I want you to prepare now for the practice of yoga nidra,
Lying comfortably,
Having as much support as you need,
Making any movements that you need to make,
Check that your spine is in a straight line,
Your feet are separated and dropped out to the sides,
Your palms turned upwards,
Your arms just a little bit away from your body,
Be aware of the feeling of your whole body,
Your whole body surrendering into a period of rest,
Deep rest,
No sleep.
As we come into the practice of yoga nidra,
You're going to be functioning on the levels of hearing and awareness,
And all that I ask is that you follow the guiding voice.
It's beneficial to remain awake and aware through the practice,
But even if you fall asleep,
There is a part of you that continues to listen.
If you feel yourself drifting and wandering in your mind,
Keep coming back to the guiding voice and continue to follow the instructions.
Being aware now of the whole of your physical body laid down on Mother Earth,
Imagine beneath you the earth softly softens away with each out breath,
Creating an imprint of you on the surface of the Great Mother.
Be aware of all tension in the back of your body dissolving.
Be aware of any tension in the front of your body melting and softening away,
So you feel the front of your body settle into the back of your body like you're coming home.
Be aware of your sense of hearing,
Listening to all the sounds around you,
And not just listening with your ears,
Listening with your whole body,
And then bring your awareness of listening to your ears,
And begin to listen to the sound of yourself breathing,
Just the soft gentle sound of your breath whispering to you.
And notice how familiar that sound is.
It is a sound that accompanies you throughout your whole life.
It's like the background music of your life.
Listen and soften your jaws,
Let them relax.
Aware of your tongue resting silently and soft in your mouth,
Your eyes,
Your eyeballs resting softly in the sockets covered over by the eyelids.
Notice the breath moving in and out of your nostrils,
Coolness as you breathe in,
And warmth as you breathe out.
And be aware of a quietness that is settling over your whole being.
Before we go any further in the practice,
It's time to create a sankalpa.
You may already have a sankalpa that you're using,
It might be one that you've been using for a long time,
Still focused on its fruition.
Allowing that sankalpa to arise into the mind and repeat it to yourself mentally three times with feeling,
Awareness,
And sensitivity.
And bring your awareness now to your forehead and relax and soften the lines of tension in your forehead,
Relaxing your eyes and your eyelids,
Your temples,
Your ears,
Relaxing the flesh of your cheeks,
Relaxing the bones of your cheeks,
Relax your nostrils,
Your lips,
Your mouth,
Your jaws.
Relax into the throat,
Relax the sides and the back of your neck.
Relax the right collarbone,
The right shoulder,
Arm,
Wrist,
And hand.
The right hand thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And little finger.
The palm of the hand,
Wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
And upper arm.
The right shoulder,
The right collarbone.
Relax into the pit of the throat.
Relax the left collarbone,
Left shoulder,
Arm,
Wrist,
And hand.
The left hand thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And little finger.
Palm of the hand,
Wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
And shoulder.
The left collarbone and the pit of the throat.
Relax your chest and allow your awareness to drop deep into the spiritual heart,
Into the space of Hrudaya.
Feel the gentle massaging of this space with your breath.
Be aware of the solar plexus,
Relaxing.
Be aware of the navel and relax deep in behind the navel all the way to the spine.
Relax your right hip,
Leg,
Knee,
And ankle.
The right foot,
The right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
And fifth toe.
The sole of the right foot,
Heel and ankle,
Knee and leg,
The right hip,
All the way to the navel.
Relax into the navel,
All the way from the navel to the spine.
Then relax the left hip,
Leg,
Knee,
Ankle,
And foot.
The left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
The sole of the left foot,
Heel,
Ankle,
Knee,
And leg.
The left hip and the navel,
Deep in behind the navel.
Relax the lower abdomen.
Relax the pelvis,
Pelvic floor.
Relax the buttocks,
The lower back,
Mid back,
And upper back.
Right side of the back,
Left side of the back,
Right shoulder blade,
And left shoulder blade.
The whole spine in the center of the back,
From the base of the spine to the base of the skull.
Relax all over your head and scalp.
Relax your brain.
Be aware of your whole body.
The right leg,
Left leg,
And both legs together.
The right arm,
Left arm,
And both arms together.
The whole of the back of the body,
The whole of the front of the body,
And the whole of the head.
Legs,
Arms,
Back,
Front,
And head together.
Your whole body together.
Awareness of your whole body,
Deeply relaxed,
Completely still.
Be aware of the gentle movement of breath in your body,
Feeling your whole body breathing.
Every in-breath,
Every out-breath,
Do not let one breath pass unnoticed.
Feel your whole body breathing,
Breathing through the pores of your skin,
Every part of you breathing,
With each in-breath expanding,
With each out-breath expanding the pranic energy of your body.
The energy through to every single cell in your body,
The trillions of cells.
Begin to count this breath backwards now from 10 to 0.
Breathing in 10,
Breathing out 10.
Breathing in 9,
Breathing out 9,
And so on back to 0.
Focus completely and deeply on breathing with your whole body,
Your whole being.
Do not let one breath pass unnoticed.
If you make a mistake,
If you drift away,
If you reach 0,
Begin again at 10.
Stay with the breathing,
Stay with the counting.
And then draw your awareness up to the nostrils and be aware of the feeling of the breath moving through your nostrils,
Through both left and right nostril and uniting at the eyebrow center.
Follow a few breaths in and out.
Keep the awareness coming back to the eyebrow center.
And the next time that you breathe in to the eyebrow center,
Allow your awareness to stay there.
See before you a transparent screen through which you can see infinite space,
The infinite space of the mind.
Allow the inner voice to be quiet.
And feel yourself dropping deeper and deeper into the infinite space.
Go deeper,
Past thoughts into silence.
Go deeper,
Past silence into stillness.
Go deeper,
Past stillness into the heart space of Hrudaya.
And as you go deeper into Hrudaya,
Let love consume all that is left of you.
And from that beautiful space within Hrudaya,
Bringing with you that love,
Stillness and silence,
Come back to the breath uniting at the eyebrow center and follow that.
Reflecting back into your mind now,
Allow the sankalpa to arise once again and repeat it to yourself three times with feeling and awareness,
With sensitivity.
And continue to follow the breath and start to listen to the sound of yourself breathing.
Listen to the sounds around you.
Focus on your whole physical body laying still and begin to bring small movements back into your body by moving your hands and moving your feet.
You might like to roll your head gently from side to side.
And when you're ready to,
Take a deep breath,
Stretching up with your arms,
Point down with your toes and reach through your body,
Stretching.
Reach right through your body and then exhale and bring your arms back down by your side.
The practice has come to an end now,
So in your own timing,
You may like to come up into a seated position with your eyes closed and just sit in the space you've created.
