Yoga Nidra For Joy

Welcome it's Rachel Hanrahan,

This is Yoga Nidra for Joy.

Thank you for joining me.

So this is a guided body sensing practice where we explore what's called in yogic understanding the Andhamaaya Kosha,

The part of us that resonates energetically with joy or bliss or happiness.

So get into a comfortable position and you might like to particularly lie down,

Try to take a position that you will be able to hold without moving for the next little while.

So before we begin I'd like to invite you to take a moment knowing that we can't experience happiness,

Joy or bliss without the understanding of the other end of the spectrum of sadness,

Depression,

Loneliness,

Disconnection.

So the polarity of that understanding is you can't know joy without knowing sadness.

So take a moment now to think of something that does help evoke that awareness of the Anandamaya Kosha,

The part of you that just naturally resonates with joy energetically.

It's the part of you that facilitates that awareness of joy,

Of bliss,

Happiness.

So you might prepare now by just considering something that brings a smile to your face,

It might be a beloved,

Someone you love or someone that loves you,

Being with your favorite pet or a wisdom figure,

A power animal,

A favorite place in nature.

It might be a joke or just a face that makes you smile,

A moment in time that brings a sense of joy or happiness.

And just consider that for a moment,

Just the first thing that might come to mind and know that we will call on that a little later on in our practice.

So let's settle in,

See if you can be as cozy and as comfortable as you can be.

Feel the support of the earth beneath you,

The meeting points between the body and your support to the floor,

The earth.

And just sense the immensity that is the earth beneath you,

Thousands of kilometers.

And that energetic that you can't see,

You can't grab it,

But it's undeniably there,

Gravity that holds you to the earth,

The earth's embrace.

Without it,

You'd be star dust floating through the universe.

And here in Australia,

We have a tradition of acknowledging the country,

The original custodians of the land beneath you as you come to practice.

So you take a moment to acknowledge the sacred land,

The lineage,

Your ancestors,

The wisdom of those that have walked this path before us.

You might briefly like to set an intention as you sense the whole back surface of the body and take a few breaths.

And as you exhale,

Try to bring more,

More connection between the back of your body and the surface beneath you.

Just notice the general energetic tone,

The textures,

The qualities,

The sensations that are here,

How it feels on that physical level.

Maybe feelings of warmth,

Of coolness.

Notice the whole imprint at the back of the body and the parts of the body that touch the surface.

Notice the front of your body,

Touch the skin,

Clothing against the skin,

Maybe a blanket against the skin,

The surface beneath you.

She sensed the whole front of the body,

That sensation rising up from the base of your body,

Upward through your body to the touch of your skin,

The front of your body.

Notice the sensations and textures running from the center of your body outward to the left side of your body,

The whole felt sense of the left side of your body.

And then glide your attention across through to the right side of your body and the textures and the qualities and the sensations through the right side of your body.

You might like to swallow a few times and draw your attention to the texture through the mouth,

Maybe moisture or dryness.

Notice the structure that arises from the jaw through to the gums and the teeth,

The softness of the lips,

The tongue.

And notice the touch of your breath at the nostrils.

Just breathe in and breathe out through the nostrils.

Notice the warmth of the breath,

Notice the texture,

The quality,

Maybe the sense of the flow through the nostrils.

And notice if one side feels more dominant or whether the flow feels even through both of the nostrils.

And have a felt sense of the left side of your head and left ear,

The right side of your head and right ear.

The sense of the structure of the face,

Bones through the face and the jaw,

The cheekbones,

The eye sockets,

The forehead.

The sense of the bones being at ease,

All the muscles at the face being at ease.

Feel the sensation or texture,

The crown of your head,

The back of your head,

The whole head,

The whole head.

And notice again your imprint of the back of the head and follow the back of the head into the curve of the back of your neck.

Follow attention down through the neck and the throat to the torso.

And a sense of sensation and textures from the neck into the shoulders,

Following these energetic pathways through the armpits and upper arms,

Through the elbows and lower arms,

Through the wrists,

Into the palms of the hands,

Feeling the resonance or warmth or the lightness at the palms of the hands,

The tips of the fingers,

The tips of the fingers,

The fingernails in the back of the hands,

The thumbs and palms of the hands,

The wrists and lower arms,

The elbows and upper arms,

The armpits and shoulders.

Begin to sense the breath at the left side of your chest,

Like you're breathing to the left side of the chest,

A sense of expansion,

Oxygenation through the left side of the chest,

Feeling that sense of the breath and its expansion through the right side of your chest,

The sense of the breath through the heart space,

The center of the chest,

Like the breath is expanding through the center of the chest,

And then feel the sense of the breath through the left side of the rib cage,

A sense of expansion from the front of the rib cage,

The back of the rib cage,

Out to the side,

The breath,

The left side of the rib cage,

And bring your attention across to the right side of the rib cage,

The expansion of your breath through the right side of the rib cage,

Through the front,

The side,

The back,

The full expansion,

The full sensation,

The texture,

The quality,

The breath expanding into the rib cage,

And feel the breath expanding through the upper abdomen,

The diaphragm,

Sense of expansion,

In all directions,

The center,

Out in all directions,

Simultaneously,

The expansion of the breath through the diaphragm,

The whole upper abdomen,

Through the whole upper abdomen,

The lower abdomen,

Through the whole lower abdomen,

Expansion of the breath,

Breath breathing the body,

And feel the sensation and texture through the left side of the torso,

The left arm and hand,

Down through the left side of the waist and hip,

Through the left,

Leg and foot,

All the way to the tips of the toes on the left foot,

And sensation from the soles of your feet into the heels,

Legs,

Into the hip and the whole torso,

Left arm and hand,

The whole left side of the body,

All the textures,

The qualities and sensations on the left side of the body,

And feel a sense of the pelvis,

Heaviness of the pelvis,

This heavy bone structure,

The sense of the right side of the waist,

The right side of the torso,

Arm and hand,

The right side of the hip and leg,

The right ankle and foot,

The right toes,

The tips of the toes,

The soles of the feet,

The heels,

The right foot and leg,

Right hip and waist,

Right side of the torso,

Right arm and hand,

The right side of the body,

The whole right side of the body,

And the feeling of the whole body as the breath breathes your body just as it is,

Don't have to do a thing,

It happens automatically,

And all the changing textures,

The qualities and sensations reveal an unchanging awareness,

This witnessing presence that's always here,

Whether the mind arises or not,

Surrendering into that place where everything really is okay,

Just as it is,

Learning to be with everything,

Just as it is,

And then begin to drop into the Anandamaya Kosha,

The bliss body,

The part of you that resonates energetically with joy and bliss and happiness,

You might like to help facilitate and call in maybe someone who brings the feelings of joy or bliss,

Maybe something,

An experience,

An event that allows a sense of bliss or joy,

Maybe the thought of a beloved or a favourite pet,

A joke,

Or a face that when you think of it makes you smile,

And maybe it begins like an inner smile,

A spark of joy,

Of bliss,

Maybe from the corners of the eyes down through the corners of the mouth,

This sense of a smile beginning behind the eyes and beginning to ripple out down through your body,

Rippling out with that sense of joy,

Bliss,

The part of you that naturally resonates,

That energetically connected to joy,

To bliss,

To happiness,

And feel these ripples or maybe it feels like a warmth or a mist or a light descending down through your body,

Down from the head to the torso,

Rippling down through the arms to the fingers and just exploring the textures and qualities,

Textures,

What qualities does bliss bring to your body,

Bring to your mind,

And let those qualities and textures descend down through your body,

Through every strand of the hair on your head,

Resonating,

Pulsating with joy,

Resonating down through the limbs,

This pulsation,

This resonance,

These textures,

Qualities of bliss,

Of joy,

Of happiness,

And this breath,

Each breath,

This joyful blissful expansion,

And here behind it all this stillness,

This sense of everything at ease,

There's always this unmoving true nature,

This blissful being that you are,

This joyful call of the inner self and the awareness which in this experience arises.

And ever so gently now,

This concludes our practice,

You can stay here longer if you like,

Or begin to draw your attention outward again,

May this sense of bliss within that's always here be with you throughout your day.

It's Rachel Hanrahan,

Thank you for joining me.

Thank you.