Yoga Nidra To Start Your Day

Hi and welcome to this meditation to start your day.

Please make yourself comfortable.

As you settle in,

Allow the eyes to close or just soften your gaze.

Taking this time to land in your meditation,

Invite a slow breath in through your nose and exhale slowly through an open mouth.

And let's do that again,

Slow breath in through the nose,

Exhaling nice and easy through an open mouth.

Allow your awareness to come to your breath and at first just watching your breath as it is without any guiding,

No right or wrong,

No good or bad,

Just noticing the breath.

And slowly begin to lengthen your inhales and exhales as it's comfortable breathing in and out of the nose.

Invite no strain or struggle here,

Allowing the breath to flow in a nice even steady stream.

As you continue with these long slow breaths,

Bring your inner gaze to rest at your chin,

Inner gaze resting at the chin.

And allow your gaze to come to rest now at the tip of your nose,

Inner gaze resting at the tip of the nose.

And slowly guide your awareness to your eyebrow center,

To the third eye,

Awareness resting here at the eyebrow center.

And as I ask you the following question,

Simply observe what comes into your field of awareness,

Not pushing any ideas away,

Simply observing.

How do you want to be today?

How do you want to feel?

See what appears.

How do you want to be today?

How do you want to feel?

Watching what appears.

And now see if you can formulate into one word what appeared that resonates with you most,

Perhaps grounded,

Calm,

Focused.

Finding one word that doesn't need to make sense to anyone but you.

Allowing that one word to serve as your intention for the day.

And as we move forward in our meditation,

We'll embed the seed of that intention at a subtle level of your being.

And now take another long slow breath in through the nose,

Exhale through an open mouth and a nice long sigh.

Bring your attention to rest on your shoulders,

Your arms and hands.

Observing the shoulders,

Arms and hands.

Curl your fingers so that you make a soft fist with each hand.

And on the next breath in,

We'll tighten and tense the shoulders,

Arms and hands.

As you're ready,

Take a slow breath in and squeeze your fists.

Bring tightness and tension throughout the shoulders,

The arms and the hands.

Keep breathing as you feel this tightness and tension building,

Keep squeezing,

Keep holding a little longer.

And now let it all go.

Let the arms get so heavy.

And with your next exhale,

Let the arms get even heavier.

And simply observe that flood of sensation through the shoulders,

Arms and hands,

Maybe buzzing or tingling.

And we'll do that one more time.

Awareness,

Shoulders,

Arms and hands make soft fists.

And as you're ready,

On your inhale,

Squeeze the fists and bring tightness and tension throughout the shoulders,

The arms and the hands.

Keep breathing as you feel this tension growing.

Keep holding and squeezing a little longer.

And now let it all go.

Exhaling,

Arms get heavy.

And allow your awareness to rest on that flood of energy through the shoulders,

Arms and hands.

And now allow your awareness to gently expand to take in the whole body.

Observing a tingling,

A pulsing throughout the whole body.

And with your next natural exhale,

Surrender the whole weight of your body to what's supporting you.

Invite your inner gaze to come to rest at the eyebrow center,

Third eye.

Observing how this point gently draws your awareness toward it,

Holds it there gently.

There's no right or wrong here.

Awareness at the third eye.

And in this moment,

I invite you to bring into your awareness that one word,

That one word that will be your North Star for the day.

And slowly allow your awareness to come to your breath.

Gently begin to lengthen your inhales and exhales,

Breathing in and out of the nose as it's comfortable.

As you inhale,

Be so aware that you're inhaling.

As you exhale,

Completely absorbed in the exhale.

Continue with these long,

Slow breaths until you're asked to stop.

Inhale,

Slow,

Steady,

Lungs fill completely without any strain.

Exhaling so patient,

Allowing the lungs to empty fully.

Every round of breath,

Gently guiding you deeper inward.

Every round of breath,

Drawing you into that sweet stillness.

And now,

Gently release the guiding of the breath.

And watch as your natural breath returns.

It's not good or bad,

Or right or wrong,

It just is.

And feel a sense of peace and calm wash over you.

Experience that inner stillness expanding within you and all around you.

And now follow my guidance as we rotate awareness throughout the body.

As I name each point,

Allow your attention to rest there.

No comments or judgment.

Just observing all sensation at each point.

Bring your undivided attention to the sole of the right foot.

Right ankle.

Right knee.

Hip.

Right side of the waist.

Right side of the rib cage.

Right shoulder.

Elbow.

Wrist.

Back of the right hand.

Palm.

Right wrist.

Elbow.

Shoulder.

Right side of the neck.

Right cheek.

Right ear.

And now expand your awareness to take in the whole right side of your body.

Sensing and feeling the whole right side of your body from the tips of the toes to the top of the head.

Right side body pulsing,

Tingling.

So aware of right side body it's like there is no left side.

Right side body shimmering.

And now gently redirect all of your awareness to the sole of the left foot.

Left ankle.

Left knee.

Hip.

Left side of the waist.

Left side of the rib cage.

Left shoulder.

Elbow.

Wrist.

Back of the left hand.

Left palm.

Wrist.

Elbow.

Shoulder.

Left side of the neck.

Left cheek.

Left ear.

Expanding your awareness to take in the whole left side of your body.

Sensing the whole left side of your body from the tips of the toes to the top of the head.

Left side body pulsing,

Tingling.

So aware of left side body it's like there is no right side.

Left side body shimmering.

And now take in the whole body.

Left side and right side.

Attend to all sensation present through the entire body.

Notice how as your awareness rests on sensation the sensation grows.

Energy follows attention.

Whole body held in awareness here.

Mind melting,

Dissolving into sensation.

Rest back here.

When images or thoughts arrive in your awareness allow them to float by as though they were clouds on a brilliant blue sky.

And you are the brilliant blue sky.

Vast.

Empty.

Open.

Simply an observer.

In this moment allow your one word intention into your awareness.

Silently saying the word.

Allow yourself to feel the energy of the word.

To feel how you are going to be today.

And now bring your awareness back to the eyebrow center and just rest here in the calm,

In the peace,

In the stillness.

Know that this sensation of stillness and calm exists within you.

It is you.

And you can always access it by allowing your attention to draw you inward.

Bringing you home.

Slowly bring your awareness to your breath.

Allow the breath to grow gently.

Softly inviting a deeper breath.

Notice as your awareness makes that very slow transition toward the surface.

No rush.

Slowly,

Slowly returning to the here and now.

Become aware of the sensation of your body resting where you are.

Observe the sensation of the air against your skin.

And as it feels right to you,

You can make small movement again,

Wiggling fingers and toes.

If your impulse is to remain still,

Please do that.

Only as you are ready,

Allowing the movement to expand gently.

Stretching through the arms and legs.

It might feel nice to take a slow rock of the head.

Inviting in any sort of stretch,

Yawn or sigh.

And if you are not already in a sitting position,

I invite you to slowly,

With your eyes closed and awareness inward,

Make your way back to a sitting position.

Lingering in stillness,

Wherever you are.

And taking this moment to once again return to that one word intention.

Silently repeating it.

Know that this intention has been planted at such a deep level of your being.

Have faith and trust that your higher self is fully aware of and honors your intention.

And as you move throughout the day,

If you find yourself in reaction,

Simply pause and come back to this one word intention,

Allowing it to be your north star,

Gently guiding you.

As you are ready,

I invite you to slowly open your eyes.

I hope you have a wonderful day ahead.

Jai Bhagwan.