Yoga nidra: Kidney and bladder meridian

Session text to read

Close your eyes gently.

Allow your body to settle. Feel the weight of yourself against the floor beneath you. You are held. You are supported. There is nothing you need to do right now.

Adjust your position if you need to. Let your legs fall open naturally. Rest your arms a little away from your body, palms facing upward. Take one slow breath in through the nose.

And let it go.

Now, bring your awareness inward and allow a quiet intention to form. Let it arise simply, without effort. Your sankalpa for this practice is: *I trust the stillness within me.

Feel those words settle into you like a stone sinking slowly to the bottom of a deep, still lake.

Now we begin to move awareness through the body. Simply notice each place as it is named. There is no need to change anything.

Right thumb. Index finger. Middle finger. Ring finger. Little finger. The palm of the right hand. The back of the hand. The wrist. The forearm. The elbow. The upper arm. The right shoulder. The right side of the chest. The right side of the waist. The right hip.

The sole of the right foot. The heel. The back of the ankle. The calf. The back of the knee. The back of the thigh. The right buttock.

The left thumb. Index finger. Middle finger. Ring finger. Little finger. The palm of the left hand. The back of the hand. The wrist. The forearm. The elbow. The upper arm. The left shoulder. The left side of the chest. The left side of the waist. The left hip.

The sole of the left foot. The heel. The back of the ankle. The calf. The back of the knee. The back of the thigh. The left buttock.

Now bring awareness to the lower back. The area of the kidneys, deep within the body, just below the last ribs. The bladder, low in the pelvis. The long pathways that run from the soles of the feet, up the inner legs, through the abdomen, up the spine, across the shoulders, down the back of the legs, and out through the little toe. This is the water within you. Ancient. Quiet. Holding everything.

Allow your breath now to become a gentle tide. Breathe in slowly and feel something fill. Breathe out and feel something release. In. And out. Like water moving in winter.

In winter, water goes deep. Ice forms on the surface, but beneath it, in the dark and in the cold, life is gathering its strength. There is nothing wrong with the darkness. The darkness is where roots grow.

Imagine yourself standing at the edge of a frozen lake. The air is still. The sky is the pale grey of early morning, just before the light returns. Everything is quiet. The ice holds the shape of the water perfectly. Nothing is rushing anywhere.

You step onto the ice and feel how solid the ground beneath you is. How trustworthy. You look down through the ice and see dark water below, calm and deep. And you notice that you are not afraid. You are simply here. Held between the cold air above and the deep water below. Held between stillness and life.

From somewhere beneath the ice, a faint blue light begins to move. It rises slowly. It is unhurried. It does not need to explain itself. It simply moves toward the surface, and as it reaches you, you feel it enter through the soles of your feet.

It travels slowly upward through your legs. Through your pelvis. It warms the kidneys with a deep, quiet heat. It continues up the spine. Across the back of the skull. It settles there, like the last blue light of dusk settling over snow.

Fear begins to soften now. Not because it is told to. But because beneath the fear, you find something older. Something that has always known how to endure winter. How to wait. How to trust that what is needed will come.

You are made of water. You have always known how to move through darkness and return.

Gently now, bring your sankalpa back. Feel the words as if for the first time: *I trust the stillness within me.

Let them rest there.

Begin to feel the weight of your body again. The floor beneath you. The gentle rise and fall of your breath. Begin to deepen the breath slowly. Let your fingers move. Your toes. Turn your head softly from side to side.

When you are ready, draw your knees toward your chest. Roll gently to one side. Rest there for a moment before you find your way back to sitting.

Take your time. The stillness you have touched does not leave when you open your eyes. It comes with you.