Yoga Nidra: Compassion for Self & Others

Today's yoga nidra practice helps us cultivate compassion for ourselves and others.

This can often be a challenge as we find ourselves listening to our inner critics and speaking harshly to ourselves.

Practice incorporates two different Buddhist compassion practices.

And we'll use an intention in this practice,

What we call a sankalpa.

An intention in yoga nidra is a wish for something positive in your life or a statement of your values.

You might wish to choose a sankalpa around compassion.

This intention is best phrased in the present tense as if it's already happening.

An example might be,

I am kind to myself and others.

You might like to spend a few moments now thinking about what you might choose as your sankalpa.

If you don't have an intention right now,

Then you could just spend the time relaxing and breathing.

And if you would like an intention but can't think of anything at the moment,

You might spend the time listening inwards for your intention to arise.

And if the idea of a sankalpa just doesn't resonate with you right now,

Then you can just spend that time focusing on the breath.

Yoga nidra is a practice which is a bit like a guided relaxation and it might put you on the border between being awake and being asleep.

A place where you can rest deeply and get all kinds of benefits like creativity and stress relief.

And there'll be short periods of silence for you to have your own experience and let go into the practice.

Although it's called yogic sleep,

The intention isn't to actually fall asleep.

We're hoping to hover in that liminal space between waking and sleeping.

If you do fall asleep,

Then that's perfectly alright.

It might be just that that's what you really need more than anything else right now.

And while the invitation is to lie in stillness,

If you become uncomfortable and really have to move,

Then do so with awareness but without too much disturbance.

If you do get the urge to move,

It might just be resistance to going deeper in the practice.

So try to just observe the urge to move first and it may just pass off.

There is no special position that you have to lie in.

You can lie in any way you like,

A way that feels supported and nourishing to the body.

That might mean lying on the back with a pillow beneath the knees,

Maybe lying on the side.

And make sure that you're warm enough as the body temperature can drop.

Anything in the practice makes you feel uncomfortable and you want to stop.

All you have to do is to move your fingers and toes and open your eyes and you'll come out of the nidra state.

Know that there's no way to do this practice wrong.

There isn't anything to be done.

Just to be here resting the body and mind is more than enough.

And thoughts will come and go and just allow that to happen but see if you can just step back from them and guide your awareness back to the practice,

Back to the sound of my voice.

And there might be times when you're very aware of the words that I'm saying and other times when my voice is more in the background and that's perfectly alright.

Still making any final adjustments or movements that will allow you to be even 1% more comfortable.

And then inviting that stillness to settle in over the body.

The invitation is to close the eyes but if that's not comfortable then just softening and lowering the gaze.

And letting there be a welcome now for any sounds that can be heard.

Just tuning into any sounds that you can hear or if there aren't any sounds then tuning into the quality of the silence.

Listening to sounds from far away outside the space where you are right now.

Sounds from inside the room.

Sounds from within the body.

The sound of the breath.

Welcoming all of the sounds without labelling or judging.

Just observing this unique soundscape that's going on around you right now in this moment.

Now let there be a welcome for all the sensations that are present.

Perhaps the feeling of the clothing or covers on the skin.

Any taste in the mouth.

Any smells.

Feeling the light behind your closed eyelids.

And feeling all of the places where the body is held and supported by the surface beneath.

Feeling all of those points of contact.

With the exhale now breathing down through all of those points of contact as if you could give away the whole weight of the body into the earth below.

So bringing to mind the Samkalpa or intention you set at the beginning of the practice.

If you don't have an intention right now then you can just spend this time relaxing and breathing.

If you have the Samkalpa it's best phrased three times in the present tense as if it's already happening.

We're just repeating it over in the mind now.

And then gently letting that go.

Next we will invite our awareness to travel around different parts of the body.

We don't need to move that part or do anything other than allow the awareness to rest there.

You might just focus on the different body parts or you might imagine that you could place compassion for each place around the body.

All the functions it does in the body in your everyday life.

Perhaps it might look like a warm glowing light in each part of the body.

So beginning at the point between the eyebrows.

You're hollow at the base of the throat.

Right shoulder.

Right elbow.

Wrist.

Right hand thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Wrist.

Elbow.

Right shoulder.

Base of the throat.

Left shoulder.

Left elbow.

Wrist.

Left hand thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Wrist.

Elbow.

Left shoulder.

Base of the throat.

The heart centre.

Left side of the chest.

Right side of the chest.

The navel.

The centre of the pelvis.

The right hip.

Knee.

Incl.

Right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Little toe.

Ankle.

Knee.

Right hip.

The centre of the pelvis.

Left hip.

Knee.

Ankle.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Middle toe.

Ankle.

Knee.

Hip.

Centre of the pelvis.

The navel.

The heart centre.

The base of the throat.

The eyebrow centre.

I fashioned for the whole body.

The whole body.

The whole body.

The whole of the right arm.

The whole of the left arm.

Both arms together.

The whole of the right leg.

The whole of the left leg.

Both legs together.

The whole of the right side of the body.

The whole of the left side.

Both sides together.

The whole body.

The whole body.

The whole body.

I'm inviting the awareness to rest upon the breath.

Just observing the natural rhythm of the breath as it moves in and out of the body.

Feeling the breath coming in.

And the breath going out.

And now feeling that with every in breath you can take in the suffering of yourself and others.

Breathing it in.

And with every exhale you can give space,

Compassion and healing to yourself and all beings.

Breathing in the suffering of yourself and others.

And breathing out compassion to both yourself and all beings.

And as you continue breathing in this way perhaps you might imagine that when you breathe in you could gather up all of the suffering into a single point of light at the heart centre.

And when you breathe out you send out that compassion in the form of a warm light out in all directions beyond the boundaries of the body.

Inhaling into that single point of light at the heart.

And exhaling sending that light of compassion out in all directions.

And then seeing if it's possible to experience both a single point of light gathering in all the suffering and the radiating light shining out the compassion at the same time.

And then gently letting that go.

And now inviting the awareness to rest at the heart centre.

And as you do this perhaps bringing to mind good friend.

Seeing them clearly as if they were sitting in front of you.

Imagine that you could send them well wishes from your heart.

Perhaps stopping in these words.

May you be well.

May you be peaceful.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be well.

May you be peaceful.

May you be free from suffering.

Perhaps repeating that a few more times in the mind.

From your heart to your good friend.

And now bringing yourself to mind the same way as your friend.

Imagine that you could see yourself sitting in front of you.

And imagine that you could send yourself well wishes from your heart.

May I be well.

May I be peaceful.

May I be free from suffering.

May I be well.

May I be peaceful.

May I be free from suffering.

And now having a sense of all beings.

All the people and the creatures on the planet.

Imagine you could send well wishes to each one of them from your heart.

May all beings be well.

May all beings be peaceful.

May all beings be free from suffering.

May all beings be well.

May all beings be peaceful.

May all beings be free from suffering.

And gently letting that go.

And just inviting now any images or sensations that might occur in front of your closed eyes.

Allowing them to just come and go.

You might see colours or shapes or perhaps something else.

Try to just stay with your experience.

Just allowing it to come and go.

And gently just letting that come.

Now bringing to mind the Samkalpa or intention that you set at the beginning of the practice.

Once again repeating it to yourself three times in the present tense as if it's already happening.

Just repeating it in the mind.

Or if you didn't set an intention today just enjoying some quiet moments with the breath.

And then letting that intention go.

And just noticing the breath now as it comes and goes.

Bringing particular attention to the in-breath.

Deepening and lengthening the inhale.

And feeling the touch of air upon the skin.

The sensation of the clothing or covers on the body.

Noticing any taste in the mouth.

Any smells that you can detect.

Perhaps the light behind the closed eyelids.

And hearing all of the sounds that can be heard right now.

The sound of the breath.

Any sounds from within the room.

And sounds from beyond the room.

So deepening and lengthening the inhale as we start to wake the body back up.

Bringing some gentle movement to the fingers and the toes.

Perhaps the wrists and the ankles.

Just taking a few moments before you transition from this practice into whatever's coming next.

This practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

Thank you for listening.