Welcome to your Yoga Nidra practice,
Grounding and Balance for Highly Sensitives.
This is a practice that you can use anytime you'd like to feel more balanced and centered.
To begin,
Do your best to find a place with minimal distractions,
Either sitting up in a comfortable chair or lying down somewhere that feels safe and comfortable for you.
You may want a blanket nearby or a pillow or cushion to place under your head and neck.
Comfort and stillness are important for this practice.
Spend the next few moments ensuring that you are as comfortable as possible.
Make any small adjustments that will help settle your body.
You may move at any point within the practice if you are uncomfortable,
But ideally Yoga Nidra is practiced in stillness.
When you're settled,
Take a slow deep breath in through the nose and exhale slowly through the mouth.
Close your eyes and take a moment to scan your body to do what you need to to make sure you are as comfortable as possible.
And continue to simply be aware that your body is breathing.
To create the life we are meant to live as sensitive people,
We must draw our mind back again and again to our deepest intentions so we can move closer to a life that embraces our true nature as we treat ourselves with compassion and kindness.
Now we'll set a clear intention for our practice to help us clarify what we want to gain from this time.
An example might be I will practice self-compassion,
Or something as simple as I will remain present and alert for Yoga Nidra.
Just allow your mind to move freely without judgment,
And whatever comes to you,
Try not to judge it or evaluate it.
Simply allow it to come to you naturally.
Now we'll begin to scan the body to release some tension,
Allowing our awareness to flow freely from point to point.
As you are guided to various points throughout your body,
There is nothing to do except settle your attention on each body part with an intention to rest.
You may even use the word rest silently on each part of your body to help you release and soften.
We'll begin by bringing awareness to the crown of the head,
Forehead,
Right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow,
The center of the brows,
Right eye,
Left eye,
Right ear,
Left ear,
Your nose,
The tip of the nose,
Your upper lip,
Lower lip,
Right cheek,
Left cheek,
And the chin.
Bring your awareness now to your throat,
Right collar bone,
Left collar bone,
Right chest muscle,
Left chest muscle,
The sternum,
Abdomen,
Your navel,
And now the groin.
Bring your awareness now to your right hand.
Feel a wave of relaxation spreading from your right thumb to your second finger,
Third,
Fourth,
And fifth finger,
The palm of the hand,
The back of the hand,
Right wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
And now your shoulder,
The armpit,
Your right side,
Your right hip,
Thigh,
Back of the thigh,
Right kneecap,
Back of the knee,
Right shin,
Calf muscle,
Ankle,
Heel,
The sole of your right foot,
Top of the foot,
Right big toe,
Second,
Third,
Fourth,
And fifth toe.
Awareness of the whole right side of the body now.
Now we'll shift to bring awareness to the left side.
Awareness to your left hand,
Feeling that soothing wave of relaxation flowing from the left thumb to the second finger,
Third,
Fourth,
And fifth finger,
Palm of your hand,
Back of the hand,
Your left wrist,
Lower arm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
And left shoulder,
The armpit,
Your left side,
Hip,
Your left thigh,
Back of the thigh,
The left kneecap,
Back of the knee,
Left shin,
Calf muscle,
Ankle,
Heel,
The sole of your left foot,
Top of the foot,
The left big toe,
Second,
Third,
Fourth,
And fifth toe,
The whole left side of the body now.
Now allow your awareness to travel to the whole right leg,
Whole left leg,
Both legs together,
Your whole right arm now,
Whole left arm,
Both arms together,
The whole of your back,
Buttocks,
Spine and shoulder blades,
The whole front of your body now,
Abdomen and chest,
The whole of the front and back sides of the body together,
Your whole body together as one full being,
Remaining alert and aware of your body lying on the floor or in the chair.
See a mental image of yourself in this space.
Now bring your awareness to the rhythm of your breath.
Watch the breath flowing in and out,
While the belly gently rises up and down with each incoming and outgoing breath.
Aware of your body gently moving with each inhale and exhale.
Bring your awareness to your belly now.
Inhale,
Filling your entire body with air,
All the way to the navel,
And exhale,
Releasing and letting go.
Inhale,
Belly rises,
Chest rises.
Exhale,
Belly falls,
Chest falls,
Allowing every breath to flow at its own pace.
Each breath will be a little different.
One breath may be deep and long.
Another may be short and shallow.
Just continue to observe it,
Simply watching,
Watching the natural wave of breath,
Like watching gentle waves on a quiet beach.
Now we'll observe the breath with an affirmation,
On your inhale,
Repeating silently,
I am,
And on your exhale,
Repeating silently,
At peace.
Inhale,
I am.
Exhale,
At peace.
Inhale,
I am.
Exhale,
At peace,
Silently to yourself for the next few moments.
Inhale,
I am.
Exhale,
At peace.
Releasing the affirmation now.
Yoganidra is a state of consciousness that feels calm yet alert.
We remain awake,
Yet still completely relaxed.
In this state,
We're allowing our thinking mind to move to the background,
So that we can also notice the stillness and quiet that is always present underneath the noise,
Allowing us to simply notice what comes up for us without naming or judging it.
Notice the sensations of air as it flows into your nostrils,
Noticing the subtlety of it.
We might notice the coolness as we breathe in,
And then as the air is warmed up and moves out,
The two sensations of cool and warmth are a bit different.
We're just experiencing the breath,
Understanding that labeling and naming will still come,
But when they do,
We just allow them to be in the background.
Perhaps noticing any sensations in your face,
Neck,
Or shoulders.
Again,
Just experimenting with noticing the sensations themselves without attaching any meaning,
Without going into any stories.
The sides of the neck and shoulders down into the arms,
The back of the neck,
Muscles of the upper back.
Noticing any sensations there.
These areas can often be tight or contracted.
You might have stories for these sensations we're feeling.
Just see if you can experience the sensation itself in the space that it's in.
Bring your attention to the throat.
Notice the different sensations there if you swallow,
If you can feel a physical sensation in that space.
Just noticing if there's anything else there for you.
Bring awareness now to what's happening in the mind.
Many of us might be in the direct experience for a while of the practice,
But then our mind gets bored and we'll go into thinking about something else.
And when this happens,
When you notice,
Just bring your attention back with kindness.
Our mind may even start to comment or question on this experience.
Why am I doing this?
What am I making for dinner?
I like this or I don't like this.
All of this is normal.
Having constant streams of thought.
And when we notice,
We bring ourselves back to a place of awareness and observation.
Maybe we notice some areas where we are holding on a little bit more tightly.
And if we notice,
We can just do our best to soften into that,
Allowing for a calm,
Still witnessing of it.
And if there are any stories about what our body is experiencing,
Just seeing if we can allow that layer of our thoughts to move and settle into the background just for this time.
Noticing how our mind always wants to label things and how much time and energy we spend on describing things to ourselves,
Attaching meaning to them,
And wondering why things are the way they are.
If we can sit back for a moment and watch our thoughts,
We can let them play out like scenes on a giant movie screen,
Scene by scene,
Until the movie ends.
Sometimes we can become stuck in endless loops,
Watching the same movies and the same scenes over and over.
But here and now,
We're practicing pulling ourselves out of the movie,
Enough so that we're in the audience and not up on the screen in the starring role.
Notice your whole body,
Again from head to toes.
What sensations are catching your attention?
Notice the space where that sensation is appearing.
And if there's not much sensation,
Make a very small movement.
Maybe swallow,
Take a deeper breath.
This will allow your sensations to change a bit.
Bring your attention now to the space between your eyebrows.
And notice again the whole space your body is occupying from head to toes.
We're simply practicing awareness,
Awareness of what we're experiencing,
And also the awareness itself,
The process and practice of witnessing.
This helps us to get to know our mind.
And what are the thoughts that take us away from this awareness?
What is it that makes us forget what we're doing in the moment as our thoughts begin to take over?
Maybe there are certain things that we might need to look at more closely.
A lot of what goes through our thoughts is simply more like junk mail,
Delivered by our histories and stories.
It's just how our human mind works.
Still understanding and knowing that there's no expectation of perfection,
Especially during this practice.
We're simply allowing ourselves to be perfectly imperfect,
Our sensitive human selves,
To have the experiences that we have,
And to only approach this time with curiosity and without judgment.
As we near the end of our practice,
Reach into the deepest stillness that's here within you right now,
Allowing your mind to be awake and alert,
While always making a generous amount of space for kindness and self-compassion.
You may recall your intention now from the beginning of our practice,
And repeat it silently to yourself,
And carry it with you as you begin to bring your awareness back from this Nidra practice.
Feel your body peacefully resting.
Feel the support beneath you.
Begin to introduce some gentle movement now into your body,
Taking a few slow deep gentle breaths.
Wiggle your fingers and your toes.
Stretch or move your body in any way that you like.
Gently press yourself up into sitting if you were lying down.
Your eyes can remain closed.
Take a slow deep breath in and exhale,
And when you're ready,
Softly open your eyes and bring this calming sensation into the room and into the rest of your day.
