Welcome to this Yoga Nidra for a transition,
Connecting with timeless,
Boundless freedom and rest.
This Yoga Nidra is created by me,
Simone McKay.
Welcome to this practice of Yoga Nidra.
Welcome home to yourself.
Please take a comfortable position,
Whether lying down or seated.
Let your body settle,
Using any cushions or props to support your body for finding supreme comfort.
Allow your spine to be long,
Your pelvis resting on the surface beneath you.
Open the spaces between the armpits,
Let your arms soften by your sides,
And your legs grounding gently into the earth,
Letting lightness overcome your face and head.
Let the whole body be in supreme comfort.
Now take a deep breath in as you intentionally tighten your whole body,
For a moment holding your breath in the tension in your body.
And then release all the tension with an exhaling sigh into the earth beneath you.
As you soften into the earth beneath you,
Know you are welcome here,
On this land,
In this space,
Fully welcome.
And whatever arises within,
Be it sensation,
Feelings,
Emotions,
Thoughts,
Desires,
Images,
Or if any distractions arise from outside,
Allow it all to be here with a sense of welcoming,
An invitation to move you more deeply within.
Now open your senses,
Sounds,
Open to receiving sounds that are present in the space surrounding you.
Perceive the spaces between the sounds.
Be aware of the temperature of this room,
And any pressure of your body connecting with the surface beneath you,
And of the texture of clothing on your skin,
And of the air on your skin.
Taste,
Detect any tastes in the waters of your mouth,
Aromas in the air,
With the next series of inhales and exhales,
What smells are perceptible,
Sight,
Behind gently resting eyelids what can be seen,
A dancing of lights and colors,
Or a tranquil emanation of darkness.
Now invite your senses to retreat inward,
Invite the mind to settle,
And the body to discover what it feels like to allow it to be when it is not occupied by driving desires and personality.
Witness inner spontaneity with ease and allowing.
Sankalpa.
Just as a seed is planted in bountiful soils of the earth,
We invite our intention,
Which can be an inner resolve or heartfelt prayer,
To be seeded in the fertile ground of our being.
For this yoga nidra practice I offer you a sankalpa for settling into the timeless boundless freedom of our being,
This way of being that is born of our common heart.
Let your being receive and melt into these words,
I am bathed in timeless boundless freedom,
And deep rest allows for a dawning of a new era rooted in soul wisdom.
I am bathed in timeless boundless freedom,
And deep rest allows for a dawning of a new era rooted in soul wisdom.
I am bathed in timeless boundless freedom,
And deep rest allows for a dawning of a new era rooted in soul wisdom.
Settle deeply within your body now.
Now allow my voice to be your guide as we travel through the body,
The Anamaya Kosha.
Feel your attention awaken sensation in each body part that is mentioned,
And equally drop 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 your mouth,
Tongue,
Jaw,
Cheeks,
Right ear,
Left ear,
Eyebrow center,
Right eye,
Left eye,
Both orbits of the eyes,
Temples,
Forehead,
Scalp,
Back of the head,
Neck,
Throat.
Sense the whole head as an orb of radiance,
Right shoulder,
Shoulder blade,
Elbow,
Wrist,
Palm of the right hand,
All five fingers,
Top of the right hand,
Wrist,
Elbow,
Shoulder,
Shoulder blade.
Sense the whole right arm as an orb of luminous sensation.
Sense the pit between your collar bones,
Center of the chest,
Navel center,
Pubic bone,
Pelvic bowl,
Upper back,
Middle back,
Lower back,
Sacrum.
Sense the whole length of the spine as a highway of vibrating sensation,
Right hip,
Knee,
Calf,
Ankle,
Sole of right foot,
All five toes.
Top of right foot,
Ankle,
Shin,
Knee,
Thigh,
Right hip.
Sense the whole right leg as an orb of vibrating sensation.
Now bring your attention to left shoulder,
Shoulder blade,
Elbow,
Wrist,
Palm of the left hand,
All five fingers,
Top of the left hand,
Wrist,
Elbow,
Shoulder,
Shoulder blade,
All five toes.
Sense the whole left arm as an orb of luminous sensation.
Sense the pit between your collar bones,
Center of the chest,
Right nipple,
Center of the chest,
Left nipple,
Center of the chest,
Navel center,
Pubic bone,
Pelvic bowl,
Both shoulder blades,
Upper back,
Middle back,
Lower back,
Sacrum.
Sense the whole length of the spine as a highway of luminous energy,
Left hip,
Thigh,
Knee,
Calf,
Ankle,
Sole of the left foot,
All five toes.
Top of left foot,
Ankle,
Shin,
Knee,
Thigh,
Hip.
Sense the whole left leg as an orb of vibrating sensation.
Sense both legs as an orb of vibrating sensation.
Sense the whole torso as an orb of radiant luminosity.
Sense both arms as a vibrant sensation.
Sense your head as a pulsing sphere of radiance.
Sense the wholeness of your body radiating in all directions,
Legs,
Arms,
Torso,
Head,
Whole body as a luminous vibrating orb with no boundary or periphery.
Sense it as a field of energy reaching into the surrounding space.
Moving your body in this way allows for a radical letting go of anything acquired,
Allowing the body to be in its true dwelling place as it is invited into stillness,
Putting it gently to sleep so you may awaken to what is real.
Your attention now sinks into a subtler layer,
That of pranamaya kosha.
By stepping back from the need to direct or manipulate the breath,
You can simply be observed as effortless movement.
Simply watch the ease of in and out flow without interfering with its depth,
Strength or pace.
Release any tendency to want to push or pull on the breath.
Release any need for control of the breath and witness how the breath happens in its own time,
With ease and no effort.
Breathe in through every pore of your skin and the exhale leaving each pore softer than the breath before.
Paying attention to the moments when the breath turns,
For these gentle pauses,
These moments of transition are brief windows into a timelessness in which a movement turns from one into another.
Watching with curiosity and effortlessness,
We can learn from this and observe how these moments of transition occur in other levels of our existence,
Marked by a pause,
A stopping and moving from one direction into another,
Completely naturally,
Without the need to control or manipulate.
A cycle ends and begins anew,
A pattern as old as existence.
Now release attention from the close observation of the breath conceding to its natural flow.
Let go into the finer energy that flows out and through the body.
The breath is the bridge between the denser layers of consciousness and the subtler realms below the conscious state.
Allow the breath now to be the bridge from your body to your soul.
We'll now move deeper yet.
The journey that follows is being spoken directly to your soul's innermost knowing,
Vijnanamaya and Anandamaya Kosha,
And offers permission to your body and mind,
Anamaya and Manomaya Kosha,
To deeply rest.
In a peaceful meadow in a forest clearing,
With affectionate appreciation,
You are being received and gently welcomed in by a being who appears as part wise-crone and part maiden.
You sense clearly how she carries the wisdom of the ancient ones,
But also carries the new fresh invigorating energies of a dawning time into which we are evolving.
The wise-crone holds the deeply rooted ancient knowing that needs to be carried forth,
Merging with the new growth unfurling and leading us into a new era.
But first,
As it has always been time immemorial,
There is a period of passing through from one stage to the next,
A passage to behold,
A gap in which it is required to be held,
Experienced,
Immersed in.
It is a threshold,
Like the window in the turning of the breath cycle,
Like the pause between the exhale before it transitions into the inhale,
The liminal space in which we must stop and pause,
And allowing for the old to die and the new to be born.
So the Crone Maiden invites you to sit around her fire pit,
A place at the center of every community,
The hearth,
The place of the heart where great care is taken as nourishment and medicine is brewed.
The Crone Maiden collects her healing herbs,
But it is not in the herbs nor the contents of the pot where the medicine lies.
She invites your deepest self,
Your soul,
To take refuge here.
As she putters about,
Tending with great care to her tasks,
Your own soul begins to bask in the timelessness of her attending love.
Your body rests with sublime comfort by the heat of the fire,
Your mind settles,
And it is here where you can lay down all your worries,
All your anxieties and tensions,
All the pressures you carry,
And take in fully the gift she is offering.
She carries on with her tasks of deep care as you are offered the gift to stop,
To lay down your burdens,
To release all your fears,
All the darkness,
The pain,
Suffering,
Grief,
The ignorance,
The busyness.
As you lay all this down,
All of time dissolves,
And this alone,
This allowing of just being as you watch and feel her deep care and attending,
Absorbing the sense that there is no doing that needs to happen.
A softening out of time bound reality occurs.
This is the medicine.
Breathe into your heart.
Breathe in the truth of this softening,
This surrendering,
And welcome the timeless,
Boundless freedom available to you in these moments.
Hear the echo of the sankalpa.
I am bathed in timeless,
Boundless freedom,
And deep rest allows for a dawning of a new era rooted in soul wisdom.
I am bathed in timeless,
Boundless freedom,
And deep rest allows for a dawning of a new era rooted in soul wisdom.
I am bathed in timeless,
Boundless freedom,
And deep rest allows for a dawning of a new era rooted in soul wisdom.
Bask here for as long as you choose.
Savor the simple life,
Simple ways,
Simple truth.
When there is a natural urge to rise to the surface of awareness,
Allow yourself to drift without effort,
Without pull,
A natural rising back into eye's open state of consciousness.
As your consciousness rises,
Keep a tendril of awareness deeply rooted to the timeless freedom of your own beingness.
Just like the wise crone to her ancient knowing,
And sense the openness of new potential and possibilities stream into your life,
Invigorated by the maiden's love for the evolution of your soul at the very core of humanity.
Once you're self-rested,
Grounded and open,
Ready to move into your day or entering a deeper respite into your night,
This yoga nidra is now coming to a close.
Rest in natural great peace.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti All My Relations
