Nidra - Changing States Of Matter

Welcome to your practice of Yoga Nidra.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide.

Let's begin by changing our environment.

If you need to use the bathroom,

Press pause,

Do your thing,

And come back.

Get settled in an area of non-distraction.

Turn the lights or light some candles.

Do whatever you need to do to get comfortable.

Using props can be a wonderful way to support your body in any form that suits you best.

I love this opportunity to allow my legs to be higher than my heart.

Using blankets or weight on top of the body can also be comforting.

Maybe try something new and see how your body feels.

However you set yourself up,

Allow the ankles to be hip distance apart,

Arms outstretched besides you,

Palms up and open,

Covering your eyes to deepen your experience.

Start to allow your body to relax.

It's okay to fidget until you find your spot,

The place where you feel like you could lay here for your entire practice.

Still,

Allowing your body to rest while your mind is awake and aware,

Your practice of yoga nidra has begun.

Relaxation and healing occur in the now.

It is no wonder then that in our stressful,

Intense society that we experience reactive interactions with each other,

Maybe even more frequently.

I am someone who struggles to relax.

I can be lazy,

But relaxed is a different game.

How is relaxed accomplished when the mind continues to race,

Especially when I don't want it to?

The more I crave the silence,

The more my mind seems to chatter.

For me,

It's more an emotional relaxation versus physical relaxation that I have a problem with.

As I am no expert,

I would like to read some excerpts from Yoga Nidra,

The art of transformational sleep by Kamani Desai.

This is a supremely efficient way to detoxify,

Clear,

And release past emotional baggage at all levels.

The beauty of this method is that you never need to know its cause,

Why it happened,

Or what it was about.

It is simply energy that needs to move,

And when it does,

It is resolved.

Think of it as taking out the trash.

Everything you are seeing and feeling is on its way out.

You don't need to know what the trash is.

You wouldn't go picking through your trash to figure out the origin of each piece.

What is coming up is simply arising to go away.

All you need to do is relax,

Step back,

And allow it to move through.

Yoga Nidra has been such a gift for me.

My hopes are to deliver this gift to the rest of you.

As we settle into our bodies,

Let's start to pay attention to our natural breath.

As we do,

Feel the cleansing of your inhale,

The detoxification of each exhale.

To help give our bodies the space to detoxify even more,

See if you can extend your exhale by a count of one.

If your inhale takes two counts,

See if you can comfortably exhale for three.

If at any time this breath does not feel right for you,

Come back to your natural breath.

As you breathe in this way,

Imagine that your body is dense,

Like ice,

Heavy,

Thick.

See what it feels like to increase both your inhale and exhale by one more count.

If you were inhaling at a two and exhaling at a three,

You would now see what it feels like to inhale for three counts and exhaling for four.

In this breath,

Now imagine that your dense body starts to melt and becomes like water,

Fluid,

Moving.

What does that feel like as you pay attention to your breath?

Finally,

See what it feels like to extend your exhale by one more count.

Exhaling at a three count or wherever you are at,

There is no right or wrong.

And exhaling for a five count or wherever you're at.

Concentrating on making your exhale nice and long,

Deep and slow.

Breathe this way for the next couple of minutes,

Allowing yourself to focus only on your breath,

Allowing the body to relax while your mind is awake and aware.

When I come back,

Allow me to guide you even deeper through the matter.

Imagine that you are sitting on a small craft in the middle of the Berenzy.

Everything is calm,

Quiet.

There is a stillness in the air.

See yourself with a small glass bottle and cork next to you.

You are writing on a piece of paper.

You see yourself writing out your intention,

Your sankalpa.

Your intention can be seen as a positive affirmation or a resolve.

It's something that you are working towards because it is a desire in your heart.

There is no pressure to have an intention.

If you choose to do so,

Make sure that it starts with the pronoun I.

It can be a statement like,

I am deserving of unconditional love.

Or it can be simple,

Like I am enough.

Or it can be a question if you're not quite there yet.

Like why am I thriving?

Whatever your sankalpa or intention is,

Say it to yourself three times,

Imagining that you are writing it out on this piece of paper.

When you are finished with that,

See yourself rolling up this piece of paper and putting it into the bottle that was next to you.

You take a deep breath as you apply the cork.

Not knowing where it might be headed,

You throw out your intention into the Berenzy.

We will begin with a rotation around the body.

You'll be using your imagination a lot for this.

As I name a part of the body,

Imagine that you can feel that part of the body.

Some parts you may not know exactly where they are at,

And that's okay.

We're using our imagination to help us feel these parts.

Let's begin with the sensation of feeling our skin,

The largest organ of the body.

Start with the skin on the soles of your feet.

Feel the skin of your right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Feel the skin of your whole right foot,

Lower leg,

Front and back side of the right knee,

Upper leg,

Right hip and groin,

The skin of the right side body from your hips to your shoulders.

Sense the skin of your right shoulder,

Upper arm,

Elbow,

Lower arm,

Wrist,

The skin of your right palm,

Back of the hand,

The skin of your right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger.

Feel the skin of your whole right hand,

Your whole right arm,

The whole right side of your body.

Feel the skin on the whole right side of your body.

Gently drift over to your left side and feel the lightness of the skin on the sole of your left foot,

Feeling the skin of your left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Feel the skin of your whole left foot,

Lower leg,

Front and back side of the left knee,

Upper leg,

Left hip and groin,

The skin of the left side body from your hips to your shoulders.

Sense the skin of your left shoulder,

Upper arm,

Elbow,

Lower arm,

Wrist,

The skin of your left palm,

Back of the hand,

And the skin of your left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger.

Feel the skin of your whole left hand,

Your whole left arm,

The whole left side of the body.

Feel the skin on the whole left side of your body.

Now see if you can use your imagination and start to transcend into a layer deeper.

Can you sense and feel the muscles in your body?

See if you can pay attention to the muscles of your forehead.

Notice how your awareness allows the muscles to release.

Now circle around your eyes and see if you can imagine to relax the muscles in your cheeks.

Now circle around your lips and see if you can imagine to relax the muscles in your jaw.

Unclench and allow your jaw to open and drop,

Releasing any tension that may be left there.

Notice the length in the back of your neck,

Noticing and imagining the muscles in your neck,

Imagining them to relax.

Follow the muscles of your neck down to the shoulders,

Upper arms,

Lower arms.

Be very gentle as you discover the muscles in your hands,

Feeling your thumbs,

Pointer fingers,

Middle fingers,

Ring fingers,

Pinky fingers.

Feel the large muscles of your back,

Noticing any areas where you may have been gripping.

Let the muscles of your buttocks feel wide and loose.

Can you feel the length of your hamstrings?

Allow your hamstrings to spread wide against the floor.

Sense both of your calf muscles,

Tracing them from your knee down to your Achilles tendons to end up at your heel.

Allow the muscles of your feet to be free,

To feel airy,

Light.

Sense the muscles of your big toes,

Second toes,

Third toes,

Fourth toes,

And fifth toes.

Is it possible to imagine another depth of the body going into the elements of your tendons and ligaments?

Can you move throughout the complexity of your foot,

Feeling your tendons and ligaments weave in a way like a basket,

Strong and sturdy to support you?

Trace the length of your lower leg,

Again noticing the basket weave in your knees.

Feel the length on the outside of your upper legs.

Allow your massive IT band,

The band that stretches from the outside of your knee to the iliac crest or the top of your hip bone.

You do not have to do anything.

To rest,

Allow this large and powerful part of the body to relax.

There is nothing for you to do.

Travel up your spine and see if you can imagine all of the ligaments and tendons that reside in your spine.

Allow any needed unripping to occur,

Relaxing your body at an even deeper level.

Breathing from your tailbone,

Feel the complexities of this basket weave of the spine,

Moving up to your lower spine,

Up the middle spine,

And the upper spine.

Trace the ligaments and tendons that surround your neck and let them be loose.

Experience how they must lay along the face and the jaw.

One last time,

Let's travel even deeper and imagine that we can feel our bones.

First imagine that you can feel the bones of your face holding in your eyes,

The opening of your nose.

Imagine you can feel your upper row of teeth,

Your lower row of teeth.

Sense the density of the bone of your jaw.

Let the weight of your jaw take over.

Follow your bones outward from your collarbone,

Feeling the density of the bones of your shoulder blades,

Shoulders,

Upper arms,

Lower arms.

Feel all of the tiny bones in your hands traveling upward to the tips of your fingers.

Feel where the bones of your skull connect with your spine,

Following the curve of your neck down to your upper back.

Face down the spine and feeling the lift of your middle back,

Going even lower to your lower spine,

Down to your sacrum,

Your tailbone.

Feel the curve of your hips and your pelvic bone.

Follow your femur or upper leg bone down to your knees.

Sense the bones in your lower leg.

Feel each and every bone in your ankles and feet.

Allow the bones of your feet to not move for just a moment.

In this practice of yoga nidra,

Where the body and all of its layers lie still,

With your mind awake and aware,

Feel each and every teeny tiny bone in your ankles and feet.

Now feel and imagine all of these separate layers put together.

All of your bones,

Your ligaments and tendons,

Your muscles,

Your organs,

And your skin.

Slowly add them together,

Layer by layer,

Adding in the lymph and the nerves.

Become a whole body.

Feel your whole body,

Inside and out.

Feel and sense your whole body,

Your whole body.

Feel and sense your whole body,

Your whole body.

Notice your body laying here on the floor.

Start to notice a sound,

The sound of water lapping near you,

Sun warm on your face.

You sit up and realize that you are laying on the floor of a tiny rowboat or canoe or raft.

Don't judge what appears for you.

Allow it to arrive as you quietly watch and observe.

You and this tiny craft are floating in the middle of this body of water,

Without any land surrounding you or in sight.

Only this craft,

You,

And this body of water.

You feel safe this way.

In fact,

It feels fluid here,

Even if it is barren.

It seems as though everything here moves together.

You can't explain it.

It is a feeling rather than a scene.

The breeze on the water has become chilly.

First,

You hear it.

At first,

It sounds like branches from a tree are breaking.

You realize that this vast body of water has suddenly frozen over.

What was once fluid is now dense.

A fog starts to roll in.

Everything has turned into a shade of gray.

You are not afraid,

But you do allow the emotions that arise in this gray scene to be felt,

To pass through.

Here you take three deep breaths as you decide what to do.

Your heart tells you that,

Like your emotions,

You also must keep moving to keep flowing.

Before you go,

You look around,

Wondering which direction to take.

It all looks the same out there,

Gray,

Misty,

Never-ending desert of ice.

You close your eyes and breathe some more.

Suddenly and distinctively,

You feel a warm breeze and decide that that is the direction you will take.

You begin a journey on top of this massive piece of ice,

Feeling safe.

You do not know where you are going.

All you know is you are following a breeze that feels warm,

Feels right,

Even though there are no landmarks to be seen.

There is nothing visual to know if you are headed in the right direction,

Yet each faithful step you take,

The warmth of this breeze becomes stronger and more consistent.

Beyond the gray,

You start to see a tiny golden light.

You decide to walk towards the golden glow.

With the reflection of the ice at your feet and the gray fog,

This golden light seems to be able to play,

Allowing whatever arises to arise,

Including the experience of non-experience.

You take in the beauty of the scene a bit more,

Of this golden light dancing among the gray.

The dense,

Cold,

Solid ice beneath you,

The thick gray fog,

And the dance and the warmth of the golden light in front of you.

While you witness this dance,

The most miraculous thing has occurred.

Though you were watching the dance of the golden light,

The ice has slowly melted.

But as if the earth itself has turned on its axis,

You are now floating in this warm,

Calm water.

Watching the golden light expand into golden clouds set in the blue sky above you,

You are so relaxed,

So buoyant,

Moving with the movement of the water.

You float with such ease that it's like something is holding you up.

You realize there is.

It is called surrender.

Be with whatever comes up for you with this thought.

See that emotion in the dance of the clouds in the blue sky.

You notice the clouds get thicker and darker.

You realize that the water below you has slowly dissolved away,

And now you are laying on the warm sand.

Very supported as you lay here practicing yoga nidra,

Where your body is asleep and your mind is awake and aware.

The clouds above you build layer upon layer.

Knowing that your soul could use some refreshing,

You continue to lay here in the warm sand as nature decides to squeeze out the clouds.

It is a steady and soft burst of light healing rain,

Beating against your skin.

It fills you,

Feeling refreshed,

As light as the rain.

When the rain stops,

You watch the warmth of the golden sun vaporize the cold rain into steam.

You and the ground,

Steam arising.

As the sun grows warmer,

Even the steam dissipates.

You continue laying there,

Body asleep,

Mind aware,

Being warmed and comforted by the sun.

Soon you notice plants and flowers sprouting around you.

You are surrounded by every color Mother Nature has to offer.

Every sense of vibrancy and abundance surrounding you.

You continue to lay here and imagine how beautiful this must look from up above you.

You laying here amongst the beauty of the flowers.

As the sun creates the warmth for more flowers to bloom,

The aroma from these flowers takes over.

Attracting your friends,

The bees,

The butterflies,

And the hummingbirds,

Mother Nature's pollinators.

As they dance from flower to flower,

They dance upon your body.

You are calm and safe and welcome the stance of the pollinators.

Here is when they work their magic.

They help you move any energy that needs to move.

You welcome this as well as any feelings that arise.

You allow the soft tickles of the bees,

Butterflies,

And hummingbirds to dance their soft,

Gentle dance upon you.

Giving you a sense of ease and relaxation in any part that they land upon.

Slowly and softly,

The pollinators disperse with more areas to pollinate.

You are now sitting in what appears to be a large redwood forest.

It is amazing what the hummingbirds,

Butterflies,

And bees did to this simple field of flowers.

How much it has grown.

It is in this realization that you remember that the pollinators landed on you.

You have also grown like this redwood forest.

You have been out on a barren sea.

You have felt the cold and isolation of being frozen in.

You have been lost in the fog.

You have had faith and followed the warmth of your heart.

You have been held by the unknown.

You have been nourished by the rain.

You have evaporated into thin air.

To only grow again,

Starting as a sprout in the sand,

You produced a beautiful aroma with your spirit that attracted friends and helpers to your life,

Which in turn erupted into the giant redwood forest within you.

You have experienced the changing states of matter,

The experience of being human.

Look around you again at the growth of this forest,

Knowing you may find yourself amongst the barren sea or fog at any moment.

You have learned the magic doesn't live only in the forest.

The magic lives in the ebb and flow of the experience from going from one state of matter into another.

The fluidity of feeling it all,

In being it all.

You are experienced here in the third dimension as a human being.

You are relaxed.

You are at peace,

Knowing that all that is required of you is to be.

You begin to hear the sound of water and decide to start to walk towards it.

You slowly start to see the most beautiful river amongst these redwood trees.

Having always loved the sound of moving water,

You decide to go and sit on a nice,

Large,

Flat rock.

As you are walking towards this rock,

You notice something bobbing on the shallow side of this rock.

Being lost from the current,

Something is bobbing up and down in the shallow waters.

As you get closer,

You realize that it caught your eye because it is yours.

It is your bottle containing your intention,

Your sankalpa.

You pick it up and walk onto the flat rock.

You uncork the bottle as you lay on your back,

Sun in your face,

Birds,

Bees,

Butterflies,

And hummingbirds flying all around you,

Amongst these great redwood trees.

You slowly unroll the piece of paper.

You say your intention to yourself three more times as you read it.

After you have said this to yourself for the third time,

Your paper slowly starts to disperse off into tiny little lights,

And you realize that your sankalpa has turned into millions of beautiful fireflies,

Adding to the beauty that you are already laying upon.

Slowly,

Start to hear the sounds that are in this room,

Telling your body that you are slowly returning to it,

Beginning with some soft wiggling of your fingers and toes and taking your time and being gentle with yourself.

When it feels right for you,

Begin to make those movements bigger until you can find yourself back into a seated position,

Taking your time.

Your practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

I love to journal during this time.

For some reason,

This moment is almost like dream journaling.

Sometimes what I write down is weird,

But if I keep writing,

There sometimes is a moment where I find clarity with something that has been on my mind,

Helping me to be more discerning,

Which is why I love yoga nidras so much.

If you need help waking up,

Remember to wake up your senses to bring you back into your body.

Smelling some essential oils is great,

Especially if it assists your emotions that may be in us.

With yoga i nidra we are doing a training internship and that is the perfect way,

To allow yourself a sense of career doze,

Etc.

Thank you once again,

For spending your time with me.

I hope that you continue to find the things that work for you or your yoga nidra.

There are so many branches to explore.

I hope you remain curious to that.

And until next time,

Namaste.