Yoga Nidra For Expanded Awareness

Hello,

And welcome to Yoga Nidra,

The yogic sleep.

There is no wrong way to practice Yoga Nidra.

The instructions are simple.

Listen without forcing or trying,

As there is nowhere to go and nothing to do.

Do not worry if you do not hear everything I say,

As it is natural to flow in and out of conscious hearing.

Whatever you do experience,

The practice of Yoga Nidra will still work,

Even if you feel as if you fell asleep,

As your subconscious and unconscious levels of mind are always awake and always aware,

And you will be practicing,

Whether you consciously remember it or not.

Allow your body to settle.

Invite your eyelids to blink closed if they are not already there,

And to feel the muscles around your eyes begin to soften,

Lengthen,

Allow your eyes to drop deep within their sockets.

Move from a place of seeing,

Now into a place of feeling,

Your doing,

Into being.

As you begin to sink into the felt sense of your physical body,

Begin to feel into the structure and density of your bones,

And to allow your bones to now sink deep into the earth beneath you,

Know that you are fully supported.

And as you find the heaviness of your bony matrix,

Begin to explore into the fluidity of your organs,

The plasticity of your musculature and connective tissue,

Even to feel your skin begin to drape over these underlying structures.

To make any small adjustments to your physical body as you need,

Allow for greater ease,

And when there's an ease of your body,

An ease of breath,

Feel your breath move.

Allow your breath to become effortless,

Open your body,

Receive.

Invite any thoughts or emerging narratives to diminish or to be set aside.

Allow this time for you to be.

Other thoughts should arise.

Do recall it is your mind's very nature to think,

To digest.

Its energetic signature is a circle that is in constant motion.

Your mind spins.

Can you allow yourself to watch,

To witness the spinning?

Practice self-observation with compassion.

And as your mind begins to settle,

You might find that there are spaces between your thoughts,

Feelings,

And emotions.

And in this space,

To invite the possibility of stillness.

And in this stillness,

A presence and fullness of light,

Love,

And joy.

In this place,

To affirm your capacity of inner knowing,

Innate healing,

And the communion with your divine.

Allow your awareness to find its way into the body of your breath.

Feel your natural breath,

The rise and fall of your inhalation to exhalation.

Aware of your breath as it stirs within your physical being,

To sense your breath in the space of your lungs and heart,

To feel your breath as it ebbs and flows in the very center of your being,

Massaging,

Nourishing your inner structures.

To allow yourself to now move beyond the structure and form and into the subtle space of your heart and lungs,

The seat of both joy and sorrow,

Your shadow and light.

And as you step into this subtle space,

To investigate,

What is my heart's deepest longing?

And let your answer truly arise from your heart and know that your heart may speak in words,

Perhaps color,

Song,

Image,

Something else.

Allow your heart to speak its longing.

And from your heart's longing,

Create a positive statement,

Your sankalpa or intention.

Allow to be in the present tense as though it was already happening.

And it may be something like,

I am safe in all layers of my being.

Perhaps I welcome in all pieces of me.

I am enough.

And if nothing arose for you,

Then perhaps to take one of those phrases,

State your heart's wish now three times to yourself as your truth and to allow your consciousness to now move through your physical body as you're guided.

Feel into each body part and then move on to the next one prompted.

Be open to the possibility of sensation or no sensation at all within each space.

Become aware of your throat,

Tongue,

Teeth.

Notice your jaw,

Lips,

Feel your lower lip,

Upper lip.

Bring awareness to the structures of your whole mouth,

Your whole mouth.

Sense your face,

Nose,

Eyes,

Space between your eyebrows.

Notice the top of your head,

Back of your head.

Become aware of the structures of your whole head,

Your whole head.

Sense your neck,

Shoulders.

Notice your right arm,

Right hand.

Feel your right thumb,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger.

Witness your entire right hand full of aliveness and its connection to your heart.

Notice your right wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm.

Notice your shoulders.

Notice your left arm,

Left hand.

Feel your left thumb,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger.

Witness your entire left hand pulsating with aliveness and its connection to your heart.

Notice your left wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm.

Sense your shoulders,

Chest,

Belly.

Feel your back,

Hips.

Notice your right leg,

Right foot.

Feel your right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Notice your entire right foot full of aliveness and its connection to the root of your spine.

Notice your right ankle,

Lower leg,

Knee,

Upper leg.

Sense your hips.

Notice your left leg,

Left foot.

Feel your left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Witness your entire left foot pulsating with aliveness and its connection to the root of your spine.

Notice your left ankle,

Lower leg,

Knee,

Upper leg.

Sense your hips.

Bring awareness to your back body,

Front body.

Feel your right side body,

Left side body.

Witness your whole body,

Your whole body,

Your whole body.

Begin to draw your awareness back to the body of your breath.

No need to change your breath.

Observe.

Observe the qualities as they might emerge,

Your rhythm and pace,

Length,

Depth.

Is there a sound or texture,

An emotional quality?

Feel your breath move,

Not forced or altered,

Inhalation,

Exhalation.

With your next inhalation,

Can you begin to sense your breath as it stirs deep within your belly?

Feel the rise and fall of your belly with breath.

With your next inhalation,

Can you begin to sense your breath as it radiates through your ribcage?

Feel the pulsation of your ribs with breath.

With your next inhalation,

Can you begin to sense your breath as it dances in the space of your throat?

Watch your inhalation pass into exhalation.

Your inspiration followed by your expiration,

A letting go to make space to let in,

To feel your body expansive,

Open,

Spacious,

Outward flowing.

Feel the sensations of expansion.

And to now imagine your body feeling contracted,

All muscles and tissues pulling inward,

Inward flowing,

Tiny,

Tight,

Small,

Dark,

Protected from the cold.

Feel the sensations of contraction.

And to now invite the opposite.

Can you begin to sense a place within that feels open,

Free,

Spacious,

And let that awareness of openness begin to spread through your whole body,

Your whole being?

And to now sense a place within that feels tight,

Contracted.

And to allow the feeling of contraction to spread through your body,

Through your being.

Feel contraction.

See if on your own,

You can go between feeling contracted and feeling expanded.

And can you feel both at the very same time?

Begin to bring your awareness to your emotional body.

Begin to notice what emotion might be present for you.

And if it's useful to complete this prompt in this moment,

I feel.

Can you begin to put language around any emotion or feeling that you might be experiencing right here,

Right now?

Perhaps even to observe the qualities around this present moment feeling or emotion.

Where does this emotion or feeling reside in your body?

Notice where you might feel it.

Whichever emotion or feeling that might be present for you,

Is there an opposite?

And can you begin to put language around this opposite feeling or emotion?

Perhaps to notice the qualities.

And whichever emotion that may be opposite,

Where does it reside in your body?

Notice where you might feel it.

Can you begin to go between feeling the emotion that is present for you and its opposite?

To oscillate between.

And can you hold space for both?

To feel both at the very same time.

Begin to recall your heart's intention,

Your positive statement.

To state your Sankalpa and feel it breathing through your body.

Allow it to permeate every bone,

Every tissue,

Every cell of your being.

To repeat your heartfelt resolve now three times to yourself,

As though it was already happening.

Feel it wash through you again.

And again.

And again.

Your heart's deepest calling is already truth.

Feel yourself expansive,

Open,

Free,

Radiating pure bliss and light,

Aware of your innate healing energy.

To become aware of yourself as your witness.

The compassionate one who has observed your body,

Your breath,

Your practice.

Begin to notice any thoughts,

Feelings,

Or emotions as they pass through your field of awareness.

Begin to sense your breath.

Notice the qualities present.

To sense your breath body now in your physical body.

And as you navigate your way back into your physical being,

Begin to notice all the points that touch the earth.

Aware of all the points that lift away.

And can you even sense the space between?

Before you bring any movement into your body,

First to sense.

To sense your fingers.

Imagine your fingers in movement,

Then to wiggle.

Feel any and all effects.

To sense your toes.

Imagine your toes in movement,

Then to wiggle.

Feel.

To invite this pattern to continue to move within,

First to sense.

Imagine movement,

Create your movement.

Feel the effects.

And as you feel ready,

Begin to gather yourself,

Gather your hands into your heart space.

And whether you take on the Anjali mudra,

The prayer mudra,

Perhaps you stack your hands.

Begin to feel your breath move in and move out.

Now coupled with the beat of your heart attuning to this place within that is your aliveness,

Your vitality,

The seat of your essence.

The space within that is infinite,

Immortal,

Whole.

Hari Om Shanti,

Shanti,

Shanti,

Peace,

Peace,

Eternal peace.

Namaste.

Jai Bhagwan.