Basic script- Sheena Mason

The practice of Yoga Nidra now begins.

Take these first moments to arrive in your skin. Be open to welcoming yourself exactly as you are. Know that you are safe. What you feel is safe and allowed.  The little markings of the day are allowed. Give yourself permission to make any adjustments to your props, blankets or clothing so that all of you is fully supported. Let the outer body adjust mindfully, moving to find symmetry in the right and left sides of the body. Allow the front body that represents your personality, your interactions with the outer world and the many faces and reflections you play to sink deeply into your back body. Sink deeply into your spine and shoulder blades and pelvis and heels. The back body represents where we’ve been and is the embodied storehouse for your memories and imprints, beliefs and conditions. The more you relax the more the archives of the past stored in the subconscious will open, creating a fertile environment for anchoring change, healing and letting go.  Muscles are so relaxed and you can even feel the weight of your internal organs drawing down, and the connective tissues softening. Information stored in the lungs, kidneys, liver, bladder and stomach is unlocked every time you relax and maintain a continuous expression of allowance.

Go to the place in your body you are most familiar with. Your inner temple. That inner space you connect with or that is the strongest right now. Your third eye, Heart, belly or hands. And bring yourself to kneel before your inner temple. Then call in support or assistance for your work today. From ancestors, loved ones, lineages, Angels, Divine Feminine, Divine Masculine, Shiva, Shakti or whomever you relate to. Call them in to support you and guide you and attune yourself to being supported being seen and guided.

Imagine a light switch in your mind that controls the flow of the analytical thinker. The mind that helps you remember how to get to work and compares information and data. Ask your guidance to assist you in switching “OFF’’ of the logical analytical mind so that you can tap into deeper states of consciousness . The assessing mind is now allowed to take rest and recover it’s sharp differentiating abilities so that it can function at an even higher level. Thank this part of you then envision turning the light switch to ‘OFF’ letting the assessing mind rest. Your guidance will remain with you for the entire practice and will assist you in doing the work that is appropriate for you at this time.

Now awakens the mind that is creative, flowing and sensory. It exists quietly in the present moment and is deeply interested in the intricacies of what is happening right now. Stabilize your attention onto the passing breath to remember the rhythmic quality of the creative mind. So present. One breath and then the next. Notice the feeling and temperature of the air on your nostrils as you breath in naturally and effortlessly. The hair inside your nostrils moving and the sweep of breath filling into the sponge like tissue of your lungs. As you breath out, notice the sense of grounding, the ability to rest in the back body that occurs.  Hold your attention like a magnifying glass, gently, to the breath. Watch every single millimetre of movement, every rib, every muscle, every pore respond to the breath. Watch with adoration and curiosity. New at every beginning and gone so fast. It is not the number of breaths you watch but the quality at which you watch from that allows time to slow and warp. It is the quality of watching that you have access to that opens the present moment up. Notice time. Try to slow the moment by the way you watch your breath.

Sankalpa ~ In this quality of moment, your deepest longings take root throughout time and space. What you seek so deeply is also seeking you.  

Call forth your Sankalpa. Envision the words emerging in your mind. In a moment you will repeat your Sankalpa in your mind as you simultaneously create the feeling of it in your body. The quality of your focus, the vibration of the feeling is what powerfully fills the entire moment.

Repeat your Sankalpa 3 times now.

Anamaya Kosha:  We will now move through the physical layer. Practicing quality of focus on a single body part that I mention only this time you will move your awareness at the same pace as my voice. Bringing sensation, visualization to the body part I name without getting attached to it. Staying in the flow of the rhythm of my voice.

Beginning on the right side of the body. Right hand thumb. Pointer finger. Middle finger. Ring finger. Small finger. All five fingers and palm of the hand. Back of the hand. Wrist. Forearm. Elbow. Upper arm. Shoulder. Side ribs. Side waist. Right hip. Thigh. Knee. Shin. Ankle. Heel. Top of the foot. Big toe. Second toe. Third toe. Fourth toe. Fifth toe. All 5 toes and sole together. The whole right side of the body. The right side. The right side.  The whole right side

Repeat left side.

We will now move up the back channel of the body. Right and left sides simultaneously.

Soles of the feet. Back of the calves. Knees. Back of both thighs. Buttocks. Lower back. Mid back. Shoulders. Back of the neck. Top of the head. Forehead. Both eyebrows. The right eyeball alone. The left eyeball alone. Right nostril Left nostril. Right ear. Left ear. Upper lip. Lower lip. Jaw. Chest. Centre of the chest.

Now move into the root system of the back body connecting with the skeletal system. Connecting with the bones. They are your structure and foundation. Become sensitive to bone mass now. Let the creative mind soften and surrender the bones. Then move awareness to the marrow inside of the bones to the soft marrow in the centres. Let the inners bodies tissues still, allowing the deepest imprints of your ancestry to surface.

Move awareness from the bones now outward. Filling into your physical shape. Through the intricate mappins of the nervous system, the fibers of new and old muscles. Fat. Skin. Fingers nails.

Feel the whole body at once. The whole body. The whole body. The whole body.

Pranamaya Kosha

Return to a fascination with the breath. The layer of breath brings forth your opportunity to explore the bridge between the physical and energetic realms.

Imagine that your body is the shape of a balloon. When you breath in naturally you fill the balloon up. It is not the depth of your breath that fills the balloon. IT is your intimacy and focus on the breath that fills the balloon. Filling into the whole form. Life giving breath. Complete whole breath.

Now the shape of the balloon grows larger. Taking its shape away from your skin . As you breath sense the new shape filling. Yourself expanding. Growing lager and beyond. There is plenty of space. Unlimited space. Let yourself grow as big as you can. Releasing dense form and moving into the ethers.

Just follow the breath.

Opposites:

Now comes the practice of opposites. Stay relaxed and call forth the feeling sensation or state that I mention, letting whatever comes up to arise.

Evoke a feeling of sadness. Use a moment in your past experience when you felt sad to allow sadness to surface. This is your opportunity to explore sadness. Let it rise up in its fullest form. Welcoming the vibration of sadness to explore, to know it more deeply. Notice the sensations that are present inside your body as you feel and open to sadness. Maybe the energy of sadness moves to a specific body part or stays in one place. Follow it sweetly. Notice it.

Release sadness. Call forth the feeling of happiness. Recall a time or moment when you felt elated, joyful and happy. What does happy feel like for you? What does laughter feel like as sensations awakened in your body? Your whole being allowed to move into a space of deep happiness. Get closer and closer to it. Does happiness show up more strongly in a certain part of your body? Get to know the sensations of happiness.

Now bring your awareness to a time when you felt very unsafe. Afraid and anxious. When you felt and thought that you were unsafe. Let the image dissipate but hold onto the feeling of being unsafe. What does unsafe feel like inside you? What sensations are present as you experience the feeling of being unsafe? Sink into it. Be with it. Hold it.

Remember your breath now as you return to neutral ground for a few cycles. Ease of breath.

Sit in a moment where you felt so, so safe. Completely supported and at ease within yourself and your surroundings. Safety, support, ease. Welcome it all in and see the moment taking shape. Open to what safety actually feels like in your body. Sit in the experience of deep safety. Know what safety feels like inside of you.

Let go of safety and return to this moment.

We will now move through a short succession of images. Visualize the image in your mind and stick with the first image that arises. Let the image change with the speed of my voice.

A red station wagon

Broken glass

Green apple X3

A pack of wild Wolves

The eye of Horus

Rose petals

Birch trees in the sunlight

And old cottage by the lake X3

The face of your best friend

The northern lights

A Tea shop

Burnt forest

Medicine

And open field X3

Stay connected to the open field. Imagine the sun is out and warm. You aren’t wearing any shoes and you’re standing on a soft dirt trail. Feel the sunbeams on your shoulders. Smell the cows and the sweet grass that fill the air.

In the distance you notice a gate that leads to a wild forest. Walk to the gate, footsteps on earth. As you approach you are allowed to shed a layer of your humanness. A layer of yourself in order to be in more ease on the other side. Watch this layer leave you like removing a coat and walk through the gate. You see dense, humid forest, ripe leaves, moss and animals. See what animals come forth and let them walk with you. These are the animals of spirit here to be your companion.

You move through the forest down a narrow path and find a small stream running over ancient smoothed rocks. The water is crystal clear and the animals begin to drink. You bring yourself to sit in the warm water, in a proud seat. The water flows first around you but the more you relax the more capable you are to change and shift. The water begins to move through you effortlessly. It transforms the cells of your being to an even higher state of total acceptance. You are fluid, transformational and you have access to endless locations and possibilities. Water can move mountains and still the bottom of the sea.

Call forth the remembrance of your Sankalpa. As you are one with Mother water, your knowing of your Sankalpa will flush healing throughout the waters of the planet. Into every plant animal and human. You are fluid, as you do, so does she.

Repeat your Sankalpa 3 times with deep faith and conviction. Let the feeling of it move in and through you.

It is done and known.

As you move away from the river and night falls. The air is crisp and cool. You approach the gate and release and thank your animal guides, you thank your ancestor spirit guides, and divine beings of light for watching over you. You can choose to pick up the layer shed at the gate or remain as you are. And you cross not back into the pasture but into this present moment once again. Where the breath maestros the moment. Feel into your body. Awaken to the sounds, the temperature of this space, the firmness of the ground.

The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

Hari Om Tat Sat X3