You do not have to fall asleep.
I want to say that again.
You do not have to fall asleep.
There is no goal here.
No performance.
Nothing to achieve.
What we are doing today is something different from sleep.
It is rest.
Conscious rest.
And the research tells us something remarkable about this.
Thirty minutes of Yoga Nidra.
The practice we are about to do together produces rest equivalent to two to four hours of ordinary sleep.
Not because it replaces sleep.
But because it takes your nervous system somewhere.
Sleep cannot always reach.
A place between waking and sleeping.
Where the body repairs itself.
Where the mind finally stops running.
I know what it is like to finally have a moment.
The baby.
Is asleep.
The house is quiet.
And your mind immediately begins its list.
Did I feed them enough?
Did I hold them enough?
What was that sound?
Should I check?
When did I last drink water?
What time will they wake up?
The postpartum brain is not broken when it does this.
It is doing exactly what evolution designed it to do.
Staying vigilant.
Staying alert.
Keeping the baby alive.
But we can work with that brain.
We can give it something to do that is so absorbing,
So specific.
That it stops generating its own noise.
That is what this practice is.
A guided tour of your own body.
Specific enough to hold your attention.
Slow enough.
To let you rest.
Lie down on your back if you can.
If lying down is not possible.
Sit in the most comfortable position available to you.
Let your legs be slightly apart.
Let your arms rest a little away from your body.
Palms facing up.
This open-palmed position signals to your nervous system,
I am safe.
I am not holding anything.
I am not defending anything.
Close your eyes.
If closing your eyes feels uncomfortable,
Let your gaze soften downward.
Take one breath in through the nose.
And one long breath out through the mouth.
Let your body make contact with the surface beneath you.
Feel its support.
You do not have to hold yourself up right now.
Something else is doing that.
We begin.
Bring your awareness to the top of your head.
Simply notice it.
The crown of your skull.
Now your forehead.
Is it smooth or furrowed?
No need to change it.
Just notice.
Your eyebrows.
Your eyelids,
Heavy and soft.
Your cheekbones.
Your nose.
The air moving in and out of it.
Your lips.
Upper lip.
Lower lip.
Your jaw.
Let it fall open slightly if it wants to.
Your tongue.
Let it rest softly at the bottom of your mouth.
Your throat.
The back of your neck where it meets the skull.
Your right shoulder.
Your left shoulder.
Let them both drop.
Further than you think they can go.
Your right upper arm.
Right elbow.
Right forearm.
Right wrist.
Right palm.
Right thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger Ring finger.
Little finger.
Your left upper arm.
Left elbow.
Left forearm.
Left wrist.
Left palm.
Left thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger Ring finger.
Little finger.
Your chest.
Feel it rise and fall with each breath.
Your ribcage.
Expanding gently on the inhale.
Releasing on the exhale.
Your belly.
Let it be soft.
You do not need to hold it in.
Your lower back.
Feel the weight of it against the surface beneath you.
Your hips.
Heavy,
Wide,
Settled.
Your right thigh.
Right knee.
Right shin.
Right ankle.
Right heel pressing into the surface.
Right Soul.
Right big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Little Toe Your left thigh.
Left knee.
Left shin.
Left ankle.
Left heel.
Left sole.
Left Big Toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Little Toe.
Your whole body at once.
From the crown of your head to the tips of your toes.
One continuous living.
Breathing form.
At rest.
Now we bring attention to the breath.
Not to change it.
Just to watch it.
Notice the breath coming in through the nostrils.
Cool on the inhale.
Slightly warmer on the exhale.
Follow one breath all the way in.
And all the way out.
Follow the next breath in.
And all the way out.
You do not need to deepen it.
You do not need to slow it.
Just watch it move through you.
Notice how the belly rises first on the inhale.
Then the ribcage expands.
Then the chest lifts slightly at the top.
And on the exhale,
The chest releases first.
Then the ribcage narrows.
Then the belly softly falls.
A wave,
In and out.
Your body has been doing this your entire life.
Without your help.
Without your permission.
It knows how to breathe.
Let it.
Now,
I am going to guide you through pairs of opposite sensations.
This is one of the oldest techniques in Yoga Nidra.
The mind cannot hold.
Two opposites at once.
And in trying,
It lets go of everything else.
Feel heaviness in your body.
The weight of your limbs.
Your body sinking into the surface beneath you.
Heavy.
Dense.
Rooted.
Now,
Feel lightness.
As if your body has no weight at all.
As if you are floating just above the surface.
Light.
Weightless.
Drifting.
Heaviness.
Lightness.
Now feel warm.
A gentle heat spreading through your hands and feet.
Through your belly and your chest.
Warm.
Held.
Safe.
Now feel coolness.
A cool breeze across your face.
The freshness of night air.
Cool.
Clear.
Still.
Warmth.
Coolness.
Let both dissolve now.
Let the sensations go.
Simply rest.
I am going to take you somewhere now.
Follow my voice.
Do not try to see it perfectly.
Whatever comes,
Let it come.
Imagine you are standing at the edge of a lake.
It is night.
Or the very edge of night,
Just before dawn.
The air is cool and completely still.
The water in front of you is perfectly flat.
Like a mirror lying on the ground.
Look at the surface of the water.
You can see the reflection of the sky.
Stars,
Maybe.
Or the very first pale light of morning.
There is no wind here.
Nothing is disturbing the surface.
The water is so still that you could almost mistake it for glass.
Now look deeper.
Below the surface.
The water becomes darker as it deepens.
Deeper still,
Quieter.
Darker.
At the very bottom of the lake.
There is a stillness that nothing disturbs.
No wind on the surface touches it.
No thought reaches it.
It has always been still.
It will always be still.
This stillness is in you,
Too.
Not something you have to create.
Not something you have to earn.
It is already there.
Below the surface thoughts.
Below the lists in the worry.
Below the exhaustion.
At the bottom of you.
There is a place that has never been disturbed.
We are going there now.
Imagine you step into the lake.
The water is perfectly warm.
Exactly the temperature of your skin.
You cannot feel where your body ends and the water begins.
You float effortlessly on your back.
The water holds you completely.
You do not have to do anything.
You cannot sink.
Above you,
The sky is enormous.
Stars or dawn light,
Vast and silent.
And around you,
The water.
Still.
Warm.
Holding.
Your body is completely supported.
Your mind has nothing to do.
There is nothing to check.
Nothing to fix.
Nothing to remember.
There is only this.
The water.
The sky.
Your breath.
If a thought comes,
Let it float past on the surface of the water.
You are below the surface.
Down here,
Thoughts cannot reach you.
They drift past above.
And dissolve.
Rest here now.
In the still water.
In the silence.
In the enormous patient quiet.
You are safe here.
Your baby is safe.
There is nothing required of you in this moment.
Just this.
Just rest.
In Yoga Nidra.
This is called the Sankalpa.
A seed planted in fertile ground.
Your mind is more open now than it has been all day.
The defenses are down.
What I say now goes deeper than words usually go.
Hear each statement and simply let it land.
You do not need to believe it.
You only need to receive it.
I am allowed to rest.
My worth as a mother is not measured by how much I do.
My body knows how to restore itself.
I trust the quiet.
I am enough,
Right now,
Exactly as I am.
Sleep comes easily to me when my body is ready.
I release the day.
I release the worry.
I release the lists.
My baby is held.
I am held.
We are both safe.
I give myself permission to do nothing.
For these minutes.
Rest is not laziness.
Rest is how I care for everyone I love.
Let these words settle into the still water.
Let them sink to the bottom.
Where nothing disturbs them.
Slowly now,
We begin to return.
There is no rush.
Take your time.
Become aware again of your breath.
The rise and fall of your chest.
The air moving in and out.
Become aware again of your body.
The weight of it.
The warmth of it.
The surface beneath you.
Wiggle your fingers gently.
Wiggle your toes.
Let a little movement return to your hands and feet.
Take a slightly deeper breath in.
And a long breath out.
Roll slowly to your right side if you can.
Rest there for a moment.
There is no need to rush back into the world.
Let the practice settle.
Let the rest be absorbed.
When you are ready,
Gently open your eyes.
Or if sleep has come,
Let it come.
You have done something important today.
Not impressive?
Not dramatic.
Just important.
You gave yourself 35 minutes.
In a season of life.
When there is nothing left to give.
You found something anyway.
The science is clear on this.
The rest you just experienced is real rest.
Your nervous system.
Use this time.
Your cells used this time.
Even if it did not feel like sleep.
Even if your mind wandered a hundred times.
The practice still works.
Come back to this whenever you can.
During the nap that never comes.
During the night feed.
When you cannot get back to sleep.
During the quiet moment.
That your mind immediately tries to fill.
You know now that there is another option.
You can go to the still water.
Anytime.
It is always there.
Waiting for you.
Rest well.
