Yoga Nidra Rediscovering Playfulness And Joy

Welcome,

Dear friend.

I'm Susan Dawson Cooke,

And I'll be sharing with you a relaxing yoga nidra forever young,

Rediscovering playfulness and joy.

Please lie down on your back,

On your mat or a couch or bed in the posture of Shavasana.

Relax into a comfortable position with your palms facing up,

Legs hip width apart and your feet falling softly out to the side.

Position your head and neck in a neutral position with your forehead level or slightly higher than your chin.

Ensure your back is steady and stable.

Feel free to place a blanket under your head or a bolster under your knees.

Whatever you need to feel very comfortable and at ease.

Gently soften and close your eyes and allow your body to slowly relax and sink into the posture.

Become aware that you are going to practice yoga nidra.

Say to yourself,

I am aware and I am going to practice yoga nidra.

Repeat this to yourself again.

The practice of yoga nidra begins now.

During the practice of yoga nidra,

You'll be functioning on the levels of hearing and awareness.

It is important to maintain stillness for the duration of your practice in order for your awareness to turn inward into your own consciousness.

Allow your body to be quiet and still.

Become aware of sounds.

Let your sense of hearing operate like a radar,

Tuning into every subtlety of sound.

First,

Observe sounds outside of the room where you are lying.

Notice them without finding any of them disturbing.

Now begin to bring your awareness in closer to sounds in your immediate environment.

Now hear my voice and continue to be aware of the sound of my voice throughout this practice as you remain awake and aware.

Now become aware of your physical form,

Resting safe and secure on the earth.

Feel the weight of your body.

Sense the meeting points of your body with the ground beneath you.

Feel awareness of your body.

Draw this awareness up through your body from the tips of your toes to the crown of your head as if you are lying in warm sand on the shore of the sea and a gentle warm wave was slowly washing up over your body.

Mentally,

Repeat the mantra,

OM,

Noticing stillness in your body and maintaining awareness in your mind of the whole body.

Again,

Say to yourself,

OM,

Keeping your awareness on your whole body,

Your whole body on the floor,

Relaxing,

Resting.

Settle deeper into stillness.

You are awake and conscious that your whole physical body is falling asleep.

It is in this state where we move our awareness beyond the realm of our physical bodies that we can awaken to our highest nature.

Become aware of the ebb and flow of your own breath.

Allow your breath to flow through your body like a rolling ocean wave.

Meditate the waves of your breath,

Savoring the experience of moving with flow.

You're descending deep into rest,

Into a formless state of meditation,

Dhyana,

Where you slip into timelessness.

As the outside world fades away,

Your deeper self comes into focus.

In this state of heightened awareness,

When your body is in a deep state of rest and you are in tune with your true authentic being,

We will state our sankalpa.

Sankalpa is the vow that we take that is the truth we aspire toward.

Whatever you so deeply wish for,

Whatever you desire to know and experience lies in your sankalpa.

Your sankalpa takes a positive,

Short,

Concise form using the powerful words I am and the quality that you are so deeply desiring.

If you do not have a sankalpa in mind to work with today,

Simply say to yourself,

I am opening myself up to self-inquiry.

State your sankalpa now three times with full awareness,

Sincerity,

And faith.

Now leave your sankalpa,

Surrender it from the mind into the inner stillness.

Now focus on your eyebrow center point and stay focused here in Chittikasha,

The space of consciousness that resides in front of your closed eyelids.

I will guide you through Anamaya Kosha,

The physical body experience.

I will take you on a rotation of consciousness experience,

Guiding you through different parts of your physical body.

Transfer your awareness to each area that I mention,

Following along at the same speed of my voice.

Think of the part of the body or see it in your mind's eye,

Whichever you find easier,

But make sure not to actually move that part of your body being mentioned.

Anywhere that you're focused on in your body,

Energy begins to flow.

Stay aware of the pranic flow through your physical body as you map out your consciousness in a circuit.

Prepare for this relaxing journey through the different parts of your body.

Become aware of your right hand,

Right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Palm,

Back of your hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Right side of your body,

Waist,

Hip,

Left thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of your left foot,

Top of your left foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Become aware of your left hand,

Left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Palm,

Back of your hand,

Left wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Left side of the body,

Waist,

Hip,

Left thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of your left foot,

Top of your left foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Moving on to the back of your body,

Become aware of your right heel,

Left heel,

Right calf,

Left calf,

Right hamstring,

Left hamstring,

Right buttock,

Left buttock,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

The whole of the spine and back together.

Moving to the front of your body,

Take your awareness to the top of your head,

Then move to your right temple,

Left temple,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Eyebrow center point,

Right eye and eyelid,

Left eye and eyelid,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Right nostril,

Left nostril,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Chin,

Throat,

Right side of your chest,

Left side of your chest,

Abdomen,

Pelvis,

Pelvic floor,

The whole of your right leg,

The whole of the left leg,

Both legs together,

Your whole right arm,

Your whole left arm,

Both arms together,

The whole back of your body,

The whole front of your body.

Be aware of your whole body together on the floor,

Remaining awake and aware,

Feel your whole physical body resting,

Completely still and relaxed,

Softening and sinking.

Visualize your whole body relaxed.

We now move on to pranamaya kosha,

The breath awareness layer of our consciousness.

Draw your awareness to your easy breath.

As you remain awake and aware,

Notice the gentle rise and fall of your chest,

Rib cage and abdomen with each slow breath and feel the nourishing energy of your breath flowing through you.

Visualize the front of your body and the space between your navel and throat.

Begin to visualize your breath rising from the navel to the throat with each inhale and slowly descending with each exhale.

Now listen to the soft sound of your breath and how it is the mantra so hum.

You can hear the so sound when you inhale and the hum sound when you release your breath.

Hear your so hum breath and feel it moving through you easily without effort.

Now let go of your concentration on the mantra and continue to visualize your breath rising from your navel to the throat.

And as you do this,

Begin to count your breath descending from 10 to 1.

Inhale breath rising 10.

Exhale breath descending 10.

Inhale breath rising 9.

Exhale breath descending 9.

Continue on with your breathing,

Maintaining awareness.

If you lose track of your counting,

Begin again at 10.

If you finish counting to 1,

Before I give further instructions,

Simply go back to 10 and begin counting down a second time.

Now cease the practice of counting.

We enter into Manamaya Kosha,

Awakening opposite sensations in the body.

Let us begin by awakening the sensation of heat in your body.

You are outside on a scorching hot sunny day,

Standing under direct sunlight.

Feel the sweat running down your body.

Feel the intense heat on your skin.

Even your clothes are so hot from the blazing sun,

They seem to scorch your skin.

Now allow the sensation of heat to fade away.

Experience the sensation of intense cold.

Imagine you are standing in a bank of snow with bare feet,

Wearing only shorts and a t-shirt.

Visualize the goose pimples rising on your skin,

Your whole body shivering.

Now allow the sensation of cold to fade away.

Awaken the sensation of being wet.

You are walking outside in a jungle during a torrential rain.

Water is dripping from your hair.

Your drenched clothes are sticking to your skin.

Now allow this wet sensation to dissipate.

Experience the sensation of being dry.

You are standing outside in the Atacama Desert in Chile,

The most arid desert in the world.

Your skin feels parched and tingles from lack of moisture.

Your throat feels like sandpaper,

Craving even a single drop of water.

Now allow the sensation of intense dryness to leave you.

Bring your awareness to the space in front of your closed eyelids.

In this space,

Begin to notice the screen of the mind we call Chittikasha,

The space of consciousness.

This space extends as high and wide and distant as the eye can see.

As we move into the layer of Vijnanamaya Kosha,

Concentrate on this mind screen and become of any colors,

Patterns,

Or light you may see on this screen in front of your closed eyelids.

Whatever you see manifested by your mind,

Continue to be aware of this space,

But do not become involved.

Practice detached awareness only.

Now intensify your imagination and allow yourself to take this journey with me.

Imagine you are at your favorite beach,

Walking along the shore.

The sun is rising,

Illuminating fluffy layers of clouds,

Brilliant shades of pink and orange.

You can feel the breath of the sea breeze tickling your skin,

Smell the salt in the air,

And feel the squeeze of sand between your toes.

You can hear the sound of gentle waves rolling onto the sand.

You look out over the endless expanse of blue-green water and notice a pod of dolphins swimming close to the shore where you are walking.

You stop to watch them.

You see one arc up out of the water and then dive down so gracefully,

Its two-pronged tail the last to disappear beneath the surface of the water.

Another dolphin jumps up even higher,

Doing a flip in the air before entering the water nose first without making a splash.

You see two dolphins chasing each other.

They zoom through the water so fast they produce wakes on the nearly flat water.

You smile and feel a thrill of joy race up your spine as you observe the dolphins playing.

You flash back to when you were a child.

Back in those youthful days,

You would skip or run or dance to a favorite song or turn a cartwheel in the grass.

But you don't do those things anymore because there are too many serious things to do and you are expected to act like an adult.

But you glance around and notice the beach is deserted.

A laugh escapes your lips.

And before you know it,

You find yourself skipping through the sand and the shallows along the shore,

Watching the sea water splash all around you.

You allow this playful feeling to wash over you like another rolling wave.

You break into a run,

Watching for a flat spot in the sand.

Then you rotate downward,

Placing your hands onto the sand and feeling your legs fly over your head as you execute a cartwheel.

The years seem to drop away.

You feel happy and full of joy,

Like an innocent child.

You feel so free.

You raise your arms in the air and twirl around,

Inhaling a breath of life that has never felt so renewing.

You know now that this freedom,

This joy can belong to you anytime you allow it to happen.

Now allow these images to dissolve back into the eternal landscape of your consciousness and shift into a deep state of meditation.

Sankalpa Sankalpa Sankalpa Concentrate on your Sankalpa now.

Hold the vow of your Sankalpa within your awareness and repeat it to yourself three times.

Sense the energy of your Sankalpa spreading through your entire body and beyond your body,

Through your energy field and beyond your energy field into universal space.

Now surrender it and let it be,

For it is done.

I bring awareness to your unique existence.

The spark of the divine that was always inside of you.

Have a direct experience of your highest essence,

Your true self that can never be touched by circumstance or duality of experience,

That has deep understanding,

Creativity and focus,

That has full awareness of how to live a life of balance and is innately compassionate and loving to others.

Experience all that you are.

Now return your attention to the rhythm and soft sound of your natural breath,

Feeling its flow in and out of your nostrils.

Allow your breath to transport you back to present moment time.

As you allow your thoughts to flow along with your slow,

Easy breath,

Develop your awareness of the physical outline of your form,

Noticing the shape and density of your body as it rests on the earth.

Sense your physical body as you return to the three dimensional reality of space and time and form.

Notice the parts of your body that are touching the floor,

That are supported by the earth,

Your head and upper back,

Your elbows and hands,

Your glutes,

Your calves,

Your heels.

Become aware of sound vibrations,

Temperature information.

Notice the floor,

The windows,

The walls and the ceiling in the room where you are resting.

Become more aware of the external world around you while maintaining that strong awareness of your own existence and the spark of the divine in you that is always present.

The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

Hari om tat sat.

Now I invite you to slowly bring some movement into your fingers and toes,

Taking your time,

Possibly circling the wrists and the ankles a little bit,

Drawing the knees in toward the chest.

And now very slowly roll over onto your right side and take some slow,

Deep breaths with your eyes closed,

Relaxed and resting.

And when you feel ready,

Slowly make your way back up to seated.

Have a beautiful day.

Namaste.