Welcoming you into our practice of yoga nidra,
Deep yogic rest.
So we'll begin by setting up your space,
Make sure you have found a comfortable place to rest your body on.
Whether you're lying down on the floor or on a bed or on a couch,
The surface beneath you should be nice and cozy.
Gathering any materials you need like an eye pillow or a cloth to place over the eyelids,
Perhaps a bolster under the knees for relief to the lower back,
Maybe extra support beneath your head,
A pillow,
Make yourself nice and cozy and comfortable here.
Once you have arrived,
Feel into the surface beneath your body,
The earth,
The ground,
Supporting you here in place,
Holding your body in space.
Notice the surroundings that you're existing in right now,
Any sounds present outside of your space,
The room,
The walls,
And then drawing this awareness closer to your body,
Perhaps noticing the sounds around you,
My voice,
The sounds from this recording that may be filling your space right now.
Resting with this awareness of sound in your space and noticing how your ears are receiving it,
Drawing it inwards,
Integrating and processing,
And drawing this awareness even closer towards you,
Into your internal being,
The sounds of your breath,
Perhaps even the awareness of your heartbeat,
Constant.
Gifting yourself this presence of awareness,
Letting go,
If you can,
Of the day that has brought you to this moment,
Knowing that anything that you were doing or would like to do will still be there waiting for you at the finish of this practice.
We ground into presence as a gift for ourselves to receive deep rest and integration and regeneration,
Healing,
Moving with this intention into your yoga nidra practice.
We'll begin our practice with a systematic scan of the body,
But first let's invite in our sankalpa or intention for the practice.
This is a simple statement to yourself in affirming language,
Something like,
I am deeply rested,
Or I am present,
Or I let go of what no longer serves me,
I am integrating,
I am joyful,
I am peaceful.
What comes up to you first is probably the statement that you most need,
So just taking these first few moments here before we begin our scan to set the intention deeply within yourself,
Repeating your affirming statement to yourself a few times internally.
Let's begin our scan of the body.
As we trace our way around the body,
We're cleansing the energy centers,
Perhaps noticing any areas that feel stuck without judgment,
Inviting in this lightness,
This spaciousness to each body part as we land on it.
Perhaps you'd like to envision a golden glowing light resting in these places,
Maybe it's a stream of water cleansing the different parts of the body.
So we will begin by bringing our awareness to the left hand thumb,
All focus,
All awareness resting in the left hand thumb,
The left index finger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger,
Your pinky finger,
The palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
The wrist,
Scan your awareness up along the arm to the forearm and into the elbow,
Tracing up the upper arm into the shoulder socket,
Filling the shoulder socket with your awareness and presence to trace along the left collarbone and over to the right collarbone,
Into the right shoulder socket,
The right upper arm,
The elbow,
The right forearm,
Into the right wrist,
The palm of the hand,
The back of the hand,
The right thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Fourth finger and the fifth pinky finger.
Now drawing your awareness to the left side body,
The left ribcage and to the right ribcage and then into your solar plexus,
That space at the base of the middle of the rib,
Right in the center,
Your center for willpower and self-determination.
Let your awareness rest here for a moment,
Filling it up with presence,
Golden light or liquid flowing and we move this awareness down to the sacral area beneath the belly button,
Allowing it to rest here in your womb space and to the left hip,
Over to the right hip.
Let's move down the left leg,
The upper leg,
The thigh and to the left knee,
Left shin bone and the calf muscle,
The left ankle,
Top of the foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the fifth toe,
The sole of your foot and to the heel bone.
Letting go of the left leg,
We move to the right hip bone,
To the right leg,
The upper thigh and into the knee,
The right shin bone and the right calf muscle,
The ankle,
The top of the foot,
Over into the right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the fifth toe,
The sole of the foot into the heel bone.
Letting go of the right leg,
We draw our awareness now right up to the crown of the head,
Resting here at the crown of the head.
Tracing to the forehead,
Feeling awareness,
Lighting up the forehead,
The left eyebrow and the right eyebrow,
The left eye and the right eye,
Left cheek and the right cheek,
The nose,
The tip of the nose,
The upper lip and the lower lip,
The chin,
Left jaw and the right jaw,
To your throat centre,
Awareness,
Resting here at the throat centre,
To the base of your throat and now the back of the neck,
Where the neck meets the skull.
Travel your awareness up the back of your head,
Where it's resting on the floor and now allow your awareness to rest in the whole left side of your body,
Fill the left side of your body up with intention,
Awareness,
Presence and light.
Transfer this awareness to the right side of your body,
Fill the right side of your body up with intention and awareness,
The right side of your body,
Fill your whole body up with awareness,
The golden light or the liquid flow of water filling your body,
Your whole body,
Your whole body,
The whole body.
Guiding focus to the heart space,
Your beating life force here at the heart space,
Fill it with your awareness and traveling down across the solar plexus once again to your sacral area,
The womb space,
Filling this area with your intention.
And once again returning to the intention you set at the beginning of your practice whilst you maintain awareness,
The sacral center and offering your intention deeply to yourself,
Knowing that it will integrate in its own time with yourself,
That flowing energy moving down to the earth beneath you,
Back through your body,
Lying here in your space,
Noticing once again all those sounds present around your body,
Entering into you through your ears,
Trusting the process of our deep rest practice to integrate and provide the space for you to process what needs to be processed in the body.
As we start to guide the awareness back to the gentle undulation of the breath moving in and out,
In and out.
Any sensations,
Physical that you notice around the body,
The touch of fabric on your skin,
The temperature of the air.
The practice of yoga nidra is complete.
When you feel ready,
You can take a couple of deep cleansing breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Perhaps you would like to make a sound if it feels right.
Back into your body completely through noticing all the senses and the sounds and when you're ready start to make a little movement in the body,
The fingers and the toes.
You might like to take a deep stretch,
Reaching the hands up tall and pulling the feet out long.
Baby a yawn as we awaken.
And in your own time you can curl and over to your favorite side and rest here in the fetal position for the last few moments of the practice together.
Giving yourself a moment of tenderness.
And you might like to stay here for a few more moments or perhaps make your way to a seat when it feels ready.
And just a simple little closing gesture of gratitude to yourself for gifting yourself.
This practice of yoga nidra,
Of deep rest.
Of trusting in the process and the simplicity of it all.
When you're ready you can open the eyes and bring yourself back to full presence in the space and make your way gently into the rest of your day and evening.
