Yoga Nidra For Morning Wake Up

Hello,

I'm Michelle and today's yoga nidra practice is intended to be done as soon as you wake up in the morning,

Ideally while you're still in bed.

We often start our days by checking our phones or reading the news or rushing into activity,

But today's practice invites you to take time to rest in the liminal space between sleeping and being fully awake,

To welcome in the day.

So ideally you're already in bed and fairly comfortable,

But just taking a moment to position yourself for the practice.

You can lie in any way you like,

But feel supportive and nourishing to the body.

That might mean lying on the back with a pillow beneath the knees or maybe lying on the side.

Yoga nidra is a practice 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.

There will be some short periods of silence for you to have your own experience and let go into the practice.

And today we'll use an intention,

What we call a sankalpa.

An intention in yoga nidra is a wish for something positive in your life or perhaps a statement of your values or how you want to live your life.

You might wish to choose a sankalpa around gratitude for the gift of this new day,

Full of potential and opportunity.

A sankalpa is best phrased in the present tense as if it's already happening.

For example,

I am grateful for this new day.

Spend a moment now thinking about what you might use as your sankalpa.

And then just letting that go for now and inviting stillness to settle in over the body.

If you find you've become uncomfortable and need to move then please go ahead and do so.

But try to do that with awareness and without too much disturbance to the practice.

If anything in the nidra makes you feel uncomfortable and you want to stop,

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

Knowing that there's no way to do this practice wrong,

There isn't anything to be done.

Just to be here is more than enough.

And thoughts will come and go and just allowing that to happen,

Seeing if you can just step back from the thoughts and guide your awareness back to the practice,

Back to the sound of my voice.

There might be times when you're very aware of the words that I'm saying and other times when my voice is just a murmur in the background and that's perfectly alright.

So making any final adjustments now that would allow you to be even 1% more comfortable.

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

And 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 in to the abundance of sounds all around you.

Perhaps you hear the dawn chorus of birdsong outside your window.

Perhaps cars going past.

Perhaps nothing at all.

And if there aren't any sounds,

Just tuning in to the quality of the silence.

Welcoming all of the sounds without any labelling or judging.

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

And now letting there be a welcome for all of the sensations that are present.

Perhaps the feeling of clothing or covers on the skin.

How those clothes or covers move with the breath.

Noticing any taste in the mouth.

Any smells.

Noticing the light behind your closed eyelids.

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

Only exhale now,

Breathing down through all 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 that you set at the beginning of the practice.

If you don't have a Samkalpa right now,

Then you can just spend this time relaxing and breathing.

And if you would like a Samkalpa but feel that you don't have one at the moment,

Just spend the time listening inwards for an intention to arise.

If you have a Samkalpa,

It's best phrased three times in the present tense as if it's already happening.

Just repeating it over three times in the mind now,

Silently to yourself.

And then gently letting that intention go.

Next we'll invite our awareness to go on a little journey around different parts of the body.

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

And you might just focus on the different body parts.

You might imagine gently waking each part of the body up.

Or perhaps imagine warm golden sunlight at each place.

Starting at the right hand thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Arm,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Side,

Waist,

The right hip,

On the top of the right thigh,

Back of the thigh,

Top of the knee,

Back of the knee.

Inhale,

Heel,

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

The right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe.

The whole of the right side of the body waking up,

Basking in this warm golden sunlight.

And moving across to the left side,

The left hand thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Arm,

Back of the hand,

The wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Side,

Waist,

The left hip,

The top of the left thigh,

Back of the thigh,

Top of the knee,

Back of the knee,

Shin,

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

And the left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe.

The whole of the left side of the body waking up in this glorious morning sunlight.

Nowhere in the strolling now to the tailbone,

The lower back,

The middle back,

Upper back,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

The point between the shoulder blades,

Back of the neck,

Back of the head,

The very crown of the head,

The forehead,

Right temple,

Left temple,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

On the eyebrow centre,

The right eyelid,

Left eyelid,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Tip of the nose,

The right nostril,

Left nostril,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Right ear,

Left ear,

The upper lip,

Lower lip,

Tongue,

Teeth,

Chin,

The throat,

Right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

The heart centre,

Right side of the chest,

Left side of the chest,

The navel,

The lower abdomen,

The pelvis,

Whole body,

The whole body,

The whole of the right arm,

The whole of the left arm,

Both in arms together,

Of all of the right leg,

All of the left leg,

Both legs together,

And 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 physical body,

Gently waking up this morning sunlight,

Allowing the awareness now to rest upon the breath,

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

Feeling the inhale and the exhale.

And now feeling the in-breath drawing up through the feet,

The legs all the way up to the crown of the head,

And the out-breath breathing back down to the feet.

You might imagine that you can draw an energising force up from the earth through the feet with the inhale,

And then back down with the exhale.

Clean up the body with the in-breath and back down with the out-breath.

And then gently letting that go.

I'm inviting the sensation in the body now of being asleep.

What might that feel like in the body?

Perhaps it feels heavy and grounded.

And now,

Seeing if you can experience what it might be like in the body to be wide awake,

Perhaps feeling energy pulsing through you or a lightness.

And now experiencing the sensation of the body being asleep once again.

And now feeling awake.

And then seeing if it's possible to feel both asleep and awake at the same time.

And then gently letting that go.

Looking 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.

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

And then letting that intention go.

Now just noticing the breath coming and going.

Paying particular attention to the in-breath.

Feeling in energy for the day with every inhale.

Feeling the touch of air upon the skin.

Feeling the clothing or the covers on the body.

Noticing any taste in the mouth.

Any smells that you can detect.

And noticing the light behind the closed eyelids.

And hearing all of the sounds that can be heard in this unique soundscape we find ourselves in.

The sound of the breath.

The sounds from within the room.

And sounds from further away.

And whenever you're ready we can bring some movement to the fingers and the toes as we gently wake the body up and welcome in the gift of this new day.

Perhaps inviting a sense of wonder for what it might bring.

Just taking a few moments as you transition from this practice into the rest of the day.

This practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

Thank you for listening.