Long Yoga Nidra Practice

And once you are feeling settled,

We're going to start with some tension and release.

Today is to help relax the body a little more.

So just take your awareness down into your feet and engage the muscles in your feet.

Squeeze the toes in and squeeze the feet together as tightly as you can.

And then let the feet relax completely and engage the legs.

Engage the muscles in the thighs,

In the knees,

In the calves.

Squeezing the leg muscles as tightly as you can.

And relax the legs.

And now the arms and the hands.

Make the hands into fists.

Squeeze the fingers in.

Engage the muscles in the arms.

Bring the shoulders up towards the ears as tightly as you can.

And relax the arms.

Relax the hands.

And now the face.

Draw the eyes and the mouth in towards the nose,

Squeezing all of the face together tightly.

And let the face relax.

And now the whole of the body together.

Engage the muscles in the feet,

The legs,

The arms,

The hands,

The shoulders,

The face,

Squeezing everything together as tightly as you can.

And let the whole of the body relax.

We'll do that two more times,

Engaging everything,

The feet,

The legs,

The arms,

The hands,

The shoulders,

The face,

Squeezing everything together.

And let everything relax completely.

So one more time,

Engaging the whole of the body as tightly as you can.

And let everything completely relax.

Feel the feeling of your body completely surrendering into that surface beneath you.

And now bring the awareness to the breath.

And follow the breath as it flows in and out of the body.

Watch the breath flowing into the chest.

And the chest expanding.

And follow the flow of the breath back out again.

Notice how every exhalation carries the body a bit more deeply into relaxation.

And feel into the nose and feel the sensation of the air as it passes through the nostrils.

Just watch the air brushing against the inside of the nostrils as the breath flows in and out.

And now move to the ears and feel the sensation of the air on the inside of the ear.

And with the awareness inside the ears,

Notice any sounds that are present in your environment right now.

And just let the awareness jump from sound to sound.

Without getting too involved in any one sound,

Just acknowledge that those sounds are there.

And just take a moment to acknowledge that none of the sounds are going to disturb you.

They can only help you to relax even more deeply.

And take a moment as well just to acknowledge that this is your time for you.

For your rest.

For your healing.

For your self-discovery.

There is no way that you can get this practice wrong.

You can continue to follow my voice for as long as that's useful for you.

You're also free to drift away.

And if you fall asleep it just means that your body needs to sleep.

And it's taking advantage of this time of rest.

So knowing that you can't get this wrong,

Just make the gentle intention now to welcome whatever the practice has for you today.

Knowing that it's going to bring you exactly what you need.

And now picture yourself in a beautiful,

Safe,

Peaceful environment.

You might like to recall a place that you always feel safe when you're there.

Somewhere you know that you love to be in.

Or you might like to imagine somewhere that has all of the conditions that you would need to feel completely safe and secure.

Allow that impression of a safe,

Secure and peaceful environment to arise all around you.

And if there's anything else that you can bring in to feel even more safe,

Even more secure.

Bring any of those things into that environment now.

And feel that feeling of safety as it arises inside your body.

Notice all of the sensations that come up with that feeling of safety.

And intensify the feeling.

Feel it as vividly as possible.

This is your feeling that you have created for yourself.

And you can always come back to it at any time if you need to.

Complete safety and security.

Absolute well-being.

And if you have an intention for your practice today,

Just bring that intention into your awareness now.

Whatever has inspired you to show up to practice.

Perhaps for deep rest,

Meditation,

For rejuvenation,

Healing,

Pain relief,

Whatever has drawn you to the practice today,

Just bring that into your awareness now.

Take a moment to acknowledge it.

And if you have a sankalpa,

Now is the time to recall your sankalpa.

Your deep vow or prayer from the heart.

Allow it to arise however it comes if you have one.

And if you don't have one,

Just take the awareness to the heart.

Rest the awareness at the heart and observe.

We're going to take a journey around the body.

As I name each body part,

You might like to imagine a silver star shining at that point,

Illuminating that part of the body.

We will start at the eyebrow center.

The silver star illuminating the eyebrow center and the throat.

Silver star illuminating the throat,

The right shoulder,

The right elbow,

The right wrist,

The tip of the right hand thumb,

The tip of the right index finger,

The tip of the right middle finger,

The tip of the ring finger,

The tip of the little finger,

The right wrist,

The right elbow,

The right shoulder,

The space between the collarbones,

The left shoulder,

The left elbow,

The left wrist,

The tip of the left hand thumb,

The tip of the left index finger,

The tip of the left middle finger,

The tip of the ring finger,

The tip of the little finger,

The left wrist,

The left elbow,

The left shoulder,

The space between the collarbones,

The center of the chest,

The silver star illuminating the center of the chest,

The left side of the chest,

The center of the chest,

The right side of the chest,

The center of the chest,

The navel,

The lower abdomen,

The right hip,

The right knee,

The right ankle,

The right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

The right ankle,

The right knee,

The right big toe,

The right big toe,

The right big toe,

The right big toe,

The right ankle,

The left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

The fifth toe,

The left ankle,

The left knee,

The left hip,

The lower abdomen,

The navel,

The center of the chest,

The space between the collarbones,

The eyebrow center,

The top of the head,

Silver star illuminating the top of the head.

Now bring the awareness to the breath.

Follow the breath as it flows in and out of the nostrils.

Watch the breath coming in through the separate nostrils and coming up to the eyebrow center and on the exhalation flowing back out through the separate nostrils,

Back out into the world.

And now watch the breath flowing through alternate nostrils.

As you breathe in,

The breath flows in through the left nostril up to the eyebrow center and on the exhalation it flows out through the right nostril.

Inhale through the right nostril up to the eyebrow center.

Exhale through the left nostril.

Inhale through the left.

Exhale through the right.

Inhale through the right.

Exhale through the left.

Continue breathing through alternate nostrils.

And now move away from the breath and feel the body becoming very heavy.

Feel the body becoming heavier and heavier.

Feel the body sinking into the surface beneath you.

Sinking down into the earth.

Becoming one with the earth.

Intensify that feeling of heaviness.

Feeling of heaviness.

And now feel the body becoming very light.

Feel the body becoming lighter and lighter.

So light that it floats away up into the air,

Up into the sky.

The feeling of lightness.

The feeling of lightness.

The feelings of heaviness and lightness together.

Welcome the feelings of heaviness and lightness at the same time.

Body so heavy that it sinks into the earth and so light that it floats away into the sky at the same time.

The feelings of heaviness and lightness together.

Heaviness and lightness together.

Notice how still the body has become.

Feel into the body that's resting so completely still.

Observe the feeling of stillness throughout the body.

Watch the stillness in the body.

But although the body appears to be still,

There is also movement happening.

The heart continues to beat.

The blood circulates.

The breath flows in and out.

And all of the body's natural processes continue to happen.

Observe the movement that is always happening inside the body.

And now let the awareness rest on the stillness and the movement inside the body together.

The body completely still and alive with movement at the same time.

Stillness and movement inside the body together.

The feeling of pleasure.

Invite the feeling of pleasure to arise.

And notice the feelings that come up in your body with the feeling of pleasure.

Welcome the feeling.

The feeling of pleasure.

And the feeling of pain.

Invite the feeling of pain to arise.

Feel the feeling vividly as it arises throughout the body.

The feeling of pain.

Welcome it.

Intensify the feeling.

Pleasure and pain together.

Invite the feelings of pleasure and pain to arise simultaneously.

Feel them vividly as they intensify together.

The feelings of pleasure and pain inside the body together.

Pleasure and pain together.

And now bring the awareness to the centre.

Observe the eyebrow centre.

Notice what's happening at the eyebrow centre.

Observe any shape,

Colours,

Patterns or just darkness.

Without getting too involved just observe what's there.

And keeping the awareness at the eyebrow centre.

I'm going to name some different things.

Allow an impression of each one to arise as it's named.

Without forcing it just allow each one to come by itself.

We'll start with the full moon.

An eagle soaring through the sky.

A bunch of flowers.

Footprints on the sand.

A flickering candle.

Splashes of paint on a canvas.

A pine tree.

Eggs in a nest.

Waves crashing on the beach.

A monk seated in meditation.

A trickling stream.

Leaves blowing in the wind.

The sun rising over the desert.

A cloudy sky.

A stone pathway winding into a forest.

And now see yourself standing beside a tall waterfall.

It flows down into a pool of water.

You step into the water.

You stand under the waterfall.

And let the flowing water cleanse your body.

And cleanse your aura.

As you stand under the flowing water,

It washes away anything that no longer serves you.

Any pain,

Any illness,

Any worries or problem.

The water washes away anything that doesn't serve you as you move forwards in your life.

And cleansed and renewed from the flowing water.

You step out of the pool.

And you sit down and welcome the warm sunlight from above you.

As it beams down onto your body.

Illuminating your body.

And you rest here knowing that you are safe.

Knowing that your body is healing.

Knowing that you can be in peace.

If you have a sankalpa,

Now is the time to recall your sankalpa.

Allow it to arise very naturally from the heart.

And if you don't have one,

Just keep the awareness at the heart.

And observe.

And now picture yourself moving on through your day.

Carrying the peace and the clarity that you found in your practice out into your day.

Out into your life.

And see yourself flowing through anything that you need to do today.

Navigating any challenges with ease.

See yourself moving through your day with peace,

With grace,

With joy.

And now very slowly begin to turn the awareness back outwards.

Notice any sounds that are present in your environment.

And just let the awareness jump from sound to sound.

Just acknowledging that those sounds are there.

And feel into the feeling of your body resting into the surface beneath you.

Feel the feeling of your clothing or your blanket against your skin.

And watch the breath flowing in and out.

And slowly start to make some small movements to reawaken your body.

And when you feel ready,

Give yourself a stretch in any way that feels good for you.

Taking your time.

There's no rush.

When you're sure that you're feeling wide awake again,

Slowly blink the eyes back open.

Your practice of yoga nidra is now complete.