Nap Time Yoga Nidra

Rest in the breath and the heart, encouraged to drop deeper into the body and out of the busy mind. With creative visualisation around the theme of water and traditional yoga nidra style body scanning to guide you into stillness and leave you rejuvenated.

Transcript

Settle yourself into the support beneath you like a full body sigh,

Like the kind of sigh you take when you sink down into a warm bath.

Let the breath be free,

Effortless.

Let the muscles soften away from the bones and allow the bones to be heavy.

Allow the bones to be heavy and held.

Allow the bones to be heavy and held here by the support beneath you.

Allow yourself to be held here in this practice.

No effort is required by you.

All you need to do is listen and follow my voice and breathe.

I know you can always come back to the body feeling it supported here.

Resting on the breath and feeling the chest and the abdomen rise and fall.

The ebb and flow of your breath like the tides.

Allow yourself to sink a little deeper down,

Down into the body.

Can you feel your diaphragm moving?

Your diaphragm,

That dome-shaped muscle towards the bottom of the ribs.

Can you feel it contracting and expanding in all directions?

Like a luminescent jellyfish,

Effortlessly flowing,

Held by the tides,

Wrapped in warm currents.

Can you allow yourself to sink a little deeper down into your tissues,

Down into the aquarium of your cells,

Swimming with life?

Coming to rest on the heart.

Your heart nestled between the lungs,

Each of which has a notch where the heart fits.

And your heart resting on the diaphragm,

Cocooned in a fluid-filled sack,

Being massaged by the breath.

Can you allow the breath to calm your heart as you rest here?

Feeling into the right hand.

No effort is required by you here.

Simply following my voice.

Right thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Right wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Right shoulder,

Armpit,

Right side ribs,

Waist,

Right hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Right ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Feel the whole right side of the body.

The whole right side of the body.

Now feel the left hand.

Left thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Left wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Left shoulder,

Armpit,

Left side ribs,

Waist,

Left hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Left ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Feel the whole left side of the body.

The whole left side of the body.

Now the back of the body.

Back of the head,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Whole spine,

Sacrum,

Pelvis,

Right thigh,

Left thigh,

Back of right knee,

Back of left knee,

Right heel,

Left heel,

Sole of the right foot,

Sole of the left foot.

Feel the whole back of the body.

The whole back of the body.

Now the front of the body.

Feel the mouth,

Gums,

Floor of the mouth,

Roof of the mouth,

Walls of the cheeks,

Your tongue,

Lower row of teeth,

Upper row of teeth,

Both lips,

The space between the lips.

And feel the right ear.

Feel the left ear.

Feel the inner ears,

Tiny canals that loop into watery labyrinths and snail-like spirals.

Feel the globes of your eyes,

The space around the eyes.

Breathe into this space and allow the eyes to sink back and rest.

Right eyelid,

Left eyelid,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Space between the eyebrows,

Whole forehead,

Both temples,

Tip of the nose,

Whole nose,

Both cheeks,

Right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

Right chest,

Left chest,

Upper abdomen,

Lower abdomen,

Right hip,

Left hip,

Right knee,

Left knee,

Top of the right foot,

Top of the left foot.

Feel the whole front of the body.

The whole front of the body.

Now feel the entire body.

The head,

The torso,

Both arms,

Both legs.

Allow this full body experience.

Be bodyful,

As an invitation to drop ever deeper into sensation.

Witnessing how sensations arise in the body and pass away.

Now feel your breath.

The natural flow of breath as cool air enters and warm air leaves the body through the nostrils,

The throat,

The gentle rise and fall of the chest and abdomen.

Feel your body breathing itself.

No effort is required by you here.

The body knows how to breathe.

Feeling that cool air against the nostrils and allowing that coolness to spread across the whole body,

To permeate the entire body,

Like being outside on a winter's day with a layer of frost over everything,

Glistening like stardust.

And feel that coolness in the body as an aliveness.

Now feel the whole body alive with this coolness.

The whole body alive with this coolness.

And now feel the warmth of the air against the nostrils.

And allow this warmth to wrap around the entire body like you're outside on a summer's day,

Perhaps on the beach or in the grass,

And the summer sun is radiating warmth onto the skin.

And allow the whole body to be held in warmth.

And allow the whole body to be held in warmth.

Now feel these two experiences at the same time.

The whole body alive with coolness.

And the whole body held in warmth.

And this exploration into the body,

The hills and valleys of the body,

As a means to live freely with infinite possibilities.

And your inner life,

A part of and mirroring the world around you.

A reminder that you came out of this world and not into it.

And resting in the flow of your breath.

And resting on the heart.

And where does the shore begin and the sea end?

Beginning to feel back into the body.

The weight of the body against the support beneath you.

The temperature of the air on your skin.

Light and colour on the eyes.

And welcoming movement back in.

Rocking the head side to side.

Wiggling fingers,

Toes.

Perhaps taking a full body stretch and reawakening into the rest of your day.

And gently blinking open the eyes.

And now allowing the space around you back in.

Thank you.

Reviews

So helpful - such deep rest- and feeling so refreshed after 15 mins. Thank you.

What a unique and special nidra practice - thank you so much!

This was a great meditation for a recharging nap! Thank you- Faith

Your voice is so soothing! This meditation is so relaxing! Thank you for sharing it.

Exactly what I needed, glad I found this! Lovely visualizations.

I really liked the steady rhythm of the instructions and the no nonsense voice. Very relaxing!

I found both your voice and your words very relaxing. Surprised to settle down so deeply in such a short time. A much needed rest. Thank you.

10/10/24 I think it was good. Was drifting in and out of nap and don’t remember anything except a nice jellyfish image.