Yoga Nidra For Stress Relief

Namaste and welcome to Calm Your Koshes.

My name's Michaela and I welcome you to our 35-minute Yoga Nidra guided meditation session.

Today we will focus on integrating Yoga Nidra into all aspects of your life.

Yoga Nidra teaches tools that you can use throughout your lifetime to deal with difficult situations skillfully and to develop a deep and secure sense of well-being.

Yoga Nidra is a process which begins the moment you make a commitment to the practice.

Each time you practice the process deepens.

While you may experience immediate changes in your life it is just as likely that change will happen gradually.

Yoga Nidra helps you discover a state that exists between sleep and wakefulness where deep healing takes place.

You learn to remain awake and alert even as the body sleeps.

At times during Yoga Nidra you may feel completely relaxed and fall completely asleep.

This is normal and gradually you will find that with the practice you will remain alert even as the body sleeps soundly.

You don't need any previous experience to practice Yoga Nidra because there's no right or wrong way to do this practice.

Just simply remain at ease,

Follow my voice while letting your experience be just as it is.

So Yoga Nidra is most effective when it's integrated into every moment of your life.

Moment to moment as you go about your day and night affirm your attention to feel and respond to the call of your inner self.

Try to apply Yoga Nidra when you're walking,

Talking,

Interacting,

Working,

Playing or resting.

When you find yourself at ease or navigating stressful situations,

Dealing with cravings or difficult emotions,

Thoughts,

Memories,

Persons or circumstances,

Feel yourself spontaneously remembering and practicing body and breath sensing.

Welcoming emotions,

Thoughts,

Joy and well-being into your body and into spacious pure awareness.

Feel how in this and every moment your every sensation,

Emotion,

Thought and experience is a foreground movement arising within your pure awareness which is a constant and unchanging background of peace,

Stillness and well-being.

Affirm your intention that throughout your day your body and mind remember the feeling of well-being and peace that comes from resting in and as pure awareness.

Affirm your intention to apply the practices of Yoga Nidra moment to moment throughout your life so that you are one of peace,

Harmony and well-being and whatever you are doing and with whomever you are interacting.

So let's begin our practice by finding a comfortable lying or seated position,

Feeling supported by the surface your body is resting upon,

Allowing your eyes to remain open or gently closed,

Taking your time to settle into a position that feels just right.

During Yoga Nidra you are guided to notice and feel physical 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 whatever you experience is perfect just as it is.

Now simply rest at ease and follow my guidance allowing my voice to become your voice.

During Yoga Nidra welcome every experience as a messenger that is inviting you to explore sensations,

Emotions and thoughts without trying to change,

Fix or make anything happen.

As you welcome whatever is arising your body and mind are learning to remain at ease and discover the feeling within that is always at peace and at ease.

A witnessing presence that is welcoming everything.

Now feel your body settling completely into stillness,

Senses wide open,

Bring attention to your senses,

Notice the taste in your mouth,

Sounds around you,

Smells,

Images or colours behind your eyelids,

The touch of the air on your skin,

Your senses open and alive.

Now bring to mind your intention for today's practice,

How you would like to feel during and as a result of your practice.

Perhaps a sense of well-being or relief from discomfort,

Cravings or emotional pain or to remain alert and present throughout this practice and in your daily life,

Affirming your intention with your entire body and mind.

Now allow your heartfelt desire to emerge,

The longing you desire more than anything else in life.

Perhaps the feeling of being whole,

Healed and healthy or feeling deep self-acceptance,

Peace,

Being free of addiction,

Imagine your deepest heartfelt desire completely fulfilled as true and manifesting right in this very moment and how you feel in your body and your mind when this is so.

Then let your heartfelt desire go and notice how it returns at the end of today's practice and in your daily life.

And allow your inner resource to emerge,

Your special place that brings the feeling of security and ease into your body,

Maybe a room,

A place in nature,

An image or simply the feeling of peace.

Whatever it is,

Invite it in using all of your senses,

Sounds,

Smells,

Tastes,

Sensation,

Colours,

Forms,

Feelings of security,

Ease and wellbeing as you imagine your inner resource.

Knowing that you can return to this inner resource at any time during your practice or during daily life whenever you need to feel safe,

Secure,

Calm and at ease.

Now let the sound of my voice be your guide and support you in experiencing sensations throughout your body.

As I name each area you may feel sensations that are present or nothing in particular but whatever you experience is perfect just as it is in this very moment.

Mouth,

Bring attention to sensations inside the mouth.

Roof of the mouth.

Floor,

Inside cheeks.

Left and right.

Back of the throat.

Tongue.

The entire mouth,

A field of sensation.

Ears.

Left ear,

Inside and out.

Right ear,

Inside and out.

Sensing both ears at the same time.

Nose,

Welcoming the breath as pure sensation in the nose.

Left nostril,

Right nostril.

Both nostrils at the same time.

Eyes.

Left eye,

Right eye.

Both eyes together.

A field of radiant sensation.

Head and neck.

Sensing the forehead,

Scalp,

Back of the head,

Neck inside the throat.

Sensations of the inner walls inside the throat.

Shoulders,

Arms and hands.

Left shoulder,

Left upper arm.

Forearm,

Wrist.

Left palm and fingers.

The entire left arm.

Right shoulder,

Right upper arm.

Forearm,

Wrist.

Right palm and fingers.

The entire right arm.

Both arms and hands together as one field of sensation.

Inside the throat,

Upper chest,

Upper back,

Middle chest,

Middle back,

Abdomen,

Lower back,

Pelvis,

Sacrum.

The entire torso is a field of vibrant sensation.

Pelvis,

Legs and feet.

Left buttock,

Left hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Left foreleg,

Foot and toes.

The entire left leg.

Right buttock,

Right hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Right foreleg,

Foot and toes.

The entire right leg.

Sensing both legs and feet at the same time.

Entire body sensing.

The entire front of the body,

Back of the body,

Left side and right side.

Sensing the entire body,

Inside and outside as a field of radiant sensation.

Be aware of all that is now present in your awareness.

Feeling yourself as the one who is aware of everything that's present.

Experiencing yourself as a field of awareness in which everything is coming and going.

Become aware of the body breathing itself naturally and rhythmically.

Abdomen gently rising as the breath flows in and releasing as the breath flows out.

No need to change anything as the body breathes itself.

Now while gently retaining the breath at the top of the inhalation,

Bring your attention to the left side of the body and while exhaling and inhaling welcome sensations throughout the left side of the body.

Then while you gently retain the breath at the top of the inhalation again,

Bring attention into the right side of the body.

Exhaling and inhaling welcoming sensation throughout the right side of the body.

Alternating from one side to the other at your own breathing rhythm.

Giving time during the retention for sensation to completely shift across the midline from one side to the other.

And when you are ready,

Sense the entire body simultaneously and allow the body to return to its own natural breathing rhythm.

Awareness.

Awareness of all that is present now.

Feeling yourself as the one who is aware of everything that's now present.

Sensing what's present and then experiencing yourself dissolving into being the field of awareness in which everything is arising.

And remember that any time you experience the need to feel secure and at ease you can return to your inner resource at a moment's notice.

Now I invite you to bring your attention to feelings that are present throughout the body such as warmth or coolness,

Heaviness or lightness,

Comfort or discomfort.

Allowing them to blossom fully in your body and if no feelings are present as may happen simply welcoming whatever is present.

Now bring attention to an emotion that is present in your body or one that you are working with in your life or recall a memory that invites a particular emotion into your body.

Welcoming the emotion as sensation in your body.

And if no emotion is present there's no need to make anything happen.

Simply welcome whatever is present.

If there is an emotion which is present where are you feeling it in your body?

Allowing it to blossom fully while welcoming thoughts,

Images or memories that co-arise with this emotion.

Being present in your experience just as it is without trying to change or fix anything.

Now be attentive to sensations throughout your body of pleasure,

Happiness,

Joy or well-being.

Maybe recall a particular event from your life that invites the feeling of well-being into your body right now.

Welcoming what emerges just as it is.

Perhaps a sense of being okay just as you are.

And perhaps experiencing the sensation of joy as an inner smile that radiates from your heart and expands throughout your entire body.

Flowing out until your torso,

Arms and hands down into the pelvis,

Legs and feet.

Flowing up into the head and the face,

Mouth,

Lips and eyes smiling.

The entire body smiling.

Radiant and alive with the feeling of joy or well-being.

Allowing the sensation to saturate every cell,

Muscle,

Organ throughout your entire body.

Be aware of yourself as the witness of all that's present in your awareness.

Everything coming and going to you as the witness.

Simply being unchanging pure awareness.

Aware and awake as itself as well-being and peace.

Being awareness and reflecting upon all that has been or is now present.

Sensations,

Emotions,

Beliefs,

Joy and well-being.

Everything is just as it is.

Yourself just as you are.

Come back to your inner resource.

Your place of grounding,

Security and well-being.

Notice your breathing.

Easy and rhythmic.

And bring to mind your intention for this practice.

Perhaps affirming the desire to integrate Yoga Nidra into each moment of your daily life.

And recall your heartfelt desire as a resonance of sensation in your body.

Experiencing it as an accomplished fact in this moment.

And imagine going about your daily life noticing sensations,

Emotions and thoughts all constantly changing.

Yet all the while feeling yourself as unchanging,

Spacious awareness in which everything is coming and going.

And now taking your time transitioning to your alert wide awake state of wakefulness.

Sensing your body,

The room around you.

Eyes opening as you feel ready.

Perhaps wiggling your fingers and toes.

Moving your body.

Coming fully alert and wide awake.

And perhaps before ending your practice,

Experience the feeling of gratitude for taking time to practice Yoga Nidra.

Welcoming and loving yourself.

Experiencing yourself as timeless,

Open and spacious well-being that is perfect just as it is.

And yourself as whole,

Healthy and perfect just as you are.

Yourself as unchanging,

Spacious awareness in which everything is unfolding and the understanding that you will always know the perfect response to each moment.

Thanking yourself for taking this time to practice Yoga Nidra meditation.

I thank you.

Namaste.