Yoga Nidra - A Reset For A Time Of Busyness Or Stress

A slow Yoga Nidra practice in your favourite safe place to rest and reset in a moment of over busyness or stress. Gift yourself 30 minutes, let your body rest and invite the mind to calm and return to the rest of your day refreshed and calm.

Transcript

A simple yoga nidra practice,

Really good for a pause,

Maybe during the day when you're in a moment of stress or overwhelm.

So take a few minutes,

Actually intentionally find your cozy spot,

For you that might be kicking off your shoes,

Putting your feet up,

Not crossing your legs or arms,

Letting yourself sink comfortably into the chair or whatever is supporting you.

Or maybe you're in bed,

Waking up or getting ready for sleep.

So then inviting you to also get cozy in your bed,

But seeing if you might get cozy in this mindfulness way of being comfortable,

But signaling to the body,

To the brain,

Ah yeah,

For this practice I want to fall awake,

I want to be cozy and alert.

So exploring with that,

Whatever that is for you right now,

Or pressing the pause button,

You're noticing what's here.

We're having a pause to connect mind,

Body and spirit.

So as you settle now,

Letting your breathing create for you a relaxing experience,

Or seeing if you might slowly breathe all the way in and all the way out.

Now if breathing is difficult for you,

Makes you self-conscious or is not a way for you to relax,

I want you to ignore this guidance and you focus instead on the sensations of your body in contact with whatever is supporting it.

So you choosing your freedom,

But for the guidance I'd say tuning into the breath and intentionally slowing down the breath.

Each time you breathe out now,

Begin releasing any tightness or tension that might be here.

The tightness might be,

You know,

Some form of physical tension in the body,

Maybe some mental activity or some emotional distress.

So noticing tightness and tension and then gently with each exhale,

Just releasing,

Letting go even a little,

Letting it all clear away each time you exhale,

Like clouds disappearing.

So breathing in nice and long and slow and on each exhale,

Releasing even a little tension or tightness.

And practicing this now,

Just according to your own rhythm,

Breathing in nice and long and slow and on the out-breath,

Releasing,

Letting go even a little.

Mind gets busy,

Thoughts or emotions interrupt,

Absolutely no problem,

No mistake,

Nothing has gone wrong,

Noticing what is here and then coming back,

Breathing in nice and long and slow and on each out-breath,

Releasing,

Letting go even a little,

Inviting a pause and a rest.

Now take your attention to your feet as best you can,

Bringing all of your awareness just to the feet.

Take a nice big breath in,

Feel the feet softening and relaxing on each out-breath.

Slowly and easily,

Breathing in long and slow and deep and on each out-breath,

Softening,

Relaxing the feet.

And now coming to the legs,

Noticing legs and the next time you breathe in,

Let your awareness fill your legs and when slowly breathing out,

Allow the calves,

The knees,

The thighs to continue releasing and relaxing,

Letting go more and more each time you breathe out.

Breathing in nice and long and slow and on the out-breath,

Inviting the legs,

The calves,

The knees and the thighs to continue relaxing,

Releasing and letting go.

Wrapping your awareness now around your hips,

Best you can,

Bringing your whole awareness just to this part of the body,

The hips.

Breathing in nice and long and slow and on the out-breath,

Feeling the hips soften,

Sinking,

Settling down slowly and easily.

Breathing in nice and long and slow and on the out-breath,

Letting the hips soften,

Sink and settle down slowly and easily.

Float your attention now all the way around to your back,

Noticing back.

Breathing in nice and long and slow and this time on the out-breath,

Feel the tension in the back dissolve,

Let go even a little.

Breathing in nice and long and slow and on the out-breath,

Feeling the tension and tightness in the back dissolve,

Let go even a little.

Breathing back,

Surround your shoulders now with your awareness,

Like a comforting cloak around the shoulders.

Breathing in nice and long and slow and on the out-breath,

Feeling the shoulders softening,

Not seeing any tightness or soreness or holding,

Letting go even a little.

For these next few breaths now,

Soothing your shoulders with your slow and easy breathing.

Breathing in,

Ease and space into the shoulders and on the out-breath,

Softening,

Releasing,

Letting go even a little.

Noticing shoulders.

Let this relaxed feeling now begin to flow down around your shoulders,

Soothing your arms and your hands with peace and quiet,

Letting the hands be open and soft.

Notice the mouth.

Breathe in and unclench the teeth,

Let the lips be slightly apart,

Let the jaw soften,

The tongue relax.

As you continue breathing gently and softly,

Let the nose and the cheeks smooth out,

Inviting the eyes to soften and the forehead to relax.

Imagine letting your pores open up and breathe,

Feeling the whole body through the skin,

Pores opening up and breathing to release and relax.

As you relax,

Letting the body soften and settle into the support that is here,

Deeper and deeper.

The peacefulness now reminds you of a quiet,

Personal sanctuary,

A place where you naturally relax and let go.

An extremely comfortable place and a safe place.

Where you easily feel surrounded by exactly what you need.

Your special place might be a beach or a forest,

Your own back garden,

A bench in a local park,

Your comfy chair or favourite place in your home.

So just allowing your favourite place to emerge.

See it.

Use all of your senses to settle in to your favourite place.

The sights,

The sounds,

The smell,

The sensations on your foot.

Ah,

Resting easily,

Without effort,

In your favourite safe place.

Soaking it all in.

Feeling the nourishment and the support as you are naturally able to relax into yourself,

Just being you.

The person you were meant to be.

Feeling safe here to really be yourself and fully capable of finding answers to your questions.

So resting here,

Settling into being yourself in your own safe favourite place.

And noticing what is here for you,

Just right now.

No efforting,

Striving,

Trying to get anywhere in particular.

Quite the opposite.

Resting,

Enjoying the feeling of being in your own space.

In your special place.

And being naturally nourished.

What is here for you,

Right now,

In your special favourite place.

When you are ready,

Gently allowing your attention to come back now to the breath.

Simply noticing the breath that is here.

Maybe tuning in again to the rhythm of the breath coming in.

And the breath going out.

Feeling your own energy improving with each breath.

Feeling wholesome and real.

And at home in yourself.

Connecting with breath.

And then noticing the body again.

Perhaps noticing the body in contact with support of chair or floor or bed.

Noticing air in circulation around the body.

Sensations of air.

And then when you are ready,

Beginning to stretch your body.

Nice and slowly.

Maybe beginning with just wriggling fingers or toes.

Or some gentle movement or stretching to a particular part of the body.

The neck or the shoulders.

Nice,

Slow,

Gentle movement.

And then,

When you are ready,

Lifting the gaze or opening the eyes.

Reviews

A sweet short practice. Perfect for a late afternoon pick me up

Dee has such a soothing voice which is enhanced by her melodic accent. Thank you, Dee, for the lovely practice.

Such a simple yet so effective body awareness practice, achieving a state of kindness and bliss at the end. This should become part of my regular practice. Thank you Dee.

This is a wonderful meditation for midday nap/rest. Thank you for the practice. It was beautiful and a perfect pace. 💞😊

Lovely practice for soothing stress just what I needed thank you so very much namaste 🙏🙏❤️