And welcome to this practice of yoga nidra.
So just letting yourself become supremely comfortable.
Let your weight release into the surface beneath you.
Allow your spine to remain long,
Arms resting by your sides or on your belly or anywhere else that feels comfortable.
And simply follow my guidance.
Allow yourself now to shift from thinking and doing to feeling and being.
As you enter into this practice,
Set the intention to welcome all that is arising with a sense of allowing,
A sense that all is welcome here.
And as we enter a quieter state of being,
We sense and create an inner landscape that becomes your inner sanctuary,
Eliciting a sense of a felt sense of safety and protection.
So take a moment to sense into your body.
And ask your body's own wisdom,
What is needed to invite a deeper sense of felt safety?
Is it an animal,
Perhaps a power animal,
A loved one or a wise one?
Is it a place in nature or an element of nature,
Like a plant or a tree?
Or maybe it's something else,
From another realm,
A magical object,
A special connection to guidance,
To ancestral or angelic realms,
Or anything else that can be invited in to deepen your sense of well-being.
Allow whatever to show up,
No matter how bizarre it might appear.
And invite a sense of a bubble of protection to surround you,
And a sense of peace echoing through your whole being.
Let that echo settle you more deeply into your ground of being,
Which can never be touched by any outside forces.
Know you are held safely here.
Know that you can call forth this inner sanctuary if any disturbances arise,
Whether internal images,
Emotions,
Memories,
Or external distractions like sounds or activities or cows mooing.
Let your inner sanctuary reconnect you to the ground of your own inner being,
And know you can return here at a moment's notice.
Now,
Receive a deep inhaling breath,
And then sigh it out through the mouth.
Let your body soften with each exhaling breath,
And sense into your physical body,
Notice the connection points of your body with the surface beneath you.
Let your weight soften into these connection points,
And give over any tension into the earth.
Now bring attention to your mouth,
Jaw tension dissolving as you gently and lightly separate teeth and lips,
Your eyes dropping back into their sockets,
And softening all the muscles around your eyes.
All expression melts from your face.
Sense your head as a field of luminous sensation.
Shoulders melt away from ears,
And noticing sensation as you draw attention down to your upper arms,
Elbows,
Lower arms,
And head.
Sense your arms and hands as a field of radiant sensation,
Belly soft and supple as it receives the breath.
Sense the chest,
Belly,
And pelvis as a field of sensation,
Sitting bones and sacrum soft.
Noticing sensation as you travel further down into hips,
Upper legs,
Lower legs,
And feet.
Sense your legs and feet as a field of vibrant sensation.
Sense your legs,
Torso,
Arms,
Head as one field of radiant sensation.
Whole body,
Whole body,
Whole body as vibrating sensation.
Notice the gentle movement of your belly and chest with the in and out flow of your breath.
Notice the very sensation as the air enters and exits your body through your nose.
Sense the movement in the belly and chest.
Notice if you sense the breath moving into any specific areas of the body.
And notice where the breath perhaps does not flow with ease into other areas.
Simply notice without any need to change anything.
And now begin to fill the belly and chest with the breath as though filling the lungs like a water bottle from the bottom to the top,
And then from the top to the bottom.
Moving at your own pace and flow.
Sensing the breath as it fills your chest through the front,
Sides,
And back,
And releasing again in your own time.
Now observe any sensations of energy flowing.
Perhaps experienced as pulsing,
Tingling,
Bubbling,
Or perhaps noticing restriction or even numbness.
Simply noticing without needing to change anything.
And notice that which is noticing.
Notice that which is noticing all the changing phenomena coming and going,
All the while being witnessing awareness.
Now observe whether any emotions are present.
Is there a particular emotion calling your attention?
If so,
Does it have a location in your body?
Where does it live in your body?
If no emotion is present,
This too is just fine.
And if there is an emotion present,
See if you can simply make space for it.
Allow it to just be here.
Now notice any thoughts cycling around.
Thoughts that come and go.
Thoughts that stick around.
Thoughts that pass.
Simply observe the movement of thoughts without following any particular train of thought.
And we'll now drop deeper yet.
Sense the sparkling living life force fully throughout your entire being.
Sense as though your own body were a body of land.
The land of your body is the planet Earth.
See or sense the magnificent fiery sun shining down brightly above you.
Sense the strong life-giving force of its fire shining down upon the land of your body.
Sense just its pure light,
Holding pure light in your awareness fully.
And now sense into the darkness below the land of your body,
Where there is complete absence of light.
Where the darkest night resides.
Sense this darkness fully.
A darkness that supports complete inward contemplation and restoration.
Sense pure darkness.
Holding darkness in your awareness fully.
And now sense back into the full light of a summer sky.
Full luminosity that supports the celebration and fullness of life.
And sense back into complete darkness of a wintry night.
Complete night.
Then at your own rhythm,
Going back and forth between the two,
Sensing total light,
Then back to total absence of light,
All dark.
Then reach back into your awaring presence,
Which can hold both the light and the dark.
Just like this planet.
Being able to hold both the light of day and the dark of night.
Occurring simultaneously on our planet Earth.
Holding both.
And now letting that go.
And become still.
Stillness extending everywhere.
Entering the domain of being.
Lay everything down.
Here all time dissolves.
In this allowing of just being,
Absorbed in the sense that there is no doing that needs to happen,
A softening out of time-bound reality occurs.
This is the medicine.
Nourishing this space of non-doing.
The space out of which deeper wisdom can arise.
Welcome the timeless,
Boundless peace and compassion available to you in these moments.
Resting in the sacred stillness of your own being where all doing stops.
And remain present to that sense of being,
And begin to invite your attention back to the in and out flow of your breath.
As you begin to notice sensations,
Breath,
Energy,
Emotions,
Thoughts,
Images,
Can you reach back into awareness that is able to hold all that is arising as your waking consciousness begins to rise to the surface again.
Allow yourself to drift without effort,
Without pull.
A natural rising back into eyes open state of consciousness.
And again sense the surface that supports your body.
Feel the ground beneath you.
Feel right into your feet,
Legs,
Torso,
Arms,
Head.
Sense your whole body resting here on the ground.
And begin to enliven your body.
Coming back,
Feeling invigorated,
Refreshed,
Renewed,
Recharged.
Know you can return here again and again.
Know that every time you practice,
You are realigning with your deep,
Awaring presence,
With your inner wisdom.
This journey through the five bodies,
Koshas,
Is now complete.
We come in peace.
We go in peace.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.
