Yoga Nidra: An Encounter With Your Kindred Animal

Begin the practice of yoga nidra by making yourself as comfortable as possible lying on your back.

The traditional posture is shavasana,

So lying flat on your back with your legs long on the ground in front of you,

A little bit apart,

Your arms on the ground either side of you with the palms up.

But if that's not a comfortable posture for you,

It's totally fine just to lie on your back,

Perhaps with your feet on the floor and your knees bent pointing up towards the ceiling.

So start by making yourself as comfortable as you can lying on your back.

Close your eyes if you're happy to do that,

But if you'd prefer not it's fine to take a soft downward gaze.

Make any small adjustments you need to make now,

Any little wriggles that you want to get out,

Small movements.

Is there anything you can do just to make yourself a tiny bit more comfortable?

Take a few big slow breaths now,

So really fill up on the inhale but without straining,

And let the exhale be as long as you can make it.

And just take two or three big breaths like that,

Fill up and empty out,

But empty out as slow as you can.

And as you're exhaling,

See if you can release a little bit of tension each time you breathe out.

And you've taken a few of those,

Just return to relaxed natural breathing now.

Bring your attention to the darkness in front of your closed eyes now,

And notice that even with your eyes closed you are looking at something.

So notice what you see in the darkness in front of your closed eyes,

Might be faint flickerings or movements,

Patterns,

Whatever you see,

Just look for a moment or two.

Move your awareness now to your nostrils,

See if you can perhaps feel the air entering and leaving the nostrils as you breathe.

And just notice if you can smell anything,

Just activating the sense of smell.

Can you smell anything in your environment?

Bring your awareness now to your mouth,

Notice your tongue,

Notice the sensations inside your mouth,

And see if you can taste anything.

Notice if there's any taste present in your mouth.

Letting your awareness move now to your ears,

Can you hear anything?

Listen to sounds now,

Whatever you can hear,

Near or far.

Coming now to the sensation of touch on the skin.

So perhaps being aware of the sensations associated with your clothing touching your skin,

The parts of your body that aren't covered,

Maybe the touch of the air on any exposed parts of your skin.

Now bringing your awareness to the back of your body lying on the ground and noticing the points of contact between your body and the ground.

So feeling where the head meets the ground beneath you,

The upper back,

The rest of your back,

Your arms,

Back of your pelvis,

Your legs,

Your feet.

Just noticing and feeling the points of contact between your body and the ground beneath you.

Having a general overall sense of the contact between the back of your body and the ground.

Just inquire for a moment or two,

Can you define the precise point at which your body ends and the ground begins,

Or at which the ground ends and your body begins?

Is it possible to feel a precise point there?

Bring your awareness to your breath now,

Simply noticing the inhales and the exhales as they come and go.

No need to change your breath or do anything special with the breathing,

Just let it be natural.

At this point in the practice,

If you'd like to,

You can set a sankalpa or a resolve.

This is a short,

Simple statement of your deepest heartfelt desire for personal growth and development.

Examples might include,

I live with kindness,

I trust my instincts,

I face my challenges calmly.

But it's important that you use your own sankalpa,

Allow it to come from deep within yourself.

It's a short,

Simple statement made in the present tense,

Repeated three times internally to yourself with feeling.

So take a few moments now to see if anything comes up.

And if so,

Repeat your resolve to yourself three times.

If nothing comes up,

It's not a problem.

Just relax with openness in your heart.

For the next stage of the practice,

We'll be moving awareness through the whole body.

So we'll be taking a tour of the whole body.

I'll be naming various parts of the body.

And all you need to do is follow my voice and allow your awareness to move from one part to the next.

If it helps you to repeat the part quietly to yourself,

Do that.

But you don't have to.

It's simply a case of allowing your awareness to move freely from one part to the next.

You notice what you feel there.

You might relax a little,

But you don't have to do anything other than simply let your awareness move freely.

So sort of by bringing your attention to the back of your neck,

Moving to the back of your head,

The crown of your head,

The forehead,

The right temple on the side,

The left temple on the side,

Space between your eyebrows,

The right eyebrow,

The left eyebrow,

The right eyelid,

The left eyelid,

The right eye,

The left eye,

The bridge of the nose,

The tip of the nose,

The right nostril,

The left nostril,

The right cheek,

The left cheek,

The right ear,

The space inside the right ear,

The left ear,

The inside of the left ear,

Right lower jaw,

Left lower jaw,

The chin,

Bottom lip,

Top lip,

Top row of teeth,

Bottom row of teeth,

The roof of the mouth,

The floor of the mouth,

The tongue,

Front of the throat,

Right side of the neck,

Left side of the neck.

Bring your awareness now to the right collarbone,

Right shoulder,

Right armpit,

Right upper arm,

Right elbow,

Right forearm,

Right wrist,

Palm of the right hand,

The back of the right hand,

Thumb,

Forefinger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger.

Moving back up the right arm,

Bring your awareness to all of the fingers and the thumb of the right hand,

The very tips of all of the fingers and the thumb of the right hand,

The palm,

The back of the hand,

The wrist,

The forearm,

The elbow,

The upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Right collarbone.

Moving across to the left collarbone,

Left shoulder,

The left armpit,

Left upper arm,

Left elbow,

Left forearm,

Left wrist,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Thumb,

Forefinger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger.

Moving back up the left arm now,

Starting with all of the fingers and the thumb of the left hand,

Bring your awareness to the very tips of all of the fingers and the thumb of the left hand,

The palm,

The back of the hand,

The wrist,

The forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Left collarbone.

Bring your awareness now to the right thigh,

Front of the thigh,

Back of the thigh,

Both sides of the thigh,

The right knee,

Back of the knee,

Calf,

Shin,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Coming across to the left thigh,

Front of the thigh,

Back of the thigh,

Both sides of the thigh,

Left knee,

Back of the knee,

Calf,

Shin,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole,

Top of the foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

We'll move back up the legs now,

Alternating from one side to the other.

So bring your awareness now to all the toes of the right foot,

All the toes of the left foot,

The top of the right foot,

The top of the left foot,

Sole of the right foot,

Sole of the left foot,

Right heel,

Left heel,

Right ankle,

Left ankle,

Right lower leg,

Left lower leg,

Right knee,

Left knee,

Right thigh,

Left thigh.

Moving awareness to the back of the pelvis,

The lower back,

The middle back,

The upper back,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

The spine running down the back from the bottom of the skull to the top of the pelvis.

Right side of the back,

Left side of the back.

Bringing awareness over to the front of the body now.

So the right side of the chest,

The left side of the chest,

The breastbone,

The sternum in the middle,

Right side of the front rib cage,

Left side of the rib cage,

The abdomen between the bottom of the rib cage and the belly button,

The abdomen between the belly button and the bottom of the pelvis.

Be aware of the whole right arm,

Whole left arm,

Both arms together,

The whole right leg,

The whole left leg,

Both legs together,

The head,

Back of the body,

Front of the body,

The whole body together.

Be aware of the whole body.

Moving awareness now to the breath.

Spend a short time following each inhale and each exhale with full awareness.

You can do this by counting down from 27,

Like in 27,

Out 27,

In 26,

Out 26.

Just like that.

So counting the breath down from 27,

Noticing each inhale and each exhale.

Don't worry if you lose your count,

You simply return to 27 and go again.

Covering each inhale and each exhale with complete awareness.

Allow the counting of the breath to fall away now and just let your breath breathe itself naturally.

We'll explore some opposites now,

Some pairs of opposites,

Using the imagination and direct felt sensation.

So start off by noting the fact that there's a front to your body,

Be aware of the whole front of your body.

Just notice the front of your body,

Awareness of the whole front of the body.

Be aware of the back of your body.

Notice the whole back of your body.

Awareness of the back of the body.

Now be aware of the two concepts at the same time.

Be aware of the front of your body and the back of the body at the same time.

Front of body and back of body,

Be aware of them at the same time.

Be aware of the outside of your body now.

Know that you have an outside to your body,

Be aware of it.

Experience the outside of your body.

Inside of the body now,

Be aware of the inside of your body.

Be aware of the inside of your body as best you can.

Be aware of the two things together,

The inside and the outside of the body.

Be aware of inside and outside of body together.

Now using the imagination,

See if you can conjure up a sense of the whole body being extremely hard.

Imagine your body as extremely hard like rock.

You don't need to turn any muscles on,

Just imagine your body hard.

Now see if you can conjure up a feeling of soft.

Can you feel the whole body as soft?

Use your imagination to make the whole body as soft as you can.

Soft as cotton wool.

Now imagine the body as hard and soft at the same time.

Hard and soft at the same time.

Now imagine the body as huge,

As huge as you can.

Imagine your body as massive.

Using your imagination,

Imagine your body extremely large.

Now small,

Imagine your body as really,

Really tiny.

Smallest you can imagine your body,

Imagine it.

Imagine your body as huge and small at the same time.

Now imagine your body as heavy.

Very,

Very,

Very heavy body.

Can you conjure up a feeling of heaviness in the body using the imagination?

Feel your body really heavy.

Now light,

Imagine your body as very light.

The lightest you can imagine your body.

So light you can just float off.

Imagine the body as really light.

Now imagine the body as light and heavy at the same time.

Allow awareness of your body to fall into the background now and bring your attention to the darkness in front of your closed eyes.

So gaze into the darkness in front of your closed eyes.

The yogis call this Chittakasha.

It means mind space or mind sky.

So as you gaze into this darkness in front of your closed eyes,

It's like looking into a night sky or indeed into space.

Take a few moments just to softly gaze into this mind space.

See if you're able to get a sense of its wide open nature.

Can you see any barriers on the sides of mind space?

Is there a top?

Is there a bottom or a front or a back?

Can you perceive any end points in the mind space?

That darkness in front of your closed eyes,

Can you see anything that's an end point?

Gaze softly into this mind space for a little while.

Now see if you can see yourself sitting in meditation in a clearing in a beautiful forest.

Bring it to mind however you can,

Whether it's seeing a clear image in your mind's eye or bringing the feeling of it to your mind in whatever way works for you.

See yourself sitting in meditation in a clearing in a beautiful forest.

As you sit there,

You're filled with a deep sense of calm.

The forest around you seems to glow,

Its green hues shimmering like jewels as sunlight pours down and through the leaves.

The leaves whisper peacefully in a light breeze.

The whole place pulses with the vitality of life.

You stand up and look around the clearing and into the woods,

Smiling.

You begin walking and find yourself on a path which you feel instinctively you're meant to be on.

Your feet move quietly through the leaves on the forest floor as the path winds through the trees.

Now you hear something ahead of you on the path.

The sound of movement that you know deep down you must follow,

And you do.

You keep walking,

Following gentle footsteps ahead of you.

And after a short time,

You see the path leads into another clearing in the forest.

You arrive in this clearing.

It's much bigger than the one before.

You arrive in this clearing.

It's much bigger than the one you started in.

It's a peaceful,

Natural garden,

An open area of soft green grass scattered with wildflowers of all colours.

There's a small river on the other side of the clearing.

You see sunlight sparking off its surface,

And you hear the sound of its waters washing over rocks.

You stand and look around,

Smiling,

Calm,

At peace.

And in the middle of the clearing you see an animal.

You simply know that this is your kindred animal,

And the fact that you're here with it fills you with joy.

Spend some time now seeing what your kindred animal is.

Feel the comfort of its presence.

Maybe ask your kindred animal if it's brought you here for a reason,

To show you something,

Or offer you some guidance.

Simply listen and see if you can feel its silent answer,

Deep inside,

Resonating with your own inner wisdom.

After a time,

Your kindred animal takes one more look at you,

Then turns,

Crosses the little river,

And vanishes into the forest.

You stand for a short while,

Enjoying the afterglow of the encounter.

Bring your awareness back to your kindred animal.

Enjoying the afterglow of the encounter.

Bring your awareness back to Chittikasha now,

The darkness in front of your closed eyes.

Once more noticing its wide-open nature.

If you made a sankalpa,

A resolve,

Earlier in the practice,

Now is the time to repeat it to yourself three times.

If you slowly start drawing to the end of this yoga nidra practice,

Bring your awareness back to your breath.

Just noticing the breath moving in the body.

Allow your awareness to open out wider and listen to sound,

Whatever you can hear.

Just let your awareness move from one sound to another,

As it will.

Bring some movement back into your body.

You might want to make small movements,

Wriggling your fingers and toes.

You might want a bigger stretch,

But allow your body to move however it feels like moving right now.

Gently opening your eyes now,

Letting the light back in.

Lie there for a few more moments,

Coming back to full conscious awareness.

Just making sure you're fully awake as you prepare to move on.

When you're ready,

Sit up in as relaxed a way as you can.

Pause for a few more breaths.

And whenever you feel ready,

Get up in a relaxed way and move on,

Doing whatever you do next.

Perhaps with a deep sense of inner calm.

Take care and thanks for practicing with me.