Yoga Nidra Creating Comfort For Calm And Ease

Welcome to the practice of Yoga Nidra.

When you're ready,

Take a slow,

Deep breath in.

And as you exhale,

Release yourself into stillness.

Make the commitment to yourself to be still.

You are consciously choosing this action of non-action now.

It is through the stillness of the physical form that a more expansive state of consciousness is accessible.

Settle into the stillness.

Allow your head and spine to be in alignment,

Feet and ankles hip-width apart,

Toes dropping off towards the sides.

Arms are resting a few inches away from the body with the palms turned up,

Fingers curling in naturally.

Notice the back of your head and gently press the back of your head into the space beneath it and slide your shoulder blades together so that they rest under your back slightly beneath to restore the normal lumbar curve.

This allows the body to relax.

Adjust your chin so that your throat is open and it's easy to breathe.

And if it's comfortable for you,

Please close your eyes.

Yoga Nidra is a system,

A system that is very restful,

A system that rests your impulses as you lie completely still.

Take a moment to adjust your clothing or the blanket and allow any pillows to be moved wherever you might need one last time and then commit to complete stillness and know you can move at any time if you become uncomfortable.

Rest in knowing that from this stillness,

There is a great opportunity for change.

This meditation is creative and dynamic,

Subtle and profound.

And as we ask the body to relax and drop into the space beneath us,

We give the subconscious mind a chance to design and to express.

Notice your breath in your body now.

Breathe naturally and slowly.

Breathe evenly with complete ease.

It's almost as if your bones settle down into the back of your body like you're lying in warm sand on the beach and the sand gives away just enough,

Creating a mold for your body,

A mold that holds your body to rest in.

Find yourself releasing tensions in the very back joint of your jaw.

Release the teeth and soften the tongue.

Notice your belly lifting a little bit as you inhale and falling a little bit as you exhale.

There's no strain,

No forcing.

Allow your concentration to be soft,

Almost like you're not concentrating at all.

What's keeping you steady inside is actually your openness.

Bring your awareness to your ears and send your listening as far away out of the room now,

Perhaps out onto the sidewalk or street.

Listening,

Not searching or labeling,

Just noticing traffic,

People,

Outdoors,

Noises.

Nature.

Now bring your awareness just a little closer.

Hear noises inside the room.

Perhaps the air system,

The hum of electricity,

The person next to you,

Even your own breath.

Bring your awareness even closer.

Can you hear the drumming of your heart in your upper chest,

The pulse in your throat,

Perhaps fingertips and reverberations in your belly?

Just notice.

At the heart of this Yoga Nidra practice,

We're going to focus on developing using a sankalpa.

A sankalpa is a conscious intention,

A heartfelt desire that you hope to manifest in your life.

It's a short positive statement that often starts with I am or I will.

For example,

I am peaceful or I am healthy.

Sometimes it's referred to as your heart's prayer.

It's also a strong will.

It's a determination of a kind to become,

To do,

To evolve.

It is one of the most powerful and transformative aspects of the Yoga Nidra practice and of our lives.

When we plant that seed of change,

We are cultivating an attitude to which we will act and think and feel.

Turn all your senses inward now and listen.

Ask your heart,

What do I need in order to grow?

And the first thing that comes to mind,

Thoughtfully and with courage and determination,

That becomes your sankalpa.

Repeat it to yourself three times in the present tense.

Now give thanks and let it go.

Say to yourself,

I am practicing Yoga Nidra.

I am awake and relaxed.

Next,

We will find our inner resource.

If there are any final adjustments you feel you need to make,

Now is the time.

Can you be one or two percent more comfortable?

Now notice,

I want you to recall in your mind a favorite place of yours.

Perhaps a personal safe haven where you feel secure,

Safe,

At ease.

In this place,

You experience a sense of overall well-being and peace.

For example,

This place could be simply lying on your couch near a fireplace.

Or you could be lying in a hammock near a lake.

Any place that's inviting to you and offers you ease and peace.

In Yoga Nidra,

We call this place your inner resource.

It can be real or imagined.

So feel free to use any images to help you develop your own inner resource.

Your inner resource is unique to you.

So whatever you recall in your mind,

Whether it is real or created,

Bring all the details in.

What are the colors?

Do you smell anything?

Are there any sounds?

What does it feel like?

Are there any tastes there?

Note how your body feels and where you feel the sensing experiences while you're there.

You will use this inner resource to return to at any time during this practice.

This could be used at a time when you fall asleep and you wake up and you feel a little lost.

Simply return to your inner resource.

This place where you feel safe and secure.

As we begin this practice,

Feel free to keep your eyes open or closed.

Neither is right,

Neither is wrong.

I will be guiding you to notice and feel sensations,

The breath,

Emotions,

Thoughts and feelings of well-being or joy.

And to experience yourself as the witness of all of these comings and goings.

And know,

Whatever you experience is fine,

Just as it is.

There is no right or wrong.

This cannot be done incorrectly.

Now,

Simply rest at ease and listen to my voice bringing your awareness to the body parts I mentioned without moving your eyes or your body.

Just simply rest your attention in turn as I mention each part,

Following along with the sound of my voice.

Bring your awareness to your left heel,

The sole of the left foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and left pinky toe.

The top of the left foot,

The inner ankle bone and around the back of your ankle to the outer ankle bone and back to the front of the ankle.

Your left shin.

Deep inside the left knee.

Back down the calf of the left leg to the ankle.

Feel your entire lower left leg and foot resting.

Notice your left knee joint,

Your entire left thigh,

The front of the thigh,

The back of the thigh,

Your femur bone in your thigh,

Left hip bone and around the outside of the hip to the back.

Left lower back.

Your right lower back.

The back of the right hip around to the front of the right hip.

The entire right thigh,

The front of the thigh,

The back of the thigh,

The right femur bone relaxing here.

Your right knee joint and around to the back of the knee.

The right calf,

Back of the right ankle,

Your right heel,

Sole of the right foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Right pinky toe.

The top of the right foot.

Feel your entire lower right leg and foot resting.

Now bring your awareness to your front abdomen,

Your left front ribcage,

Around the side to the back left ribcage,

Across the spine to the right back ribcage,

Around the front to the right front ribcage.

Your entire spine from the tailbone up through the natural curve of your lumbar spine,

Through your mid back,

All the way up to the space between your shoulder blades,

The back of your neck,

Your left shoulder blade,

Your left shoulder.

Left upper arm,

Elbow,

Forearm,

Your left wrist,

Back of the left hand,

Left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Left pinky finger.

Bring your awareness to your right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Right pinky finger,

Back of the right hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Right elbow,

Right upper arm.

Your right shoulder and your right shoulder blade.

Notice the front of your chest,

Your right collarbone,

Your left collarbone,

The center of your throat,

Your right ear,

The back of your neck,

Your left ear,

The base of your skull.

Your right jaw,

Your lower lip,

Your upper lip,

Your left jaw,

Your tongue,

Soft within your mouth,

The inside of your mouth,

The bridge of your nose.

Space between the eyes,

Your forehead,

The left eye,

The right eye,

Both eyes resting in their own little hammock at the back of your head.

The center of your forehead,

The top of your head,

Your whole body,

Your whole body,

Your whole body.

Imagine shaking a tissue in the sunlight.

You see all those little particles of dust floating in the air.

Imagine these particles turn to gold.

Begin to imagine gold particles flowing in and out of your body as you breathe.

The gold particles come up through your feet as you inhale,

And they touch every cell all the way up to your torso,

All the way up to the crown of your head.

As you exhale,

Release that golden shimmery wave of particles down your body,

Down your legs,

On out through your feet.

Continue to breathe like this,

Touching and gracing your entire body as you breathe,

Washing your body with your breath.

And now release the gold particles of light,

And with your eyes closed,

Look between the center space between your eyebrows,

Your third eye.

Notice,

Without thinking,

Can you expand the space between your eyebrows?

Remember,

This can't be done wrong.

You can return to your inner resource at any time.

Expand the space between your eyebrows.

Now I want you to imagine that you've decided to take the garbage out on a very cold morning.

There's a frost on the ground and you don't have your shoes on.

You step outside into the cold.

Let your body experience cold shooting up through your feet and the legs.

Notice the sensations of cold in the chest as you breathe.

Let yourself experience cold.

Maybe you notice your breath as you exhale,

That small little cloud puff and the crispness in the air.

Experience feeling cold.

Now release the cold and experience a sense of heat.

You've stepped back inside an intense enveloping kind of heat.

You're lowering yourself down into a sauna or a jacuzzi or a hot tub.

And waves of heat touch your legs,

Your back,

Your chest,

Arms,

Hands.

And you can taste and feel perspiration.

You lick your lips and taste salt.

Experience this deep warmth and heat.

Now go back to the sensation of cold.

And then back to the sensation of heat.

Can you go back and forth,

Alternating from cold to heat?

Cold to heat.

Back and forth.

Take your time alternating between the two until perhaps maybe they blend and overlap at some point.

Now imagine the whole body becoming light.

As though your body could flow away from the floor and toward the ceiling.

The head is light and weightless.

The limbs are light and weightless.

The torso,

Light and weightless.

Your whole body,

Light and weightless.

Like a feather.

Like a feather.

You're rising higher and higher away from the floor.

Now imagine your body becoming heavy.

Feel the heaviness in all parts of the body.

Each part is becoming heavier and heavier like a sandbag.

The head is heavy.

The limbs are heavy.

The torso is heavy.

The whole body,

Heavy.

So heavy,

It's sinking down into the floor.

Now go back to the light feeling.

Feather light,

Floating.

Light,

Free.

Back to the heavy feeling.

Sandbag sinking down into the floor.

Notice feeling light,

Then heavy.

Back and forth.

Light and heavy.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Is there a point where the two meet and perhaps blend?

Now I want you to recollect the experience of anxiety.

Contraction in your body.

Tenseness.

Clenching in your jaw.

Feel this stress in your mind and body,

But do not concentrate on its source.

Create the felt sense in your body as clearly as possible.

Now allow the feelings of complete calm to envelop you.

A soft blanket on your shoulders.

Gentle music.

Slow,

Deep breath.

Manifest the experience of calm in your entire mind and body and emotions.

You are relaxed and aware.

You are completely calm.

Now go back to how your body feels when it's anxious.

And then go back to how it feels calm.

Can you alternate back and forth between anxiety and calm until perhaps they arrive at a middle point,

Finding equanimity.

Imagine that you're floating on a soft,

Fluffy white cloud.

Feel the surface beneath you becoming softer,

More cloud-like.

Feel the cloud rising out of the surface you are on,

Surrounding you in its soft,

Billowy,

Protective cushioning.

Imagine yourself lighter and lighter as the cloud floats.

Let it rise up,

Taking you safely with it.

See the walls and ceiling around you disappearing as you float into a sunny,

Blue,

Warm sky.

Drifting on your cloud.

Feel the cloud beneath you,

Holding you.

It's soft and supportive of your whole body in all the right places.

Notice each place where your body is touching the cloud.

It is floating on air.

Notice how the cloud feels surrounding your body.

Perhaps warm and heavy as your body sinks into the cloud.

The sky above,

Bright blue,

Sunny and inviting.

You are warm,

Comfortable,

And safe.

From this vantage point,

You can see 360 degrees.

The horizon stretches out in a complete circle around you.

The ground far,

Far below looks like patchwork in a quilt.

Green grass,

Golden fields,

Yellow,

Brown,

Blue patches of water,

Rivers,

Lakes.

Up here,

The air is so clean.

You are weightless and comfortable.

Supported by the cloud smoothly,

Softly,

Safely,

Comfortably.

Allow yourself to float.

Now I'd like you to bring your awareness back to your sankalpa,

Your heartfelt desire that you set at the beginning.

Notice if you can feel your sankalpa resonating in your body in any way.

Take a few moments to see what this feels like.

In this space you have created for yourself,

Your sankalpa takes root and grows.

If you couldn't recall your sankalpa,

That's okay.

Your purpose for being here in the first place is enough.

It's possible now that a sankalpa could arise.

Or something different could arise.

How does that feel to you now?

Has anything changed or has your mind shifted?

Feel back into the part of you that is aware of all of this.

In other words,

Be aware of being aware.

Notice the air around you touching your skin.

And notice the clothing touching your skin.

Are you aware of any sounds inside or outside the room?

Notice your breath.

Feel it moving in and out of your nose.

Notice if there are any tastes in your mouth.

Now bring your attention to your eyes.

Slowly bring your hands together and rub your palms gently.

Creating some warmth.

Place them lightly over your eyes before opening them.

There's no rush here.

Take your time.

You are transitioning to your alert state of wakefulness.

If you would like to continue this journey to sleep,

Then please do so.

Your yoga nidra is complete.

Can you experience the feeling of gratitude for taking the time to practice yoga nidra for yourself?

Can you welcome and offer love to all of you as a timeless,

Open,

And spacious well-being that is perfect just as you are?

And your whole self as whole,

Healthy,

And perfect just as you are?

And the understanding that you always know the perfect response to each moment as you take the time to welcome your deepest knowing.

Thank yourself one more time for taking time to practice yoga nidra.

It has been my honor to be your guide.

Namaste.