Welcome to this practice of Soma Nidra.
Welcome home to your body,
To your breath,
Your feelings,
Your whole being,
Your true essence.
Let yourself settle in,
Making all necessary adjustments so that your felt sense is one of ease and sublime comfort.
Let your breath settle down,
And with each exhaling breath,
Feel your body supported by the earth beneath you.
There's nowhere to go,
Nothing to do,
Nothing to achieve,
Nobody to please.
You have arrived at this moment,
And now you can let everything go.
You are here.
Give yourself full permission to be here,
Full permission to simply be as you are.
In Yoga Nidra you are guided to notice,
Feel,
Sense,
Tuning in with all that is alive and present within you.
Allow for the experience to be all that you are guided to be,
But to also allow yourself to be the witness of all that comes and goes.
Whatever you experience is perfect,
Just as it is,
With no need to change anything.
Now allow all your senses to be wide open.
As you feel the earth beneath you,
Notice the smells in the air,
And bring attention to the water in your mouth,
And notice any tastes.
Now observe the light dancing behind your closed eyelids.
Maybe images appear or not,
Simply notice,
Without judgment or engaging any thoughts about it.
Receive now the sensation of air touching your skin.
Notice any difference of temperature of the air and in your body.
Notice a sense of movement or stillness of air on your skin.
Now allow your attention to drift to the sounds you hear carrying through the open spaces surrounding you,
And notice the spaces between the sounds.
Allow all expression from your face to fade away,
Tiny muscles around the eyes and mouth,
Cheeks softening,
Sliding down toward the floor,
Softening the jaw,
Letting the tongue rest in the mouth.
As your face lets go,
Notice how your whole body responds.
Let's take a full breath in together,
And let go fully.
As you let go,
Sense the earth beneath you.
Sense the earth rising up to embrace the weight of your body.
Simply rest at ease,
Following my guidance.
Know that simply to be here is enough.
Know that you are held within this safe space,
And within the safety of your own ground of being.
As we enter this yoga nidra,
Simply allow your body to respond non-mentally and directly to my words,
Without any interference from the mind.
Now shift from thinking and doing,
To feeling and being.
Following your breath down into your heart space,
Behind the breastbone,
Letting the breath settle here,
Warmly welcoming the awareness into the heart,
Awareness settling into the space of the heart.
With a respectful,
Loving welcome,
We are able to allow for the natural arising of the inner teacher,
Knowing its welcome in our heart,
Settling into silence to allow for your sankalpa to naturally arise,
Creating a naturally inviting environment for the silent whispers of the inner teacher to be heard,
Welcoming the inner guidance of the intuitive teacher,
Perhaps expressing itself in words,
A felt sense,
Images,
Sounds,
However it shows up,
Just be open to it.
Knowing to hold this space and awareness at the heart,
It's as though the inner guidance knows its welcome.
That is enough.
Now allow my voice to be your guide as we travel through the body.
Feel your attention awaken sensation in each body part that is mentioned,
And equally draw into the silent spaces between my words.
This deepens relaxation of the body-mind,
Penetrating the veil that keeps us in the belief that they are separate.
Invite your awareness to remain present and aware.
Bring attention to sensations in your mouth,
Tongue,
Back of throat,
Jaw,
Left ear,
Right ear,
Both ears simultaneously as radiant sensation,
Sensation inside the nostrils,
Sensation of the left eye,
Right eye,
Both eyes as a radiant sensation,
Sensing without analyzing,
Forehead,
Scalp,
Back of the head,
Neck,
Left shoulder,
Left arm,
Left palm,
Right shoulder,
Right arm,
Right palm,
Right fingers,
Both arms and hands simultaneously as a radiant sensation,
The entire torso,
Front and back,
Releasing thinking,
Just sensing the entire torso and pelvis,
Inside and outside as a radiant sensation,
Left hip,
Knee and foot,
The entire left leg into toes,
Right hip,
Knee and foot,
The entire right leg into toes,
Both legs simultaneously as a radiant sensation,
The entire body,
Inside and outside as a pure sensation.
Feel yourself as the observer of all these sensations,
Feeling yourself beginning to enter a deeper level of stillness.
For the next few breaths,
We will do a form of sheetly breath,
In which you will inhale and upon exhaling,
Gently purse your lips,
Almost like you are whistling,
Beginning to enter into awareness of the energy body.
Simply become aware of the rising and falling of the breath as you inhale the navel rising and as you exhale the navel falling,
Simply notice the breath breathing itself.
Now as you breathe in through the nose,
Filling your lungs fully and completely without straining,
Then start exhaling with softly pursed lips until you have emptied the breath completely.
Your exhale is a steady stream of breath,
Then inhaling through the nose and each time you exhale through pursed lips,
Empty your mind of all anticipations,
Exhaling releasing any tensions through the breath.
Each time you inhale,
Drop into a deeper level of silent awareness.
Each time you exhale,
Let go even more,
Allow the breath to slowly release,
With control coming out through the mouth.
And return to a natural breath.
Now invite your attention to your eyebrow center,
Here allow images to appear as though projected on a screen,
Or receive impressions through your felt sense.
Allow the images or impressions they evoke to arise naturally,
Without judgment.
Sense and observe the effects on your body mind,
A full moon in the dark sky,
You surrounded by utter darkness,
Clouds passing before a bright sunrise,
Gentle breezes carrying the aroma of wildflowers in a green forest meadow,
The striking face of a tiger,
A tall majestic tree at the height of its growth,
And covered with lush leaves and fruit,
A large snarling dog,
The ringing of a temple bell,
Choppy white capped waves on a stormy lake,
And now a gift being offered to you.
As it is unwrapped,
You sense your personal vision for the year to come.
Sense back into the awaring presence that you are.
In this space,
Place and time,
At the solstice mid-year point,
We experience a great reset point in the planetary year,
A moment in time,
A portal when we can experience the gap between past and future,
Even the gap between the physical and subtle worlds,
Simply allowing whatever comes into your field of awareness to be present without judgment or commentary.
In this space,
You can glimpse the subtle direction of your own soul's purpose,
Let go of clinging to old struggles,
Glimpse the possibilities that are opening for you now,
Observe a vast,
Pervading stillness,
Silence,
And spaciousness,
And reach with your awaring presence into all directions,
Above you,
Beneath you,
To your right,
To your left,
Top of head,
Bottom of feet.
Sense yourself enveloped and infused by wide,
Open space.
Here you invoke the presence that can empower your intentions and fuel your journey onward.
You are the space of awareness,
The substrata of everything that is seen,
Felt,
And experienced.
Bring your attention to the space of awareness that you are,
And deeply rest.
No effort,
No struggle,
Just allowing.
Now come back into the space of the heart,
Resting here,
Within the essence of silence,
And great respect and love giving the space for the naturally arising inner intuitive teacher,
Inviting your sankalpa,
The innermost heartfelt prayer,
Or simply remaining open to its whispers,
Listening to what it says,
And making the space for it to be heard.
Held in this protected space,
These inner whispers of the heart are nourished by every dimension of your being,
Carrying this intention out with you as you move towards the end of our practice.
As we shift from practicing yoga nidra,
Cultivating this form of awareness that is yoga nidra,
And shifting now back into waking state of awareness.
Unless it's your night time,
In which case you might choose to drift off,
And taking the benefit of the state of consciousness of yoga nidra with you,
Carrying it out into the rest of your day or dream time.
Nourished,
Quiet,
Safe,
By the practice of yoga nidra,
And slowly,
Feel yourself rising to the surface of your awareness.
Sense your body resting on the earth,
And become aware of your surroundings.
Notice how relaxed your body is,
How soft the breath is,
How gentle the heartbeat is,
Being still,
Growing gratitude,
Anchored in the heart space.
Take this peacefulness with you into your waking state.
When you are ready,
Gently ease your way back into a seated position if you're not already there.
Trust you have received exactly what you need from this practice,
And we offer this practice up.
We come in peace,
And go in peace.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.
