Yoga Nidra Practice

Drift into deep, restorative sleep with this 45-minute Yoga Nidra practice. Using gentle body scan techniques and calming guidance with soft music, this session helps release tension and quiet your mind.
Suitable for complete beginners and experienced practitioners alike. Let go completely as you're guided through systematic relaxation, preparing your body and mind for truly restful sleep. Ideal for bedtime or anytime you need profound rest and renewal.

Transcript

Welcome to this yoga nidra.

So please just find yourself a comfortable place where you won't be disturbed for the next 40-45 minutes or so.

And just as you arrive here,

If you're comfortable preparing for this yoga nidra practice.

So this particular type of meditation is really designed as a tool to potentially help you sleep.

Now perhaps at times we're not getting enough rest in our lives,

So I'm going to guide this practice and with that rest and sleep in mind,

I won't be guiding you back to wakefulness.

So if you know that there's something that you want to do afterwards,

Then perhaps put yourself your own little timer on,

As I won't be ringing a bell or anything,

I'll just slip away and hopefully,

If that's your choice,

Then you also can slip into a deep sleep.

So welcoming.

So just taking a moment,

Yoga nidra really can induce sleep and it's often called deep rest.

So just taking a time now,

A moment,

I hope you've got yourself comfortable.

Can you just scan through the body for a moment?

Can you be perhaps 5 or 10% more comfortable?

Perhaps you want to put something under your knees if you're lying on your back.

Make sure you have blankets,

Pillows.

Then just inviting you to close down your eyes or lower your gaze.

So you're encouraging that internal reflection,

Internal gaze.

Just,

If you can,

Just make sure that your legs are separate so they're not crossed.

Can your arms rest either side of the body?

So really a sense of this openness through the front of the body,

Space to breathe,

Space around the heart space.

If you can,

Perhaps your palms upwards.

So this is all creating a different position than perhaps you would normally sleep in.

Really it's a Shavasana practice,

Which is known in our yoga practice,

Where we really open through the front body and let the back body drop.

But that said,

Please find that comfortable space for you,

However that is.

This is your time.

Just acknowledging you're giving this time to yourself,

To rest,

To recharge,

To nourish yourself.

So really allow yourself to enjoy this practice.

There's nothing you need to do,

Nowhere to go,

Simply to be right here,

Right now.

So just as best as you can,

Just tuning into my voice,

But don't worry about any instructions or even following my voice.

If perhaps you don't hear something,

That's fine,

Maybe you've drifted off,

That's perfectly normal.

You might find that you drift in and out of sleep.

So there's no right way to do this practice.

So I just want to invite you once again to be really comfortable in whatever you've chosen to be in,

Perhaps any little final wiggles or twists or adjustments to the body.

So much so that then you can be completely still.

So as we begin,

Let's bring your awareness to your senses,

So the taste inside the mouth,

The smell at the nostrils,

Welcoming any air aroma,

And then relaxing your eyes and that external vision and seeing if you can let the eyes drop deeper inside so that internal vision is opening and then noticing touch,

The temperature of the air on your skin,

Perhaps your clothing,

Any covers,

And then feeling the support of what you're choosing to lie on and see if you can consciously drop a little bit more.

And now let's bring our awareness to our breath,

This beautiful breath of ours,

And just take some time without forcing or straining,

Just invite some longer,

Slower breaths.

See if you can breathe down into the belly.

And as you exhale,

Maybe opening your mouth,

Maybe sighing out the breath,

Just consciously deepening the breath to the best of your ability right now,

Feeling as you breathe in,

Can the belly expand a little,

Can you breathe out to the side ribs,

All the way up to the collarbone,

And then as you exhale,

Deepening,

Exhaling,

Exhaling through the mouth or the nose,

And feel yourself becoming a little bit more relaxed,

Letting go.

And on your next in-breath,

Just want to invite you to take that deeper breath,

Feel the expansion,

And then just hold the breath for a second or two,

And then let go,

Releasing any residue of the remaining tightness in the body.

One more breath like that.

Breathing in,

Holding a little,

And as you exhale,

See if you can just let go of any sensations,

Any feelings,

Any awareness that's what's gone before,

So the day before.

Smoothing out the brow.

Let your eyes become heavy as they drop into the sockets.

Noticing the skin around the corner of the eyes starts to soften.

The jaw relaxes.

Feeling the backs of the shoulders,

Can you sense them start to spread and drop?

Can you feel the weight of your body drawing down deep into the earth beneath you?

Arms are heavy,

Chest and belly soft,

Relaxing through the thighs,

The calves,

And the feet.

And just taking a moment,

Let your awareness drift down to your heart space,

The center of your chest,

And just allow a few moments here to feel this expansion,

Feel the spaciousness around the chest,

The heart.

And just tuning into the breath a little bit more and sensing as if you were breathing from your heart space.

Breathing as you slip into this state of being,

Non-doing,

Whole body heavy,

Sinking into the ground.

Feeling here at your heart space,

This vast presence that resides here at the center of your body.

For a moment,

Just notice what sensations are present here right now,

And see if you can just welcome them in.

The intelligence that resides here in the heart space.

Can you notice,

And welcoming in the wisdom of your heart.

And just resting here for a moment,

Can you sense your own heartbeat?

And now as you're breathing here from your heart space,

We're going to call in our sankalpa.

This really is an intention that we call in for this practice,

And often it wants to be short,

Positive,

Present,

So it's in the present tense.

Just taking a moment to picture what do you want to call in.

It might be,

I want to rest more,

I want to sleep easy.

It may be something else that you're working with this moment.

But using the present tense,

So using the statement,

I am,

And then just continue choosing your words.

Seeing if you can repeat your sankalpa to yourself three times,

Visualizing it clearly,

Becoming aware of the feelings behind the sankalpa,

And let yourself be filled up with those feelings.

Can you let yourself be saturated through every cell of your being?

And just holding this with focused intent.

And now as we scan through the body,

Just inviting you to follow my words as much as you can,

And noticing any sensations through the body,

And allowing you to expand your field of awareness,

To take in the whole of the body,

Feeling yourself as this one breathing being,

And then just saying the name of each body part silently to yourself,

Visualizing and sensing it from the inside out.

So bringing your awareness all the way down that right arm to the right hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Small finger,

Palm of the hand,

Wrist,

Shoulder,

The armpit,

Right side of the body,

The waist,

The right hip,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second,

Third,

Visualizing for a moment the whole of the right arm,

The whole of the right leg,

The whole of the right side of the body,

Deeply relaxed.

Now bringing your attention all the way down the left arm to the left hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Small finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Palm of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Shoulder,

The left side of the body,

Left waist,

Left hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

The left big toe,

Third,

Fourth and fifth toes.

Visualizing now the whole of the left arm,

The whole of the left leg,

The whole of the left side of the body,

Deeply relaxed.

And now feel the whole of the right arm and the whole of the left leg together,

Right arm,

Left leg.

And now feel the whole of the left arm and the right leg together.

And now feel the back of the body,

The right heel,

Left heel,

Left calf,

Right thigh,

Left thigh,

The buttocks,

Right buttock,

Left buttock,

The lower back,

The middle back,

The upper back,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

The back of the neck,

The back of the head,

The scalp,

The crown of the head,

The whole of the back body,

The heels,

The legs,

The back,

The back of the head.

Feeling the whole of the back body deeply relaxed.

Bringing your awareness to the front of the body,

The forehead,

Right eye,

Right eyebrow,

The eyebrow center,

The right nostril,

The left nostril,

The nose tip,

The right cheek,

The left cheek,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Both lips together,

Inside of the lips,

Teeth,

The tongue,

Inside of the mouth,

The roof of the mouth,

The floor of the mouth,

The sides of the mouth.

Sensing the chin,

The jawline from ear to ear,

The throat,

Right side of the chest,

Left side of the chest,

The center of the chest,

The right side of the rib cage,

The stomach,

The abdomen,

The navel,

The belly,

Right side of the pelvis,

Left side of the pelvis,

The whole of the right leg,

The whole of the left leg,

The whole of the right arm and the whole of the left arm,

The whole of the face,

Head,

The whole torso.

Feeling the front body deeply relaxed.

Now visualising the whole body,

The whole body is deeply relaxed.

Now let your attention drift to your breath.

Sensing the fullness of the breath,

With its soft gentle rhythm.

Just let yourself rest here in stillness,

Observing yourself being breathed.

See if you can become completely absorbed with all aspects of the breath.

Noticing what happens as you inhale.

Feeling the body expand.

And sensing the fullness of the breath through the whole body as you are this one breathing being.

Can you notice the spaces between the breath,

The natural pauses after the inhalation,

The natural pauses after the exhalation.

And as you are with the breath,

Just riding the waves of the breath.

We are just going to begin to count the breath backwards from 10.

So as we inhale the count of 10.

Exhale 10.

Inhale 8.

Inhale 7.

And just continue in your own time,

In your own way,

Counting back to zero.

Just letting the breath wash down through the body.

If you drift away or you lose your count,

Just simply start again.

The goal is not to get to zero,

But to allow your whole awareness to reside with each breath.

And now as you just gently let go of the counting,

Just exploring the opposites of the body for a few moments.

So allowing yourself to fully feel and embody each sensation.

So let's begin with the feeling of cold in the body.

Can you experience cold in the body,

Like it suddenly got chilly.

And now can you experience heat in the body,

So the body feels hot,

As if you're standing by a blazing fire.

Now can you feel the body heavy,

As if it's made of lead.

And feel the weight of your body dropping further down into the floor beneath you.

And now can you experience lightness in the body,

As if you were made of cotton wool.

And feel yourself as if you're so light that you can drift away.

And just know that you are here,

Present,

Grounded,

That the ground is supporting you.

Now can you experience as if the body is really tired,

As if you've been really active for the last few hours and there's a sense of really needing to rest through the body.

And feeling the body deeply resting and gently letting go.

Feel that deep rest behind the eyes,

Visualising that deep rest through the body.

Can you bring your mind's eye to the flickering flame of a candle or a fire,

Or perhaps the flames of the sun,

The heat of the sun.

And then sensing the whole of the body once again,

The right side of the body,

The left side of the body,

The front of the body,

The back of the body.

Whole body awareness,

Holding yourself in strong presence,

Sensing the trillions of cells alive with sensation.

And just coming back to your breath at the centre of your being.

Sensing you as this one breathing being.

And just expanding your field of awareness to take in both sides of the body,

The back and the front simultaneously.

So just breathing here for a few moments,

Whole body awareness.

Sensing your body as a whole,

As this one vibrant being.

Letting your breath wash through the entire length of your body.

Resting in present moment awareness.

Letting yourself become deeper and deeper.

And then just staying in this space of a deep rest.

But sensing once again your sankalpa,

Your intention.

And just silently say your intention three times to yourself in the present tense.

Being here simply with your breath and your body.

And then let's count down the breath once again from ten.

So as you breathe in and out for ten.

Sensing your body dropping,

Breathing for eight.

Everything is softening.

Breathing in and out for seven.

Letting go all tension.

Breathing for six.

So relaxed.

Breathing for five.

Breathing for four.

For three.

For two.

Body and mind complete.

As you rest here,

Let yourself drift.

Noticing if anything appears in the mind,

Just let it go.

Feel the body is resting,

The mind is slow and everything is relaxed.

Gifting yourself of this yoga nidra practice.

Nourishing yourself with this deep rest.

Adi Om Tat Sat.

The yoga nidra practice is complete.

So I wish you well my friends.

Reviews

I really enjoyed the practice, lovely guidance. Thank you Ali😊 🙏
P.S. I gave you a follow 🙃