Yoga Nidra: You Are The Morning Sun

Hello there,

I'm John.

Welcome to this yoga nidra to help you have a greater sense of your own inner light,

Your authenticity,

Sense of clarity and self-esteem,

While at the same time bringing you into that awareness of your own deeper awareness,

Integrating body,

Mind,

Spirit,

And also providing you with a space of deep,

Deep rest.

Let me invite you now to set up your space as you need to.

Perhaps you are using a yoga mat on the floor.

Look around you,

Make sure you feel safe with your environment,

That you will not be disturbed,

That you know what time of day it is.

And as you're settling down for practice,

Let me invite you to lie in shavasana,

Yoga resting pose.

It may be a good thing to put a bolster or a pillow under your knees,

And perhaps a pad under your head or a cushion.

And if you have an eye mask or something,

That might be useful as well.

A light blanket over you,

And as you are settling down,

Taking a couple of moments just to settle into this,

Let me invite you to consider what your sankalpa will be for this yoga nidra.

A sankalpa is a present moment positive statement,

Something like,

I'm living my life authentically.

I'm living from the life inside myself.

I'm keeping my word to myself,

And so on.

A short,

Memorable phrase.

And we're going to use this sankalpa twice within this yoga nidra.

This yoga nidra leans into two of the eight limbs of yoga,

Primarily pratyahara,

Unhooking from the senses,

And also samadhi,

Deepening into the true knowledge of yourself.

Yoga nidra begins.

Feel yourself lying here on your mat,

Allowing yourself to be fully here,

Choosing to be here,

Rather than trying to force yourself,

And forgoing any idea of what your experience will be.

Be here now.

You can feel the floor beneath you,

And you can feel your body against the floor.

And in fact,

You can feel that thin plane of contact between your body and the floor,

Almost as if there's an atomic layer between your body and the floor,

All the way along your back body.

Just checking that your arms are comfortable in shavasana.

If not,

I invite you to put your hands on your side ribs,

With your elbows on the floor next to you.

This is sometimes a much more comfortable posture for a long shavasana.

Becoming aware of the sounds that you can hear in your room.

You can hear the far away sounds.

You can hear nearby sounds.

You can hear the sound of my voice.

You can hear the sounds inside this room.

And I want to invite you to simply allow the sounds to be.

Normally,

We push and pull at sounds.

I like this sound,

And I don't like that sound.

If only this,

If only that.

So,

Rather than that,

Just allowing the sounds to be without pulling them towards us or pushing them away.

Your body lying on the floor.

The sounds that you can hear.

Awareness of the four walls of this room.

The ceiling.

Awareness of yourself lying here on the floor.

The position of your body.

The feeling of your clothes.

The feeling of your hair,

Your face.

Aware of the existence of your physical body lying on the floor.

I am practicing yoga nidra.

Inviting you to become aware of your natural breath.

Notice how your body is being breathed.

You have the spark of life inside you.

And this causes the autonomic pulsation of the breath.

And so just tuning into yourself being breathed by life.

And allowing comfort in that.

Comfort in being breathed by the breath of life.

And you notice the track of your breath.

How it comes in and out through your nostrils.

How your body rises and falls.

The movement of the lungs.

The feeling within the body.

Allowing yourself a slightly longer out-breath.

And as you take a longer exhalation,

You feel yourself slowing down more.

Relaxing more.

Being more present.

Deeper and deeper.

Your body and the floor.

The room around you.

And the sense of yourself.

And then simply allowing yourself to return to your natural breath.

I am practicing yoga nidra.

Inviting you to gently allow your sankalpa to be spoken to yourself.

Your short,

Positive,

Present tense statement.

Saying it deep within yourself,

Clearly and with awareness,

Three times.

Planting this seed in the fertile soil of your being and your mind.

Say,

I am practicing yoga nidra.

The rotation of consciousness.

This stage of yoga nidra takes you into the yogic state of pratyahara.

So you can experience your underlying awareness much more clearly.

I will ask you to move your awareness to certain body parts.

And as you do so,

This will take you into a light hypnagogic state.

As you move deeper and deeper into awareness.

The rotation of consciousness moves faster than you might think.

Because it's not a slow,

Deep body scan.

The object is to move you into pratyahara.

Beginning on your right hand side.

Taking your awareness to the right hand thumb.

The first finger.

The second finger.

The third finger.

Your little finger.

The palm of your hand.

The back of your hand.

Your whole hand.

The right wrist.

The right forearm.

The right elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Armpit.

Waist.

Hip.

Thigh.

Knee.

Calf.

The ankle.

The heel.

Sole of your right foot.

The top of your right foot.

The right big toe.

The left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Little toe.

The left hand thumb.

The first finger of the left hand.

Second finger.

Ring finger.

Finger.

Palm of the hand.

The back of the left hand.

The whole hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper left arm.

Left shoulder.

Left armpit.

Left waist.

Left hip.

Left thigh.

Knee.

Calf.

Ankle.

Left heel.

Sole of the left foot.

Top of the left foot.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Little toe.

The back of the body now.

Your right heel.

The left heel.

The right calf.

The left calf.

The right thigh.

The left thigh.

Your right buttock.

The left buttock.

The lower back.

Middle of your back.

Upper back.

Your whole spine.

Your right shoulder blade.

Your left shoulder blade.

The back of your neck.

The back of your head.

The top of your head.

Your forehead.

The right temple.

The left temple.

The right ear.

The left ear.

The right eyebrow.

The left eyebrow.

The middle of the two eyebrows.

The right eye.

The left eye.

The right nostril.

The left nostril.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Upper lip.

Lower lip.

Both lips.

Your chin.

Your jaw.

Your throat.

Your right collarbone.

The left collarbone.

The right side of your chest.

The left side of your chest.

Your upper abdomen.

Your navel.

The lower abdomen.

Your right groin.

Your left groin.

The pelvic floor.

The whole right leg.

The whole left leg.

The whole right arm.

The whole left arm.

Your whole face.

Your whole face.

Your whole head.

The whole torso.

Your whole body.

Your whole wonderful body.

Your wonderful body.

I am practicing yoga nidra.

Experiencing the space in front of your closed eyelids.

Experiencing the space of this room around you.

Experiencing the space in which your body is resting.

Experiencing the space arching within yourself.

You're aware of the space.

Of the energy field.

Of the screen of your mind.

And perhaps still some thoughts are coming or going.

You're aware of the energy field of your emotions.

But you're aware that you're aware.

That you are the witnessing consciousness.

And you see the totality of mind and its energies.

The totality of feeling.

And their energies.

And the wholeness of your body.

And the feeling of life.

And the slow gentle movement of breath.

And the feeling of the space of the room around you.

And we do not try to direct any of this.

You just simply witness and are aware.

You are both form and formless.

You are the situations of your life.

And the wholeness of being.

Your daily life is the field in which your life is expressed.

You are illumined by the world around you.

Illuminated from within by awareness.

You feel the space inside your whole body.

The breath moving of its own accord.

Simply witnessing all of the coming and going.

Aware of the energy of all of this motion.

And yourself the witness.

Resting in the space of your own unique sweet life.

Resting in the wholeness of your being.

Resting in vitality and peace.

I am practicing yoga nidra.

And now feeling heaviness in the body.

Heaviness as if your body is a huge weight pressing into the floor.

That your molecular structure has changed,

Is dense.

And there is a great heaviness in your body.

Pressing into the floor.

You cannot move.

Pressing hard,

Deep.

Just the simple truth of gravity and weight.

Heavier and heavier.

Your legs are heavy.

Your arms are heavy.

Your torso is heavy.

Your head is heavy.

Whole body is heavy.

It's as if the floor cannot take you anymore.

And now imagining lightness of the body.

That the body could float up from here,

Away from the floor.

So light.

Almost the sense of floating up toward the ceiling.

The head is light and weightless.

Your arms are light and weightless.

Your legs,

Your torso,

Your whole body.

A sense of almost rising up.

Feeling the feeling of cold in the body now.

Chilly cold.

As if you were pressing your face against a cold,

Damp window pane in winter.

Or that you're outside with no clothes on.

And it's snow everywhere.

Grey and snow.

And deep,

Thick snow.

Ice.

And you feel the chill permeating into your whole body.

And you do not resist this.

You allow yourself to simply experience the experience.

To feel the energy of it.

And now the feeling of heat.

Heat in the body.

Blazing sun shining down.

On your body.

Your skin glistening with sweat.

That kind of heat that feels like it's gone all the way through your body.

So that your bones are almost melting.

That you cannot sweat out anymore.

That your nerves are just asleep with the heat.

Heavy,

Heavy heat in the body.

Heavy heat.

And now just simply letting go of these images of cold and heat and heaviness and light.

And feeling yourself resting here in your beautiful space in yoga nidra.

I'm awake.

I am practicing yoga nidra.

Now we will move through the chakras.

We will go up and down through the chakras twice in this practice.

The first time just simply meeting the contact point and then moving to the chakra.

And feeling the energy there.

And then the second time using the traditional bija mantras to pierce the chakra.

The chakras are where life and spirit and body all come together and intersect.

Bringing your awareness to the contact point of your perineum.

And moving up inside about an inch.

And just simply feeling the energy that is there.

Not creating any sensation.

Red in color.

The base energy of the body.

Mula dha chakra.

Coming up.

You bring your awareness to the crown of your pubis.

And then moving back inside the body.

To the sacral spine.

And just feeling what you feel there.

Without judgment or criticism.

Swadhisthana chakra.

Orange in color.

An orange light.

We move up to the navel.

In fact just an inch beneath the navel.

And moving back through the body to the inside of the spine.

And just feeling what you feel there.

Manipura chakra.

Perhaps you have a sensation of yellow in this space.

Coming up to the general heart area.

Where you point to when you point to your heart.

And moving through the body.

To the inside of the spine.

Anahat chakra.

Just feeling what you feel.

Not adding or trying to create anything.

Perhaps a sensation of green.

Moving up to the voice box,

The throat.

And again moving back through the body to the inside of the neck spine.

Vishidi chakra.

The communication center.

Everything that is expressed by you.

And everything that is not expressed.

Perhaps a sensation of blue.

Coming up to the two eyebrows.

And just half an inch above what we traditionally call the third eye.

And then moving back into the middle of your brain.

And here perhaps violet feeling of color.

Ajna chakra.

And then simply up to the crown of the head from here.

Sensation of indigo perhaps.

Sahasra chakra.

A thousand petal lotus.

Now we'll come back down through the body.

Through the chakras.

And so the crown.

Sahasra.

Indigo color.

The third eye and into the middle of the brain.

Ajna chakra.

Violet in color.

The throat.

And then back into the neck spine.

Blue in color.

Vishidi chakra.

And just feeling what you feel there.

Green in color.

Anahata chakra.

An inch below the navel.

And then to the spine.

Yellow in color.

Manipura chakra.

Pubis.

And back to the sacral spine.

Orange in color.

Swadhisthana chakra.

The perineum.

And then up inside an inch as if you feel a little pyramid.

Pulling up from the pelvic floor.

Red in color.

Muladhara chakra.

And now the bija mantras.

So we'll move through the chakras again.

And this time I will say the sacred sounds.

First of all the initial syllable.

Followed by the resonant sound.

Just allow yourself to simply experience the sound at the chakra point.

So at Muladhara,

The sound L.

So feeling that L penetrate the chakra.

L.

L.

And then that extends into the feeling of the chakra.

Lam.

Lam.

Feeling that resonance at the chakra point.

Lam.

Pubis,

Swadhisthana chakra and back to the sacral spine.

V.

V.

V.

And feeling the resonance.

Vam.

Vam.

Vam.

Manipura chakra.

Just beneath the navel and back to the spine.

R.

R.

R.

Anahat chakra.

Yam.

Coming up to the throat.

Vishidi chakra.

Ajna chakra.

The third eye and back to the middle of your brain.

Ksham.

Ksham.

Sahasra chakra,

The crown.

The sacred sound.

And now moving back down through the chakras just with the sounds of the bija mantras.

Ksham.

Ksham.

Ksham.

Ksham.

Yam.

I am practicing yoga nidra.

And now a gentle series of visualizations to help you engage with your sense of your mythic self and deepen your inspiration.

I'll bring a number of images to light and you just simply allow yourself to envisage them on the level of memory and emotion and imagination.

And we move with kindness and ease from image to image.

You're walking on a high grassy cliff top,

Looking down at the world beneath you.

You feel yourself,

Your innocence,

Your clarity of being.

There's a thin crescent moon and a starry sky.

But you can see the valley and the landscape beneath you,

The trees and the bushes,

The buildings and the houses,

The city far away.

You're aware of yourself.

And you're aware of the path of your own life lying ahead of you.

And you feel the impulse,

The step of this moment,

The leap into this moment with clarity and with love.

You're walking through an orchard,

Gathering apples,

Grass beneath your feet,

Apples hanging heavy from the tree.

The smell of the earth and the sun.

And it rained a little while ago.

The smell of the petrichor,

The heaviness of the branches.

The ordinariness of your own life,

Simply picking fruit,

Simply being yourself,

Living the ordinary details of your life.

Meeting it all with loving awareness.

You're in a city,

A barren place,

Where everything has been paved and tarmacked.

Where the buildings reach up high,

Glass and steel,

Where you can't really see the sky anymore.

And as you look around,

You see that in the concrete there's a crack.

And there's a flower,

A single flower with three green leaves.

And two flower heads bursting through.

The flower is yellow in the centre,

White petals like a large daisy.

The courage of the flower,

The immanence of life.

You're in the ocean.

Your body is moving as if you are part of the waves.

The depth beneath you and the sky above you.

And you feel yourself going with the flow of your own life.

Thin crescent moon in the sky.

And you see your own face,

Aware of your own body,

Your own face,

Your true inner face,

Crystal clear.

And you listen.

And you can hear within the undulation of the waves,

The sound of your own inner voice,

The sound of yourself,

Clear and bright,

Full of knowing,

Full of innocence.

A mountain path,

The rising sun in the mist,

Deep forests on each side.

Path of the path,

And the path of your own footsteps.

The light warmth of the sun,

Warming your face,

Warming your body.

The feeling of expansiveness in your heart and your chest.

Moving the path of your own life,

And a sense of a new vision rising within you.

Your mind,

Your body,

Your spirit,

Your life force,

Integrated,

Filled with a new vision of this moment,

Of the truth of who you are,

Of deepest awareness,

Of orderliness,

Of your own beauty.

And you see an eagle flying in the morning sun,

Flying over mountains,

Flying over rocks and trees.

And it's as if you're with the eagle.

It's as if you see your whole life.

You see yourself lying on the floor here in Yoga Nidra.

You feel the energy of your body.

You feel the wholeness of yourself.

I'm practicing Yoga Nidra.

And now,

You repeat your sankalpa to yourself three more times,

Your positive present statement.

Planting the seed of your deepest intention in your deepest self,

And allowing it to flower like the flower coming through the concrete,

Like the morning sun rising,

Creating the foundation of your new alignment and expression of your highest self in your daily life.

I am practicing Yoga Nidra.

Allowing yourself a little more in-breath,

The feeling of the breath coming into your body,

In and out of your nostrils,

The awareness of breath,

The feeling of your physical body returning.

Your body is relaxed and lying on the floor.

The wholeness of your consciousness,

The integration with your body.

You can feel your clothes,

The blanket over you,

The floor beneath you.

You can feel the points of your body that are touching the floor.

Your heels,

Your arms,

Your thighs,

Your buttocks,

Your shoulder blades,

The back of your head.

Inviting you to visualize the room that you're in without opening your eyes.

Allowing yourself to remain still.

Allowing yourself to visualize the room around you,

The space around you.

You tune into the sounds again.

You're allowing yourself to be here.

The breath moving in and out through the body.

And when you're ready,

Keeping your eyes closed,

I invite you to turn and lie on your left side,

Just for as long as you need.

Lying on your left side,

Feeling your return.

Fresh and anew.

Coming up to sitting,

And allowing yourself to return to the day.

Your eyes opening when you are ready.

Whole.

You are here.

You are beautiful.

You are present.

Om Tat Sat.

Om Tat Sat.

Om Tat Sat.

Om Tat Sat.

Yoga Nidra is over.

Going about the rest of your day,

And the rest of your life,

With a greater sense of self and awareness.

And the sun of your own spirit,

Shining in your life,

Guiding you each step of your way.

Om Tat Sat.