The Captain - 20-Minute Yoga Nidra / NSDR

Welcome to your practice of Yoga Nidra.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide.

Yoga Nidra is known by several names like Transformational Sleep,

Neuro Nidra,

And NSDR.

Regardless of its name,

It is the practice of four things.

Stillness,

Listening,

Noticing,

And allowing.

You will be in Shavasana or simply laying on your back for the entire practice.

Use props to accomplish a supported and relaxed spine for your practice.

Ankles are about hip distance apart.

Arms out to your sides without any strain to your shoulders.

Palms up and open.

Use a folded blanket rather than a pillow to keep the alignment of your neck.

Many enjoy a rolled blanket or pillow underneath their knees.

Close your eyes and allow them to rest.

You just turned off one of your largest sensory inputs.

Fidget and glide around as much as you need to to allow your body to settle in and relax.

Even out your sides and do not begin to relax until your body feels ready to do so.

Become aware of your body lying here on the floor.

Feel the parts of your body that touch the ground.

With each exhale become more and more relaxed.

Allow the ground to hold your body for you.

Allow the ground to hold your body.

Start to imagine that you can feel every single cell inside of your body as if they were the stars in the universe.

Feel the warmth and vibration of each individual cell,

Your body's burning stars.

Starting from the tips of your toes,

Move up slowly to the crown of your head.

Give yourself the time to feel every single cell.

You are now aware of all of the cells inside of your whole body as it lies here on the floor,

Body asleep,

While you are awake and aware.

Let's begin with the awareness of our breath.

Pick a number between 22 and 57.

Count backwards with your breath like this.

36.

I am inhaling.

36.

I am exhaling.

35.

I am inhaling.

35.

I am exhaling.

And so on.

If you forget what number you are on,

That's okay.

There is no need to be perfect.

Just start over if you forget your place.

With each exhale,

Allow your body to relax even more.

It's also okay if you do not make it to zero.

What number you are on is not important.

What is important is that you are aware of your breath.

I will leave you for a minute as you pay attention to only your breath as you count backwards.

When I speak again,

Allow me to guide you even deeper into your Yoga Nidra practice where the mind becomes so still that your truth can be heard.

Your body is relaxed while your mind is awake and aware.

If you choose to do so,

Now is the time to bring forth your intention or sankalpa.

We will craft this statement in the language of the limbic brain by using the pronoun YOU.

The limbic brain is the part of you that does not believe in your mantras.

Maybe you choose an intention that sounds like you are open,

Or you are centered,

Or you are confident.

State your intention three times to yourself on your exhales.

As you do so,

Imagine that you are writing it out onto a flat,

Soft piece of clay.

When you have completed that,

Roll the piece of clay into a ball and place it into your pocket.

Let's begin our rotation of consciousness.

I will name a body part and as I do so,

Like you have already done before,

Sense that body part.

Feel its warmth,

Its existence and non-existence.

Feel any sensation that is appropriate for you.

It is okay if your attention drifts in and out.

There is nothing for you to do,

Only to be present,

To be still,

Listen,

Notice,

And allow.

Let's move our awareness to the backsides of our bodies,

Beginning with the soles of our feet.

Glide your attention to your right calf,

Left calf.

Feel both calves,

Long and loose.

Continue to move upwards and relax your right hamstring,

Left hamstring.

Sense both hamstrings.

Allow your right and left buttocks to hang low,

Away from the bones.

Feel both sides of your buttocks.

Release any tension in your right hip,

Left hip.

Feel both of your hips together.

Sense your pelvic floor.

Move slowly up the spine,

Beginning with your sacrum or tailbone.

Notice every cell,

Every star,

Every galaxy that resides inside of your spine.

Feel its energy living inside of you.

Feel the lift of your lower back,

The curve of your middle back,

The grounding of your upper back,

And the spaciousness in the curve of your neck.

Allow your shoulder blades to be heavy.

Glide your attention gracefully from your shoulders to your throat by following your collarbones inwards.

Notice that as you relax the muscles of your throat,

A soft light glows in your throat area.

It looks like you have cracked open a chest full of golden treasure.

This gorgeous light rises out of your chest and floats upwards to the crown of your head.

Then the light softly arches as if it was in charge of its own trajectory and lands at your third eye or the center of your eyebrows.

This light spreads across your forehead like a silky luminescent screen.

Welcome any colors or images that may arise for you.

Welcome the absence of colors or images.

Only watch.

Only observe.

Notice.

There is nothing for you to do.

Allow things to be as they are.

Feel your right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow.

The roundness of your right eye,

Left eye.

Travel down the bridge of your nose.

Feel your right nostril,

Left nostril,

Tip of your nose,

Upper lip,

Bottom lip,

Upper row of teeth,

Lower row of teeth,

The end of your tongue.

Follow your tongue to the base of your throat.

Sense your right ear,

Left ear,

Right inner ear,

Left inner ear.

Imagine that you can feel the vibration within the space between your ears.

The space between your ears.

Feel the warmth and vibration of your whole body.

All of the cells and stars of your whole body.

With your body asleep and your mind awake,

Notice the scenery shift from its current softness to appear on a body of water.

Imagine that you are walking slowly,

Steadily,

Out to the end of this wooden dock.

It takes you a couple of deep breaths to get to the end of the dock,

Where the water is the deepest.

Notice your breath as you walk to the end of this dock.

When you reach the end of the dock,

A boat or ship appears.

Do not judge what shows up for you.

Only observe.

Allow yourself to feel whatever arises.

Notice and allow.

You decide that it is safe and that you step onto this vessel.

This vessel that appeared before you at the end of this dock.

This vessel is quiet and seems to be unmoving.

There are no navigational systems.

No on switch.

No way to direct,

Start,

Or sail this vessel.

You look around curious and observe what's around you.

Instinctually,

You close your eyes and take three deep,

Intentional breaths.

At the end of your third breath,

You feel the vessel begin to move.

You find that navigating this vessel becomes quite easy and smooth.

And with a bit of imagination,

You steer this vessel up into the sky,

And you soar amongst the planets and stars,

And even the galaxies.

You are astounded by the colors and patterns the planets make from above.

You lack the words to describe them because you have not had this experience before.

Beautiful bursts of color in the background of complete absence of color.

Both are present.

Both play into the drama created on our planets.

Both have purpose.

Both are a part of this canvas.

You feel into the sensation of what it feels like to steer this vessel with your own heart.

To realize how easy it can be to glide towards what is calling you.

How something as simple as three deep breaths can guide you towards your true light.

The concept of time as you knew it before has been altered.

The experience is unending and yet never the same.

Each time that you come back into this space,

You see,

Feel,

And experience something new.

May love and kindness overflow through all of us.

Through every single cell of our individual bodies.

While you observe pure darkness and light,

You decide that this is the moment that you will reach into your pocket and pull out the lump of clay that contains your sankalpa or intention.

You glance down and can feel the coolness of the clay as it rests in the palm of your hand.

You grip the ball of clay as you throw it out into the ether.

You watch your sankalpa soar and then explode and disperse like pillowy,

Colorful fireworks.

Your intention or sankalpa has now become a part of the universe.

And you got to witness it.

The beauty is astonishing.

It's as if a show has been put on solely for you.

And you feel whole in your body.

You are whole.

You begin to steer your vessel back towards the dock where you started,

Knowing that at any time you need to access this vessel to bring you to the stars,

You only need to start with three deep breaths.

The vessel is back to the dock and you slowly exit.

You look at your vessel once more and touch it with the palm of your hand like you would to the side of a horse.

You are grateful for what this vessel has shown you and you feel a connection to it.

The vessel disappears as you slowly walk back to the shoreline from the end of the dock.

You can still feel it now.

The vessel.

Alive and inside of your body.

Ever present.

All you need to do to access it is to take three deep breaths.

Have an awareness and a curiosity to notice the language of you where you are the captain.

Slowly begin to bring your awareness back to your whole body.

Begin with subtle movements like wiggling your fingers and toes.

And when it feels right for you,

Begin to make these movements bigger and bigger.

Turning to one side and pausing there for a moment.

Only moving when the body feels ready.

Only pushing yourself to make a movement larger when the body feels called to do so.

Your practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.