Yoga Nidra - Forest Journey

Hello,

My name is Laurel and I'm going to guide you through a yoga nidra journey.

So just take some time to find a spot that's free from distractions where you can lie comfortably for the duration of the practice.

Settling in here,

Just feeling your body get heavy.

At this time nothing else matters.

Right now nothing else exists except for your body and your breath.

There's nowhere to go and nothing to do but simply be.

This is time for you.

Stay still,

Completely still now so your body and mind can deeply rest and rejuvenate.

Remain conscious and aware while you're guided.

Keep listening,

Deep listening.

Settle into your body.

Settle your body down into the earth.

Feel the earth underneath you,

Holding and supporting you in your practice today.

Come into stillness and remain still,

Completely still for yoga nidra practice.

Repeat these words in your mind.

I am completely still during yoga nidra.

I am alert and attentive during yoga nidra.

What is your heart's deepest longing?

Listen and let the answer come up from your heart.

Make this into an intention,

A positive statement in the present tense as though it's already happening.

For example,

Rather than I'm not stressed or I will relax,

Say with feeling,

I am relaxed.

I am peace.

Come up with your own intention and state it three times to yourself.

You will affirm this truth again at the end of yoga nidra.

Now let your consciousness move through your body as you're guided.

Feel each body part,

Then move onto the next one prompted.

I'll be going quite quickly through the body so as not to linger or think.

Do not worry if you cannot feel every body part.

Feel sensation in your mouth.

Without moving,

Feel the roof of your mouth.

Underneath the tongue,

Teeth,

Gums,

Tongue,

Root of the tongue,

Inside the right cheek,

Inside the left cheek.

Sense taste in your mouth.

Now feel all parts of your mouth,

All together as a whole.

The entire mouth as sensation,

As radiant energy.

Now feel your nose.

Feel the length of your nose,

The tip,

Nostrils,

Right nostril,

Left nostril,

Both nostrils.

Feel your breath passing through the nostrils.

Sense smell.

Feel your whole nose as energy,

As prana,

As vibration.

Feel your nose.

Now feel your ears,

Feeling the wrinkles and folds,

The backs,

Earlobes,

Ear canal,

Inner ear.

Feel your ears hearing,

Listening,

Receiving sound.

Feel your ears as glowing orbs of sensation and vibration.

Feel your ears.

Now feel your eyes,

Eyelids,

Eyelashes,

Surface of your eyes,

Centers of your eyes,

Backs of your eyes,

Behind the eyes.

Feel your eyes as radiant orbs of energy,

Color,

Sensation.

Become aware of your crown,

Throat,

Right palm,

Thumb,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

All fingers,

The whole hand with fingers,

Right wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder.

Feel your throat center.

Now the left side,

The left palm,

Thumb,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

All fingers,

Whole hand with fingers,

Left wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder.

Feel your throat center,

Heart center,

Solar plexus,

Navel,

Right hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Right lower leg,

Ankle,

Top of the foot,

Sole,

Big right toe,

Second,

Third,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Feel the entire right side of the body.

Feel your navel,

Left hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Left lower leg,

Ankle,

Top of the foot,

Sole,

Big left toe,

Second,

Third,

Fourth,

Fifth toes.

Feel the entire left side of the body.

Feel your root between the sitting bones,

Navel,

Solar plexus,

Heart center,

Throat center,

Mouth,

Between the eyebrows,

The crown of your head.

Feel the right side of your body.

Feel the left side of your body.

Notice both sides of your body.

Feel the midline with a right and a left join.

Now feel the back body,

Heels,

Calves,

Backs of knees,

Backs of thighs,

Buttocks,

Low back,

Ribs on the back,

Shoulder blades,

Between the shoulder blades,

Spine,

Back of the neck,

Back of the head,

Backs of hands,

Arms,

Elbows,

Shoulder blades,

Back of the heart.

Feel whole back body,

Front body,

Crown of the head,

Forehead,

Eyes,

Nose,

Cheeks,

Mouth,

Chin,

Jaw,

Throat,

Collarbones,

Chest,

Shoulders,

Arms,

Inner elbows,

Inner wrists,

Palms,

Fingertips,

Chest,

Heart,

Solar plexus,

Stomach,

Belly,

Hips,

Thighs,

Kneecaps,

Shins,

Tops of feet,

Toes,

Feel the whole front body,

Side of the body facing the sky.

Become aware now of your natural breath as it flows through you.

Notice breath in your belly.

Feel breath in your chest.

Feel breath in your nostrils.

Feel breath flowing easily,

Rhythmically,

Gentle through your entire body.

Notice your breath as it streams through you.

Notice your breath and follow it.

Begin to feel the pause,

The breath suspended between the inhalation and exhalation.

Feel the gap.

Now begin to feel the pause between the exhalation and the inhalation.

Feel the reversal of direction of breath.

Feel the gap opening a little wider.

Feel the pause between breaths.

Now imagine your body becoming heavy,

Very heavy,

Sinking into the earth as you are filled with cement.

The body heavy sinking into a soft,

Receptive earth underneath you.

Body heavy and sinking.

Body heavy and sinking.

Bones heavy.

Lins heavy.

Head heavy.

Torso heavy.

Body heavy and sinking.

Now imagine your body becoming light.

Light as a feather.

Light as a bubble floating upward,

Buoyant,

Like a cloud floating,

Drifting with other clouds across the clear blue sky.

Like floating in warm water,

Drifting.

Drifting with the gentle current.

And now feel the heaviness again.

And now feel light.

Go between the two feelings on your own.

Feel both now at the same time.

Here we're going to take a journey outside now.

It's summer.

It's hot.

We're walking on a road.

See a trail into a meadow.

Take your shoes off.

Follow it.

It leads to a sacred forest.

Enter forest.

Floor soft.

Earth dark.

Red.

Solid.

M.

Trail winds around trees.

Notice what kind of trees you see.

See them in detail.

Bark.

Branches.

Needles.

Leaves.

The shape.

Hear sounds of chipmunks,

Birds,

Squirrels stirring around the leaves.

The air is moist and dense with fresh forest smells of cedar,

Oak,

Pine,

Spruce,

Wild herbs and wild flowers.

Come up to a tiger lily and look deep into its center.

See the perfect circle.

See the spots.

Notice the orange.

Notice its big blossoming outward like rays of the sun.

Walk on.

Path is now mossy.

Almost like a carpet,

Soft.

Stopping now,

Feel your feet,

Your legs,

Your belly.

Close your eyes.

Raising your face to the sun.

Feel the rays of sun shine through the shimmering leaves of the trees.

Then warming your belly,

Your heart,

Your face.

Draw this golden warmth into your solar plexus.

Feel it expanding and nourishing you.

Feel the sun's rays pouring into your solar plexus and now shines out to fill the rest of your body.

Take a moment to look around and take in all the green.

Look around you and notice emeralds everywhere surrounding you,

Smelling green like emerald refresh and soothe your heart.

Feel your heart expanding wide.

Just roll on your path and come up to a bubbling brook,

Hearing the harmonic melody of water swirling,

Twisting,

Bubbling and flowing around stones.

Hearing the sound echoed in your throat,

A flowing song.

Water,

Cool blue.

Kneel down to take a good look.

There's rocks of many colors,

Noticing the textures and patterns.

Find your favorite river stone and pick it up.

Enjoy its weight,

Its ancient age,

Its colors and cool wetness.

Toss it back into the bubbling brook with a splash.

See all the creatures of the brook buzzing,

Flying,

Swimming on the surface.

A blue dragonfly,

A small orange newt at the edge.

See pine needles flowing and swirling in the liquid,

Noticing the freedom of movement of the water.

Find a large rock and sit on top of it,

Feeling its coolness and how it came up from the earth,

Connected to the earth.

Find a large tree and look at its bark.

And up,

Up,

Up to the top,

Notice all the space it takes up.

Watch the grace of the treetop and its gentle breeze.

Notice how expanded the tree is and how all the space between its branches.

Now see the vastness of space above the tree all the way up to the moon.

The round full moon,

Perfect and whole,

Reflects your own wholeness.

Now see the expansive universe above and beyond the moon.

See the very top of the tree and slowly let your eyes flow down the tree trunk.

Down,

Down,

Down,

Down its trunk until you reach the earth.

Meaning you now have x-ray eyes and you can look down into the earth.

See all the tree's roots,

And organized,

Pouring out of canals.

These roots are like rivers,

Flowing upward.

The roots inside the Celtic knots of roots look deeper still.

And these roots lay a symbol for you.

Look closely now.

What do you see?

What shape?

What color?

See the symbol in detail.

This is a gift from the spirit of the tree.

Reach down and easily lift up the symbol.

It's on a string and you place it around your neck.

It rests on your heart glowing with radiance and color.

See its color.

You feel that this is the same symbol that's in your hearts.

Carrying now this symbol,

A reminder of the light you shine forth into the world.

Feel it,

This bright symbol you bring back to the world as you walk back down the path to the edge of the sacred forest.

See the trees,

Through the meadow,

Find your shoes and put them on,

Back to the road,

Merging again,

Renewed with the world.

Remember now your intention.

The positive statement you said at the beginning.

Say it now as though it's already happening in the present.

Feel the truth of this statement.

Find your resolve and inhale it into your body.

Let it fill every cell.

Inhale it again and again.

This seed has now been planted deep inside where it blossoms.

Returning back to your body here,

Just notice the back of your body,

The side of the body facing the earth.

Feel all the places where you touch the ground.

Feel your body heavy.

Notice the front body facing skyward.

Feel your body light.

Notice all of the space surrounding you.

Let your body expand wider into the space that surrounds you.

Notice your breath.

Feel its rhythm and pace.

We're now completing relaxation practice.

Before moving,

Sense your fingers and just imagine them moving.

Now begin to feel your fingers wiggle with your breath,

Feeling every sensation as you do.

Notice your toes.

Begin to wiggle your toes.

Gently rock your head side to side,

A slow awakening.

Draw a deeper breath into your belly,

Into your chest.

Walk slowly over to your right side in a fetal position.

Imagine that your water and pressing your left palm into the floor flow up like a river to a comfortable seated position.

Lengthen your spine.

Take a full breath in as you exhale.

Imagine filling with divine light.

Bring your hands onto your face.

Notice how you feel right now.

Notice the effects of your relaxation practice.

May there be peace,

Eternal peace in your heart.

Reverse slowly now,

Allow the eyes to slowly open,

Gazing softly at the floor.