So as you begin your noggin nidra practice,
Just see if you can open to these concepts that Deepak Chopra has been offering us,
These big ideas about less is more,
That working less could be more fruitful or effective,
Ideas about inviting abundance in and being accepting and even expecting abundance and big ideas that encourage us to expand outside of our beliefs and our thoughts and our feelings.
Let the invitations be there in the spirit that they're offered to invite us to suffer less and to allow love to be a part of our lives,
Loving ourselves,
Loving each other,
Loving others,
Loving life.
Love is actually not the problem,
Although we have a lot of ways in our culture to confuse us about love.
Love is painful,
Love is scary,
Love is the best,
Love is amazing.
We put a lot on love and it is actually all of the above.
It's not the problem.
Love is what it is.
It's incredible and it's scary and it's painful.
What makes it scary and painful is all of the worries and parts of us that get stressed out and try to protect us from pain and fear.
And so in our Nidra yoga practice this evening,
We're going to allow ourselves to also connect with all the parts that when we hear about abundance or about working less can bring us more.
Or that if we open ourselves and invite in abundance,
It will appear for us.
We're going to hold that truth and we're also going to hold and attend simultaneously to any thoughts or feelings,
Parts of us that feel differently than that.
And we're going to invite those in because they're here anyway.
And that's okay.
We're going to allow the opposite of abundance to be here.
We're going to allow those times when we feel exhausted and under earth,
Times when we feel a loss of energy rather than an abundant infinite amount of energy and allow that experience to also be here.
So check in with yourself as you allow yourself to be open.
Assume yourself to be open to all the good that you can feel.
Notice it in your body,
How it shows up in your mind and in your heart and in your spirit to let yourself feel good.
As you breathe and to be open to all the parts of you that don't feel good.
You might feel tired,
Frustrated,
Anxious,
Worried or any feelings that you're feeling that don't fall in the category of good.
And allow yourself to be open to these two.
Let them come and go as you breathe.
Feel them in your body.
Notice what your mind does.
Connect with your heart and then we're going to hold all that feels good and all that feels challenging and hold them lightly at the same time.
And love and kindness to all that feels hard about our lives,
Especially during this time of uncertainty and change.
We're going to allow the relief of slowing down and the difficulty of being asked to do more when most likely we were already taxed.
Allowing all your truths to coexist and pleasant and the pleasant.
And then bring your attention to your mouth.
Taste.
As you breathe,
Bring in all your attention to your nose,
Your nostrils and deep into your sinuses.
Smell.
From here,
Bring in your attention into your eyes,
Into your eye sockets and your eyeballs,
Your eyelids,
Your eyelashes.
Sight.
Breathing fully as you bring your attention to your ears,
The outside of your ears,
Your eyes and deep into the canals of your ears.
Hearing.
And from here,
We'll go to the top of our head,
To the crown of the head.
And we're going to notice that space between where we and the rest of the universe begins.
Just hang out there in that space.
The top of your head where the crown is.
Notice your skin from the scalp of your head down through your face and your neck.
Coming down your shoulders and arms to your hands,
Your fingers,
Thumbs back up to your wrists,
Elbows and shoulders,
Your skin.
Feeling the coolness and the warmth as you bring your attention down through your torso,
Your chest,
Your belly,
Your back.
Bring your attention on down into your pelvic area and down into your legs,
Noticing your skin all the way down to your feet,
Your toes,
Your ankles and your knees,
Back up to your hips,
Your spinal cord from your perineum all the way up through your spinal cord,
Back up to where your neck connects to your head,
To your skull,
And then back to the crown of your head.
Allow yourself to connect with your breath and notice where you feel heavy and where you feel light.
And imagine a sunshine,
A big smile that starts at your belly button and spreads out all through your body.
Feel its warmth like sunshine and happiness.
Allow the joy to spread throughout your whole body up to the crown of your head,
Down to the heels of your feet,
Feeling this big body smile as you begin to stretch the heels in one direction if you're laying down in Shavasana and the crown of the head in the other direction,
Elongating the spine.
And if you're seated,
You can stretch up with the crown of your head,
Really get some spaciousness beginning to come out of the deeper practice and whittling the toes and the fingers.
Hands and feet can move around.
Point your toes and then lead with your heels.
Involve your arms now.
You can just stretch them out and move them.
Stretching up,
You can bring those arms back behind you if you're laying down,
Just getting a nice yummy stretch in.
If you're seated,
Go ahead and stretch yourself out.
You may even want to stand if you're seated.
If you're laying down,
Go ahead and continue to stretch out,
Maybe move,
Roll to one side,
Roll to the other.
You could do some windshield wipers,
Bringing your legs over to one side and your arms over to the other to get a nice little spinal twist in if you'd like.
And if you're seated,
Stretching in any way that makes sense to you.
And if you want to stand,
Just stretch it on out.
We're just beginning to wake our bodies up.
Give some love to our muscles and bones and organs.
Get our blood flowing as we slowly start to bring ourselves back up to seated.
There's no rush.
Take your time to get some nice stretches in.
Be kind to your body.
We ask so much of it.
We want to really honor it on the mat and off the mat.
And then bringing yourself back to a seated position.
Bringing your breath.
Thinking yourself for prioritizing your mindfulness practice,
Showing up for yourself and for each other and for others.
Because when we practice and we slow down and we connect with our bodies in this way,
With our hearts and allow for abundance and for all the parts that are like,
Ah,
I don't have what I need or want.
When we allow ourselves to connect this way with our brains and with our spirits,
We're contributing not only to our own wellness,
But to each other's wellness.
And to people that we know and we cross paths with and to people that we don't know.
So we're raising the universal conscious vibration and it's a gift that we give ourselves and give each other.
And in these times,
It's really important to be taking care of ourselves and each other.
We have a lot going on.
We always have a lot going on.
And then you add a pandemic to it and yeah,
No wonder we're feeling all the different things that we're feeling,
That full range.
So lots of credit for slowing down and being.
And if you're listening to this meditation as a recording,
Feel free to go ahead and go into your day or your evening and know that you're connected and loved.
And we'll practice with you again next week or whenever you get a chance to listen to these meditations.
Thank you for being with us and for being you.
