Yoga Nidra

Hello,

And welcome to our practice of yoga nidra.

Start by finding a comfortable lying down position,

Making sure your head and knees are supported if needed.

Just taking a moment to find support and stillness in the body.

And if you could be 5% more comfortable,

Go ahead and adjust to make that happen.

And we'll start to settle into the space.

Start by taking three deep breaths,

Exhaling,

Allowing yourself to soften and sink in deeper into the surface beneath you.

Now we're going to start to send awareness throughout the body.

As I mentioned,

Each part of the body,

Send awareness,

Noticing sensation,

Witnessing sensation and allowing our awareness of that sensation to melt and invite softening into that space.

We're going to start with the jaw,

Noticing the jaw and any grip or holding in our jaw.

Softening through the jaw.

On into the cheeks,

Into the eyes.

And even if your eyes are closed,

Soften the gaze in the eyes.

Allow your eyelids to be soft,

Float like a pedal on a pond.

Softening into the brow,

Softening any furrowing in the brow,

In the forehead.

Sending awareness into the entire face,

Allowing it all to be soft and relaxed.

Moving up into the scalp and top of the head.

Send your awareness into the roots of the hair and the scalp.

Inviting softening into the top of the head.

On into the back of the head.

Feeling gravity to cradle it,

Noticing pressure from the weight of the head on the surface beneath it.

Moving along the cervical spine and the neck,

The vertebra,

The spaces in between,

The curve of the cervical spine and the space between the floor and your neck.

Moving on into the upper back and shoulders.

Send awareness into your shoulder blades.

Allowing our shoulder blades to soften and surrender,

Noticing the sensation of the pressure from the weight of our shoulder blades and the surface beneath it.

Become aware of your mid-back and thoracic spine.

All the vertebra of the thoracic spine and the places in between,

Noticing the rib cage,

All 12 ribs and the spaces in between.

Send your awareness into the lumbar spine and the low back.

All the vertebra of the lumbar spine and the spaces in between,

The entire back soft and relaxed.

The spine is like a thread of silk,

Effortless and free.

Sending our awareness into the hips,

Into the sacrum,

Into the glutes.

Taking a moment to soften,

Let go of any grip or holding,

Allowing our hips to melt into the surface beneath them.

Moving on to the back of each leg,

To the hamstrings,

Allowing them to sink and let go behind the knees and the calves,

The entirety of the back of the legs,

Effortless and free.

Moving into the ankles,

Inviting softening into the joints and into the bottoms of the feet,

Allowing any tension or discomfort to melt away as we move into all 10 toes and into the tops of each foot.

Into both shin bones and the lower legs.

Both knees,

Letting go of the grips,

Them to be gentle and soft.

Sending our awareness into the upper leg and our quadriceps.

Both legs float effortlessly from the body.

Moving up into the hip flexors and the pelvis,

Taking a moment to notice sensations,

Tightness,

Discomfort,

Pain or anything emotional that may live here.

Gently allow it to soften and relax,

Letting it go.

Move your awareness into your abdominals,

Noticing how it feels,

Noticing your digestion,

Your soft tissue,

Any emotions that might live here,

Any worry or unease.

Take a moment to notice and dissolve it away.

Send your awareness into heart center,

Into the chest,

Into your lungs,

Maybe sensing your heartbeat,

Noticing the breath,

Noticing anything emotional that may live in your chest,

Any tightness or heaviness,

Become a witness and allow it to soften and dissolve.

Give your body one last scan,

Searching for places that still need to soften and let go until our bodies are still and neutral and our mind is aware.

During our practice,

We will find the edge of sleep.

If you fall asleep,

That's totally fine.

If you lose track of my voice,

That's also perfectly fine.

Just return when you become aware and don't worry too much about missing anything.

Now is the time we will bring to mind our San Khapa,

Our intention or resolve.

This is something that you'd like to manifest into your life.

Think a moment on what you need to manifest into your life.

And when you know what that is,

Speak it in your mind three times as if it is already happening.

That's how this makes you feel,

Knowing that your intention is coming to fruition.

Now going to become more aware of our breath.

Taking a deep breath in,

Filling all the spaces.

Exhale let it all go.

Now we're going to count down from 100 with our breath.

Inhale 100.

Exhale.

Inhale 99.

And exhale.

And so forth.

If you lose track,

It's okay.

We'll start over at 100.

Inhale 100.

Inhale 100.

You can start to allow your breath to return to a natural rhythm,

Knowing that if you get distracted,

You can always return to the breath and the sound of my voice.

Know that you are in a safe place.

You're safe,

Supported and secure.

As we move through visualizations,

Emotions may arise and some of those emotions might feel uncomfortable.

Lean into that discomfort.

But if it gets too overwhelming,

Know that you can return to this safe place.

Starting to move through some visualizations,

Do your best to really see and feel all the sensory parts of the things I mentioned.

This is color.

This is sound.

This is smell.

Maybe even taste or touch.

And like I said,

Emotions may arise as well.

A sunrise on the beach.

A lush rainforest.

A desert.

A strong thunderstorm.

A cozy cottage in the woods.

A graveyard.

An old European town.

A clear blue sky.

A crowd of people.

A cave.

The top of a mountain.

Yourself.

Switching to the breath.

Noticing the rhythm,

The quality and location of the breath.

Bringing back to mind your sand kapa.

Saying it again three times to yourself in the present moment.

Now is the time to process.

Give yourself a few moments.

Give yourself some time to process your experience.

Understanding emotions or thoughts that came up during your practice.

As we start to slowly and gradually start to integrate the body and the mind,

Allowing ourselves to come back to the present.

It's a gradual process.

There is nowhere you need to be and nothing you need to do.

You can start to introduce small movements in the body and your toes and your fingers and maybe cracking a small smile on the face.

And at your own pace,

Returning to the conscious state.

Allowing your body to move intuitively as it comes back.

There is no rush.

And once you're in a seated position,

Give yourself some time.

You may want to journal your experience.