Traditionally in yoga nidra,
We lie on our back and let our limbs rest in a natural position.
This helps keep us from needing to support our bodies in any way,
Putting in as little effort as possible to hold up the body.
However,
Sometimes lying on the back isn't the most comfortable position,
So you can always choose a different position of comfort for yourself.
Use this time now to find that place for you.
Once the meditation gets going,
We then want to try to find stillness.
We want to avoid fidgeting and distractions so that we can go really deep into ourselves,
Noticing what sensations,
Thoughts,
Feelings occur without external stimuli.
Perhaps if you're wearing glasses,
You can set them to the side.
Let your eyes close and feel the body just start to relax.
Feel the connection between the back of the body and the supports beneath you.
Feel every place where the body is supported and allow yourself to release more deeply into it.
The practice of yoga nidra is the act of hearing and the act of feeling,
And these are the two important factors.
Here we function on the level of awareness and the level of listening.
We don't want to try to do anything too hard in our yoga nidra practice,
But more rather experience,
Letting go of effort and seeing what comes to us.
Begin to notice the natural rhythm of the breath.
Feel the rise of the body with breath on inhale.
Follow the body with the exhale.
Notice that even though the inhale requires a little muscular action from our diaphragms,
The exhale is where the muscle relaxes.
The exhale is where we release all effort.
So feel as you exhale,
Not only the diaphragm relaxing,
But the entire body.
This might be a very subtle sense of relaxation if you're particularly tense,
Or it might be something larger that you notice.
However much you feel it,
Just know that it is happening without any effort of your own,
And let yourself experience that release of tension.
Now turn on your sense of hearing.
Let your ears be like radar beams,
Listening for the sounds that are all around you.
The sounds,
The space surrounding you,
All 360 degrees.
Letting your awareness drift from sound to sound.
Notice the sounds that are inside the room.
Notice the sounds of the body.
Listen to the sound of your breath.
Listen to the sound of the heartbeat.
And in the heartbeat,
Hear the whisper of your Sankalpa,
This intention or affirmation you want for yourself.
The Sankalpa can be anything you wish to accomplish in your life.
And it's phrased in the present tense,
As if it's already occurring for you.
So envision yourself having this wish for you already be present.
See yourself being your Sankalpa.
And then repeat your Sankalpa three times mentally,
With the same wording,
And confidence that it will come true in your life.
Moving on now to the rotation of consciousness through the body.
The body remains still,
And we travel with our consciousness through it.
As I name each body part,
Bring your awareness to it.
It might help to mentally repeat the name of the body part or visualize it.
You can also try a practice of placing an object upon the body part,
Maybe a star,
A beam of light,
A flower,
Whatever comes to mind.
We begin,
As always,
With the right hand thumb.
So bring your awareness now to the right hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Armpit,
Right side of the ribcage,
Waist,
Right hip,
Thigh,
Hamstring,
Knee,
Back of the knee,
Shin,
Calf muscle,
Ankle,
Heel,
Sole of the foot,
Arch of the foot,
Top of the foot,
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Stay awake and aware,
And move your consciousness to the left side of the body and the left hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Palm of the hand,
Back of the hand,
Wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
Shoulder,
Armpit,
Left side of the ribcage,
Waist,
Left hip,
Thigh,
Hamstring,
Knee,
Back of the knee,
Shin,
Calf muscle,
Ankle,
Heel,
Sole of the foot,
Arch of the foot,
Top of the foot,
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Stay awake and aware.
Bring awareness to the back of the head,
Back of the neck,
Right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder blade,
Upper back,
Middle back,
Lower back,
Whole right side of the back,
Whole left side of the back,
The whole spinal column,
The buttocks,
Backs of the legs,
Heels.
Bring awareness to the crown of the head,
Forehead,
Right temple,
Left temple,
Right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow,
The eyebrow center,
Right eye,
Left eye,
Right cheek,
Left cheek,
Right ear,
Left ear,
Ridge of the nose,
Tip of the nose,
The whole nose,
The space between the nose and lips,
Upper lip,
Lower lip,
Both lips together,
Teeth,
Tongue,
Gums,
The whole mouth together,
Chin,
Jawbone,
Right collarbone,
Left collarbone,
The hollow between the collarbones,
Right chest,
Left chest,
Center of chest,
Upper abdomen,
Navel,
Lower abdomen,
Pelvis,
Hips,
The whole right leg,
The whole left leg,
Both legs together,
The whole right arm,
The whole left arm,
Both arms together,
The whole right side of the body,
The whole left side of the body,
The whole back of the body,
The whole front of the body.
Awareness of the whole body together,
The whole body together,
The whole body together.
Now see yourself as if you're looking in a mirror.
See yourself clearly as if you were looking in a mirror.
First you see the front side of the body.
Notice your feet,
Your legs,
Your torso,
Your arms and hands,
The expression on your face.
See yourself from behind.
How clearly can you see the back of the body?
Look at yourself from one side and then the other.
See the entire body in great detail as if you were looking in a mirror.
Now come back to your breath.
Complete awareness that you are breathing.
Awareness if you are asleep or awake.
Stay awake and observe the breath.
Now begin to count the breaths backwards.
Inhale 54,
Exhale 54.
Inhale 53,
Exhale 53,
And so on.
Mentally counting breaths backwards from 54 to 0.
If you lose the count,
Then simply come back to 54 and start again.
As many times as you need to,
Always coming back to 54 if you lose the count.
Complete focus on breathing and counting.
Now let go of the count entirely and just breathe naturally.
Feel the entire body from head to toe.
Feel your breath and begin to feel heaviness.
Feel heavy in the body.
Heavy like you are made of lead.
Heavy like a rock or a stone.
Feel yourself sinking,
Sinking further into the supports beneath you.
Feel like the bones are made of a heavy metal and they are pulling you further and further down.
Create a sensation of heaviness in the body.
Now release feelings of heaviness and let yourself feel light.
Create a lightness in the body now.
The body feels entirely light.
Now like it's floating away from the ground beneath you.
The body is made of air or a very light substance like a feather.
Feel yourself practically floating off the floor.
Let yourself feel lightness.
And now see if you can feel both lightness and heaviness simultaneously.
See if you can awaken the opposite sensations of heavy and light.
Perhaps some areas feel very heavy,
Like the hips,
And others light like the hair.
Try to manifest both heavy and light in the body.
Now let go of lightness and heaviness and try to create a sensation of anger.
Feel the sensation of anger within yourself.
If it's difficult,
Perhaps recall a situation where the emotion of anger came easily to you.
Notice where you feel anger the most in the body and let yourself dive in to the feeling of anger.
Now let go of anger and come to calm.
Let yourself feel complete calmness,
Absolutely calm.
Perhaps recall an experience where you felt extremely calm.
No worries.
Let yourself feel this calmness now,
Creating a sensation of calm in the body.
And now see if you can feel both calm and angry simultaneously.
See if you can awaken these opposite sensations and experience them both at the same time.
Notice how it feels to have both occurring within yourself,
If one is stronger or more prevalent than the other.
See if you can feel both angry and calm at the same time.
And now let go of angry and calm and come back to breathing.
Feel the rise of the inhale,
The fall of the exhale.
Bring your awareness now to the Chittakasha,
The mind space between the eyebrows.
Draw your attention and awareness to this space,
Noticing whatever manifests here.
Observe with a curious mind,
Watching this movie screen of your mind.
And now I will name a series of ideas and images,
Opposite ideas and images,
And visualize or experience them as best you can,
Engaging all of your senses.
If nothing comes to mind,
No worries.
Just move on to the next.
See before you the yin yang symbol,
Darkness,
Light,
The color black,
The color white,
The moon,
The sun,
A cool mountain stream,
A hot springs,
Passiveness,
Creation,
Stillness,
Action,
Slow,
Fast,
Listening,
Speaking,
Water,
Fire,
Matter,
Energy,
Mysterious,
Obvious,
Night,
Day,
Observation,
Doing,
Experiencing,
Analyzing,
Receiving,
Giving.
Now see yourself outside at night.
You're sitting by a small pond.
It's not quite complete darkness yet.
But the twilight colors are getting darker and darker as evening draws near.
The pond is very calm,
Peaceful and quiet.
The only sound you hear are the breeze rustling through the cattails,
Crickets chirping,
Owls hooting at one another in the distance.
The water is very still and calm and dark.
And reflected upon it is the barest sliver of a moon.
The moon is almost completely dark.
And as you look at the moon upon the water,
The sliver grows tinier and tinier as the moon reaches its new stage.
Eventually the sliver of moon completely disappears.
Stars have not yet emerged.
And the pond is entirely dark.
You decide to enter the dark waters.
And you make your way into the pond slowly.
The water is warm and inviting.
Step by step,
You make your way deeper into the water until you're up to your shoulders and neck.
And you decide to go deeper into the darkness.
And let yourself dip your head beneath the waters.
Here it is even quieter.
You hear only the sound of your heartbeat.
You come up for air when you need to.
But then you go back underneath the water,
Exploring this darkness,
This silence.
It's a very calm place.
A place where ideas are born.
A creative darkness.
Eventually,
You let yourself float on your back on the water.
You can hear the sounds of the creatures again.
The song of the breeze.
And you see now the sky is beginning to fill with stars,
One by one.
Eventually,
You see a massive starscape in the Milky Way.
And you know that darkness is not necessarily something frightening.
But a beautiful,
Clean slate where new creations and sparkling universes can emerge.
Now come back to your heart space.
And recall your sankalpa,
The affirmation you made at the beginning of the practice.
Feel it again.
And repeat it three times mentally,
With the same wording.
And know that it will come true in your life.
Listen for the sounds that are all around you.
And see if you can hear sounds that are very far away,
Like those outside in your neighborhood.
Start to remember what your space looks like.
It's familiar objects,
Maybe other people or creatures you share the space with.
Feel your entire body completely at ease.
Begin to deepen your breath now,
Putting a bit of awareness into the breathing process.
And using the inhales to re-energize you.
And we reawaken.
You're welcome to stay here as long as you like or are able.
But if you'd like to continue on with something different,
Start to make little movements in the body,
Wiggling the fingers and the toes.
Circle your wrists and your ankles and circle them the other way.
Move your head gently from side to side.
And do anything else that feels good,
Like yawning or stretching.
Eventually rolling to one side to gently press yourself up to seated.
Keeping your eyes closed if you can here.
And rubbing the palms together vigorously.
Waking up the body a little bit more.
And then bringing them together at the heart center in prayer.
Just noticing how you feel and saying thank you to yourself for taking time to reconnect with you.
I thank you all so very much as well.
Namaste
