Or perhaps your sankalpa will be something as simple as,

I will stay awake during the entire practice of yoga nidra.

If you don't have a sankalpa you're working with on a regular basis,

And if one doesn't spontaneously occur to you now,

Just let it go.

Don't let it create stress.

Now if you have a sankalpa,

Repeat it to yourself silently three times,

Starting now.

Now we begin the phase of yoga nidra called rotation of consciousness.

In this phase of the practice,

Just keep listening to my voice as I name parts of the body.

Bring your awareness to those parts.

You don't need to move them.

You don't even need to picture them in your mind.

Just let your awareness,

Your attention,

Move from part to part.

Begin with the thumb on the right hand.

First finger.

Second finger on the right hand.

Third finger.

Little finger.

Palm of the right hand.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Elbow.

Right shoulder.

Arm pit.

Right hip.

Right knee.

Back of the knee.

Ankle.

Top of the right foot.

Heel.

Arch.

Ball of the right foot.

Right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Pinky toe on the right foot.

Thumb on the left hand.

First finger.

Second finger.

Third finger.

Little finger.

Palm of the left hand.

Back of the hand.

Wrist.

Elbow.

Shoulder.

Arm pit.

Left hip.

Left knee.

Back of the knee.

Ankle.

Top of the left foot.

Heel.

In step.

Ball of the left foot.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Little toe on the left foot.

Top of the head.

Forehead.

Eyebrow center.

Right eyebrow.

Left eyebrow.

Right eye.

Left eye.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Tip of the nose.

Right nostril.

Left nostril.

Upper lip.

Inside the mouth.

Lower lip.

Chin.

Throat.

Heart.

Solar plexus.

Navel.

Pubic bone.

The whole right leg.

The whole left leg.

Both legs together.

The right arm.

The left arm.

Both arms together.

Right side of the body.

Left side of the body.

Both sides together.

The whole body.

Bring your awareness now to the whole body.

Stay aware of the whole body.

Bring your awareness now to your breath.

As you breathe in through the nostrils,

Feel the coolness at the base of the nose.

As you breathe out,

Feel the warmth.

Breathing in,

Feel the coolness.

Breathing out,

Feel the warmth.

Coolness as you breathe in.

Warmth.

Breathing out.

Cool and warm.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Enjoy a few more breaths.

Feeling the breath flowing in through the nostrils,

Circulating in the body and then flowing out.

The next time you inhale,

Inhale through the left nostril only.

Leave your hands by your side.

It's not necessary to block the nostrils.

We'll let the mind direct the breath.

After you breathe in from the left nostril,

Breathe out to the right.

Then breathe in from the right nostril and breathe out to the left.

Continue that pattern.

Breathing in from the left.

Breathing out to the right.

Breathing in from the right.

Breathing out to the left.

This is alternate nostril or Nadi Shodhana breathing.

Continue the practice.

Feeling the breath flow from side to side but always coming back to center.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Follow the flow of the breath.

Feel it moving from one side to the other and then back.

Three more breaths.

Now release the alternate nostril breathing and feel the breath flowing evenly in through both nostrils and out.

Now release breath awareness and bring your attention to the root chakra right at your perineum.

Let your awareness rest there for a moment and slightly tug the perineum or the root chakra up towards the chin.

Just a very gentle lifting.

Now begin to imagine that a small ball of energy,

A ball of luminous light,

Is forming at the root chakra.

Feel the energy.

Visualize the small orb of luminous energy or light directly at the root chakra.

Now the next time you inhale,

Feel the luminous energy rising all the way to the solar plexus.

Let it rest there as you exhale.

On the next inhale,

Feel the energy rising to the heart.

Leave it there as you exhale.

The next inhale lifts the orb of light to the throat.

Exhale and on the next inhale,

The luminous orb of energy or light rises all the way to eyebrow center.

Let it rest there.

Take two or three full and complete breaths but keep your awareness at eyebrow center.

See the ball of energy resting there.

Notice its luminousness.

Bring your awareness now back to the root chakra.

Feel a second ball of luminous energy forming at the root chakra.

Notice it getting brighter and brighter,

More and more energetic.

Now the next time you inhale,

Feel the energy rise to the solar plexus.

Leave it there as you exhale.

The next inhale lifts the orb of energy to the heart.

Let it rest there and exhale.

The next inhale brings the energy to the throat.

Feel the slight pressure in the throat as you exhale and then the inhale lifts the orb of energy all the way up to eyebrow center,

Joining the other ball of energy which already resided there.

See two balls of luminous energy resting at eyebrow center.

Keep your awareness there.

Now bring your awareness back to the root chakra and feel a third luminous ball of energy forming at the root chakra.

As you inhale,

Feel the energy rising to the solar plexus.

The next inhale lifts the energy to the heart space.

The next inhale lifts it to the throat.

The next inhale lifts it to the heart.

The next inhale lifts it to the throat.

And the final inhale lifts the luminous ball of energy to eyebrow center where it joins the other two orbs.

Let your awareness rest at eyebrow center,

Visualizing three pulsating orbs of energy resting with you at eyebrow center.

Each time you inhale,

See their glow increase and feel their energy palpable in their presence.

Keep the awareness there,

Noticing,

Observing the power.

Now begin to draw a deep breath in and on the exhale let all three orbs return to the root chakra like flowing down a slide.

Let the energy return to its source and let it abide there.

Bring your awareness now back to your body.

Begin to feel the bones in your body becoming heavier and heavier.

As though gravity itself were increasing,

Feel the heaviness and notice the sensation of heaviness in the body.

Feel truly weighed down,

The sensation of heaviness.

Now imagine that the bones are becoming lighter and lighter.

Feel the whole body becoming light like a feather.

Imagine that the body is becoming so light that it begins to float above the floor.

The sensation of lightness.

Now return to the sensation of heaviness.

Feel weighed down in the body and then return to the sensation of lightness.

Feel the sense of floating and back to heaviness and back to lightness.

Now bring to mind a time when you felt pain,

Either physical pain or emotional pain.

Recall the circumstances in which the pain arose.

Remember what the pain felt like.

Refill the sensation of pain.

Re-experience what you felt in the past.

The sensation of pain.

Bring to mind now a time when you felt deep pleasure,

Either physical pleasure or emotional pleasure.

Remember the circumstances in which the pleasurable feelings arose and then remember what it felt like to feel pleasure.

Relive those feelings.

The feeling of pleasure.

And now back to pain.

Remember the pain.

Remember what it felt like.

And back to pleasure and pain.

Feel pleasure.

Feel pain.

Feel pleasure.

Now let it go.

Now think of a time when you felt the emotion of sadness.

Relive the experience of sadness in the mind and the body.

Remember what it felt like to feel deeply sad.

The feeling of sadness.

Remember now a time when you felt sublimely happy,

When you overflowed with happiness.

Remember the circumstances.

Remember the feeling in the body and the feeling in the mind.

The sensation,

The emotion of happiness.

Return now to sadness and then back to happiness.

Sadness and happiness.

Imagine now that your arms are extended in front of you with the palms facing up.

In the left hand there is sadness.

In the right hand there is happiness.

Look to the left and see sadness.

Look to the right and see happiness.

Sad in the left hand and happy in the right hand.

Now let go of the images of sadness and happiness.

Bring your awareness now to eyebrow center and leave the awareness there.

If the awareness wavers and moves from eyebrow center,

Just gently nudge it back.

Awareness of eyebrow center.

Now follow my voice as I name or describe certain images or scenes.

Visualize each scene as I name it.

A flowing river.

A stagnant pond.

A lush green forest.

A treeless plain.

Roaring fire.

Smoldering flame.

A beautiful spring day.

A day at the end of the fall.

A newborn child.

An old person near death.

Waves breaking on the shore.

Waves flowing out to the sea.

Waves flowing in to the shore.

Waves flowing back to the sea.

Waves flowing in to the shore.

Waves returning to the boundless sea.

Return your awareness now to eyebrow center.

Then explore the space behind eyebrow center.

The space is dark and boundless.

There is no end in sight as you look up or down or left or right.

The space is endless and unlimited.

Allow yourself to dwell there for another moment.

Dwelling in this infinite space.

Bring your awareness now to the navel.

And notice as you breathe in the navel rises.

As you breathe out the navel falls.

Breathing in the navel rises.

Breathing out the navel descends.

Keep your awareness on the navel and notice how it rises with the breath and falls.

Become aware now of your whole body and begin to remember the room where you're practicing yoga nidra.

Remember the ceiling above,

The wall in front of you,

The walls to one side and to the other.

Let your breath begin naturally to deepen and allow yourself now to come back more fully into your body.

Becoming conscious,

Becoming aware of the body resting on the floor.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Bring your awareness now to your right hand.

And notice how the fingers on the right hand begin to move almost without volition,

Without conscious intent.

They're almost moving on their own.

And bring your awareness to the left hand.

Notice how the fingers on the left hand are starting to move again almost on their own.

If you'd like you can begin to rotate the wrists and the ankles,

Allowing your consciousness to come back more fully into your body.

Then when you feel ready,

Bend your knees,

Roll to your right side and cradle your head in your right arm.

Pause there for a moment.

Just notice the experience of resting on your side with your knees bent and your head cradled in your arm.

See what,

If anything,

Arises for you in this position.

Maybe a memory,

Maybe an emotion,

Maybe a thought,

Or maybe nothing at all.

Just notice.

And then when you're ready,

Bring yourself to a seat.

Once you're seated,

Allow your eyes to gently open.

This completes the practice of Yoga Nidra.