Reconnect With Your True Self Yoga Nidra | The Sacred Desert

Welcome to this meditation on exploring a desert landscape.

In the boundless expanse of sand and sky,

The absence of everyday noise becomes an opportunity to discover what truly resides within.

Each quiet dune invites you to set aside distractions and uncover the natural wisdom and gifts that surface when all else falls away.

Allow this realm to nurture a deeper clarity and renewed sense of purpose so that you emerge with a more profound appreciation for who you are and all you carry within.

Before you lie down,

Silence your phone or any devices so you can remain uninterrupted.

Dim the lights or adjust your surroundings in a way that feels restful.

As you do these small preparations,

Notice how they create a peaceful welcoming space for you to self-connect.

Now you can lie down on a supportive surface,

Couch or a bed,

Moving the blankets and pillows to support you so that you feel comfortable behind the neck,

Under the knees,

Whatever your body needs.

Invite the busyness of the day to fade or thoughts of the future to just float and fall away.

Let a calm warmth settle over you as though you're resting under the soft glow of desert twilight.

Sense the texture of the blanket and clothing against your skin and under your back.

Feel the temperature of the air on your face.

Let each detail anchor you into the now.

And if you'd like,

You can set an intention,

A single word,

Perhaps clarity,

Nourishment,

Self-connection,

Ease.

Whatever your intention,

Let it rest in your heart as you gently repeat it several times.

Rest your arms at your sides,

Palms open.

Feel the surface beneath you supporting you.

And give yourself a few deep breaths now,

Inhaling and noticing the gentle expansion in the chest and belly.

And as you exhale,

Softening the shoulders,

Releasing the jaw,

And smoothing out any tension in the face,

Allowing every muscle to relax.

Adjust your posture to be a little bit more comfortable.

And stretch out your legs slightly.

Notice if there's anything in the body that wants your attention,

And address it kindly and compassionately.

During the meditation,

If a thought arises to move,

Don't respond immediately at the first impulse,

But see if it'll just pass on its own.

And if it doesn't,

Of course,

You can move a little bit.

But just practicing,

Noticing,

Mindfulness,

And non-reactivity,

So you can ground with a deeper truth underneath.

Feel the sensations in your arms,

From the whole shoulder down to the hands.

Sense their weight and position.

Feel them sinking into the surface.

How many places do they touch the surface?

And now feeling the whole torso,

The back,

The upper back,

And lower back,

And all the places that it touches the surface beneath you.

And the chest and stomach,

And the clothing or blankets,

Against your skin.

Bringing your attention to all the places that your back touches the surface,

And your chest and stomach touch the blankets.

And now the attention coming into the lower body,

The hips,

Thighs,

Knees,

Calves,

And feet.

Sinking into the surface.

Feeling how many places they touch the surface beneath you.

And feeling the blanket or clothing against your skin.

And now the head and the face.

Feel the scalp,

Temples,

Forehead,

Cheeks,

And jaw.

Feel the back of the head.

Notice how many places the back of the head touches what you're resting on.

And notice any sensations of coolness or warmth moving across the face.

Let the whole body soften,

As you connect with the whole upper body,

From waist to head,

Shoulders to fingertips.

The whole upper body relaxing.

And now the whole lower body,

From waist down to the toes.

Letting go,

And sinking.

Now let your attention come to your fingers.

The thumbs of both hands,

Pointer fingers,

Middle fingers,

Ring fingers,

Index fingers.

The palms and back of the hand.

The wrists,

Lower arm,

Both elbows,

Upper arm,

Both shoulders,

Armpits,

Both sides of the chest,

The full stomach,

Both sides of the body,

Hips,

Pelvis,

And your seat.

The front of the thighs,

Back of the thighs,

Knees,

Back of the knees,

Shins,

And calves,

Ankles.

The top of each foot,

And the bottom of each foot.

All ten toes.

The big toe,

And then the rest of the toes.

The pinky toes.

The whole foot.

The whole right leg.

The whole left leg.

Both legs relaxing.

The lower back.

Middle of the back.

The upper back.

Feeling the shoulder blades.

The space between the shoulder blades.

The back of the neck.

The back of the head.

The whole head.

And coming to rest,

By noticing the sensations of breath coming in and out of the mouth or nostrils.

And letting your breath deepen.

And as your breathing deepens,

Prepare yourself to engage in a profound visualization of a very sacred landscape,

The desert,

A place of spiritual insight,

Vision,

Cleansing,

Reconnecting with yourself and what is greater than the self.

A place of letting go of all of the inessential,

Of revelation,

And rite of passage.

The openness of the desert,

Being a beautifully conducive space to focusing on those spiritual and sacred things that are most important to you.

A place to reconnect with your core gifts,

Your core values,

And your core needs,

Outside of any distractions.

A place where challenge and adversity can bring out the best in you,

Can bring you closer to yourself.

The desert is a place that can reveal the deeper essence of things,

The power of silence,

The power of solitude.

A place where all that does not serve us anymore can drop away,

In the face of wind,

Become sand,

Become eroded,

And brought back into its underlying essence.

As we prepare to enter the desert,

We make space for that which is most true and authentic to our deeper integrity to emerge through us.

We set an intention to notice and see what is revealed.

In this openness,

In this vastness.

The desert allows conventional limits and categories to dissolve,

Limiting beliefs to fall away,

And to replace them with more true,

Grounded notions of who we are that are connected to our deeper truth.

An open space of freedom.

You see yourself now resting under a desert willow tree.

You feel the softness of the sand massaging your back,

And a mild breeze brushing your cheeks.

As you breathe in,

You taste a faint chalkiness and dryness to the air,

Awakening a curiosity around the waters that lie deep in this seemingly dry land.

You hear a gentle rustle of shifting sand,

And the distant hush of dunes in the distance.

You see the immense spaciousness of the desert before you.

It strips away all the clutter,

Leaving a quiet in which you can hear your own unspoken desires.

Let this simplicity move through you,

Clearing away any internal noise,

And guiding a path towards your inner self and truth.

Above the dunes is a mostly blue sky with the occasional small cloud.

Imagine yourself holding some sand at your side,

Watching it slip through your fingers and glint in the sun,

Shining each grain of sand a little diamond,

A little crystal,

A little piece of shimmering beauty.

How easy it is to overlook the profound beauty of these small grains.

Below the sand,

Ancient layers of stone and soil hold pockets of water.

Aquifers fed by rains long,

Long ago.

As you exhale,

You travel downward,

Rooting you in this timeless foundation and sustenance of water.

You begin to sense that within you too there are wells of truth and strength,

Ready to nourish you even when external circumstances feel bare and dry.

Notice how grounding yourself in this deep stability can awaken a sense of patience and clarity and trust.

You look to the side and notice a small desert plant with waxy leaves.

Its roots spread wide,

Quietly seeking water below.

Gently imagine touching one of its thick leaves,

Feeling how it stores moisture for long stretches without rain.

You notice how all the life around you in this desert seems to store its own water.

It seems to prepare.

It seems to hold that which is most precious inside of it.

A short distance away,

You notice a small desert fox resting beneath a tree,

Its fur blending seamlessly with the sand,

Almost hard to even notice.

Its large ears release heat,

And it conserves energy under the sun's glare by resting during the hottest parts of the day.

You can see the fox breathing,

And you let your breath synchronize with the fox's calm,

Steady breathing rhythm.

The fox meets your gaze without fear,

An unsaid common understanding between you two,

That you're both adapting to this place.

The fox begins to show you,

Through its mind,

Of the water that it drinks at dawn,

A little bit of dew appearing on the leaves,

A source of shade in midday.

It asks you to follow its tracks in its mind as it trots on the hunt,

To show you where there are other water sources,

Where the animals congregate.

You notice that the animals here have all acquired profound skills and knowledge that allows them to live here in this place,

Seemingly comfortably,

Relaxed,

Without worrying or a sense of scarcity,

But almost a sense of abundance.

They know where the water is.

They know how to follow the landscape and the signs.

They know how to read the weather patterns on the air.

And you begin to sense that the animals and plants here have made the desert their home,

That they don't see it as a scarce,

Dry,

Harsh environment,

But as a place where they truly belong.

You begin to feel your experience of this place shifting.

As you look at a cactus nearby,

You see its ribbed sides expand to store precious water.

As you move closer to it in your mind's eye,

You sense a cool interior.

You notice the protective spines,

Spines which establish clear boundaries and clear communication.

Approach me with respect and honor.

Observe how,

After a rare rainfall,

The cactus can absorb immense moisture and release it slowly over time,

Sometimes even sharing with passing creatures.

A source of generosity.

And on the other side of the cactus was a hidden flower.

And there are several butterfly-like moths flittering about,

Noticing the flower attracted to its intoxicating scent.

And you marvel at how this cactus displays so much strength and beauty simultaneously.

How it's able to stand firm in protecting what's precious to it,

While at the same time being open and giving and generous.

It has mastered the art of balance and boundaries,

Meeting its needs for safety and security,

While also acknowledging that it is a part of a greater ecosystem with other beings and other organisms,

And has learned how to enter symbiotic mutual relationships with some of them that it is aligned with,

That it has co-evolved with,

That it is in harmony with.

You begin to feel a clarity emerging in you,

A deeper connection to what is most precious to you.

And you notice yourself becoming more emboldened to protect that which is most precious,

To clarify your boundaries around what you are willing to and not willing to participate in,

And to communicate that assertively with the world in a way that says,

These things need to be honored so that I can give my gifts,

So that I can express my values,

So that I can live in alignment with those non-negotiable core needs that make life wonderful for me.

You send a silent thank you to the cactus and its teachings.

You breathe in the hope that the blooms and flowers carry.

You begin to feel that you can keep boundaries and keep an open heart simultaneously.

And you begin to feel a deeper path towards expressing your core gifts,

Like the landscape tells of hidden waters,

If you know where to look and where to go.

In the distance you see what looks like water,

But as you move you notice that it falls away.

Is that a mirage?

You move a little bit closer and what looks like water also begins to dissipate.

It was a mirage,

But the animals in this landscape are not fooled.

You notice that your desire to express your gifts may have been channeled in some ways that isn't quite aligned for you,

Or maybe it was aligned at some point,

But as you've grown you've noticed that it isn't as aligned as you want it to be now.

You strengthen your resolve to find the true waters of this place,

True gifts in your life,

The deeper truth inside of you,

And to let go of any of the mirages or projections,

To let go of any of the old ideas that are no longer current.

In the distance you don't see water,

But you do see a ring of trees and reeds.

You know it's a little bit of a distance away,

And you'll have to brave the warmth of the sun and the dryness of the air,

But you know that that's where the water is.

The fox can read your thoughts in your face and begins to guide you towards the path of least resistance.

You feel an inner resolve as the challenge of the heat and the dryness no longer feels as strong as your inner resolve to walk towards this new oasis.

You sense the fox at your side,

Guiding you to wait until sunset before crossing the sand.

Feel how this land embraces patience,

Each grain of sand,

Each piece of quartz,

Enduring ages of heating and cooling,

Day after day,

Night after night,

Its form shaped by a timeless cycle.

The fox knows this rhythm intimately and shows you the skill of waiting,

The wisdom of choosing the exact moment when your efforts meet the natural flow.

Allow yourself to rest in this quiet interval,

Understanding that patience is not passivity,

It's a discerning pause,

A careful listening for when action will bring about the best outcome.

In this landscape,

There is no room for rushing,

There is no room for impulsive action,

But as you wait,

The desert's spaciousness reminds you that there is no rush,

There is no timeline,

That moving too quickly can eclipse the beauty unfolding right in front of you.

You feel your thirst,

Yes,

Longing for the cool,

Refreshing water of the oasis,

Which you feel holds gifts for you,

Yet unknown.

You sense in your thirst itself a deeper meaning,

How your desire and distance from the desired object shape one another.

You begin to appreciate the fullness of the longing itself,

Feeling yourself become less reactive to the thirst inside,

And begin to appreciate it for what it is,

A guide,

A fullness,

A form of desire that directs you and puts you into relationship with something beyond yourself.

You feel hurry drip away,

And you let thirst and desire simply be.

You let your heart open to it all,

As urgency gives way to gratitude.

The sun is close to the horizon now,

Painting the dunes in a soft gold and copper.

The air cools quickly,

And the fox beckons you to stand and walk together into the gathering dusk towards the oasis.

Each step brings you a little bit closer to a cluster of palms and reeds,

A green shimmer against the fading glow of the desert.

The oasis welcomes you with a hush of rustling leaves,

And as you come closer,

You can actually smell the moisture in the air,

And in the breeze that touches your cheeks,

You feel a presence and a thickness of what you are.

You feel an immense reverence towards this water,

For which you are utterly dependent.

You see the palm trees and the first hint of moonlight reflecting on its surface,

And you gently and slowly reach your hands down.

You see the beautiful light playing on the surface.

Just being close to it seems to nourish you,

As if your body was drinking by mere proximity.

You breathe more deeply.

Your gratitude deepens.

Your reverence and awe at this being increases.

You breathe in the sweetness of its scent,

Your hands coming closer for their final arrival to touch,

And when you finally make contact,

You feel a warmth and a coolness.

You see the water's depth and its reflection.

You sense that it can hold all opposites.

See beyond the opposites,

A place where there is no opposition.

There's only a pure diversity of being and becoming.

Your hands begin to cup the water like a gentle ceremony,

Lifting it gently up,

But before you bring it to your lips,

You look at it in your hands,

Moving,

Shifting,

And resting.

It has molded to you by being itself,

As if you were the landscape that it has now made home.

You feel as if you're holding something precious,

As if you're cradling a baby or hugging the mother of all life.

You give thanks to the water,

Knowing that it doesn't belong to you,

But it will soon become you.

You see this being in the land,

In the fox,

In the trees.

The water reminds you of your kinship with all beings.

You lift it to your lips and take the first sip.

You feel the coolness move over your tongue and mouth,

And you sense how this simple act of drinking awakens your entire body.

You feel so much gratitude and wonder.

You taste different aspects of it that you've never tasted before.

The calcium and magnesium and sodium from the desert environment.

It has an earthy taste to it.

It has a sweetness to it and a slight hint of salt.

It feels intensely refreshing.

It's as if you're drinking the desert itself.

As you drink,

You begin to feel a deeper connection to who you are,

Recognizing that this oasis,

Where your thirst and desire has been leading you all along,

Is here to reveal your core needs and core values and core gifts that much more clearly to you.

As you drink,

You feel your core needs become clearer,

Whether it was connection or beauty,

Companionship,

Creativity.

Whatever the needs are,

They begin to become clear to you,

The needs that have animated your life for your entire life.

In gratitude,

You reach down and cup more water into your hands and drink now of clarity of your core values,

The things that you have attempted to bring into the world by the way you do things,

The how of it,

Expressing what matters most to you,

Your core values becoming clearer now,

The relationships you want to attract into your life,

The things you want to create,

The way you want to be becoming clearer and more you.

And at the base of this pool,

Through the moonlight,

You see a faint shimmering.

You sense it before you see it,

A resonance that aligns with your deepest gifts,

The talents and perspectives that lie beyond the personality and the social roles you've put on,

A deep resonance with your core self,

That which you feel yourself moving closer to.

You let your eyes expand and take in the surrounding context and see that the desert has laid bare all unnecessary noise.

The desert provided challenges and in navigating them,

You discovered something you may not have discovered in the same way without them.

You turned them into preparation for this moment.

You extend your hand now into this reflecting liquid.

You feel your entire arm cool and warm.

You reach into this paradoxical inclusion of all things.

You feel at ease as if you're coming home to yourself.

Something that resonates deep with your being is emerging.

It feels perfectly fit to your hands,

Somehow made for you.

You feel it adjusting its shape so that it can be better held by you.

You lift it up above the surface,

Watching the droplets fall away in a shimmering light,

And you see a form which evokes an emotional connection inside of you.

It shifts and moves and becomes clearer the more you look at it,

But you feel it inside of you,

As if it sees you,

As if it knows you,

As if it can touch every part of you that wanted to be deeply known and seen and held.

It is responsive to those deepest,

Most hidden aspects of your being that are part of your true self.

You feel a grace,

A forgiveness come over you.

It's surprising to be seen this fully,

But this gift doesn't reject any part of you.

You begin to see underneath any self judgments that you've been holding onto.

You see the care underneath them,

In the light of this love and care and being seen.

You hear a voice that says,

It's okay to walk the path you've walked.

You feel this shimmering gift in your hand that sees you,

That knows you.

It wants you to feel self-compassion.

It wants you to realize that the fuller expression of your gifts will come from forgiveness,

From learning and growing,

From realizing that we've all inadvertently caused pain sometimes,

And that is not a reason to judge yourself eternally or hide your gifts from the world.

You begin to see underneath the judgments,

Care,

Love,

Freedom.

Your heart begins to open towards yourself as you feel a healing love and light wash over you.

You don't have to be perfect to be loved.

There's no human on the planet that has lived without making mistakes.

You feel yourself distinguishing the lesson and the growth from the judgment and the blame.

In the light of this loving and healing presence,

This grace,

This forgiveness,

You feel your gifts becoming clearer,

As if there was a whole dimension to them that you didn't see before.

You begin to feel that the same compassion you feel for yourself will allow you to give that same compassion to others.

That the more grace and forgiveness you allow in,

The more real responsibility and contribution you can make to others.

You're beginning to sense a deeper inner knowing that being and doing good and giving your gifts is not about earning lovability.

It's not about becoming good enough so you can finally allow love in.

You begin to recognize that all humans have made mistakes and feel regret and feel shame and judge themselves.

You begin to see that only compassion and love and grace can connect through this.

They are reminders of our humanity.

A reminder that the giving of our gift is not about being better,

But about being whole.

You see this light expanding around you,

Resonating with you,

Stimulating a sense of compassion inside that reveals a deeper aspect of your being that you wouldn't let yourself see before.

You notice that in the very spaces of what you've tried to keep hidden is also the gift that you most want to give.

Next to the mistakes,

Next to the pain,

Next to your deepest sensitivities and cares and loves and losses,

The gift is in all of them.

Because the gift is in your being and in your becoming.

It's in the fall and the recovery from the fall.

In the light of this compassion and kindness,

You feel yourself open to allow in more love,

More compassion.

And in this loving kindness,

Your vision of yourself and others becomes clearer.

This allowing of yourself to be an imperfect and growing and learning human like everyone else.

You see the shape of the light of this gift morphing into a form that you can increasingly recognize.

It becomes clearer and clearer,

Taking the shape of what you've been trying to create in your life,

Of what you've to give,

Of what your talents and what your values and what your needs have all been pointing you towards.

You feel a connection to it,

Even if you can't make sense of it intellectually completely yet.

For this gift will constantly evolve and change its form as you get to know it better.

The form you see right now,

Showing you your next step.

You watch now as this core gift turns into a shimmering light.

It begins to surround you gently and calmly,

Resonating and dancing with you.

You feel yourself calm as if you're resting on a new foundation,

A fuller sense of your whole self,

Secure in your vulnerable and authentic humanity.

You feel a greater stability in yourself,

A greater presence as if the desert has eroded away anything false about the self.

With this new ability to rest in the wholeness of your being,

The light of your gifts expands.

The space you've made allows the light to enter you.

It begins to go into your body,

Your mind,

Your soul.

You begin to allow yourself to receive the expression of these gifts,

The confidence in yourself,

A sense that they matter,

That they're significant.

And as you receive these gifts into your being,

You begin to receive a vision.

You see people.

They're looking for something.

They need something.

They don't know what it is,

But they're looking.

And you sense that what you have is exactly what they're looking for.

You begin to see that the gift is not for you,

But for them.

You sense that somehow this ability to give feels so nourishing to you,

While at the same time being exactly what others need.

You start to feel a resonance with these people,

With these beings.

Perhaps it's animals or plants.

Whoever the beings are,

They would be so nourished by the expression of your gift.

And you would feel so much joy in creating it.

You feel a sense of awe and gratitude.

How is it that what you want to create,

What you've been interested in,

What you valued your whole life,

Is something that other people or beings or animals or plants,

It's what they value and want too.

So eager to receive what you have to offer.

And you remember the cactus and the flower.

How the flower was just being a flower.

And the moths were just being moths.

And yet they served the flower through their desire.

You begin to see now,

With awe,

How those deepest desires within you have been leading you to give exactly what you're here to give.

And the desires inside of the others meet your desire with the same synergism and mutual honoring as the flower and the moth.

You see this in the context of the greater flow of life.

You feel a part of something bigger,

A continuing of life.

You smile,

Resting in the awareness of a deeper clarity of something that you can do,

Something that you can be,

A way that you can be,

That feels aligned.

It also feels easeful.

You know it will take work,

But it's work that you want to do.

You send a silent thank you to these others,

Letting them know your gifts are coming.

They will be expressed even more in the coming days,

Weeks,

Months and years.

You will be patient with the expression of your gifts,

But you also won't delay artificially.

As you come out of the vision,

You see the fox calmly watching you,

Knowing.

You see the trail on the ground of your footpath and the fox's trail that brought you to the oasis,

And you slowly walk back through the moonlit dunes,

Each step illuminated by a new sense of purpose and meaning and significance.

You sense a new trust that you can simply be yourself.

You can rest in your authenticity and integrity,

Because you know now the gift underneath that.

You've touched something essential within you,

And in doing so,

You carry this oasis wherever you go,

Ready to offer encouragement and nourishment to those who wander,

Seeking for the same hidden wellspring of life and possibility.

Perhaps something about your presence will guide them like the fox guided you towards their own oasis.

You look back at the oasis behind you.

You honor the path that you've walked,

The lessons you've absorbed.

You feel grateful for those guides and mentors in your life,

Like the companionship of the fox.

You see the challenges in your life from a new light.

You realize that in those challenges,

There were opportunities to come closer to your gifts,

Needs,

And values in a way that you might not have otherwise.

And you feel grateful for the seasons of ease and spaciousness that allowed you to integrate and heal and learn.

You deepen your breathing,

Carrying the rhythms of sand,

Wind,

And water into the present moment.

And as you deepen your breathing,

You come back into the space around you.

You feel the support,

The weight of your arms and legs,

The gentle flow of air around your nose and face.

You invite your senses to reacquaint themselves with the here and the now.

You feel the warmth of your body rising and falling with the breath.

Know at a deep level that the insights,

Clarity,

And gift that you unearthed remain within you,

That they were always within you,

And that you've just become more aware of them.

And that in the coming days and weeks and months ahead,

You will begin to notice the deeper expression of your gifts and values and needs in your everyday life.

When you drink the water,

You will be reminded of your gifts.

You'll be reminded of your values.

You will remember your core needs.

And you will shift into a deeper authenticity,

A relaxing into your being.

You remember that when things feel dry,

Or when desire seems to overtake you,

That you can approach that desire with mindfulness.

You can approach that thirst with a sense of openness and patience.

You can notice it with a sense of reverence,

As if it had something to teach you,

Something deep to show you about yourself.

Each day,

You let each breath and step and choice resonate more and more with the expansive serenity you found under the star-filled sky of this desert oasis.

You've traveled far,

Yet you are always home.

May you journey forward with a renewed sense of courage,

Clarity,

And trust that the gifts you have matter.

Thank you,

My friend,

For joining me on this journey.