Hello and welcome.
This is where I connect with wonderful teachers,
Authors,
Musicians and more as we co-create yoga and meditation experiences together and then we offer them to you,
The Insight Timer community.
Please also visit me on my personal profile,
Julie Murphy,
YogaRasa.
You'll find all my meditations and courses there,
Particularly Yoga Nidra,
Which is a meditation style that has had a profound impact on me and it's been such a joy for me to share that on Insight Timer over the years.
As an introduction,
Here follows a Yoga Nidra meditation track,
A sample of what you'll find on my personal profile.
Thank you.
May you be well and may you be happy.
Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation that takes us to a conscious sleep state.
The body relaxes as if you were sleeping and the mind stays gently aware and awake.
So keeping your eyes open for now,
Lie down and make yourself comfortable.
If you like,
You could also do this meditation sitting up,
Straight spine,
Feet touching the ground.
And with a soft gaze,
Take in the surroundings of where you are.
And lower your gaze slightly,
Awareness of your environment.
And if it feels right for you to go more inward,
You can close your eyes now and notice how you feel in this moment.
If you're new to Yoga Nidra,
There is no way to do this wrong.
Simply follow the guided meditation,
Almost as if you're listening to a story,
Listening to the words.
No need to know how or whether the meditation is working.
Let go of any expectations and remain open to the experience.
And now we'll take a few slow breaths in and out through the nose if that's comfortable.
Breathe in slowly,
One,
Two,
Three.
Exhale slowly,
One,
Two,
Three.
Again,
Breathe in slowly,
One,
Two,
Three.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three.
Take your time.
Do a few more easy,
Slow breaths like that,
Drawing the breath in and out of the body.
No rush.
And now sense your body,
Your current state of being.
And tell yourself that for this little while you choose to remain still.
If you're not comfortable,
Make a few adjustments now to be perfectly comfortable so that you can be still.
And become aware now of any sounds that reach your ears without seeking any particular sounds.
Just letting sound come into your awareness,
Sound vibrations reaching your ears.
And take a few moments now to begin to welcome intention into your meditation.
Is there something that you long for that would make a heartfelt difference in your life?
Whatever rises naturally to the surface.
There may be a sentence that describes that.
For example,
If you were anxious and wanted to feel less stressed,
Your statement could be,
All is well,
Right here,
Right now.
All is well,
Right here,
Right now.
The sentence is positive and in the present tense as if it were already true.
Don't worry if your intention doesn't feel possible in this moment.
Think of it as planting the seeds of intention into your subconscious mind.
It's very soothing for your subconscious mind to receive these words no matter how the thinking mind reacts to them.
If an intention isn't quite coming together at the moment,
That's okay,
Let it go.
And set the intention to simply enjoy this meditation.
Silently,
Mindfully,
Repeat your intention several times.
Slowly,
Take your time.
And releasing your intention now.
As we take a journey of awareness through the body.
As if you were shining a gentle light on each part of the body when you hear it mentioned.
Again,
You're not looking for anything in particular.
Your focus is just landing gently on each part of the body.
It's okay if your awareness drifts away at any time during this meditation,
That's fine.
Simply come back and pick up wherever we are.
Staying softly focused,
Quietly awake.
We'll begin the body scan with the awareness of the right hand.
Sense where your right hand is.
Awareness landing on the right hand.
Thumb.
Fingers.
And then right wrist.
Right wrist.
Right elbow.
Right elbow.
Right shoulder.
Right shoulder.
Right chest.
Right chest.
Right hip.
Right knee.
Right knee.
Right ankle.
Right ankle.
Right foot.
Right foot.
Right knee.
Right foot.
Right foot.
And now feel the whole of the right side of the body.
The whole of the right side.
Run your awareness slowly up and down the entire right side of the body.
And now move your awareness over to the left hand.
Sense the left hand.
Thumb.
Fingers.
Left wrist.
Left wrist.
Left elbow.
Left elbow.
Left shoulder.
Left shoulder.
Left chest.
Left chest.
Left hip.
Left hip.
Left knee.
Left knee.
Left ankle.
Left ankle.
Left ankle.
The left foot.
Left foot.
And now feel the whole of the left side of the body.
The whole of the left side.
Take your time.
Awareness sweeping slowly up and down.
The entire left side of the body.
And releasing that awareness.
And sense your head.
Feel your head now.
Feel the back of the head.
The weight of your head in this relaxed state.
And sense your whole body.
The whole body.
The right.
The left.
Back of the body.
The front.
The whole body.
Gently aware and awake.
Relaxed.
And as you rest here with nothing to have to fix and nothing to have to do in this moment.
Can you also notice a feeling of simply being?
Perhaps a sense of well being.
Connect with whatever is there.
Welcoming it as part of this experience.
And notice how your body is gently breathing on its own.
Without you having to control the breath in any way.
A gentle rise and fall of the breath.
Feel the natural rhythm of the body breathing.
As thoughts appear,
Notice them.
And use that noticing to bring you back to simply sensing each breath.
Breath comes in and out in its own time.
Awareness of the body breathing.
And into that place of inner quiet.
Silently and slowly repeat your intention statement again several times.
All is well right here,
Right now.
Or your intention.
Stating that now.
Planting the seeds of intention for this to be true.
And letting go of that and becoming aware of where you are.
Awareness of your environment.
Awareness of any sounds.
The physicality of your body.
Aware of your body breathing.
And in your own time whenever you're ready beginning to breathe more deeply.
Beginning to slowly move and stretch in ways that feel good.
Gently coming back when you're ready.
Notice how you feel after the yoga nidra.
Grateful for the time you gave yourself to connect within.
Mentally giving thanks for all the good things in your life and for this moment.
Sending good thoughts and wishes to your loved ones and to the world around you.
May your meditation practice bring positive personal transformation for you and for the benefit of others.
