Introduction (00:00.00)
You are listening to From Pain To Possibility with Susi Hately. You’ll hear Susi’s best ideas on how to reduce or even eradicate your pain, and learn how to listen to your body when it whispers so you don’t have to hear it scream. And now here’s your host, Susi Hately.
Susi (00:23.88)
Welcome and welcome back. I’m so glad that you’re here for this yoga nidra practice focused on your body scan and breath. So get yourself comfy. Lay on your back. Be seated. Just be sure that you can be supported well enough that you can completely and totally let go and relax, maybe adjusting your head or your neck, shoulders, your hips.
What might you do to get just a little more comfortable? One of the great things about yoga nidra is bringing in an intention. Is there an intention you would like for this practice? Something magical can happen as our bodies come into a connected, more aligned space and state, and we connect that with an intention for how we want to be in our lives.
So consider something you might want or be or have and say it to yourself as if it’s already happened, and notice how it resonates in your body. And we’ll come back to this at the end of the practice, but for now, just say it to yourself three times.
Invite your attention now to scan gently through your body following the guidance of my voice. Imagine your attention is flowing like water in a little stream from one point to the next, creating a cascade of relaxation through your whole body.
The body remains in stillness, quiet, and watching.
So begin now by relaxing the inner corners of your eyes, your eyelids, and outer corners of your eyes. Your mouth and jaw. Tongue. The tip of your nose. Inside your right nostril. Inside your left nostril. The flow of air inside your nose. The space between your eyebrows. Ears listening. Your breastbone.
Your right shoulder. Elbow. Wrist. Palm. Thumb. Second finger. Third, fourth. Fifth. Right waist. Right hip. Right knee, ankle. Feel your right foot, your right big toe. Second toe. Third toe. Fourth toe. Fifth toe.
The center of your heart. Your left shoulder. Left elbow. Wrist. Palm. Left thumb. Second finger, third. Fourth, fifth. Hip. Left knee, ankle. Feel your left foot, your left big toe. Second toe. Third. Fourth. Fifth. The whole of your body.
The whole of your body, front and back, right and left. Surface and deep inside.
Sensing your breath now deep inside your body. Feel your natural breath coming in and out without forcing, without controlling, just sensing, feeling unforced, easy breath. Sensing the ebb and the flow, the rise and the fall. Sense the subtle pause at the top of the inhale and the bottom of the exhale.
As you welcome your breath, welcome the mantra so hum, which translates roughly into I am. Mentally whispering so, or I, on the inhale and hum, or am, on the exhale. So hum. I am.
Gentle awareness of the breath, feeling the in breath, feeling the outbreath. Natural breath in and out, without forcing, without controlling, just sensing, feeling, inhaling so, or I, exhaling hum, or am. So hum. I am.
Easy breath. Witnessing. Inhale and exhale. Ebb and flow.
You can let go of the so hum or I am mantra and just allow for that breath to move easily through your body.
Now come back to the intention you set at the beginning of the practice and notice as you say it to yourself three times how it resonates in your body now. Imagine your life with this intention present now. What’s new or different, and how does that resonate in your body and your being? How might you take that into the rest of your day?
In a moment, my voice will trail off and you can be here for as long as you would like. When you are ready to move, take another five breaths to transition yourself from this practice and into the rest of your day.
Have a great rest of your day. Thank you for joining me in this practice, and we’ll see you next week.
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Hey, if you’re loving this practice and you wanna become a really skilled professional at being able to help others reduce and eliminate physical pain, our entry for the Therapeutic Yoga Intensive is now open for registration, and you can learn more over at functionalsynergy.com/intensive.
