Yoga Nidra - Alchemy Of The Heart

So welcome to the practice of Yoga Nidra.

During the practice of Yoga Nidra,

You'll be functioning on the levels of hearing and awareness.

Make an effort to stay awake.

However,

If you fall asleep,

If you drift off and go into sleep,

You will still be taking in all of the benefit of the practice.

So bringing your attention now to your physical body and relaxing everything.

Feel the weight of your body becoming heavier and heavier on the floor below you.

Be aware of your physical body and the feeling of your physical body lying on the floor.

Be aware of the feeling of your clothes and coverings against your skin.

Be aware of the feeling of air against your exposed skin.

Be aware of the feeling of your eyelids resting against each other.

Be aware of the feeling of your lips resting against each other.

Be aware of the feeling of the breath moving through your nostrils.

Notice a coolness as you breathe in and a warmth as you breathe out.

Bring your awareness to your sense of hearing and listen to all the sounds that you can hear.

Amongst all of the sounds that you can hear,

Listen intently for the sound of yourself breathing and be aware of your whole body,

Completely still.

Come into the inner stillness and the inner silence.

As we go into the practice further and further,

We begin with a sankalpa or affirmation.

If you have a sankalpa that you're already using,

You might like to stay with that.

So with the sankalpa,

You're going to repeat this to yourself mentally three times,

Implanting it into the subconscious.

I will repeat this three times and you can repeat it with me mentally.

Through the process of inner alchemy,

My heart is open to transformation.

Through the process of inner alchemy,

My heart is open to transformation.

Through the process of inner alchemy,

My heart is open to transformation.

We now move into the rotation of consciousness,

Bringing your awareness to each part of the body as you hear it mentioned,

Allowing that part of your body to relax deeply and completely.

Begin by focusing on your right hand thumb,

Relaxing the right hand thumb,

The right index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the right hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Right shoulder,

Right side of the chest,

Right armpit,

Waist,

Hip,

Knee,

Shin,

Calf muscle,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

The whole right side of the body together.

Side.

Shift your awareness now to the left hand thumb,

Relaxing the left hand thumb,

The left index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the left hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Left shoulder,

Left side of the chest,

Left armpit,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Shin,

Calf muscle,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

The whole left side of the body together,

The whole left side.

Making sure you are awake and aware as you move your awareness and attention to the back of the body.

Be aware of the feeling of the right heel relaxing,

Left heel relaxing,

Right calf muscle,

Left calf muscle,

Back of the right knee,

Back of the left knee,

Back of the right thigh,

Back of the left thigh,

Right buttock,

Left buttock,

Right side of the back,

Left side of the back,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Right shoulder,

Left shoulder,

The whole spine in the center of the back,

Back of the neck,

Back of the head,

Crown of the head.

Awareness now of the crown of the head and the front of the body,

The crown,

Forehead,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

And eyebrow center,

Right eyelid,

Right eye,

Left eyelid,

Left eye,

Right temple,

Left temple,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Right nostril,

Left nostril,

Tip of the nose,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Chin,

Jaws,

Right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

Right side of the chest,

Left side of the chest,

Center of the chest,

Navel,

Right hip,

Left hip,

Right thigh,

Left thigh,

Right kneecap,

Left kneecap,

Right shin,

Left shin,

Right ankle,

Left ankle,

Top of the right foot,

The whole right leg,

The whole left leg,

Both legs together,

The whole right arm,

The whole left arm,

Both arms together,

The whole of the back of the body together,

The whole of the front of the body together,

The whole of the head together,

Your whole body together,

Your whole body,

Awake and aware of your whole body,

Deeply relaxed,

Completely still,

Silence,

Stillness,

Deep relaxation,

Your whole body.

I want you now to bring your awareness to feelings,

Feelings in your body,

Being aware of you being the observer,

Whatever you feel,

Allow it to pass through.

If you feel an emotion,

If you feel anything,

Just let it pass through from the place of the observer.

Begin by being aware of the feeling of heaviness in your physical body,

The feeling of heaviness.

Your body feels so heavy,

It is literally sinking into the floor,

Creating an imprint beneath you,

The body is so heavy.

Awareness of the feeling of heaviness,

Shift your awareness now to the feeling of lightness,

Awareness of the feeling of lightness,

Your body is feeling so light,

Light as a feather,

It is floating up off the floor,

Awareness of the feeling of lightness,

The body lifting,

Floating,

Just like a feather,

Awareness of the feeling of lightness,

Be aware now of the feeling of coldness,

Be aware of the feeling of being very,

Very cold,

Your whole body is cold,

It's hard to warm up,

You're lying on a cold floor,

The temperature of the air around you is cold,

You are cold all over,

Awareness of the feeling of coldness,

Awareness now of a feeling of heat,

A feeling of heat in your whole body,

It's hot outside,

Hot all around you,

There is no shade,

Your body feels hot,

Awareness of the feeling of heat in your body,

Your whole body hot,

Awareness now of a feeling of fear,

Be aware of the feeling of fear,

Something that makes you feel afraid,

Think about it,

Feel it in your body,

Observe it,

Awareness of the feeling of fear,

Awareness now of the feeling of love,

Awareness of the feeling of love in your whole body,

Every cell,

Awareness of the feeling of love,

Awareness now of the feeling of sadness,

Aware of the feeling of being sad,

Feel the sadness in your whole body,

Observing sadness,

Be aware now of the feeling of joy,

Awareness of the feeling of joy in your whole body,

The feeling of joy,

Letting go now of awareness of feelings and bring your attention into the heart space,

Being aware now of the region of the chest,

Be aware of the heart space,

Contained within the ribs,

To the side,

The sternum in the front and the spine in the back,

Be aware of the movement of the chest as you're breathing,

The movement of the chest as you are breathing,

The chest is rising as you breathe in and falling as you breathe out,

Expanding as you breathe in,

Softening as you breathe out,

Awareness of every single breath that you take,

Let one breath pass unnoticed,

Expanding and softening,

Rising and falling,

Be aware of every single breath and begin to count that breath backwards now from 10 to 0,

Breath is expanding,

10,

Breath is softening,

10,

Expanding,

9,

Softening,

10,

9,

Expanding,

8,

Softening,

8 and so on back to 0,

Each time that you reach 0 or if you make a mistake,

Begin again at 10,

If you drift off to sleep,

If you find yourself thinking,

Begin again at 10,

Be aware of every single breath,

Breathing and counting,

Letting go of the breath now and bring your awareness to the dark space in front of your closed eyes,

In this dark space you may notice colours,

Patterns,

Images,

Landscapes,

Whatever you see are manifestations of the mind,

Just allow all that you see to move through you,

As you gaze into this infinite space of the mind,

I want you to imagine an ocean,

A deep dark blue ocean and within this ocean you will notice that it rises and falls,

Tide rises,

All the waves rise and the waves fall away and each wave is an individual wave but it is part of the whole ocean,

Just like each thought is an individual thought part of the ocean of the mind,

To be quiet and go deep into the blue ocean and then slowly and ever so gently and ever so gently allow your awareness and the blue ocean to gently gently drop down into the heart space,

The infinite space,

Infinite ocean,

Calming,

Soothing,

Infinite ocean then slowly and gently begin to bring your awareness back now,

Back to the dark space in front of your closed eyes and as you focus in this space revisit the Sankalpa,

Through the process of inner alchemy my heart is open to transformation and repeat it to yourself mentally three times,

Through the process of inner alchemy my heart is open to transformation,

And then slowly begin to bring your awareness back to your breath and the gentle feeling of the breath moving through your nostrils,

The coolness as you breathe in,

The warmth as you breathe out,

Be aware of the feeling of your lips resting against each other,

Your eyelids resting against each other,

Be aware of the feeling of air against your exposed skin,

Your clothes and coverings against your skin,

Be aware of your whole body deeply relaxed and completely still,

Begin to bring movement back into your body slowly,

Hands,

Feet,

Maybe roll your head from side to side and then take a deep breath now and stretch up with your arms,

Arms,

Point down with your toes and reach through your body stretching and then exhale and bring your arms down and when you're ready to you might like to lift your knees up towards your chest and rock from side to side,

Find your way up into a seated position and the practice is now complete.

I'm Shanti,

Thank you everybody.