Come to lie down comfortably on your back.
And our setup is in Shavasana today.
So you can imagine yourself to be like a five-pointed star.
So you'll spread the arms away from the body.
And allow the palms to be turned face up today.
So the palms are in a receptive position and the shoulder blades rest firmly on the ground or on the bed,
Whatever surface you're practicing from today.
And then just ensuring that there is space between the trunk of your body,
Your torso,
And your arms.
And then similarly with the legs,
Create some space between the legs.
So slide the feet away from one another.
And then consciously let go of all muscular effort through the legs.
And let the next exhale,
The next breath out,
Soften you further through the whole body.
And if you haven't already done so,
You can close and cover the eyes if you have something soft and lightweight like a towel to cover the eyes with.
And with the eyes now closed and covered,
Just observe your body in this initial phase of settling.
And we'll take three breaths in through the nose and allow the breath to fall out through an open mouth.
So taking a breath in and exhaling,
The breath falls out.
We'll do two more like this.
And then after that third exhalation,
You will step back from controlling or directing the breath.
So all that simply means is now you allow the breath to flow freely on its own.
The breath returns to its natural automatic rhythm,
One that is effortless and without pause.
And with the curtains of the eyelids closed down now,
Invite awareness to retreat inward.
And welcome your body into this space onto the earth.
The body softens and opens up as you begin to melt into the cradle of the earth.
And through this yoga nidra meditation,
This guided relaxation,
It is perfectly common for awareness to ebb and flow,
To transition from a more awake or alert state into a dreamlike or sleeplike state and back again.
And if total sleep calls to you today that you can welcome that as well.
There is no need to resist what your experience entails for you.
And through the powers of your own imagination,
See where you could be resting right now.
Be anywhere in the world.
Upon which terrain which surface of the earth would you be?
Painting this picture from behind the mind's eye,
Taking in the colors,
The sounds,
The smells and the tastes and the temperature.
And feel yourself resting safely in this place.
And notice here the sensations that come with the breath.
As you inhale,
Notice any sensation of cooling.
And as you exhale notice any sensation of warming,
Breathing in cooler air,
Breathing out warmer air.
Remaining present with the breath,
We shift attention into the space of the abdomen,
Lower belly and observe the places that move through the breath.
Where does the body begin to rise and expand outward as you breathe in.
Where does the body move and contract inward,
As you breathe out.
The belly and the chest rise as the abdomen and the lungs fill up.
The belly and the chest fall and the navel retreats back toward the spine as you breathe out.
Shifting into the seat of the observer,
The witness,
As you witness this natural cycle of expansion and its complimentary contraction within the spaciousness of your abdomen,
Whole torso.
Now rest attention softly upon the entirety of your face.
With all attention directed toward the face notice where you naturally soften and let go.
Relaxing the scalp,
The skull,
The forehead from the center outward toward right and left temples.
Right and left temples melt down toward the earth.
And you sense the right ear and the left ear and both ears release toward the ground.
Sense the right cheekbone and the left cheekbone,
Both cheekbones together.
Sense the right side of your jaw and the left side of your jaw,
Both sides of the jaw together.
As you release consciously through the whole jaw,
Rest attention in your chin.
Now sense or feel the lower lip and the upper lip.
Then sense both lips together.
And sense the space between upper lip and the nose.
Sense the right nostril and the left nostril.
And observe the air traveling in and out of both nostrils.
Bring awareness to the tip of the nose.
Walk up the bridge of the nose and settle into the space between the eyebrows,
Brow center.
Imagine that your attention becomes liquid,
Like a golden liquid,
And it pools and collects at the space between the eyebrows.
Now sense the right eyebrow and the left eyebrow and both eyebrows together.
Sense the right eyeball and the left eyeball and both eyes together.
And with your earth eyes closed,
Temporarily taking a break from external stimulation,
You imagine here a third eye at the space between the eyebrows,
No longer taking in the world of outer looking.
However,
Your third eye remains open and awake and your capacity for seeing opens up wide to take in a peripheral view.
With both eyes closed,
Direct their gaze upward toward your third eye to the space that resides just behind the forehead.
And gaze into this viewing screen behind your mind's eye.
And it is here that we lovingly invite all of our sense organs inward,
Our sense of taste,
And any input through the tongue.
We invite this inward now.
Our sense of touch,
Feeling the temperature of the air against exposed places of the skin.
Our sense of touch through the clothing against the body.
We invite our sense of touch inward here.
And sense of smell,
Taking in any scents or aromas that may be wafting in the room.
We invite our sense of smell inward now.
While our sense of hearing remains present and rests on the cusp of sleep.
It is here that we set our intention to turn inward and consciously experience who we are from behind closed eyes.
And scan the body,
The body at rest and held by the earth and closed in its warm and safe imaginary place.
And notice if there is any urge or desire to move to fidget to add or subtract any props or layers to accommodate your needs.
Make any adjustments that you need.
And then settle into stillness once more.
And if any sort of discomfort arises and becomes too much for you today know that you can always roll over onto your left side in the fetal position or prop yourself upright.
This is Shavasana.
This is the shape that we place our body in that holds us at the helm of the liminal realm,
The space of the in between.
Where we go to explore ourselves beyond the borders of this earthly body suit.
This is a radical act of self worship and of letting go.
As we've already surrendered the breath over to the intelligence of the body.
Place trust here within the wise soil of your body.
Have full trust that your body knows when to breathe and open up to the possibility of surrendering the mind as well.
The thinking analytical part of the mind over to the inner wisdom of your body.
As we move awareness from the outside to the inside,
Through observing the portal of our breath.
The breath will naturally grow more shallow.
As awareness descends into the deeper waters of the subconscious and allow the exhalation to serve as a grounding force for you now so each time you breathe out this breath of release this exhalation has you grounding,
A little bit closer into the earth.
And with each passing exhalation there is also an invitation for you to let go and release any remaining pent up tensions or stresses pain contractions,
Whether conscious or unconscious.
Just imagine that you can give up all of these things to the earth through the back body.
For the earth,
Our home planet,
And her element of transformation and alchemy.
She receives all things into her soil without judgment to be transformed into new life.
And then imagine that earth as your charging station.
And the earth breathes in rhythm with your body as the body breathes in the earth rises up to hold and meet you.
As your body releases breath out your weight of your bones sink slightly closer into the cradle of the earth.
Continue to play with this felt experience imagery the body breathes in the earth rises to hold you body breathes out and releases itself closer into the safety of the ground.
Now,
Sink awareness into the space behind your navel,
What you may know as your solar plexus or navel center and meditate here on the experience of gravity.
This invisible yet magical force,
Not fully understood by the human mind yet operating for us in the background of our existence.
What are the qualities that gravity imbue in your life.
Rest awareness within your own energetic center of gravity.
We will now rotate consciousness throughout the landscape of our body.
And as I call out places on the body you'll simply settle attention into this space briefly,
Moving awareness with where my voice places you.
We begin on the right side of the body,
Settling attention into the whole right hand,
The palm,
Right hand thumb,
Pointer finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And small finger.
All four fingers and the thumb.
Back of the hand.
Whole right hand.
And attention and awareness,
Refine themselves.
As we move from the grosser physical form to the subtler form of the energetic body.
Just notice if you can already sense or feel a vibration or pulsation within the palm of the right hand.
Now place attention at the right wrist joint.
Right elbow,
Right shoulder joint.
Glide awareness across the right collarbone to the base of the throat.
Back to the right shoulder joint.
Traverse right side landscape of the torso,
Moving along the right ribs,
Sensing the right lung,
And the right hip point.
Awareness moves down the length of the right thigh to the kneecap.
Sensing the lower leg.
Right ankle joint.
Top of the right foot.
And soul of the right foot.
And sense all five toes.
The right big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
And the fifth toe.
Whole right side of the body.
The return awareness to your navel center solar plexus.
Exploring the landscape on the left side now.
Beginning at the left hand,
Palm of the left hand.
Left hand thumb.
Pointer finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
And the small finger.
All four fingers and the thumb.
Back of the left hand.
The whole left hand.
Place attention at the left wrist joint.
Left elbow.
Left shoulder joint.
Glide awareness along the left collar bone toward the center of the throat.
Back to the left shoulder joint.
Awareness descends down landscape of the left side torso moving along the left ribs.
Sensing the left lung.
Moving further down to the left hip point.
Traversing the whole length of the left thigh to the kneecap.
Sensing lower leg.
Left ankle joint.
Top of the left foot.
And the sole of the left foot.
And all five toes.
The left big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
And the fifth toe.
All five toes whole left foot.
Feel the whole left side of the body at rest.
Return awareness to your navel center.
And feel right side and left side at the same time.
We now journey awareness of the back side of the body.
Beginning at the backs of both heels,
Right heel and left heel.
Back sides of the lower legs.
Back sides of both knees.
Under side of right thigh and left thigh.
The right set of buttocks and the left set of buttocks.
Sacral bone,
Lower back.
Mid back and upper back.
Sense the right shoulder blade and left shoulder blade.
Back of the neck.
And back of the head.
Sense the whole back plane of your body.
Rooted and grounded.
Return awareness to your navel center.
Now explore the front plane of the body.
Beginning at the tops of both feet.
The front sides of the shins.
Right knee cap and left knee cap.
Tops of the thighs.
Lower abdomen and upper abdomen.
Lower chest and upper chest.
Throat.
And the whole face.
Front side of the body exposed to the space above.
As you return to your navel center.
And feel the back side of the body and the front side of the body at the same time.
Now explore the final two planes of the body.
Beginning at the bottom plane in the soles of the feet.
Sole of the right foot.
Sole of the left foot.
And awareness spirals up through your inner space.
All the way up the spiral staircase of the spine through the neck and the skull.
And you meet yourself at the top plane of the body at the crown of the head.
Return to navel center and sense or feel the bottom of your body and the top of your body at the same time.
Now feel your body in its whole form.
All at once.
And feel how this body is so earth and rooted pleasantly reclined and at ease.
At rest on your charging station of the earth.
While the soft creature of your body remains grounded awareness remains free and untethered.
Limitless in its potential to expand beyond this earthly realm of your body.
Awareness expands outward in all directions and you observe this happening.
And invite awareness to retreat back in.
Awareness starts to contract ever closer inward to your inner space.
Awareness walks itself further and further in.
And rests fully inside the body and outside of the body at the same time.
This body perfectly whole by design,
Connected to the elements of earth,
Fire,
Water,
And ether.
Resting closer inward toward your energetic center as you take a journey of your inner space.
And a space that holds all other elements together.
The receptive side of your nature is visited here,
Hearing and awareness,
Or at play with one another in this invitation for deep listening.
There is nothing else you need to be doing nothing you need to get or attain from this place.
Just simply lay here,
Resting in peace.
Imagining the body to be a network of waterways and the channels are completely open.
Let yourself wade a little bit out beyond the shoreline of sleep,
Resting ankle deep in space.
Do you rest here on the cusp of sleep,
Just taking the next few moments of perfect silence for yourself.
D And awareness washes up to meet the breath once more.
As you notice how the breath is breathing you.
And how life continuously chooses you through this breath.
And as you bring back any moments of listening and remembrance from today's practice,
Bringing them back with you.
And prepare to take a full breath in.
And the breath empties itself out.
And again taking a next fuller breath in.
And allowing the breath to wash back out.
As this practice of yoga nidra slowly comes to a close.
The breath serves as your pathway back into your body.
Your body at rest upon the ground in the shape of shavasana.
As you welcome yourself back to the here and now.
Notice of your form and your shape,
Density,
Your geographical placement all come back online.
Remaining still and as you are with eyes closed.
Welcome yourself back through the other sense organs.
Having communed here with our inner senses,
We come back to our sense of taste.
Sliding the tongue across the front of the teeth and swallowing.
Sense of smell taking in any sense or aromas through both nostrils.
Sense of touch as you slide the thumbs over the fingertips.
Prepare to transition from a more still and sleep-like state of consciousness to one that is slightly more alert and wakeful.
Reawakening the body now through gentle movement.
Wiggling the fingers and the toes.
Circling joints of the wrists.
Joints of the ankles.
For more expansion you can take a larger breath in as you lift the arms overhead.
Stretching your limbs in opposite directions.
And that next breath out collapses you softly back down toward the earth.
Slowly stepping soles of the feet one at a time back onto the earth.
And it is here that you can decide how you bring yourself out of this space.
Perhaps lingering as you are for a few moments longer.
Or perhaps drawing your knees in toward your chest to roll you over onto your favorite side and cradle yourself here in the fetal position.
Just see if you can keep the eyes closed as you maneuver your body through space,
Maintaining that connection to your inner world for a few moments longer.
Continuing to welcome yourself back as you direct an inward smile of gratitude toward yourself for taking this moment for you,
This pocket out of time for rest,
Rejuvenation,
Rehabilitation.
Creating more cushion,
More space around you to be more present and compassionate for others.
When you feel ready and not a moment before is when you can open the eyes once more,
Taking your surroundings through your earthly eyes with refreshed vision.
Thank you for joining me today in this journey and I wish you a peaceful transition to the next part of your day wherever that may take you.
