Yoga Nidra To Ease Pain

Welcome to this yoga nidra meditation to help ease discomfort and pain.

I'll begin by choosing a position that feels best for you,

Sitting or lying down,

And then placing anything you have to support your body.

Comfort your body,

Could be blanket or cushions,

Especially around any of your body that's feeling some pain.

And so we'll just set up here as it feels best for you,

And know that you have full permission to shift your body at any time as you need.

So as you settle in,

Let's take a nice big inhale here,

And then a long exhale,

Just let that breath go.

I'm going to do it one more time,

Nice deep inhale,

And a long exhale,

Just let your breath go.

And then settle into the natural rhythm of your breath.

We'll begin by just opening up our senses here to really awaken our body,

To open our ears to hear the sounds and the space you are in.

To,

For a moment here,

Sounds in the distance,

Sounds close by.

To let your eyes take in the space around you,

Just looking around to see colors and shapes,

Familiar objects.

And then to softly close your eyes if it's comfortable,

And just notice colors and shapes that appear behind your eyelids,

Any inner vision that awakens here.

Feel the touch of the support that is underneath you,

Perhaps on you,

The warmth of a blanket,

Firmness of a couch or bed or chair or softness.

Notice the touch of the air flowing through the space,

Touching your skin,

Your lips.

Does it feel cool or warm?

Let your awareness really take in all that is around you,

The sounds,

The sights,

The space you are in,

And then let your awareness go inward and fill the space within you.

Just notice what you notice here,

Sensations behind closed eyes,

Perhaps noticing colors or shapes.

Notice here any comfort or discomfort,

Not needing to change anything,

Just noticing as a starting point,

Welcoming all into your awareness as best you can.

And know this is enough.

Notice perhaps your mind wants to push away from any discomfort.

In this practice,

We will simply notice it.

And as we begin together,

I invite you to set an intention for this meditation as we explore how to ease pain and discomfort.

How do you choose to invite this into your body,

Into your life?

Please set an intention and repeat it to yourself three times.

Let's take one more breath together as we settle into our body,

Into this shape.

Take a nice deep inhale and let it go.

Let my voice guide you and point you in a direction of experience as we begin with this rotation of consciousness through the body.

And we begin at the forehead,

Just noticing any sensations,

Aliveness through your forehead.

Awareness slows down into your mouth,

The sensations here,

Out to your ears.

To your jaw.

To your nostrils,

Perhaps feel the touch of air at your nostrils.

The sensations around your eyes.

Your temples.

The back of your head.

Perhaps feeling warmth,

What your head is resting on.

What do you notice?

The back of your neck.

Through your whole neck.

Notice the aliveness,

Sensations flowing through your neck.

Your shoulders.

Your shoulder blades.

Some sensations familiar,

Some unfamiliar.

Some comfortable,

Some not so comfortable.

Simply notice what you're experiencing here through your arms,

Through your hands,

Your palms.

Notice the aliveness through your fingers and thumbs right to the tips.

Sensing both hands simultaneously.

And any distracting thoughts that come up,

Imagine them as balloons rising up into the space above you,

Just releasing so that you,

Your awareness,

Can settle more deeply within.

Where are the sensations from both hands,

Arms,

Shoulders,

And through your chest.

Notice the sensations through your chest,

Your belly,

Perhaps movement of breath.

Awareness awakens to sensations through your pelvis,

Your hips,

Through your legs,

Through your feet,

Through your toes,

Right to the tips of your toes.

Noticing sensations at the very tips of your toes.

Awareness flows back up through your feet,

Your legs,

Your whole body like filling a glass with water.

Awareness flows up to fill your whole body right to the top of your head.

Simultaneously being aware of your whole body and the radiant field of sensations that flow through your whole body.

Begin to notice a place of comfort in your body.

And if it's not there in your body,

Perhaps it could be an image of comfort of a place you love.

Let your awareness come here to rest here and to peel off the concept of comfort to simply experience this place of comfort.

What are the sensations of aliveness here,

Perhaps heaviness,

Expansiveness,

Warmth,

Light?

Just name it as it arises in your awareness,

Experience of comfort,

Letting yourself soften into it,

Feel into it and naming this experience.

Allowing a color to flow into this place of comfort,

Filling the space here.

What color naturally arises?

And if no color arises,

No worries,

Just notice this too.

Feel your way to the very center of this place of comfort.

And as you breathe,

Imagine you could breathe right into the center and your breath flows out to the periphery,

Wherever the edge of comfort is.

So for a few breaths as you inhale,

Breathing right into the center of comfort,

The sensations that flow here,

The color that flows here,

That breath flowing right out to the periphery of comfort.

Now let your awareness once again flow back out through your whole body,

Simultaneously through your whole body to notice a place of discomfort,

Less comfort.

And again,

This could be an image of something that is not comfortable for you or could be a place in your body.

So noticing this place of discomfort and letting your awareness come towards it.

You might feel a tendency to move away from it.

Come towards it as best you can,

Hovering over nearby or right to the place of discomfort to,

To once again,

Peel off the concept of discomfort or pain to notice the experience.

Perhaps a sense of throbbing or stabbing or aching and naming what you experienced,

Naming the sensations you're aware of.

Allowing a color to arise in this place of discomfort.

And now beginning to breathe,

Starting at the periphery,

The edge of this place of discomfort,

Breathing in here and then letting your breath move towards the center,

Just towards,

However far it is comfortable to go,

Is able to go.

So for a few breaths,

Breathing to the edge of where you feel,

See discomfort,

And then letting your breath flow towards the center as best you can and know that this is enough.

Your breath flows into the sensations,

Naming them,

Seeing the color flowing.

And now let's let your awareness flow out through your whole body once again,

Through your whole body simultaneously.

As you hold your whole body in your awareness,

Notice again,

This place of comfort returning to the place of comfort.

To come back here,

Again,

Peel off a concept of comfort to simply experience a place of comfort,

To name the sensations,

To invite the color to fill,

Show here,

And to imagine you could breathe right into the center of comfort and out to the edge,

The periphery of this experience of comfort.

And now imagine as you breathe into this place of comfort and your breath moves out to the periphery that it continues,

That it begins to flow out beyond this area of comfort,

To ripple out,

To flow out,

To fill your whole body.

Let the sensations of comfort,

The color begin to flow out as best you can,

Flowing out to fill your whole body.

Fills your whole body.

And now imagine that surrounding your body is comfort,

Perhaps comfort of warm water,

Like bathing in warm,

Healing water.

Perhaps imagining the warmth of a blanket surrounding you,

A warm blanket,

Warm earth,

Warm sunshine,

Feel embraced by comfort as it feels best for you.

As we rest here a few moments,

Feel the embrace of comfort,

However it naturally arises,

Experience being held in comfort,

While the color sensations of comfort flow within,

The embrace of comfort surrounding you,

Holding you,

Comfort flowing within you.

The ease of this as you rest embraced and filled in comfort.

Thank you so much for taking the time of this practice of self-care.

Thank you for the honor of guiding you.

Namaste.