Hello,
My name is Megan.
Welcome to the practice of Yoga Nidra.
Lie comfortably on your back and notice the ground beneath you.
Feel any props under your body.
And perhaps you have a blanket on top of your body.
Ensure you feel safe and warm and supported by your props and the space you are in.
As you lie on the earth,
Let your legs fall easily out to the sides.
Squeeze your arms and shoulders into your midline.
Release and let the tension melt out as your arms spread onto the ground.
Let your arms and hands comfortably fall to your side with your palms gently turned up.
As you begin to settle into stillness,
Notice your breath.
The inhale and the exhale.
If it feels good,
I invite you to take two sips of air and a long exhale.
Notice your body relaxing more into the earth beneath you.
Yoga Nidra is the practice of non-sleep deep relaxation.
The effortless practice of non-doing.
I invite you to close your eyes and allow your senses of hearing and feeling to be your guide.
Let your hearing come to rest on the sounds as far out as you can hear.
Move from sound to sound.
Move your sense of hearing closer and notice any sound that you're aware of closer in your physical space.
Notice what you hear in the circle surrounding your body as well as inside your body.
Bring your awareness to the sound and rhythm of your breath.
Notice the rhythm of the natural pauses in the cycle of your inhale and exhale.
If your mind is active,
Allow yourself to think the thoughts that are coming into your awareness.
The action of watching our thoughts and observing them will bring you into a deeper seat of awareness.
You have no resistance to what is fluctuating and arising inside at this moment.
You will naturally be in a state of effortless ease and freedom.
In your safe environment,
Feel your face soften and your jaw relax.
Your collarbones gently widen across your chest.
Notice as your body may already be shifting from constricted and tense to expansive and at ease.
Your bones,
Joints and muscles soften into the ground.
The edge of where you end and the atmosphere around you begins.
In Yoga Nidra,
We work with sankalpa,
The intention or resolve that is our authentic desire.
In a short,
Positive,
I am statement,
The language of your sankalpa uses words to tell the story of your heart's deepest longing.
Allow your mind to go into the quiet place associated with listening and bring your awareness to the perfect intelligence of your body and heart.
In the relaxed state of Yoga Nidra,
Your sankalpa holds immense power.
Repeat your sankalpa three times with wholehearted courage and focused attention.
I will guide you on a journey of awareness through your body.
Allow your sensation and awareness to gently rest in the different body parts I name.
We begin at the space between your eyebrows.
Bring all of your attention and awareness to the space between your eyebrows.
A drop of golden light at the center space between your eyebrows.
Right eye.
Eye socket and eyelashes.
Feel your right eye soften.
A drop of golden light.
Feel your left eye soften.
A drop of golden light.
Tip of the nose.
Drop of golden light.
Upper lip.
Lower lip.
The center of both lips together.
Drop of golden light.
Inside your mouth.
Upper teeth.
Lower teeth.
The base of your tongue.
The tip of your tongue.
Drop of golden light.
The center of your throat.
Drop of golden light.
Right collarbone.
Right shoulder.
Right elbow.
Right wrist.
Right palm and back of the hand.
Drop of golden light.
Tip of your right first finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
Little finger.
Drops of golden light.
Back of your right hand.
Wrist.
Elbow.
Right shoulder.
Right collarbone.
Center of the throat.
Left collarbone.
Drop of golden light.
Left shoulder.
Left elbow.
Left wrist.
Left palm and back of the hand.
Drop of golden light.
Tip of your left first finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
Fifth finger.
Drop of golden light.
Back of your left hand.
Left wrist.
Elbow.
Shoulder.
Collarbone.
Center of the throat.
Drop of golden light.
Heart center.
Drop of golden light.
Navel center.
Lower abdomen.
Right hip socket.
Right knee.
Right ankle.
Drop of golden light.
Right heel.
Sole of your foot and all five toes.
Drops of golden light.
Top of your right foot.
Right ankle.
Knee.
Right hip socket.
Lower abdomen.
Drop of golden light.
Left hip socket.
Left knee.
Left ankle.
Drop of golden light.
Left heel and sole of the foot.
All five toes.
Drops of golden light.
Top of your left foot.
Ankle.
Knee.
Left hip socket.
Lower abdomen.
Drop of golden light.
Notice with radiant sensation your entire body.
In golden light,
Your whole body,
Your whole body in golden light.
Gently bring your focus to your natural breath.
Without changing it,
Observe your inhales and your exhales.
Notice where you might feel the sensation of breath in your body.
Cool inhale entering your nostrils.
Circling down to the lungs and diaphragm.
Your belly softly contracts and your breath completes a circular cycle on the exhalation.
In your own rhythm,
Visualize the circle and cycle of your breath.
Inhale,
Circling down to your lungs and abdomen.
Exhale,
Circling back up and out your nostrils.
Inhale,
Circling in.
Exhale,
Circling out.
Notice an area of your body that feels cold.
Let all of your awareness and attention rest in the sensation of coolness and cold in an area of your body.
Bring your awareness to an area of your body that feels hot.
Bring all of your focus and attention to the feeling of warmth and heat in a part of your body.
Let your awareness travel to the edge of your body.
The edge of your body where you physically end and the atmosphere begins.
Let your sensation and awareness travel to the center of your body.
The most central,
Internal,
Middle part of your body.
The inside center of your body filled with your awareness and sensation.
I invite you to sense and feel the emotion of joy in your body.
Bring all of your focus and attention to the sensation of joy in your body.
I invite you to sense and feel the emotion despair in your body.
Bring all of your focus and attention to the sensation of despair in your body.
With your awareness and sensation,
Feel both hot and cold in your body together.
With radiant sensation and awareness,
Notice that your body is both the container and the contained.
A relaxed state of yoga nidra in the medicine of presence.
I invite you to notice that you may hold and feel the sensations of joy and despair together.
There's enough room inside for both emotions.
For both sensations to be held and experienced.
As you bask in pure awareness,
Allow your attention to scan your entire body.
Visualize the light emanating from your body into your surrounding atmosphere.
A circle of glowing light.
Continue to visualize and feel the sensation of glowing light from your whole body.
The medicine of pure presence and awareness.
You may always choose where you bring your focus and attention.
Bring your awareness back to your sankalpa.
Notice any sensations in your body as you remember your sankalpa.
In a relaxed state of effortless ease,
Bring your attention to the power of language.
Your language.
With full awareness,
Wholehearted courage and conviction,
Repeat your sankalpa three times.
Gently return to your breath.
As you inhale,
Notice the edges of your body.
As you exhale,
Let your awareness trace a path into the atmosphere around you.
Feel the bones in your body.
The sensation of the earth beneath you.
The liminal space where the edges of your body and the earth meet.
Bring your attention back to the room you're in.
To where you are in the room.
Allow your awareness to rest in the space around you and the sound of my voice.
With full awareness,
Bask in presence.
Notice what you notice.
The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
My name is Megan.
Thank you so much for practicing yoga nidra with me.
