NSDR Yoga Nidra: 8 Stage Practice

Just preparing yourself for the practice of yoga nidra.

For those of you that have not practiced yoga nidra before,

It is recommended that you be laying down on your back in shavasana,

Arms down by your side,

Your palms facing upward,

Your feet hip-width apart,

Allowing your feet to just gently drop outward,

Having a bolster or a pillow perhaps under your knees.

This does support your lower back if you do have any concerns there.

Having a blanket close by just in case your body can drop in temperature during the practice.

So our goal here is to make the body feel as supported and as comfortable as possible.

So making some final adjustments to the position you have chosen and simply closing down your eyes,

Quiet your mind and be still.

Let go of all thoughts,

Worry and tension.

Relax,

Trust and let go.

Breathing in fully through the nose and exhaling with a deep sigh.

And again breathe in fully and exhale with a deep open mouth sigh and let go.

Completely let go.

Feeling a deep sense of contentment and peace in your heart.

Mindfully using this opportunity to allow the mind and body to reconnect.

Slow right down and rest.

Now bringing your sankalpa or your intention for today's practice into the awareness of your mind.

If you are unclear about your sankalpa just see what appears in the mind's eye and gently repeating that to yourself three times.

Throughout this yoga nidra practice I will guide you through the physical body using sensations and feelings cultivated from within.

All you need to do is listen to my voice and breathe.

Now we will move our attention through the body to release trapped energy and move deeper into total relaxation.

So completely exhaling and as you inhale make fists and deliberately induce stiffness and tension throughout your shoulders,

Arms and fists.

Tighten,

Tighten,

Squeeze as hard as you can even more.

Now let go,

Completely let go.

On your next exhalation you can let go even more.

Simply observe and feel the flood of energy moving through your hands and arms.

Now this time as you inhale deliberately inducing stiffness and tension in your hips,

Legs and feet.

Curling over the toes,

Squeezing all the muscles in your legs.

Tighten,

Tighten,

Hold,

Squeeze as hard as you can.

Now let go,

Let go completely and relax.

On your next exhalation you can let go even more.

Observing the flood of energy moving through your feet and legs.

Now this time as you inhale tighten and tense the entire body.

Arms,

Hands,

Shoulders,

Feet,

Legs,

Face and buttocks.

Squeeze that whole body,

Tighten all the muscles in your face,

Your feet.

Tighten,

Tighten,

Hold,

Squeeze as hard as you can a little bit longer.

Squeeze all the muscles in your entire body.

Now let go,

Completely relax.

On your next exhalation let go even more.

Observe and feel the flood of energy extending to all the muscles,

Nerves and cells of your entire body.

Let your whole body melt into the flood of energy,

Slowly expanding outward.

Allow your body to go limp,

Feeling into the ground supporting you.

Simply allow it to take the full weight of your whole body.

Perhaps you can imagine the ground coming up to meet the surface of your entire back body and your back body coming down to meet the ground supporting you.

Now you can relax even more.

Now as we enter this next phase of yoga nidra try to remain as motionless as possible.

If you need to move or make an adjustment please do so mindfully and return to stillness as soon as you are able.

Resolve to remain awake,

Staying in touch with the sound of my voice.

Allow your entire body to respond to my words directly and non-mentally.

Allowing any disturbances external or internal to only draw you more deeply within.

Now shift from thinking and doing to feeling and being.

Do absolutely nothing from now on.

Simply relax,

Drop into the deepest state of tranquility,

Stillness and peace in the third eye.

Now follow my guidance as we begin the relaxation breath.

Breathing in deeply through the nose,

Filling your lungs from the bottom,

Middle,

Then the top.

And as you breathe out empty your lungs from the top,

Middle,

Then the bottom.

Letting your breath be slow and steady.

Filling up your lungs from the bottom,

Middle,

Top.

Exhaling emptying your lungs from the top,

Middle,

Bottom.

Observe the movement of your abdomen and chest with each cycle of breath.

Slow and steady.

Staying connected to the releasing of tension and the deep feeling of relaxation.

Let this feeling extend to every part of your body.

Filling up your entire torso with breath.

Complete yogic breath.

Feeling your abdomen rising,

Abdomen falling.

Full awareness to your breath.

I bring attention back to your breath.

I invite you to slowly deepen your inhalations and exhalations.

Full breath in,

Full breath out.

Letting the flow of your breath be slow and steady.

Full breath in,

Full breath out.

Bring your attention to the movement of your abdomen and chest as you breathe in and as you breathe out.

With each breath out,

Release any tension held in your body.

Release any anticipations in your mind.

Simply let go.

With each breath in,

Filling every nerve and cell with pulsating healing energy.

Just relax.

Breathing out,

Let go of holding anywhere in your body.

Let go again and then let go even more.

Empty your body and mind and enter deeper levels of stillness and silence.

Now breathe normally and be still.

Let all the tension dissolve and simply melt away.

Bring your attention to the eyebrow center.

Gently drop into that silent space.

We're all doing stops.

Let go,

Let go even more.

Now as I name the body part,

Bring your total attention accompanied by feelings of heaviness and warmth to the right hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the right hand,

Back of the right hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Right side of the chest,

Waist,

Right hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Shin,

Ankle,

Sole of the right foot,

Top of the right foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Full awareness to the whole right side of your body.

Bring your total attention accompanied by a feeling of heaviness and warmth to your left hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the left hand,

Back of the left hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Left side of the chest,

Waist,

Left hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Shin,

Ankle,

Sole of the left foot,

Top of the left foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Full awareness to the whole left side of the body.

Moving awareness to the back body.

Right heel,

Left heel,

Right calf,

Left calf,

Back of right knee,

Back of left knee,

Back of right thigh,

Back of left thigh,

Buttocks.

Full awareness to the spinal column,

Tracing it from the tailbone all the way up to the midbrain and from the midbrain all the way back down to the tailbone.

Lower back,

Middle back,

Upper back,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Space between the shoulder blades,

Back of neck,

Back of head.

Awareness to the whole back of the body.

Moving to the front body,

Beginning at top of head,

Forehead,

Right temple,

Left temple,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Right and left eye,

Eyelid,

Eyelashes,

Space behind your eyes,

Bridge of your nose,

Your nostrils,

Space inside your nostrils,

Your cheeks,

Right and left,

Mouth,

Lips and the line where the lips meet,

Top and bottom,

Both lips together,

Inside your mouth,

Teeth,

Tongue,

Gums,

Roof of the mouth,

Underneath the tongue,

Throat,

Space inside the throat,

Right jaw,

Left jaw,

Chin,

Front of neck,

Throat pit,

Whole head,

Collarbones,

Right and left chest.

Full awareness to your heart center,

Your lungs,

Stomach,

Pelvis,

Navel,

Bringing full awareness to the whole front of your body,

Whole front of your body.

Full attention to your whole right leg and foot,

Whole left leg and foot,

Both legs and feet together,

Whole right arm and hand,

Whole left arm and hand,

Both arms and hands together,

Whole torso,

Neck and head,

Torso,

Neck and head together,

Whole right side,

Whole left side,

Whole back,

Whole front,

Whole body together,

Your whole body together,

Whole body together.

Now bringing awareness back to the breath,

Feeling the movement in the abdomen,

Noticing gentle inhale,

Your belly is rising,

And your belly is falling.

Now adding a count to this breath,

Starting at 54 and counting down to zero.

So inhaling for 54,

Then exhaling for 54,

Inhaling for 53,

And exhaling for 53.

Continuing this practice until you get to zero.

If you lose count,

Simply start again and bring focus back to the breath.

We want these breaths to be slow and steady.

Belly rising,

Belly falling,

Belly rising,

And belly falling.

Now wherever you are with this count,

There's no need to reach zero.

Simply let all effort drop away,

Let go.

Now bringing attention to the nostrils,

Focusing on that space where you can feel the cool air on your skin,

And just gently resting awareness here.

You can feel the breath coming in,

And the breath going out.

Your body is breathing itself,

Keeping full awareness of the breath here.

Feeling your breath coming in,

Breath slowly coming out,

Keeping full awareness of your breath at your nose.

Let your awareness go.

Now resting that same awareness in the space behind the closed eyes.

In the next stage of yoga nidra,

We are going to explore a series of opposite experiences and sensations.

I will introduce a feeling,

You do your best to cultivate the image,

Or perhaps the sensation of that feeling,

And then we will contrast it with an opposite feeling or sensation.

The first is the experience of heat,

Feeling hot,

Bringing awareness into the belly.

Perhaps you can feel heat expanding outward in every direction.

You may be visualizing the color red,

But you are feeling heat expanding throughout the entire body.

Feeling hot,

It's as though you are overheating on a hot summer's day.

Your whole body feels hot.

Now let this feeling go,

And invite in the opposite.

Your body feels cold,

A gentle chill runs throughout the entire body.

Perhaps you're visualizing the color blue,

Or ice.

It feels as though you've underdressed on a cool winter's day,

Or you're in an ice bath.

Body feels cold.

Now let that feeling go.

The next experience is a feeling of being heavy.

Body is extremely heavy.

Bones are made of steel,

Perhaps the muscles are made of lead.

Whole body feels heavy.

Experience heaviness throughout the entire body.

Left leg heavy.

Right leg heavy.

Left arm heavy.

Right arm heavy.

Entire torso feels heavy.

Neck and head heavy.

Whole body is heavy.

Now let this experience go,

And invite in the opposite.

Body is light,

Experiencing the feeling of being light,

As though you're light as a feather or a balloon.

Whole body is becoming light.

It's as though you're about to float up off the floor.

Feel the left leg light.

Right leg light.

Left arm light.

Right arm light.

Whole torso feels light.

Neck and head light.

The whole body feels light and about to float up off the floor.

Now let these experiences go,

Returning to normal temperature and normal body weight.

Bringing your attention back to the space behind your closed eyes.

Now here we bring mind to our Sankalpa,

Your intention.

Using the same Sankalpa made at the beginning of your practice.

Perhaps you'd like to visualize the Sankalpa written behind your closed eyes,

Or simply repeating the Sankalpa to yourself a number of times.

We are allowing it to sink deep into the subconscious,

Take root and grow.

Letting go of your Sankalpa for now.

Let go of all doing.

Let go of all thinking.

Replacing it with being and feeling.

There is nothing else to do.

There is nowhere to be.

Just rest.

Now just sensing how you're feeling.

Are any sensations rising?

Perhaps you can notice how relaxed the body is.

How soft the breath is.

How silent the mind is.

Just know that you can easily enter here again and again.

Now begin to become aware of the rising and falling of the breath.

Slowly feel yourself rising to the surface of awareness.

Sense the body resting on the floor.

Perhaps the quality of the air as it touches the skin.

Become aware of your body.

I invite you to bring a deep sense of peace and contentment with you as you bring attention back to the body.

Gradually making small movements,

Perhaps in your fingers or your feet.

It's as though you're waking from a restful sleep.

You might like to bring your knees up to your chest.

Perhaps rocking from side to side.

Take your time.

There's no rush.

You need to hurry.

When you feel it is right,

Rolling onto your right side and landing in fetal position.

One last time bringing mind to your Sankalpa.

Every time you find yourself in reaction,

You are empowered to replace it with your intention.

And when you're ready,

With your eyes closed,

Slowly bring yourself to an upright position.

Just bringing your hands together in front of your heart.

Allowing a few moments of silence.

All of the stages of yoga nidra to fully integrate into your mind and body.

Taking a moment to thank yourself for taking the time to practice.

Ending our class with some palming.

Rubbing your hands together to create warmth and heat.

Gently placing them over your eyes,

Cheeks,

Neck.

Coming down and giving your shoulders a little squeeze.

Resting your hands in your lap.

Gently opening your eyes to full awareness.

Thank you for practicing today.