Inner Glow Yoga Nidra

So we'll slowly start the practice of yoga nidra,

Always by finding ourselves in a comfortable lying down position,

Body nice and soft,

Shavasana.

Just allowing yourself a few deep breaths here,

As you feel into the length of the body.

So notice the weight in the heels,

The backs of the calves,

Back of the hips,

The length of your spine,

The shoulders and the back of your head.

Just notice how all these places of contact and weight settle on the ground.

As we let the body settle,

Especially the sense of touch,

See if you can draw your awareness to your other senses.

So perhaps your sense of taste,

Your sense of smell,

Noticing how the sense of sight is closed down or dampened at the moment,

And then connecting to your sense of hearing.

Allowing yourself to not hear only my voice,

But also all the sounds around you in this moment.

Maybe there are noises from the street,

From your home.

Maybe there is music or people talking in another room.

Maybe it's the hum of the refrigerator or something else.

Just allow yourself to hear everything that is present in this moment beyond my voice.

Feel as though your sense of hearing extends out in a big circle.

Then let it focus in one direction and then gently begin to turn,

Almost like the light of a lighthouse.

So you're essentially moving your sense of hearing in big circular motion,

Listening to the front,

The side,

The back,

The side,

And back to the front.

Allow yourself to just keep moving,

Not getting stuck or fixated on one particular sound,

But rather scanning to see for all the sounds in the moment.

Then drawing your awareness of sound in towards your nose so that what you're actually listening for is the sound of your own breath.

Rather than making the breath louder,

Make your sense of hearing finer.

So tuning into the very subtle,

Soft sound of your breath as it moves in and out through the nose.

Allow yourself to rest on this one sound a little bit longer.

Making the breath natural,

Simply observing.

Then letting your awareness draw down towards the chest.

Take a nice deep breath.

And as you exhale,

Stating your intention or sankalpa again,

Quietly,

Internally,

Three more times.

So the same as before,

Let the words drop into your awareness.

Let them ripple through your body,

Through your mind and your heart.

And then from here,

We'll switch the awareness over to the right hand thumb.

And I'll name different parts of the body.

All you have to do is let your awareness travel to all the different parts as I named them.

So right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Palm of the hand,

The wrist,

The lower arm,

The elbow,

The upper arm,

The shoulder,

Right side of the chest,

The waist,

The hip,

The right thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg and ankle,

The right foot,

Arachnid toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

Left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Palm of the hand,

The wrist,

The lower arm,

The elbow,

The upper arm,

The shoulder,

Left side of the chest,

The waist,

The hip,

The thigh,

The knee,

The lower leg,

The ankle,

Left foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

Both of the feet together,

Both of the ankles together,

Both of the lower legs,

The knees,

The thighs,

Feeling the hips,

Lower back,

Middle back,

Upper back,

Right shoulder,

Right arm,

Right hand,

Left shoulder,

Upper arm,

Lower arm,

The hand,

Both of the hands together,

Both of the arms together,

Both of the shoulders,

The back of the neck,

The back of the head,

The crown of the head and the forehead,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

The nose,

The tip of the nose,

The upper lip,

The lower lip,

The chin,

The throat,

Right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

Right side of the chest,

Left side of the chest,

The centre of the chest,

The centre of the belly,

The whole front of the body as you inhale,

The whole back side of the body as you exhale,

Front of the body as you inhale and back of the body as you exhale,

The whole of the body together,

Feeling the whole of the body together,

Feeling the heaviness of the whole of the body,

The heaviness of the body resting into the floor,

Heaviness in the feet,

The hands,

The legs,

The arms,

The hips,

The chest and the head,

Heaviness in the whole of the body resting on the ground,

Reversing the sensation and seeing if you can find lightness,

Sense of lightness in the whole of the body,

Lightness like a balloon about to float away,

Lightness in the tips of your toes,

The tips of your fingers,

Your knees,

Your inner elbows,

Your hip bones,

The collarbones,

The chin,

Your nose,

Your forehead,

The whole of the body is light as a feather.

Bringing the awareness back towards the breath.

And from here we'll count the breath backwards.

Counting back from 54,

We'll count the breath as follows.

Inhale 54.

Inhale 53.

Exhale 53.

Inhale 52.

Exhale 52.

Keep counting the breath on your own.

If you find that you lose track or you drift off to sleep,

Just bring yourself back.

You can start from the beginning,

But slowly resting with your breath and counting your breath backwards as you go.

Inhale 54.

Exhale 54.

Keep counting your breath.

Exhale 54.

And then slowly release the counting of your breath.

Let your awareness come to rest once more in the chest.

And I'm going to start resting here for a moment.

And I'm going to name different objects and spaces.

From where you are,

I invite you to visualize them as vividly as you can in detail and color and feeling and experience.

Bird flying across clear the sky.

Sun setting over the ocean.

Drop of rain falling on a big green leaf.

Walking barefoot over freshly cut grass.

A bird flying across the clear blue skies.

The sun setting golden orange across the ocean.

From summer rain falling on green leaves.

Walking barefoot over freshly cut grass.

Allow yourself to gently come back from wherever you are towards the chest,

Letting your awareness rest in this space here.

And once again,

Connecting to the flow of your breath,

Feeling like you are seated in the heart.

Feeling how the breath moves in,

Expanding the ribs.

And noticing how a bright light from lower down in the pelvis and the belly shines bright and golden every time that you inhale.

As the light grows brighter,

You notice all the dark spaces inside the body,

All the shadows begin to shimmer in the light.

Allow yourself to just keep breathing,

Nurturing this golden light within you.

Noticing how any dark spaces,

Any shadows begin to disappear,

Turning into this vivid bright glow,

Almost like the whole inside of your body is made of gold.

Feel that light and that shimmer move beyond the chest,

Down the shoulders,

The arms,

Into the hands.

And from the pelvis down the legs all the way to the feet.

From the heart up through the throat into the head.

We begin to feel the sense of light,

Of shimmer,

Of glow begin to extend and expand outwards beyond your body.

Feel it shine up towards the sky.

Feel it shine down from the back body into the earth,

Until the whole of your body is encapsulated,

Held in this golden orb of light.

Allow yourself to feel the softness of your body,

Resting on the ground,

Held in this bright golden light.

Feel it moving up through the face into the brain,

Out through the crown of your head,

Creating a sense of spaciousness,

A sense of softness,

And also a sense of being deeply connected,

Deeply connected to yourself as well as the world around you.

Few more breaths here in the shimmering light.

And then once again,

Repeating your santalta,

Your intention,

Three times,

Letting the words drop into your awareness,

Letting the words ripple through this golden light.

And then slowly becoming aware once more of your individual fingers and toes,

Letting them gently move.

And then in your own time,

When you feel ready,

Stretching the arms out by your sides,

Perhaps shifting them all the way overhead as you lengthen out from the tips of your fingers to the tips of your toes,

Bringing the body back to waking.

Then rolling onto any side that feels good,

Drawing the knees into the chest,

Perhaps resting your head on a pillow or a bolster.

And just spending a few breaths,

Breathing down the back of your spine.

So breathing down to the tailbone,

Breathing up towards the crown of your head as we bring life and sensation back into the body.

And when you're ready,

You can find your way back towards a comfortable seated pose.

Then bringing the hands together in front of the chest,

Gently bowing the forehead.

Take a moment to send some appreciation to yourself.

Or taking the time to be here this evening to nurture your body and your mind.

Or taking the time to open up all the spaces within the body,

Releasing all that we've carried and honoring them with compassion and awareness.