Yoga Nidra: Web Of Life

Welcome yourself into a comfortable resting position.

Allowing the back to rest on the ground beneath you.

The earth is here.

Always here.

And now it's rising to meet the flesh and the bones on the backside of the body.

Visualize this meeting in your mind's eye.

And now simply feel it through the fabric of your skin and the consciousness of all the cells in your body.

Earth,

Flesh and bones meeting.

The pulse of the earth's heartbeat begins to echo through your blood.

And your own heart joins this greater rhythm.

One pulse,

One song,

One endless tide of life.

If you were to rest in this exchange alone for the rest of the practice,

Know this would be enough.

This would be purpose filled.

This is wholeness.

Alive and already present.

So from this place of needing nothing else,

Guide your body towards stillness.

And yet in this journey towards stillness,

Know that even the smallest adjustments you make are part of the sacred path into rest.

So without overthinking it,

Scan the body to see if any slight movements are required before you surrender to stillness.

You rest here in deep reverence for the power this stillness holds for you.

There may be layers of the self that resist the stillness and grow restless or doubtful or even weary.

Yet a deeper ancient part knows the potency of this state of being.

Let both parts be here in their fullness.

Both are intelligent expressions of life.

And both are woven into the tapestry of your wholeness.

To deny either is to deny yourself.

So taking a moment to breathe into all of you.

The known and the unknown.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Now inhale again.

And then release the breath with an audible sigh.

Hearing the sound your breath makes as it leaves the body.

Inhale once again and hear the sigh on your exhale.

Now inhaling and feel the sigh of your exhale.

Feel the vibration of your sigh.

And lastly inhale.

Hold.

Become the sigh.

And release.

Bring your awareness to your body.

And in the mind's eye witness yourself laying where you are.

Witness your body resting in the space you are in.

Now move from visualizing it to feeling it rest within the space you are in.

Feeling the body in the space you are in.

Bring awareness to the breath moving in and out of the body.

Witness your body being breathed.

Allow the breath to travel through the entire body.

Touching and tenderly caring for each part.

The legs are heavy and resting.

The back,

The spine are held and supported.

The shoulders are relaxed.

The head is cradled.

The face is soft.

The heart is open.

This practice is a radical surrender.

A holy pause.

Awake and open to life.

To all of life just as it is.

There is no wrong way to experience this practice.

Becoming present to the way life breathes you.

The way it holds you.

And the way it reveals itself in every sound,

Every pulse,

Every breath.

Life is the miracle that it is.

And because you are not separate from this web of life.

Because you are woven of the same threads.

You too are a miracle.

An expression of the infinite.

Lying here breathing.

Being.

Enough.

Place your awareness on the soles of your feet.

Ever so gently touch the bottom of your feet with your awareness.

Pausing here to feel the soles of the feet.

Noticing where the skin of the feet ends.

And the spaciousness of the infinite void begins.

As you notice where the soles of the feet end.

And the space begins.

The distinction between the two begins to dissolve.

And you begin to merge with the vast void of everything.

And on your next in-breath.

Feel the pulse of life enter through the openness of the soles of the feet.

Traveling slowly at the legs.

Over the knees.

Into the thighs.

Caressing the flesh and blood of earth itself.

The pulse of life travels over and through the sacral.

Along the channel of the spine.

Through and around the heart center.

Life flows through your throat.

In and around the jaw.

The neck.

The mouth.

Face.

Ears.

And crown.

Your awareness has carefully followed the pulse of life.

As it touched the landscape of your physical form.

As life touches you.

It awakens you.

As you awaken.

Life discovers more of itself.

The reciprocity of this felt awakening is non-linear.

Both layers equally important.

The external life.

And the internal world are one.

The golden web of everything.

Is nourished by your own direction.

The direct experience of your miraculous nature.

Your exceptionally profound nature.

Preceded by any action.

Feel your body expanding into the spaciousness around you.

And feel the space around you receive the body.

A relational field of communion.

Each adorning the other.

Each giving rise to the expression of the other.

And intertwined.

Co-creative experience.

What a gift to take up this space.

To allow this space to drink you in.

Let the space experience you.

Unfiltered.

As you expand and unravel.

Allow any gripping you may notice to soften.

Allow any tensions arising to dissolve.

Let the web of life support you.

Let it help you dilute your held tensions with care.

And with this help in mind.

Bring your awareness to your heart center.

It is here you will place your sankalpa.

A positive I am statement.

A seed.

That is nourished through this practice.

And beyond.

Planted in your heart.

And held by the web of life.

As you surrender your sankalpa.

You trust and know it's already done.

Mentally repeat your sankalpa three times now.

The practice of yoga nidra begins now.

Settle deeper within the body.

Anamaya kosha.

Stay anchored to my voice as I guide you through the physical body.

With your focus you touch the part of the body I name.

We begin the practice on the right side.

Right hand thumb.

Forefinger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Small finger.

Center of the palm.

Back side of the hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Armpit.

Right side waist.

Right thigh.

Knee cap.

Right shin.

Ankle.

Heel.

Right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

Put your awareness inside the whole of the right foot.

Whole of the right leg.

Whole right side of the body.

Sense the whole right side of the body.

Guide your attention to the left side.

And land in the left hand thumb.

Forefinger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Small finger.

Center of the palm.

Back side of the hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Armpit.

Left side waist.

Left thigh.

Knee cap.

Left shin.

Ankle.

Heel.

Right ankle.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

Place awareness into the whole of the left foot.

Whole of the left leg.

Whole left side of the body.

Sense the whole left side of the body.

Bring your attention to the base of the spine.

The whole length of the spine.

The back of the shoulders.

Back of the head.

And guide the attention through to the center of the eyebrow.

Right eye.

Left eye.

Right ear.

Left ear.

Right nostril.

Left nostril.

Top of the lip.

Bottom of the lip.

The teeth.

The tongue.

The jaw.

Right side chest.

Left side chest.

Right side chest.

Belly button.

Whole abdomen.

Come to experience the wholeness of your body.

Come to experience the uniqueness of your body in its precious manifest form.

The matter of the divine.

Your whole body.

Your whole nest.

Your whole nest of being.

Your breath.

Your sacred breath.

Slide your awareness into your breath.

Not only are you receiving it through the lungs,

But every cell in your body.

Every cell is breathing.

Each cell has its own expansion and contraction.

Effort and pause.

Growth and rest.

Aware of the loving attention of life.

Flowing into you with each inhale.

The love of life and all its expressions flowing out of you with each exhale.

Each inhale whispers,

I am life.

Each exhale whispers,

Life is me.

Inhale.

I am life.

Exhale.

Life is me.

Inhale.

I am life.

Exhale.

Life is me.

Rest easy in this divine exchange of truths.

I will leave you here to repeat this exchange.

If you drop the mantras,

Simply notice and come back to them.

Inhale.

I am life.

Exhale.

Life is me.

Repeating on your own.

You have let go of the mantras.

Come back to them.

Life is me.

I am life.

Life is me.

Release awareness of your breath.

As I now will guide you into the exploration of opposites and play with them as an opportunity to cultivate equanimity in the body.

To support the nervous system in softening into the web of life.

As it gently releases old habitual patterns.

There is no wrong way to do this.

Stay connected and anchored to my voice.

As you rest here,

The body learns how to hold a fuller range of dynamic experience.

This opening brings you into a more spacious,

Rich,

Truthful and connected experience of life.

Bring forward the feeling of patience.

Feel patience as a quality inside you.

The steadiness of waiting without resistance.

A soft spaciousness like the breath expanding effortlessly.

Trusting both the inhale and the exhale equally.

Resting in the timelessness of patience.

Now let go of patience and bring forward the feeling of urgency.

The quickening,

The impulse to move,

To act,

To get somewhere before you know where.

Feel the vibration of urgency.

Move through the body in the breath.

The tension of urgency is fully here.

Now stay with urgency and bring forward patience.

Hold both.

Feel how they can live side by side.

Two currents of the same river.

You the witness remain open and spacious beyond both.

Now release patience and urgency.

Bringing your awareness to comparison.

Notice how comparison feels in the body.

The measuring,

The weighing,

The looking outward.

A mistrusting sense of striving,

Of not enoughness or tension.

Allow comparison to flood the body.

Now let go of comparison and bring your awareness to authenticity.

The sense of being at home in yourself.

Even as you discover this moment by moment.

The sense and freedom of showing up exactly as you are.

Feel the ease,

The grounding,

The simplicity of authenticity.

Rest now in the space that can hold both comparison and authenticity.

Both are waves exploring each other.

In welcoming them you discover being yourself means opening to the web that contains it all.

Free enough to witness each sensation in its own truth.

You are the walking miracle fast enough to hold all opposites and free enough to rest in the space in which they rise and fall.

Release the opposites and now travel to the mind movie,

The cheetah cache.

A spacious stage,

The inner sky of awareness.

I will offer words simply as a spark to allow the imaginings to come alive through you.

You are the conduit for creativity.

Simply allow it to unfold.

Allow the images to form as I offer them.

Morning mist gliding over a lake creating gentle ripples for eternity.

The beating of a sacred drum echoing in the distance.

A butterfly emerging from transformation as the trees around it rejoice.

A circle of rainbow gems glowing their unique color each illuminating one another.

A crab gliding across the sand each grain offering itself as solid ground.

A golden spider web glistening as the morning sun gifts itself to the dew.

A pine cone burning in the amber flames of a fire.

A wise raven perched on a fence.

Flowing water cleansing a rock forever.

Beaded earrings swaying in the wind.

An iridescent skull observing life from the other side.

A bright red peony in a wide open field.

A white barn nestled in the magical woods A blue tree dancing in the wind.

A crack of thunder igniting new beginnings.

An eagle taking flight.

A treasure chest of magic.

A treasure chest of magic.

A treasure chest of magic.

Release the images and linger here awake and aware as you rest in this space held by the pulse of light felt through the whole of your being You soften even more into its flow into its rhythm into its expressions You are the space that holds it all Notice the reciprocity of this softening The more you expand the more you are received The more you surrender the more life rises to meet itself in you Steady Whole Unbroken This is the miracle that you are vast enough to hold the full spectrum of human experience and still rest in the truth of your essence A living web of everything able to embrace it all with equanimity presence and love Because you are life and life trusts itself Allow waves of awe and wonder to wash over you to carry you to immerse you deeper into the vast ocean of your being the ocean of your ineffable interconnected nature Place your sankalpa once again as the sacred seed that it is into the vast space that you are in Silently affirm your sankalpa three times now Bring your awareness gently back to my voice Begin to feel the body once again in the space where it rests The same space where you began Yet notice the subtle shift within you When you remember your own miraculous nature You allow the miraculous nature of life to be expressed through you For these are not separate Your remembrance of your own essence is life remembering itself And in this remembering life becomes more of a miracle to itself through you The web of life Find movement and deepened breath in your very own timing The practice is now complete Hari Om Tat Sat Hari Om Tat Sat Hari Om Tat Sat