Yoga Nidra: A Deep Earth Immersion

Welcome to Yoganidra,

A deep earth immersion with Samy Aaron.

Come into a comfortable supported posture,

Either seated or lying down.

Cover up with a blanket as your body will cool some during the practice.

If you're seated,

Be sure your back,

Hips,

And feet are very stable and grounded.

A pillow under your elbows and hands can help you feel more stable.

If you're lying down,

Place a soft cushion behind your neck and a pillow or rolled towel under the back of the knees.

Make sure your elbows and hands are supported.

Bring your attention to the image of your body preparing for Yoganidra.

And as you take a full inhalation and exhalation,

Notice any gripping you could release through your head,

Face,

And throat.

With each exhalation,

Visualize letting go of the day,

Coming into this moment.

You feel a release through the tops of the shoulders,

The elbows,

And the hands.

You let go tension through the back of the neck,

The upper back,

The shoulder blades,

And the kidneys.

You exhale out any gripping through the chest and the rib cage.

You feel the soft belly relax completely,

Softness through the groins and upper thighs.

You notice the back body,

The waist,

And the small of the back,

The tailbone,

And the glutes.

You bring your attention into your hips and pelvis.

And with your next exhalation,

You feel a deep letting go,

Dropping into gravity.

Follow that sensation into your thighs,

Knees,

Lower legs,

Ankles,

Feet,

And all ten toes.

With the next inhalation,

Imagine breathing into the entire body.

And as you exhale,

Visualize any residual tension flowing out with the breath.

Bring your attention to your forehead,

Your brain,

And your thoughts,

And do the same there.

As you inhale,

Notice the busyness.

And on an exhale,

Imagine that all those thoughts could just float away,

Leaving a little openness and release in its wake.

Bring your awareness into your heart.

The yoga nidra practice often includes a sankalpa,

An intention statement or focus,

A heartfelt desire or resolve.

This yoga nidra practice is a deep immersion with the earth.

And I invite you to set your sankalpa for today to fully connect to nature,

To embody and experience a deeper connection to the natural world around us through earth,

Wind,

Fire,

Water,

And ether.

Take a full inhalation and a full exhalation.

As you soften or close your eyes and release one more layer of tension,

Notice the weight of your feet connecting to gravity.

Wiggle out through your toes and your ankles and let go of any tightness there.

Bring your awareness into your legs and jiggle out through your knees and hips.

Clench and release through the glutes and the thighs and the lower legs and release,

Letting go of any tension.

Feel heavy and weighted through the hips,

Lower legs,

And the feet.

Bring your awareness into the small of the back,

The shoulder blades,

And the upper part of the back and do some gentle stretching or movement through the spine.

Explore a gentle pelvic rock,

Tucking the tail,

Releasing the tail.

And as you settle back,

Notice the sensation that your spine is in alignment.

You feel that your shoulders are equidistant from your ears and there's a groundedness through the back body.

Let the back body just totally release into the earth.

Then notice the sensations through the front body,

The chest,

The rib cage,

The sternum,

The soft belly,

And imagine the skin through the front body softening and melting towards the earth.

Let go of any gripping through the waist and the navel.

You feel the breath expand through the belly,

Moving in and out.

Bring your awareness into your shoulders and do some gentle shoulder circles in one direction and then the other.

And with the shoulders feeling open,

The chest is relaxed,

Receptive and in alignment.

There's a heaviness through the shoulders and shoulder joints as they release back towards the ground and you feel that weightedness through the upper arms,

Elbows,

Forearms,

Through the wrists and both hands.

Clench and release all the fingers.

Add in some wrist circles in one direction and then the other.

And then release.

Let go any tension through the fingers,

Through the hands,

And let them fall heavily either to your side or against the low belly.

Bring your awareness to the upper part of the back,

The back of the neck,

The back of the skull,

The crown of the head,

And the entire face.

Notice where you could release any gripping through the forehead,

Eyebrows,

Eyeballs,

Through the temples,

Bridge of the nose,

The cheeks,

And both ears,

Through the upper lip and lower lip,

The upper teeth and lower teeth,

And the TMJ area.

Let the tongue feel heavy through the base of the throat.

Begin to feel weighted,

Heavy,

And grounded through the skull.

As the entire face is released,

The back of the head,

You imagine that the right hemisphere of the brain could separate slightly from the left,

A little softening of the activity of your thoughts.

Take a full inhalation and a full exhalation and bring your attention into your heart.

Witness the emotions you carry right here in the heart center.

You notice your breath flowing in and flowing out through the heart.

Begin to visualize a place in nature,

A favorite tree or forest,

A pathway that you've hiked on or camped at,

A special place where you've spent some time outdoors.

Remember today's sankalpa to be in connection with nature,

To notice how it feels to allow all that comes in through your senses.

You can see the place in nature,

And then take another full inhalation,

A full exhalation,

And bring your attention to your feet as we begin the yoga nidra practice.

Visualize the place in nature that you've imagined,

And let your thoughts settle on one tree in particular.

For the deep body relaxation today,

We're focusing on the earth and our connection to the earth through the image of this tree.

Bring your attention to the soles of your feet.

Imagine that you could step into this place in nature,

And visualize that sensation at your feet as you stand on the ground.

Your awareness of gravity sending tendrils of strength and energy and heaviness into your body through your feet,

And you feel that release.

There's a sensation as you visualize your favorite tree,

What that would feel like if you had roots that were similar.

If your feet could be rooted in the ground,

Would you have a deep taproot,

Or would your roots spread along just under the soil,

But spread out wide from your trunk?

There's a sensation that if you were that tree,

Your roots would draw nutrients,

Water,

Up into your ankles,

Your lower legs.

There would be this sensation of groundedness drawing up through your sap,

Through your bloodstream,

Into your kneecaps,

Past the crease at the back of the knees.

There'd be a sensation of receiving whatever comes from the soil,

Moisture,

Nutrients,

Minerals,

Drawing up through your feet,

Lower legs,

Past the knees into your thighs,

The sensation of that connectedness,

Groundedness,

The stability from the tree trunk.

You feel a shift as your thighs connect into your torso and the soft belly.

There's an openness of the breath through the belly,

The lungs,

And through the ribs.

You notice the sensation of that connection to the trunk of the tree and to the earth through the small of the back,

The tip of the tailbone,

The back of both glutes,

And you visualize continuing to draw in that sensation of sap,

Nutrients,

Water through the back body,

Past the small of the back.

There's a sensation you can draw it up through the spine,

Through the nerves,

The spinal cord,

The synovial fluid in your mind is flowing with tree sap.

You follow that connection to the kidneys,

The shoulder blades,

The upper part of the back through the spine to the base of the neck.

You feel that connection.

You inhale and exhale and continue to draw that sensation through the front body,

Past the soft belly,

Into the chest,

Into the lungs,

And the heart,

And the bloodstream.

You feel that sensation through the collarbones,

The muscles beneath the breasts,

Around the armpits.

The entire torso feels heavy and open and grounded.

You bring your attention to the visualization of the tree and you imagine that place where the first branches begin to sprout.

This is the heart center of the tree,

And you feel that connection through your own heart center.

You feel it through your armpits,

Your shoulder joints,

Through the upper arms and elbows,

As though sap could flow up through your legs and torso and chest,

Straight into both arms,

Past the elbows,

Feeling the movement through the forearms,

The wrists,

And the back of the hands.

There's a sensation through the palms of the hands that you begin to imagine the sprouting of leaves and smaller branches through each of your fingers,

An awareness of radiance that you could radiate this energy from the roots through your feet,

Through the entire body,

And radiate out through your hands in the way that leaves and blossoms do,

Receiving the breeze,

Shifting with the sunlight,

As if your arms were branches on your favorite tree.

The sensation of everything through the right hand that you give to others,

And everything through the left hand that you receive,

And you feel that softness,

Groundedness,

Weightedness through both hands,

Both arms,

Both shoulders,

Through the entire torso,

Front body and back body,

Through hips and glutes and lower legs and feet.

You visualize that earth connection flowing through the entire body into the throat and the back of the neck.

There's a sensation of energy arising through the back of the neck into the brain,

The back of the skull,

Through the front of the face,

The TMJ,

Inside the mouth,

Inside the ears.

You feel a flood of energy,

Connection,

And companionship with the tree flowing into your crown in the same way that your favorite tree has a crown with its uppermost branches that reach for the sky.

There's a sensation of openness through the crown of your head,

Softening the soft spot,

Visualizing that in the same way the imaginary roots flow from your feet down into the earth,

That you could visualize energy,

Light,

Oxygen,

Flowing out of the crown of your head and connecting with all that's in the heavens.

There's a sensation that as a tree,

You might stand there and notice the movement of the moon on a clear night.

On a summer's day,

The tree would witness the movement of the sun,

Shadows and shading from sun up to sun down.

And you visualize the number of days and years that you and the tree have witnessed the movement of life through sunlight and moonlight.

Take a full inhalation and a full exhalation and notice how it feels to be physically,

Emotionally and intellectually in connection to the tree and to this place in the forest.

Then take a full inhalation,

A full exhalation,

And bring your attention now to your face and your hands and visualize this place in nature and how it would feel on your skin.

We move into the breath.

We move from earth to wind in our awareness.

You visualize the breath flowing in and out through your nostrils.

You notice that this breath comes from the breeze in this place in nature.

That as you inhale,

You're inhaling the breath of every tree,

Every plant,

Every animal that ever walked through this place.

And as you inhale,

You notice the sensation of that breeze against your face and your hands and surrounding your whole body.

It's as if your skin could soften and receive the breath of the wind.

You notice the temperature of the air through your nostrils and against your skin.

You notice the moisture,

The humidity in the air.

With your deepest inhalation,

You become aware of the fragrances,

The scent of the earth,

Decaying leaves,

Last year's blossoms,

That earthy mustiness.

You notice the sensation of the fragrance of pine trees and cedars and their offering of healing aromas as you inhale aromatherapy,

Drawing in the memory of the scent of this place in nature.

You visualize whatever blossoms have bloomed around your tree,

And you feel as you inhale that you could understand the allure of these blossoms to pollinators.

You draw that breath into your body,

And you notice how does it feel physically.

How does your body respond when you inhale the most glorious fragrance?

Your lungs open,

Your heart opens,

And your belly softens as your entire body receives that breath.

And how does it feel when you exhale,

When you let that breath go?

There's a sense of relationship with other than humans.

We breathe in oxygen that trees and plants have exhaled.

We exhale our CO2 and share that as a gift back to nature.

Wildflowers and grasses and trees receive the gift of our breath and send us back the gift of oxygen.

And we feel that flow.

With each breath we receive,

With each breath we give,

And we know we are completely in alignment with the natural world.

Notice how this feels.

How does it feel to be so aware of your breath?

And then take a full inhalation,

A full exhalation,

And we'll move from Earth through wind,

And now to fire.

Bring your attention into your belly,

Into the soft belly and the solar plexus.

Notice for a breath or two,

This is your fire center.

You visualize your digestive system.

What happens with everything you eat and drink,

All the nature you draw into your body through healthy food and delicious beverages.

Somehow your body knows what to keep and what to burn up.

Your body produces the acids and energies to withdraw from the foods what is healthy and nurturing and to eliminate what it doesn't need.

You feel that sense of energetic fire and strength without your having to understand what's happening.

Your body just knows what to do.

You move into the awareness of intentional fire,

Your power center.

What things in your life have you built a fire under?

What fires are you still nurturing and supporting?

What things in your life have you put on the back burner?

And what bridges have you burned?

How does it feel when you recognize your strength from the inside?

With your next breath,

Visualize the first few days after a fire in nature.

Green shoots will soon be arising from the earth.

Many of our native trees have evolved to have thicker trunks to be able to withstand fire.

You feel that sensation within your own body,

That sensation of knowing your own strength,

The sense of your own tree trunk,

Your own protection,

Able to withstand the fires from without and the fires from within.

In your mind's eye,

You visualize what it would look like to be a place bursting with renewal after a fire.

Day one,

Day two,

Day seven,

And day 30.

You notice the sound of birds and insects as you move your awareness through the restoration after the fire,

Knowing that that's how it is within our own bodies,

Our own hearts,

With any trauma or grief.

There's a period of time with no growth.

There's a time of gentle,

Tentative growth.

And at some point,

We notice that the effects of the fire have given way to something new and something more nourishing,

Perhaps a silver lining in our lives.

And you notice in your body the sensation of fire and the metaphors that go with it and reflect on how that feels.

Then take a full inhalation and a full exhalation as we move from earth through wind,

Past fire and into water,

Visualizing your place in nature in a rainfall,

A gentle rain,

A warm daytime rain.

The sun is still shining.

It's bright enough that you notice the rain dripping on the leaves.

And you feel that sensation as you connect with that tree.

How would it feel to be in a gentle,

Warm rain in this place?

Open to the sensation,

Drop by drop on your face.

You feel the rivulets of water sliding down your face in the back of your neck.

You begin to notice places in the ground around you where the water pools congregates.

And as those pools fill up,

There's a moment where the water begins to flow downhill into the nearest creek bed.

You follow the water as it flows into a meandering stream,

Settles into a pond,

Joins a wider river and swirls to the sea.

You feel that sensation of connection with all that flows.

There's an awareness in your own body,

Your own heart of flow.

There's the circulation of blood through your entire bloodstream.

The trickle of tears.

The sensation through the spine of synovial fluid coursing through your spine and the brain.

There's an awareness of moisture through the taste of your own saliva and the movement of fluids through your entire digestive system.

Take a full inhalation and a full exhalation.

And let your mind meander over the flows of water and the flow of life.

In your own life,

People have come in and flowed away.

You remember different places you've lived and then moved on.

Different jobs you've had and the flow when you knew it was the right time to make a change.

You feel that flow through the entire body,

Knowing that sometimes the changes have flowed with ease,

Bubbled up,

Flowed over,

Merged with whatever was next.

And sometimes that flow has been blocked.

It's had to wind its way around large boulders,

Over a waterfall,

Or through dangerous rapids.

You notice the metaphors of the movement through your body,

Your heart,

And your mind through your life.

Recognizing that the one thing you can absolutely count on is the change.

The awareness that everything we have will most likely flow away.

And you notice how that feels.

And then take a full inhalation and full exhalation and bring your awareness to the outside of your body.

Imagine the sensation of your skin and visualize the space an inch away from your body as if you had a shimmer of light around you in every direction.

We flow from earth to wind through fire and water and we come now to ether,

The connection and interconnection to all that is.

Ether is that space between everything that's solid,

Everything we can see or touch.

It's the connection that our bodies have through our own aliveness from the breath of the breeze.

And you visualize the sensation of where your body is in this moment.

What is near you?

What's touching you?

And what could you reach out and touch?

You begin to expand your awareness to sense what is three feet in front of you.

Behind you,

Beneath you,

To the right,

And the left.

You feel this energetic connection through your body to everything nearby.

And you expand your perception of that shimmering halo to six feet around you in all directions.

And notice what happens to your breath.

As you connect to each of the objects in your visualization,

There may be an awareness that your breath has deepened.

Imagining that shimmering ten feet out around your body,

That it expands out from your body through both your inhalation and exhalation.

Notice the sensation of your body in this room,

Your connection to the earth beneath you.

Imagine that you could float up from your body.

And from the perspective from above,

You notice your house in your neighborhood.

What would you imagine you would notice from a perspective from beneath you deep in the earth,

Below the crust of the earth?

What do you notice through all your senses?

The sounds in your neighborhood,

The aromas,

The touch of the breeze as you step outdoors.

Feel the awareness of all your senses in this place.

And then expand that shimmering awareness further away through your city and deeper into the earth.

As if there was a shimmering bubble of you expanding out into the world.

You feel the sensation that there are no boundaries,

No street names,

No cities,

No state lines.

You're just you expanding your awareness wider,

Farther out into the heavens and deeper into the earth.

There's a sense of boundlessness.

How does it feel to experience and be open to everything you're surrounded by out to the farthest reach of your imagination?

And what happens to your breath when you notice that connection?

At the same time,

Remember the groundedness you feel through your feet,

The roots and the earth.

And what is the sensation to be unfettered and light while feeling grounded and connected all at the same time?

Bring your awareness into your face,

Your mouth,

Your nose,

Your eyes,

Into your forehead and your brain.

Notice the sensations just between the eyebrows in the center of the forehead at the third eye.

There's a softening there as if you could perceive your own antenna,

Noticing what you're connected to.

A sensation that you could energetically make contact with everyone you've ever loved.

You notice their faces in your mind's eye.

You imagine you could connect with every living being on the planet.

Every bird,

Butterfly,

Critter,

Or blossom that has ever caught your attention.

You notice the indigenous teachings that these are our relatives.

There's an awareness that you could connect to your favorite tree or place in nature,

Recognizing the symbiosis of its breath with your breath,

The receiving and giving,

Coming in through the heart and the mind and the body.

And then take a full inhalation and a full exhalation and bring your attention back into your heart center,

Remembering today's Senkalpa to simply be in deeper connection to the nature around us.

You notice your breath and you notice how this feels physically,

Intellectually,

And emotionally.

You begin to come out of the yoga nidra practice.

If you're listening to this meditation in order to fall asleep,

This is a perfect time to turn off the recording and enjoy the stillness.

Otherwise,

Begin by swallowing,

Gently separating your lips and opening through the jaw.

It might feel nice to move your head to the right and then the left.

And when you feel ready,

Take a deep inhalation and begin some gentle movements through your hands,

Your fingers,

Your wrists.

Ankle circles point and flex your feet and toes.

If you're lying down,

See how it feels to bend at the knees,

Feet flat against the floor or mattress,

And gently lift the hips up just an inch or so with gentle hip circles.

If you're seated,

Draw first one knee and then the other into the chest for a gentle opening through the small of the back.

Let your hips relax and find some gentle moves,

Gentle stretches through the back body and the spine.

And then slowly come up to a seated position.

Feel free to keep a blanket around you if you'd like.

Take a full inhalation and a full exhalation and bring your attention to the palm of your left hand.

Let the palm face towards you and rest it against your heart.

The left hand is the receiving hand.

Visualize the gift of yoga nidra and send a little gratitude to the lineage of teachers who have shared this gentle practice.

And then bring to mind the gifts you've received from nature,

From your connection to earth,

Wind,

Fire,

Water,

And ether.

Receive it and remember it through your breath.

Savor how it felt and what you've experienced.

And then bring your awareness to your right hand,

The right palm,

And let that palm face towards you and then let it rest on top of your left hand.

The right hand is the giving hand.

Visualize all that you received from this practice and imagine it flowing from your heart through the right shoulder and elbow to the right hand and visualize who you might gift with something you received today.

It may be your breath or a state of stillness.

It may be something you noticed in nature that you'll share with others.

And sit for a moment as you feel that flow through the left hand receiving into the heart through the right hand and giving to the world.

Accept my deepest gratitude for the opportunity to share this profound connection to nature.

May you take this stillness and connection with you throughout the rest of your day and share it with everyone you meet.

Namaste.