Welcome to this morning yoga nidra practice.
My intention with this offering is to hold space for you to soften into a new day,
To awaken the heart,
Calm and center the mind,
And reconnect to the sanctuary that is alive and well within you.
As you begin to awaken this morning,
Allow yourself to arrive gently here.
No need to rush or fully enter into life before your spirit is ready.
And know that you can do this practice lying in bed before you even get up for the day or rest comfortably in a seated position.
And if you would like to begin by stretching your body,
Perhaps reaching your arms overhead,
Circling your wrists and ankles,
Lengthening through your spine,
Rolling your shoulders,
Or even drawing your knees towards your chest,
Taking any movement tenderly,
Letting your body find an easeful place to simply be as you release any residual tightness from sleep or stiffness that has accumulated in your muscles.
And as you begin to settle into stillness,
See if you can soften your jaw,
Shoulders,
Hips.
And begin to notice your breath and how it is arriving.
Is it flowing freely or does it feel constricted,
Short and shallow?
Is it deep and full?
And begin to notice the landscape of your mind.
Did you awaken with clarity or cloudiness,
With inspiration,
Or an anxious thread already weaving beneath the surface of your awareness?
Notice where your body already feels spacious and open,
And where perhaps it feels guarded and tight or even resistant.
However you're arriving in this moment,
It is perfectly okay.
And just inviting in this sweet stillness of early morning before the world becomes too loud.
This is a new day,
A fresh start,
A blank canvas.
And as you return your awareness back to your breath,
I invite you to place one hand on your belly and the other on your heart space.
And feel your body being breathed as though the breath itself knows exactly how to awaken you gently into this new day.
Take a slow,
Deep inhale through your nose and a gentle yet complete exhale out the mouth.
Again,
Breathing deeply and witnessing the hand resting upon your belly rising with the inhale.
And notice how it softens on the exhale.
Continuing to witness the breath and how the hand on the heart perhaps remains a little more steady,
Anchored,
And present.
Allowing the breath to be fluid and easeful.
Inviting in a little coherence in the breath by gently counting the length of your inhale and your exhale.
Perhaps inhaling for a count of four or five,
And exhaling for four or five.
Trusting that there is no right or wrong ratio here.
You're simply noticing and exploring how it feels to breathe with a little more equanimity.
And if it feels natural,
You could even allow your exhale to become slightly longer than your inhale.
Not forcing the breath,
Just exploring it with curiosity.
And feel free to release this counting and allow the breath to flow intuitively like an ocean wave moving in and out whenever you are ready.
And you may keep your hands right where they are or allow them to rest wherever feels most comfortable to you.
And now as if your breath is a guide,
Follow it inward,
Inviting your attention to orient towards your heart center.
And settle into this space with your awareness as if this is an inner sanctuary.
A place of safety and trust.
A space that holds no judgments,
Where you can simply be exactly as you are without expectation.
A space where your wiser,
Higher self has been patiently waiting,
Ready to greet you each and every morning.
Perhaps you feel or sense or even hear this aspect of yourself as if to say,
Hello and welcome,
And I'm so glad that you're here.
Even inviting in this sense of unconditional love that springs from your heart space.
And you can also invite in a sense of feeling trust,
Goodness,
And light,
General wellbeing.
And notice how your body responds to this.
Maybe noticing a warmth or a softening,
Or even envisioning an inner glow of remembrance,
Of radiance in the heart.
And if in this moment you are not feeling trust or openness,
Whatever you are feeling is welcome here too.
This sanctuary receives you exactly as you are.
Now,
Begin to become aware that with your attention,
The energy that lives here in the heart begins to enliven.
An opening,
An expanding as if this heart space is ready to receive the newness of the day as well.
With every inhale,
The heart gathers light,
Energy,
Awareness.
And with every exhale,
The light softly expands,
Awareness expands.
The spiritual heart gently opening,
Illuminating,
And softening into the day.
This inner sanctuary is a place that lives within you always.
A place you can return to at any point throughout the day to remember what is real,
What is steady,
What is true.
And in this moment,
There is life here,
Light,
A quiet spirit alive and well within the heart space.
And just allowing yourself to rest here as a powerful practice for a few more breaths.
This is more than enough.
And with a grounded sense of acceptance and even belonging,
We'll begin to travel through your body with your awareness,
Beginning at your feet.
Allow your attention to enter into the soles of your feet,
Perhaps a sense of light or warmth like a sunrise slowly illuminating earth and sky.
And if you do not sense light or warmth,
That is okay too.
Your attention is more than enough.
Awareness itself brings illumination to what has already been sacred within the whole time.
So as you feel your awareness,
Gently awaken your feet,
Travel through each toe on the right and each toe on your left,
The soles of both feet together,
The whole left foot,
The whole right foot,
Both feet together.
Light and warmth rise up through the ankles,
Calves,
Knees,
Thighs,
Right hip,
Left hip,
Both hips together.
The light of your awareness fills the pelvic bowl and continues to rise like the sun upward,
Warming the belly,
Illuminating each rib,
Your whole rib cage and the space that protects,
The back body,
The front body,
Chest,
Heart space.
Awareness now flowing through each finger on the right hand and allowing your awareness to move over to the left,
Your awareness flowing through each on the left hand.
And now both hands together as though the left and right hand are each holding something precious.
Orbs of light held in the right and left hand begin to flow through the right arm and the left arm,
Illuminating both arms together.
Like a sunrise continuing to open the day,
Your awareness flows through the right and left collarbones,
Right and left shoulders,
Neck,
Throat.
Light and warmth begin illuminating the face,
Lips,
Cheeks,
Nose,
Eyes,
Ears,
Forehead,
Your awareness illuminating the mind,
The left hemisphere of the brain and the right hemisphere of the brain,
And the whole head,
Your whole body illuminated with light and awareness.
Sense,
Feel,
Or imagine a ray of light shining from the center of the mind,
Your third eye center,
Your intuitive mind awakening.
And invite your discerning thinking mind to take a gentle bow towards the wisdom of your spiritual heart.
And with your awareness,
You follow this inner acknowledgement back down,
Returning once more to your heart center,
Your inner sanctuary.
Rest here.
As you feel your body being breathed,
Continuing to gently awaken into the day,
Begin to notice where you sense resistance within the body or mind.
Without judgment,
Simply notice what does resistance feel like to you?
Perhaps a tightening or holding,
Guarding,
Pressure.
Now imagine what life would be experienced like if life was entirely through the lens of resistance.
What does that feel like?
What does it look like to move through the world,
Always bracing,
Always gripping,
Always protecting?
How does the body respond?
How does the heart feel?
And now gently release that experience,
Softening your awareness.
Begin to welcome in a sense of openness,
Spaciousness.
Allow a softening so that you feel every cell opening,
As if a dam has released and you are able to flow outward in all directions,
Expanding in infinite ways.
What does openness feel like within you?
What does a life lived with greater openness look like,
Feel like?
How does the body respond to openness?
How does the heart feel wide open?
And feel yourself release that experience.
And can you feel resistance and openness existing at the same time?
What would that feel like?
And now feel yourself resting in the light of peace.
Begin to welcome in a sense of sacred harmony,
A coherence of stability and openness.
Feeling safely held here from this space of grounded support,
The stabilizing force.
You are safe to open and expand.
Just as a tree grows towards the light,
Allow yourself to stretch gently into the day,
Rooted and connected into the heart space.
Imagine yourself from here shining in infinite ways,
Light shining throughout your life,
Trusting in the unfolding of life where you are both grounded and open,
Supported and spacious.
As you feel yourself connected into your heart space,
You remember your Sankalpa,
Your heart's creative code already alive and known within you.
There is nothing you need to chase and nothing you need to force into becoming.
So allow your Sankalpa to reveal itself,
Trusting in this divine timing.
Like the sunrise,
It unfolds in its own divine timing.
Feel your breath and the quiet resonance alive within you,
Prana flowing,
Perhaps experiencing this as warmth,
Light,
Stillness,
Presence.
As we begin to close this practice,
Take a moment of gratitude for the time you have given yourself this morning.
Notice if this seed of gratitude naturally begins to expand,
Touching other areas of your life,
Other people,
Other blessings you wish to silently give thanks for.
Now with a few final nourishing breaths as if you are feeding the soul itself,
You're invited to rest in the resonance of OM.
You may simply imagine the sound internally,
Perhaps sensing your breath itself as a ripple of OM,
Moving gently through the whole body.
Or you could even softly hum to yourself,
Allowing the vibration to soothe and awaken from within.
And if it feels natural,
You could chant OM aloud.
So together we can take a and begin.
Feel the vibration moving through your body.
Again,
Inhaling deeply,
OM.
The mind softening and opening,
The heart expanding and illuminating.
And a final time together,
We can breathe in,
OM.
And as the sound fades,
Notice the quiet that remains.
And may you move through this day,
Anchored in the wisdom of your heart,
Allowing the mind to serve the deeper truth within you.
And whenever you need to reorient,
Pause,
Breathe,
And return to the sanctuary within.
Namaste.
