Yoga Nidra - One With Nature

Yoganidra is a system of relaxation that will guide you on a journey through the five sheaths of self.

Your physical,

Energetic,

Subtle,

Mental,

Wisdom,

And the bliss sheath.

This deep relaxation creates a quiet and receptive state where the brain is coached into an alpha or alternating alpha theta state.

This state becomes the fertile ground needed for revealing and releasing those deeply held programs,

Patterns of behavior,

Responses that come out of nowhere.

Where all of that is held,

Yoganidra has access to.

Let us now begin the practice of Yoganidra.

Lie down on your back,

Allowing the floor to support you,

Creating a gentle,

Soft,

But not too tall of a cushion to the back of the head,

The back of the sacrum bone,

Back of your thighs,

And maybe even a soft blanket underneath the heaviness of your heels.

And start to take up as much space as you need to,

To become completely and totally relaxed,

Not having to hold your weight up and letting your personality start to drop away from your physical body.

Begin to notice your breath and how the breath is a beautiful tool of relaxation,

Offering the perfect medicine to your muscle body to soften,

Heavy,

And let go of its steady grip to your bones and steady grip to your mind.

Drop behind your thoughts.

Go behind your thoughts to not be your thoughts,

And watching no judgment,

Watching all the thoughts and beginning to see how each thought holds a body response that you are mostly unconscious to,

And it could look like holding your breath,

Holding tension in your face,

Squeezing your thigh bones,

And most of it could actually be resting right on the tops of your shoulders,

In your jaw,

Your mouth.

And as you relax more and more,

Your breath becoming quieter,

Softer,

But still present.

You might start to feel as though you want to fall asleep,

That this is a beautiful way to fall asleep,

And you can,

But if you'd like to stay awake for the practice,

You will be able to see to the depths of your mind,

Your body's mind,

And universal wisdom.

All of that awaits you on the slower side of a brain state,

Softening and slowing beta brain state,

The analytical mind,

The mind that says this is possible or this is impossible more often,

And starting to take away the logic,

The need to know as you relax and tension moves from beta to relaxation.

It's here where we would place our affirmation.

If you're working with an affirmation,

A very distinct,

Positive,

Succinct affirmation,

I am,

And what is it that your heart desires that you are working with that has been a source of pain and choosing the opposite?

I am loved,

I am safe,

I am worthy,

I am valued,

I am receiving.

Three times is a powerful declaration,

Mind,

Body,

Spirit,

The holy trinity,

Trifecta,

The power of three,

I am,

I am,

I am,

And don't cling to Sancalpa,

Soften back into your body and know that all things are possible.

Relaxation is possible.

To be here right now is possible.

Continue to feel your body heavy and watch with the inner eye as your body fills and empties with spirit,

Chosen life,

Breath,

And moving away from spirit choosing you,

Your attention steadied on spirit choosing you now shifts into your physical body.

Feel the container of flesh,

The energy and electricity,

Feel the pumping of blood,

Rotation of consciousness.

To remain aware and not fall asleep,

You must tell yourself to stay linked to my voice.

Affirm to yourself now,

I am practicing yoga nidra,

I will not fall asleep.

We are going into the depths of your physical nature,

Reconnecting lost connections from the brain,

Mind to the body and bringing the body's brain,

Mind,

Memory to consciousness.

Try to follow only at the speed of my voice.

As a devoted practitioner,

This is anchoring into the practice of presence,

To be here,

To not move ahead.

The only movement that is happening is happening in your consciousness.

Your physical self staying as still as possible to not stir the mind.

I'm asking you as part of the practice of rotation of consciousness to go into the feeling nature of your body and to feel the body part each time it's called.

Once you feel the body part,

You could softly repeat inside your mind the name and feel the sensation again.

Become aware of your right hand and shift your awareness into your right hand thumb.

Feel your right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third,

Fourth,

And your little finger become your whole right hand that becomes your whole right arm,

Shoulder,

The right side of your chest,

Waist,

Hip,

And the whole right leg,

Including your right foot,

Your toes,

Toe one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

All five toes together.

Shift your inner awareness of your physical nature over to the left side of your body,

To your left hand,

And become aware of your left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third,

Fourth,

Little finger,

And the whole left hand becomes the whole left arm,

Shoulder,

The left side of your chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Whole left leg,

Including your left foot,

Toes one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

All five toes together.

Now feel both of your feet,

Both of your feet.

Feel both of your legs,

Feel both of your glutes,

Feel your stomach,

Chest,

And feel your back,

Two shoulder blades on your back,

Two arms attached to each shoulder.

Feel your neck,

Your head,

Scalp,

Forehead,

Eyebrows,

Your eyes,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Left ear,

Nose at the center of your face,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Mouth,

Lips,

The interior of your mouth,

Tongue,

Teeth,

Gums,

Chin.

Feel your whole face,

Your whole head,

Your back,

And all four limbs.

Feel your whole body,

Feel your whole body,

Whole body.

Feel the contact between your body,

The floor,

The air,

Your clothing,

And become aware of the weight of the back of your head,

Where it touches your floor,

Support.

Feel the back of your shoulders,

The weight of your heart.

Feel the back of your arms,

Your bum,

Your calf muscles,

And both of your heels.

Grow back into the consciousness of your physical self,

Experiencing your physical body more aware than ever that you are within your body,

And your body wraps you more aware.

Drift,

Hold awareness,

Stay relaxed,

Yet completely aware.

You may be experiencing an alternate world happening behind your eyes,

You may be fully in the sensation of your physical body.

All experiences are valid.

Be here with both,

Try not to be distracted.

Connect yourself to your breath,

And picture your breath like a wave washing over your body.

If you were watching your breath move the ocean,

What state would the ocean be in?

Would it be a beautiful windless day,

Or raging,

Stormy,

Wind blowing,

Waves crashing,

Or calm,

So calm you can hear birds,

You can hear laughter.

Begin to watch and stay connected to your breath as the ocean.

If you can,

Call upon a visualization of your breath as the ocean,

Moving over your body back and forth,

And watch how thoughts fluctuate the quality of breath,

Stay connected to your breath.

Release the awareness of breath,

And to change your visualization to feel and experience through all inner senses,

The following sensations,

Opposite sensations.

Your body becoming acutely aware of its weight,

And how your weight is settling onto the floor,

And how heavy your body is in this completely vulnerable state of relaxation.

Unbelievably heavy,

So heavy,

Heavy.

Now feel the weight of your emotions,

The emotion of heaviness,

Feelings like despair,

Self doubt,

Overwhelmed.

Feel the heaviness of your emotions,

And where they're held in your physical body,

Making it heavier and heavier.

Each emotion,

Heavy emotion like a boulder,

Sinks deeper and deeper down into the darkness bottom of the ocean,

Sinking,

Sinking,

Sinking.

I'll now ask you to track the opposite sensation of lightness,

And immediately release the feeling of heaviness,

To bring forth the feeling of lightness,

Lightness of your breath.

The visualization of a feather,

Fluttering so soft on the back of each breath.

Sense the openness around your heart,

Through your rib cage.

Each inhale so free and open,

Free and open,

Happy and light,

Joy,

Love.

Sense your body,

Lighten,

Lighten,

Lighten.

Hold on to the feeling of lightness,

Don't allow your heart to close,

But welcome back the feeling of heaviness,

So that you can experience light and heavy at the same time.

Light and heavy.

Drop your cheeks away from the center of your face.

The midline of your face relax and widen,

No tension.

Your mind is in a softer state,

Open to all possibility,

Open to new ideas.

Opportunities arise here to be able to see who we are,

What beliefs we hold,

And how our body responds to each and every thought that arises.

Visualization that calls upon a thought,

A memory.

Your body will respond,

The observer,

The witness,

Always watching.

So much wisdom here in the visualization part of the yoga nidra practice.

Keep your body so soft,

Try not to control,

Be open to what comes.

These images will come fast.

If nothing comes for you,

Don't force it.

If you are trying to conjure up an image,

You will tense the body and shift your state into beta,

Control.

Keep your body relaxed and your mind open.

The image of an old rusty truck,

A brilliant yellow sun,

Face of an angel,

A drive through thick fog,

A symbol of Aum,

Tornado,

Lush mountain meadow,

An abandoned bicycle,

Wooden spoon broken in half,

A herd of wild horses,

A herd of wild horses,

A herd of wild horses running across the horizon,

A bubbling mountain stream,

Sound of a train,

Smell of a fair,

A raging bonfire with a face in the center,

Church steeple,

Man dressed in black,

Feet on a damp green forest floor,

Pressed into a damp green forest floor,

Toes squishing through the mud and moss,

Weight going below the earth,

Below the earth.

Let yourself absorb the wisdom,

The intelligence of all living life around you.

Be quiet and still,

Listen,

Watch,

Smell,

Taste,

Be here.

Where you are,

You are now surrounded by trees,

Trees so tall,

The sun has a hard time reaching you,

The bottoms of the trees shadowed in black,

The tops of the trees pointed,

Pointed towards the sky,

Drawing your attention up,

Lifting your gaze up,

Up,

Up and beyond,

Seeing an opening in the sky,

You see the color red,

The sky shifts and changes to the color red,

The trees move in response,

The animals stir,

You hear a sound and you hear another sound and one animal makes itself known,

It shows you,

Right in front of your vision,

An animal appears and this animal leaves,

You turn up to the sky and the sky is now the color orange,

It changes the temperature,

It changes the sounds that you hear,

The images that are happening all around you begin to change and shift,

Color orange,

A new animal appears,

The sky changes yet again and yellow is coming down through the tops of the trees,

Touching the top of your head,

Bright,

Intense yellow,

Each tree breathes,

A sigh,

A new animal appears,

The green of the trees glows,

Matching the sky,

The sky,

The trees,

The ground,

Everything turning green,

The sound of nature and music happening all around you,

Quiet down for this one tree to speak,

One tree begins to speak your name,

The sky returns to blue,

Birds,

Dozens and dozens of birds move from tree to tree to settle all around you,

On you,

At your feet and on each branch closest to you,

The birds fly away and it seems as though the sky has gotten dark,

The day has turned into night,

The color indigo takes over the sky and an owl is heard in the distance,

You hear the rustling through the trees and a new animal makes its appearance,

This animal leaves,

The sky turns royal purple,

There are angels singing from the skies,

Every animal that has visited you returns,

Surrounding you,

You are at the center of this circle,

The trees begin to speak,

Someone comes to join you,

Do you let them in the circle,

This is a healing circle,

A circle that is created only through love,

Trust and total acceptance,

Nature is in chorus,

As you speak out loud in your visualization,

I am your Sankelpa three times,

Your Sankelpa anchors you into this reality,

Bringing you back home into your body,

Calling you from one world to another and for a brief moment they are one,

And gradually begin to awaken each muscle,

Bending your knees and giving your lower back a nice massage as you move your knees from left to right and right to left,

You can do that for as long as you need,

Maybe you stay one side a little longer and do the same on the other side,

Or maybe you hop up here and grab your journal,

Maybe you have already fallen asleep,

The practice of yoga nidra is now complete,

Haryam Tatsat,

Haryam Tatsat,

Haryam Tatsat.