Yoga Nidra For Finding Solutions

Welcome to this Yoganidra for finding solutions.

At this time,

Please go ahead and retrieve anything that may help you to relax into the next 45 minutes.

Gather any pillows,

Blankets,

Or eye coverings to make sure that the body is as comfortable as possible.

As you prepare your space,

Come into lying flat on the back.

And when you're there,

Relax the arms right next to the body,

Just slightly away with the palms facing upwards.

Getting settled into the breath,

Letting the feet naturally fall apart.

Next,

Feeling the length of the spine from the top of the head all the way to the bottom of the torso.

Elongating the neck and making sure the weight across both sides of the body feels even.

Taking the next few moments to ensure that the body is deeply comfortable.

And making any other final adjustments to make sure that you are fully arrived.

Then if you haven't already,

Closing the eyes and the mouth and settling in.

Begin to feel the contact between the back body and the ground below.

Feeling into all points of the body that touch the surface below you.

The heels,

The calf muscles,

And shoulder blades,

The buttocks,

The back of the head,

And the arms.

And then feeling into all of the contact points at the front of the body as well.

Wherever you are touching clothing or blankets.

The toes,

The knees,

The front of the legs,

And the chest.

And now is the time to formulate your sankalpa,

Also known as an intention or a personal resolve.

This is formatted in a precise and positive manner.

It's a clear phrase around something you want to have,

Change,

Or achieve.

And there should be an emotion associated with it.

Create this sankalpa for yourself in the present tense and repeat it to yourself three times.

We will be recalling this sankalpa later in the practice.

And now begin to move your awareness,

Listening for sounds outside of your space.

Listen to all the sounds you can hear further and further away,

Whether they're loud or soft,

Closer to you or more in the distance.

Listen without analyzing,

Moving from sound to sound.

Now drawing your awareness to sounds right outside of your space.

Finding and noticing all of the sounds right outside of your space.

And now bringing your awareness to sounds within your space.

Finding and noticing all of the subtle sounds within your space.

Now letting go of this,

Letting go now of the sound awareness,

Letting it go.

And moving your awareness to the body,

The whole body lying across your space.

We will now rotate your awareness around the different parts of the body.

As I name each part,

Picture it in the mind and then listen to the next part named.

As you do this,

Be sure to keep following my voice with full awareness.

And we'll begin with the right hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Right palm of the hand,

The back of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Armpit,

Shoulder,

Collarbone,

Right side of the chest,

Right upper abdomen,

Navel center,

Right lower abdomen,

Hip bone,

Right front of the thigh,

Kneecap,

Shin,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe.

Continuing to follow my voice with full awareness as we move to the left hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Armpit,

Shoulder,

Collarbone,

Left side of the chest,

Left upper abdomen,

Navel center,

Left lower abdomen,

Hip bone,

Front of the thigh,

Kneecap,

Shin,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe.

Feeling into both heels as they press into the floor,

Feeling both calf muscles,

The backs of the knees,

The backs of the thighs,

The buttocks,

The lower back,

Middle of the back,

Upper back,

The entire spine,

From the tailbone to the top of the head,

Between the ears,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Space between shoulder blades,

Back of the neck,

And the back of the head,

The crown of the head,

The forehead,

The right temple,

Left temple,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Middle of the eyebrows,

The eyebrow center,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Bridge of the nose,

The tip of the nose,

The right nostril,

The left nostril,

The right cheek,

The left cheek,

Upper lip,

The lower lip,

The chin,

The jaw,

The whole head,

The whole torso,

The whole body,

The whole body,

The whole body.

And now take your awareness to the natural flow of your breath as it enters and leaves through the nostrils.

On your next breath,

Feel as if the breath is moving into the body through the eyebrow center.

And as you breathe out,

Feel as if the breath is leaving again through the eyebrow center.

Keep on practicing this with the in-breath moving into the body through the eyebrow center and moving out again through the eyebrow center.

On the next breath,

Let this go,

And in the next inhale,

Feel as if the breath is now entering the body at the center of the chest,

Drawing in the breath through the center of the chest on every inhale,

And then on every out-breath.

Flow that breath out again through the center of the chest.

Continue this,

Drawing in the breath through the center of the chest and back out.

And on your next exhalation,

Let this go,

Letting go of the awareness of the breath at the center of the chest,

Letting it go and returning to a natural rhythm in the nostrils.

I will now bring you through feelings and sensations.

These are all feelings you have felt before.

Feel them and let go of them,

Starting with the feeling of coldness throughout the whole body,

Feeling coldness throughout the whole body,

Coldness.

And now bringing in the sensation of warmth throughout the whole body,

Feeling warmth throughout the whole body,

Warmth.

Next,

Bringing in the sensation of delusion throughout the whole body,

Feeling delusion throughout the whole body,

Delusion.

And now bringing in the sensation of clarity throughout the whole body,

Feeling clarity throughout the whole body,

Clarity.

Bring in the sensation now of attachment throughout the whole body,

Feeling attachment throughout the whole body,

Attachment.

And now bringing in the sensation of detachment throughout the whole body,

Feeling detachment throughout the whole body,

Detachment.

Now bring in the sensation of desire throughout the whole body,

Feeling desire throughout the whole body,

Desire.

And now bringing in the sensation of fulfillment throughout the whole body,

Feeling fulfillment throughout the whole body,

Fulfillment.

Now bringing in the sensation of indecision throughout the whole body,

Feeling indecision throughout the whole body,

Indecision.

And now bringing in the sensation of certainty throughout the whole body,

Feeling certainty throughout the whole body,

Certainty.

Bring in the sensation of fear into the whole body,

Feeling fear throughout the whole body,

Fear.

Bring in the sensation of courage throughout the whole body,

Feeling courage throughout the whole body,

Courage.

And now bringing in inertia throughout the whole body,

Feeling the sensation of inertia throughout the whole body,

Inertia.

And now bringing in the sensation of action throughout the whole body,

Feeling action throughout the whole body,

Action.

And now letting go of the feelings and sensations,

Letting them go.

Next,

I will name some symbols.

As I name each symbol,

Picture it in the mind.

Documents on a table.

Documents on a table.

Documents on a table.

A completed puzzle.

A completed puzzle.

A completed puzzle.

A construction site.

A construction site.

A construction site.

A hammer and nails.

A hammer and nails.

A hammer and nails.

A blank piece of paper.

A blank piece of paper.

A blank piece of paper.

An underground spring.

An underground spring.

An underground spring.

Begin to visualize yourself now standing on the edge of a bright green meadow,

Surrounded by quiet hills and mountains.

As you stand here in the center of the meadow,

You take some time to take in the natural environment and its verdant smells and sounds.

As you look to one side,

Your eye catches a narrow path among the shrubbery.

Its trail seemed to be carved by many feet.

Your eyes follow where the trail leads,

And you realize that it winds throughout the valley and the hills.

You begin to walk along it,

The patter of your feet on the soft ground keeping you company.

Soon,

The path stops by an open area.

In the center of this open area,

There is a lively green wishing tree standing tall in the center.

Its branches and leaves shaping perfectly into a puff around its upper trunk.

You walk around this tree,

Keenly observing its unique form and its green leaves full of life,

Before pausing to connect with it.

Stepping away from this clearing,

You continue along the path,

And you notice that the path grows steeper as it approaches the edge of the mountains.

You slow your pace,

Breathing deeper as the path gains altitude.

Soon,

You reach the bottom of a cliffside where the path ends,

And take a pause to look up.

The top of a mountain looms closely above,

So you continue to move forward and up onto the rocks off the beaten path.

At certain points,

You use your whole body to push and pull your way up what has now become a very steep,

Rocky ascent.

You lead yourself from rock to rock by intuition.

Finding each new outcropping to support you takes more effort and laser focus.

The rocks become more ragged,

More puzzling,

And you take your time to figure out your next moves.

Soon,

You pull yourself up onto a flat ledge near the top of the mountain.

You stand up to rest and realize as you look around that you have reached the top.

You can feel the crisp wind at your face.

You glance toward the back of the ledge on the mountainside and notice the entrance to a small cave.

Right inside the entrance,

There is a large,

Clear crystal sitting on a table.

As you glance across the rest of the cave,

You realize that it's lit up by hundreds of similar stones embedded into an intricate design on the floor.

At the center of the carefully mapped crystalline design is a spacious patch of red earth and a small sitting cushion.

Right next to that cushion,

You notice there's a subtle patch of freshly dug dirt where a crystal in the design is missing.

You pick up the crystal on the table by the entrance and make your way towards the cushion.

Sitting down,

You bring the crystal over to the place in the dirt.

It fits perfectly.

You sit back on the cushion to rest,

Sitting in the center of a complete and illuminating arrangement of jewels.

You close your eyes and allow the cave and its gems to bathe your being.

Slowly,

You become aware of the gentle sound of the breeze outside of the cave and you begin to make your way up off of the cushion.

The sparkling arrangement of jewels around you is now brighter than ever,

In contrast to the night that has fallen outside of the cave.

You carefully stand up,

Move beyond the jewels,

And go out back through the cave entrance,

Onto the mountainside ledge.

From here,

You can see that you're above the clouds,

With the constellations and the mountaintops sparkling all around you.

Letting go of this visualization now,

Letting it go.

Now,

Bringing your awareness up to the mind space behind the forehead.

This is a deep,

Dark,

Infinite space of the mind known as Chittakash in yoga.

Spend some time in this space to look deeply and observe anything that comes up.

Do not become involved.

Just remain as a witness,

As if you were viewing a movie.

And now,

Withdraw your awareness from the mind space.

Withdraw from this mind space.

Continue to withdraw your awareness from the mind space and bring your awareness back to the breath.

Feel the breath on the nostrils and notice the rhythm.

This is the time to bring to mind your sankalpa and repeat it to yourself three times.

And now,

Bring your awareness back to the body,

The whole body,

The whole physical body.

Be sure you're aware of your whole physical body and your surroundings.

And bring movement back into the body,

Moving the fingers and the toes,

Perhaps stretching your arms above your head.

Yoga Nidra is now complete.

When you are ready,

Come back up to a seated position.