Yoga Nidra - Give A Gift to Yourself

Dear one,

Welcome to this yoga nidra,

A deep relaxation practice to offer you a space of letting go and rest during the holiday season when things can get buzzy and busy.

This yoga nidra is designed for the winter holidays but can also be practiced at any time of the year.

It is a nidra that is meant to be a gift,

A gift from me to you and mainly a gift from you to yourself.

This nidra is a gift and full permission to take a pause,

Offering your body and your entire being a time to unwind,

Relax and just be.

There is nothing you need to do during this practice,

There are no expectations,

There are no obligations,

No need to think of anything,

Be attuned to anything or keep anything in mind.

The next 30 to 40 minutes are for you to surrender and bath in the simple act of just being.

Take a few moments here now to make yourself as comfortable as you possibly can in the comfort of your own bed or on a couch.

Place a warm soothing blanket on your body,

A pillow under your head and let your legs and arms fall to the sides.

Create spaciousness in your entire body for bones and muscles to find a relaxed place.

Bring your palms to face the sky and speak an inner invitation for the entire body to rest in such a way that all can flow freely.

Let your mind come to a resting pause,

Unwinding from the often endless train of thoughts.

Mind is opening,

Becoming spacious as your awareness rests towards the back of your head.

Imagine a little dot in the middle of the back of your head and let your awareness settle here and then take a few long deep breaths here as your awareness settles backwards and your entire body melts deeper into the surface underneath you.

Every exhale supports the body to get a bit more heavy,

Resting downwards towards the support and holding of the earth.

Deep breath in and exhale letting go.

Deep breath in and exhale release downward.

One last deep breath in,

Open the mouth and sigh it all out towards the earth.

Beautiful.

We will now begin with the practice of yoga nidra.

So as your body is softening here now and becoming more heavy,

Relaxed into the comfort of your bed or couch,

Let the breath just flow naturally in its own rhythm.

This time is for you and for you only.

So as we dive into the practice there is an opportunity now to feel and sense into a true gift that you can give yourself in this moment.

A gift of intention,

A gift of a felt experience that you would like to have in your own body during our time together.

Take a moment here to tune in,

Let thoughts aside and feel what would be the greatest gift for you at this moment in time.

Maybe it is the simplicity of just being,

Maybe it is true deep relaxation,

Perhaps it is a feeling of ease and lightness or a genuine sense of love.

Whatever it is for you today,

Choose the experience your being longs for the most and then bring that into a sankalpa,

A statement of I am.

So for example,

I am deeply relaxed,

I am truly at ease,

I am genuine love.

Whatever it is that feels true for you right now.

Then repeat your sankalpa,

Your I am statement three times silently in your mind.

As you complete the third time,

Let the echoes begin to spread in your entire being.

Let the ripples reach out into your body,

Slowly inviting the body to attune to the frequency of your sankalpa.

Wonderful and then let this go.

Take a deep breath to release any focus on your sankalpa.

We will now move to the rotation of awareness through your physical body.

I invite you to stay relaxed at ease and allow yourself to be guided by the sound of my voice and if it's supports you to stay present with the practice,

You can repeat the body parts mentioned silently in your mind.

We will begin by bringing the awareness to the right hand thumb.

Notice the tingling in your right hand thumb and imagine a warm soothing cloth is placed gently on your right hand thumb.

The warmth of this cloth is soothing,

Calming and the nerves in your right hand thumb unwind,

Relax and just rest in space.

Then imagine that warm soothing cloth is gently placed on your second finger,

Winding any agitation or restlessness that lives in your second finger and third,

Fourth and pinky finger.

The cloth is placed on the entire palm of the right hand and then on your wrist,

On your forearm,

Elbow,

Right shoulder and it is placed on the right side of the chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Right thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle and the warm soothing cloth is placed on the entire foot,

All five toes,

Warmth calming down any nervous energy in the entire right side of the body.

A soothing,

Calming warmth is spreading in the entire right side of the body.

The right side of the body is feeling heavy and warm and every breath allows for a bit more relaxation.

Now bring your awareness to the left hand thumb.

Notice any tingling in your left hand thumb and imagine a warm soothing cloth is placed on your left hand thumb.

The warmth of the cloth is soothing,

Calming and the nerves in your left hand thumb unwind,

Relax and begin to just rest in space.

The warm soothing cloth is gently placed on your second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Pinky finger.

The cloth is placed on the entire palm of the left hand,

Your wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Left shoulder.

The cloth is placed on the left side of the chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Left leg,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle and then the warm soothing cloth is placed on the entire foot,

On all five toes and the warmth of the cloth is calming down any nervous energy in the left side of the body.

A soothing,

Calming warmth is spreading in the entire left side of the body.

The left side is feeling heavy and warm and every breath allows for a bit more relaxation.

From here let the warmth spread along the entire back side of the body.

Notice how it flows and embraces the entire back side of the body from the heels all the way up to the back side of your head.

There's a free flow of soothing warm energy.

Then bring your awareness to the top of your head and to the face.

A warm soothing cloth is gently placed on your forehead,

On your temples,

On your cheeks,

On your eyes and nose.

The eyelids relax,

Eyeballs fall into the warm sockets behind the eyes and sense the space between the eyes.

Ears relax and sense the space between the ears,

Nostrils,

Lips,

The entire mouth.

Your tongue is heavy and relaxed in the mouth.

Then expand your awareness to your entire body including the torso,

The right and the left arm,

The right and the left leg and the feet.

Breathe into the warmth of your entire body.

Breathe into the softness and also into the heaviness.

Breathe the entire relaxation of your body.

Your body is relaxed,

Warm,

Held and resting.

Breathing into the entire body and letting your entire body breathe.

Every cell of your body is receiving the flow of air coming in and releasing as the air goes out.

Your mind is resting on the breath as the breath turns into a continuous flow with no break between inhale and exhale and no break between exhale and inhale.

And we will stay here for a little while,

Deep soothing breaths into your entire body.

And at this point I invite you to count backwards from 16 to 1,

Saying silently internally,

Inhale 16,

Exhale 16,

Inhale 15,

Exhale 15 and so on.

Should you lose count or not know where you are,

You can return to 16 and begin again.

I will leave you now in silence for a few moments,

Simply breathing,

Counting,

Resting the mind,

Letting the body fully relax.

And then gently come back to my voice.

And notice your experience in this very moment.

No need to evaluate or come to any conclusions.

Remain at ease and take note of what is occurring in your awareness at this moment in time.

From this all body awareness I now want to invite you to focus particularly on the contact points between your body and the surface underneath you.

The places in your body where your skin or your clothing touches and melts into what is holding you at this moment in time.

Notice the support,

The safety you can experience as you let go into the surface underneath you.

And rest here,

Feeling held,

Feeling safe.

And I will now mention different scenarios for you to experience in your body.

These scenarios may evoke sensations,

Motions,

Maybe a memory.

Let it all arise as it wishes to and remain in a witnessing space.

Begin by inviting a sense of darkness into your body.

Attune your awareness to darkness in your body,

From head to toe,

From head to toes,

All is becoming pitch black dark.

In fact,

The inner landscape of your body is already dark for the most part.

So let your awareness adjust to this darkness.

Embrace it and welcome it.

A soothing,

Warming darkness.

A place to withdraw to.

A womb-like space within your own body.

And notice the sensations that arise with this.

Perhaps there's a feeling of heaviness,

Of density or warm liquid flow.

Or maybe a completely different experience.

Whatever is there,

Can you allow yourself to open to it a little more?

Then let go of the darkness.

Release it from your body and invite the opposite.

Invite a pure,

Bright,

Golden light into the body.

From head to toes,

A golden light begins to flow in your entire body.

Every cell in your body starts to be lit up by this bright light.

Even the spaces in between the cells are illuminated.

There's a bright light from head to toes.

And also here,

Become aware of anything arising as you let that golden light flow through your body.

Notice especially the sensations.

Beautiful.

And then invite both.

Invite darkness and the golden light at the same time.

Leave your mind aside and trust that darkness and light can co-exist in your body.

Open yourself to that possibility.

And if it is challenging for you to experience both simultaneously,

You can move back and forth between darkness and light until they eventually start to co-exist.

Darkness and light at the same time.

Then take a good look at how you are feeling right now.

What is your experience in this moment?

Without any interpretation or meaning making,

Simply notice,

Tune in and feel.

Then let all that dissolve into a space of silence and come back to the neutral space in your body.

And allow the breath to cleanse any remaining experience.

Surrender it down towards the earth until all that is left is an empty vessel of silence.

And as the silence deepens,

We will now move into the wisdom body.

And the access point to your wisdom body is located in the pineal gland.

So let your awareness rest in the middle of the head between the two hemispheres of the brain.

Relax this area and rest in the pineal gland.

From here we will now go on a visualization journey through your favorite winter landscape.

Choose a place in the world that truly nourishes you.

A place in nature that is home for you.

Maybe that is a specific place maybe it is a vast landscape.

Whatever arises first,

Trust that this is the place for you to journey in.

Now visualize yourself in this landscape on a crisp cold sunny winter day.

Maybe there's snow,

Maybe even ice.

And you are wrapped in warm clothes and you have all the time in the world to take a walk and enjoy this beautiful landscape.

And notice what you can see.

Are there trees,

Mountains,

Lakes,

Pathways,

Trails,

Bushes?

Walk through this landscape as if it is your first time.

Rediscovering details you missed all those last times you were there.

Maybe you can see new colors,

Shapes,

Textures or smells.

You notice the cold air,

The warm sun,

The snow cracking beneath your feet.

What is there?

You keep walking in this favorite landscape of yours until you come to a magnificent tall beautiful tree.

Beautiful tree.

You've seen this tree many times before and yet something is different about it this time.

The tree appears in a magical light,

A certain aura of color you haven't seen before.

You get curious,

You feel drawn to the magic of the tree and you walk towards it.

As you get closer the magic does not disappear,

Rather the opposite.

It seems as if the entire tree is bathing in light.

You take a few more steps and then you stand in front of the tree.

You notice your eyes wandering up the trunk,

The tree to the branches.

Your gaze travels along some branches till the edges of the tree.

Then your gaze naturally moves back to the trunk and all the way down to the earth.

And as your gaze lands at the bottom of the tree you notice that there is a small golden box.

A box that is shining in the same magical light as the tree.

And you are mesmerized by the light dancing on the golden color of the box.

And then you realize this is your box.

It feels so familiar.

A little treasure box you've had for a long time.

You step closer and pick up the box.

You take a deep breath and begin to open the box.

As you look inside you see a variety of different things.

As you investigate them you notice that they have one thing in common.

They are here to support you.

They are here to bring your Sankalpa to life.

Maybe there are tools,

Items,

Energetic supporters or whatever it is you need to bring your deep longing into reality.

What do you see in the little box?

So take a moment here and remind yourself of the Sankalpa you set at the beginning of this Nidra.

Maybe it was I am deeply relaxed,

I'm truly at ease,

I am genuine love or something completely different.

Bring your Sankalpa to mind and with the support of the golden box and all that is in there breathe your Sankalpa in.

Repeat it three times silently in your mind.

Your Sankalpa is now becoming your reality.

Let it take form and let you experience it.

Allow your entire body,

Your entire being to receive your Sankalpa fully.

I will leave you in silence for a few moments to fully take this in.

Breathe,

Rest and experience your gift to yourself,

Your Sankalpa.

Slowly,

Slowly come back to my voice.

Come back to my voice.

Slowly come back to my voice.

Let go of any visuals that still remain in your awareness.

Let go of the golden box,

The tree,

The landscape until all that is left is a soothing energetic experience of your Sankalpa.

Allow yourself to be and to rest in a space of peace,

Harmony and balance.

I will now close the practice of Yoga Nidra.

The music will continue to play for a couple of minutes and take your time here.

Rest,

Rest and only when you are ready to bring yourself gently back to your physical body,

Your breath,

The room you are in,

The sounds around you,

Then do so.

May this Yoga Nidra bring you peace in your thoughts,

Peace in your mind,

Peace in your body and peace as you move into the rest of your day.

Hare Om Tat Sat