Week 16 Of Guided Meditation & Yoga Nidra Live

Letting our yoga nidra practice open us to the message of loving everyone that we come into contact with and that includes ourselves and all the different feelings and thoughts,

Physical sensations that we have and our spirit.

So letting the practice of falling in love with our self and with each other with life itself be a part of our experience in this moment.

Letting ourselves feel this message in our bodies like we can feel the earth hugging us,

Holding us and like we can feel the spaciousness all around us,

The openness,

The connectedness.

Yes,

During our practice we will also acknowledge other experiences that we're having in this moment and in our lives.

When love escapes us or we forget it's there or we feel disappointment or anger or fear or pain,

Ours and others and we'll meet that as well in our practice.

So let yourself be with your experience in its totality in each moment as it unfolds.

And bringing your attention to your mouth,

Noticing your lips,

Your tongue,

Your cheeks,

And bringing your attention deep into the sinuses,

To your nostrils,

Your nose,

Smell.

Bringing your attention into the canals of your ears,

Your outer ears,

Your earlobes,

Sound.

From here bringing your attention deep into the sockets of your eyes,

Your eyeballs,

Your eyelids,

Your eyelashes,

Sight.

Let yourself see inside and out the truth of our practice,

That we can be in love and in pain at the same time.

As we increase our capacity to be wherever we are in any given moment,

In any state,

With whatever is occurring,

With whomever we're with or without,

Increasing our capacity to be,

To be okay,

To survive,

To thrive,

To be our best self.

And when we're not,

Allowing loving kindness to meet us where we are,

Whether we're feeling enlightened and awesome,

At peace,

Or whether we're feeling like we're tanking and unraveling,

Stressed out,

Concerned,

Allowing ourselves to be right where we are.

Bringing your attention to the crown of the head,

That place where we end in the rest of the universe begins.

The halo here,

The energy,

Allow yourself to connect with the universe,

With yourself.

As you check in with your brain and your skull,

Notice the weight of your head against the surface or in the air if you're seated.

On down through your face.

And as we scan and check in with our bodies,

Just noticing any tension that we might be holding.

The body keeps score of our life experiences,

So let's honor it with kindness as we continue to release tension down through the neck,

Just inviting breath and rest,

Relaxation.

Down through the arms,

The hands,

The fingers,

All the joints in our hands and thumbs,

Our wrists,

Elbows,

Shoulders.

Breathing fully,

Noticing how your chest rises and falls.

Bringing your attention on through your torso,

Your back,

Your stomach,

The pelvic area,

All of our organs that help us take in and help us release,

Breathing fully,

Resourcing on your in breath,

Gifting on your out breath.

All the way down through our legs and our feet,

Our toes,

The joints of our feet,

The heels,

The ankles,

The knees,

Back up to our hips,

Bringing our attention all the way up through the torso,

Back into the neck and through the head and just allowing ourselves to rest fully.

Letting ourselves be,

Letting ourselves be with joy,

Imagining warmth and a smile,

Extending out from the belly button,

Spreading out throughout our bodies,

One big contented,

Relaxed,

At ease,

Smile,

Maybe even all the way up to your lips,

A small little smile.

Even if you're not particularly feeling happy at this moment,

Just allowing some loving kindness to meet wherever you're at,

Allowing yourself to have some humor,

Full acknowledgement of the unpleasant and the pleasant.

Breathing out here with our body smile,

A little knowing on our lips,

Playing with our ability to be all at the same time,

Heavy and light,

Warm and cool,

Tense and relaxed,

Happy and sad,

Frustrated and at peace,

Angry and deleted,

Anxious.

And a full knowing that we're okay,

More than okay,

And that we'll be all right.

And if we're not,

We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

So for now,

Allowing ourselves to breathe fully,

To really give ourselves credit for taking this time to be reminded of our love,

Of our kindness in these times that are asking so much of us to hold so much unknown,

To be facing the possibility of death or illness,

To be alone,

Restricted,

To be practicing social distancing,

To be wearing masks and being mindful of caring,

Not only about ourselves but about others,

Letting ourselves connect with our altruism,

Opening to the silver linings.

You're here as well.

Just letting yourself begin to wiggle your toes,

To wiggle your fingers,

Taking your time,

There's no rush,

Just letting yourself delight in your toes and your fingers,

Feet and hands.

Almost being open,

Rewards or head in the other and our arms reaching behind us.

And then bringing the arms back down alongside our bodies and placing our feet flat on the ground.

Feel that groundedness.

And then press that lower back into the earth.

All that sitting that we're doing,

Maybe more than usual and work,

Even just emotional work can land right there in that lower back.

So pressing that lower back in to the earth and then creating some space underneath the lower back getting some pelvic tilts in here.

And then bringing the knees in to the forehead rising with the head.

You can take your arms and hug your legs and kind of bring them in so you're getting a little massage on the organs as you roll around on your back.

Let's bring your head as close to your knees as they can get and relax into the rolls in each direction back and forth.

Little circles.

And then relax the head back down onto your mat.

Raise the legs up into the air leading with the heels.

Stretching out the calves.

You can roll your feet around your toes.

No need to be too serious with our practice.

We can play a little.

Just moving around the feet.

Toes stretching.

We're going to hang out here a little longer than typically so you might want to give some extra support to your lower back by bringing those hands just under the lower back under the buttocks.

Feeling some heat here.

Breathing.

You can make a V with your legs.

Just let the legs fall out into a V shape.

The inner thighs will get a really good stretch here.

Breathing.

Your core is active supporting your back.

Bringing the legs back together and you can put the feet together and bend your knees.

Roll around opening up the hips.

Knees are out in either direction.

Feet together and they're coming closer to the body down towards the pelvis.

And then stretch them back up again.

Lead with the toes.

A nice stretch in.

Go ahead and move the legs in any way that makes sense to you.

Just kind of stretching them out a little bit.

Eventually bringing them back down to the mat and let them fall over in one direction so we can get a body twist in with the arms going in the opposite direction.

Spinal twist.

Breathe fully here.

Relax into this stretch.

Just beginning to wake the body up from the deeper practice.

Bringing those legs to the other side.

Arms come across opposite.

And if you notice some kinks in your body just feel free to move your body.

Let your body be the lead.

Just go ahead and move.

You don't have to stay in any particular rigid posture.

It's kind of stretching it out here.

Eventually bringing yourself back and then lifting the hips up.

This is gonna press your heart,

Backside of your heart and your shoulders into the mat.

Hips are raised.

Feet are flat on the earth supporting you.

Your hands can be alongside the body or you can clasp them underneath you.

You can even give your hips some extra support and reach up into a half bridge if you really want to get fancy and challenge yourself.

You can come all the way up into a bridge which means you put your hands back down beside your head flat on the earth backwards and you lift up so that you're literally getting that stretch in.

If that sounds crazy just stay in your half bridge and you could lift one leg up into the air from here working the core a little bit more if you want to challenge yourself gently.

Glutes are gonna be really engaged if you choose this option and then you place that foot back down and reach the other leg up leading with the heel here and then bring that leg back down and then as you come back down let yourself feel each vertebra slowly rolling it out letting your back come back down onto your mat relaxing here stretching it out rolling over to one side and we'll stretch the arms in one direction feet in the other and then you could rest here making a little pillow with one arm the one that's all closest to the earth and then with your other hand go ahead and put that in front of you for balance as we lift our legs up do some leg lifts here gauging the glutes and all the muscles of our leg reaching up with the leg and coming back down again we're not really resting as we touch our foot just hovering a little in them back up again feel this in your hips it's a hip opener of sorts core is engaged here lots of support for the back so belly is working bring that belly button back towards your lower back and then the next time your leg is raised go ahead and pulse a little bit at the top leading with your heel here giving a nice stretch in your calves and then releasing back down a few more leg lifts feeling the warmth that we're creating in our bodies as we use our muscles and then the next time your foot lands go ahead and let it rest on the other foot and then you're gonna bring your feet back towards your buttocks they're still together open up your knees so you're opening your hips now one is staying stationary the other one is opening up don't worry about doing it right just allow yourself to connect with your body and get a little opening here it's a hip opener stretching back out we'll come all the way on to our bellies hang out here feel the earth underneath you breathing fully you can make a little pillow let your head rest to one side feel the spaciousness all around you as you take care of yourself in this way really honoring your body and letting your mind be gentle connecting with your heart letting whatever you're feeling be a part of your practice this evening and meeting it with loving kindness you bring yourself all the way over to the other side get a nice stretch in head is resting on the arm that's on the earth stretched out in one direction legs in the other stretching it out literally imagining that you're creating openness and spaciousness in your spinal cord all those vertebrae in your back leading first with the heels so we stretch out even the hip area all the way down to our tailbone and all of our joints and then you could point your toes if you want to play a little as you lift that leg up the other arm can come in front of you for a little extra support you could bend that arm and make a little pillow for the one that you're resting on getting some leg lifts in here glutes are tight they really work in here our core is also being supportive so it's engaged I'll help the lower back really good for posture which is great for allowing us to breathe fully really feeling that resource and the release next time you get to the top with your leg get some pulsing in just tiny little movements at the top feel this in your hip maybe your glutes depending on how flexible you are just a few pulses here and then bringing that slowly back down for some more leg lifts legs continue to be straight and if your mind wanders off just a little nod yep mines wander we can multitask as we're doing yoga nidra no worries let yourself smile have a good time with this it's okay just like oh yeah mind monkey mind come on back we're doing yoga nidra now we're being right here next time your leg reaches down and touches the other one keep your feet together bend your leg so your feet come back towards your buttocks and then you're gonna open the leg that's on top leaving the other one on the ground and just opening the hips touching the knees and then bringing that knee up towards the sky your feet are together and then go ahead and stretch it out and we'll come let's come on to our bellies again and go ahead and bring yourself up to cat cow so we're gonna put our hands down on the mat knees on the mat and round out the back get a nice rounding out and then bring that belly down towards the back and your tailbone and your head are gonna see if they can meet each other back behind you stretching it out and then getting a nice curving again you can get creative here you know you can stretch back like you're going into child's pose and try rounding out a little you can come forward we're not gonna take ourselves too seriously here so try playing a little bit with this cat cow kind of getting into the nooks and crannies of your hips going side to side here our spines will love us for this and after all it is a practice of love so feel into your body eventually landing in child's pose by bringing your legs out to either side of the mat and then stretching back with your lower back going down towards your heels and the hands are gonna go forward and eventually your forehead touches the mat just hang out here and rest you this can also be considered a prayer pose kitties and dogs and humans we've got this stretching it out kids really know how to do this just giving it all up connecting fully with our spirits here and then bringing ourselves back come around to seated you could get one more body twist in if you want to so you can sit up and place a leg flat I don't know if you can see me but it's a kind of cool body twist if you're not wanting to do this do whatever you want to do so basically once we're sitting sideways we just take our foot put it in front of us and then you can straighten up place those hands back behind you and then bring one arm and wrap it around the leg and turn to getting a body twist in another spine twist and then releasing that leg we're gonna do the same thing so I'm gonna sit over on our hips lift one leg place it down straighten up right out of our sit bones take one arm hug that leg releasing and then coming back un-pretzel yourself take a moment maybe just to stretch out in any way that makes sense to you shake it out you have a stool or blank maybe you're just cross-legged for a few moments coming back into seated ah and we'll end how we started with our breath setting our intention checking in how we're doing how that practice landed on us this evening the practice of loving ourselves all our parts each other even the stuff that's hard to love the parts of us or the people or the circumstances in life even that even them even us when we're not feeling it you're just gonna meet it all with some loving kindness because it's pretty crazy life can really throw some curveballs at us and so with our practice we are increasing our capacity to be flexible to be open look for the silver lining to find humor to allow ourselves to be passionate and get frustrated and feel grief and knowledge you know yeah there's some scary things happening and some painful ones we're gonna stay a centered and open as we can by remembering also that it's important to love and to be kind so let's go ahead and check in with each other in addition to checking in with ourselves and if you're listening to this recording we're gonna end here but you be and go on into your lives maybe check in with whoever's around you as you enter into life so we'll pause this here