Yoga Nidra is a practice of falling in love with yourself,
All your parts,
With life itself.
Allowing yourself to find your breath and to let yourself feel that resource on your next in-breath.
To feel that release on your next out-breath.
Noticing how you're being supported by this earth that is spinning.
Chaos can be happening and here we are not flying off the planet,
Not losing it.
Life is happening and it can be complicated and intense,
Sometimes overwhelming and incredibly beautiful,
Magical even,
All at the same time.
Let this knowing be a part of your practice tonight that we can be both full of abundance and also feel a longing like something's missing.
Both can be true at the same time.
So as you allow yourself to be as you are,
Notice ways that you feel comfortable and at ease in your body,
Comfortable and at ease in your mind,
Comfortable and relaxed in your heart.
Notice your spirit feeling at ease,
Peaceful.
And notice the ways that you feel uncomfortable,
Tense or in pain,
Noticing ways that as you allow yourself to be present,
You now have awareness of a little pain that you might not have noticed before.
Maybe you're too warm or too cool,
Stressed or sad.
Notice it all,
How it manifests in your body,
The opposite of abundance,
How this occurs in your mind,
With the critics and the gremlins in our brains,
Just a little nod to them that we're aware that we notice that both can be true.
We're noticing in our hearts and we notice in our spirits.
Just let yourself be with both,
Abundance and the opposite as you breathe.
Let yourself be.
Breathing and being with discomfort and comfort.
And whatever your experience,
Allow yourself to meet it with openness,
Kindness,
Gentleness,
Kindness,
Unpleasant or pleasant,
Abundant or dearth,
Open,
Gentle,
Kind.
And as you allow yourself to be with both uncomfortableness and ease,
See if you can bring your attention to your feet,
To your toes.
Just begin to wiggle them a little bit,
Wailing toes and feet,
Ankles and heels,
Just beginning to move the toes and the feet,
Little circles,
Little hello,
And noticing your fingers as you continue to breathe and move your fingers and your hands,
Wrists,
Feet and hands,
Toes and fingers,
Beginning to move gently,
Bringing you out of the deeper meditation,
Incorporating your legs now,
Stretching your heels in one direction and bringing your arms up towards the ceiling,
Stretching the arms out now,
Fingers and hands,
Arms,
Elbows,
Shoulders,
Bringing those arms back behind you,
Reaching in one direction with the hands and arms,
Top of your head and your feet,
Heels and then toes,
Stretching the body out now.
You can allow your whole left side to go down towards that left heel and then the whole right side and just getting a little bit of movement going now with the spine,
Back and forth,
You can bring your feet up,
Knees towards the ceiling and press that lower back into the earth,
Getting a pelvic tilt so you can feel that release in your lower back.
You can place your hands underneath your head,
Elbows out to either side,
Supporting your head and releasing shoulders,
Elbows are going down towards the earth.
You can follow my lead if you don't want to have to think about what to do but if you've got that independent soul and you want to break out and do your own thing and listen to your own body by all means,
We're just beginning to wake up the body,
Getting some nice stretches in here,
Pressing that pelvic tilt and then creating a little space under the lower back and back and forth like as if you were doing cat cow in yoga only we're doing it with the pelvic tilt.
Then maybe you press that lower back in and reach up with your legs,
Doing an inverted pose,
Leading with the heels,
Just stretching up and you can place your hands under your lower back to give that lower back a little extra support and hang out here a little longer than you might typically.
You can roll those feet around,
You could get a V in,
Open the legs,
You could play around with moving the legs in any way that makes sense to you,
Just stretching them out and eventually bringing them back down and maybe you want to get a bridge in so that you can lean into your shoulders bringing the pelvic up now supporting yourself with your feet underneath you and making a little bridge getting a nice little stretch in here and then rolling the spine down slowly and then you can get windshield wipers in getting a little twist in that's bringing the legs over to one side arms go to the opposite careful not to bop your neighbor if you're practicing the group if you're on your own you can just do this lots of spaciousness bring in the legs to the other side now and the arms in the opposite direction getting a spinal twist it's really good for the nervous system and then go ahead and just check in with your body as you slowly bring it over to one side and see if there's anything else that it might need as you start to bring yourself back up to a seated position maybe you want to come all the way around into an actual cat cow or child's pose or maybe you just want to hang out there on your side for a minute just listen to your body take a moment to check in and see what other stretch would feel really good as you slowly start to bring yourself back up to a seated position and come back into the circle and if you're practicing on your own just coming back to a seated position preferably with your hips above your knees on a pillow or blanket or stool or you can be in a chair or maybe you've been practicing in your bed in which case you can just begin to open your eyes and greet the day of the evening just take a moment to come full circle inviting in abundance and recalling people you've begun to remember and to think about ways that they have added value to your life and also acknowledging parts that might have been activated during the practice that maybe we're remembering ways that there was an abundance or isn't abundance right now I'm just making a little room for that possibility as well and then I invite you if you're practicing on your own and then throughout the week to go ahead and journal in your notebooks to share some thoughts on the whatsapp way of communicating with one another or if questions come up about the practice feel free to ask them I'll be checking in throughout the week and answering and also feel free if someone asks a question and you have something you like to contribute and go ahead and do so and that will conclude our yoga need for practice for today and I look forward to practicing with you all again next week
