Yoga Nidra | Unwinding Into Deep Rest

This yoga nidra practice invites you to soften, let go, and enter a state of deep rest and gratitude. By guiding awareness through the body with effortless presence, you allow tension to dissolve and the nervous system to recalibrate.

Transcript

Welcome to this moment of deep rest.

Yoganidra is a practice that helps us dissolve layers of stress that we don't even realize we're carrying.

It's a space where tension unwinds,

The nervous system recalibrates,

And all of that not by effort,

But by softening.

So let's start by finding a position of the body where we can invite that sense of softening.

So coming to lay down in a way that feels comfortable for you,

Using as many props as you need to get into that level of comfort where you can allow your body to soften.

Allowing your eyes to softly close.

Just allowing your eyelids to very gently touch.

Notice how you can make that touching really really soft and subtle.

It's not a pressing of the eyes together,

It's really just an allowance of darkness over the eyelids.

And feel how you can even allow your eyes to soften a little bit more underneath that gentle touch.

Notice how you can even allow all the muscles behind your eyes,

All those tiny micro muscles to soften just a little more.

As if you're allowing your eyes to become a little bit heavier with every exhale.

Like that.

Can you allow your whole face to soften?

Maybe very gently moving your jaw a little from left to right.

Notice how that might help us to let go of any unnecessary tension within our jaws.

Finding softness in your lips.

Softness in the inside of your mouth.

Even a softness in both ears,

Left and right.

A complete softness that spreads all over your face,

Spreads all over the scalp.

Feel how there is a gentle release of doing.

There's no doing within the face any longer.

There's no sense of expression.

There's just a release into being.

Now feel that gentle release of doing spread throughout the whole body.

Moving from the head down into shoulders as you feel them release a little deeper into the ground.

Release of doing within the arms and the hands all the way into fingertips.

Complete release of doing in the back of your body,

Even within your belly.

Feel how there is no doing of your breathing either within your belly.

The belly is just gently being moved as you breathe.

There's a release of doing in the legs,

The lower legs,

All the way into the feet and the soles of their feet.

The whole body is shifting into this state of simply being.

A state where we allow the body to rest.

Now feel back into the hands.

Feel into the palms of your hands as you feel even more that gentle release of doing.

Feel the softening of your fingertips.

Feel the surrender of your hands into the state of relaxation.

What does that feel like?

What do your hands feel like when they're surrendered into rest?

Now flow full awareness into the space of your heart.

And notice how even here we can release that state of doing a little more.

Soften the space of our hearts a little more.

Now feel into the whole body again.

Feeling the whole body rest down on the surface beneath you.

The whole body fell from the crown of head to tips of toes.

Sinking down a little deeper into the allowance of relaxation.

Notice the gentle movement of your breath within your body.

Not doing the breathing.

Just being the breath.

Observing where you feel the breath within your body.

Stepping into the feeling of your breath.

Gentle,

Calming,

Effortless breath.

And again now,

Let's flow our awareness into both hands.

Feeling the softness,

The state of being in the palms of your hands.

Let's flow that same softness into the right thumb.

Then into the index finger.

Feeling the middle finger.

Ring finger.

And little finger.

Spaces in between the right fingers.

Tips of the fingers.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Right wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Right shoulder.

Armpit.

Right side of the waist.

Middle of the right hip.

The thigh.

Back of the knee.

Lower leg.

Heel.

Sole of the right foot.

Top of the foot.

All five toes of the right foot.

Tips of the right toes.

All right side of your body at once.

Flow the softness of your awareness into the left thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

And little finger.

Spaces in between the fingers.

Tips of the fingers.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the left hand.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Left shoulder.

Left waist.

Middle of the left hip.

Thigh.

Knee.

Back of knee.

Lower leg.

Heel.

Heel.

Sole of the foot.

Top of the foot.

Left toes.

Tips of the left toes.

All left side of the body at once.

Now feel into the whole right arm.

The whole left arm.

The whole right leg.

And whole left leg.

Feeling into the sole of the right foot.

The sole of the left foot.

Palm of the right hand.

Palm of the left hand.

Sole of the right foot and palm of the left hand at once.

And the sole of the left foot,

Palm of right hand at once.

Now feel into the navel.

The middle of the heart.

The middle of the throat.

Tip of the nose.

Right ear and left ear.

And the space between both ears.

Space between the eyebrows.

Crown of the head.

The space just above the nose.

Above the crown of the head.

Resting into the back of the head.

Feeling both shoulder blades.

Backs of the hips resting down.

Backs of both heels resting down.

And feel into the whole body at once.

The whole body filled with your soft presence.

All the way from crown of head into tips of toes.

Into tips of fingers.

Aware of the whole body resting here.

The whole body softening deeper into relaxation.

Aware of the softness of the whole body.

Allowing it to sink into that state of being a little deeper.

Now feel the gentleness of your breath again.

Not changing anything.

Just feeling into the effortless flow of your breath.

And while you feel your breath.

You guide your full awareness into this space between your eyebrows.

Into the third eye space.

Full awareness resting within that space as you feel your breath.

On your next natural exhalation.

You feel awareness move from the space between your eyebrows.

All the way back towards the back of the heart between the shoulder blades.

And then as your next inhalation follows.

Awareness moves from that point between shoulder blades back.

Into the space between your eyebrows.

And you allow your breath,

Your awareness to flow like this.

With each breath cycle.

Every exhale moves awareness from the space between eyebrows.

To the back of the heart between both shoulder blades.

And that single point of attention moves back from that place between shoulder blades.

All the way up as you inhale.

To the place of the third eye space.

You feel your loving one pointed attention move.

With every breath.

Moving back and forth.

Third eye space to back of the heart.

Keep following your breath move from back of heart to third eye.

And notice how it softens everything it touches in between.

So that whole movement.

The breath is softening and clearing.

Anything it meets within that movement.

Can you now feel that whole line of awareness?

All the way from third eye to back of heart at once.

Can you feel that line?

That line of presence of awareness between those two places.

And then gently let that go.

Feeling into the whole body again.

The whole body resting.

Within your resting body.

What place within the body?

Feels most warm.

Might feel a difference in temperature.

But what place within your body feels warmest?

Can you go into that place of the body that feels most warm?

And can you allow that feeling of warmth to spread throughout the whole body?

As if making your whole body warm with that spreading of presence.

Igniting the feeling of warmth within the whole body.

Allowing the whole body to feel warm.

Comfortably warm.

And now notice the place within the body that feels coldest.

And often that can be the tip of the nose for example.

Just notice which part of the body feels coolest right now.

Completely feeling into that.

As you allow that feeling of coldness to spread throughout the whole body now.

Allowing the whole body to feel comfortably cool.

The whole body feeling cold.

And now without thinking about it too much,

Can you bring up the feeling of warmth and cold within the body at the same time?

Making the whole body feel simultaneously warm and cool.

Bringing up both these opposing experiences.

What does that feel like?

Letting that dissolve as you feel your whole body drift into a deeper state of relaxation.

As you feel the whole body surrender into the softness of being.

Bringing awareness into the middle of the middle of the head.

Feeling the spaciousness within the space of your head.

Feeling that space within your head.

As you start to clear the space inside of your head of that which is stuck here.

Can you allow to let go any unneeded mental clutter?

Can you allow to clear any tight thought patterns?

Feeling how with each exhale you can allow the space inside your head to clear a little more.

Allowing to release any ideas of not being enough.

Allowing the idea that we need to do more,

Experience more interesting things,

Achieve more.

Can we allow that to let go?

As we realize that once we buy into that belief we're always trapped into chasing a non-existing future.

But notice while resting in the space of our head that you can flip that script.

Notice how in this very moment you can guide your whole presence into your whole body as it is right now.

Coming to recognize the infinite wonder of having this body.

Letting your whole body be filled with that feeling of wonder.

Feeling of gratitude for your body in this moment exactly as it is.

Allowing yourself to really feel that sense of gratitude.

Letting it fill you.

And notice how that really lets our heart space expand.

Feeling that deep gratitude into every cell of the body.

Letting it soften you.

Let it expand you.

Letting your full awareness relax deeply into the core of your heart.

A full and deep surrender into the softness of this gratitude.

What is it like to allow yourself to fully surrender into rest?

Can you feel how your body touches the surface beneath you?

Noticing the weight of the body.

The volume of the body.

Noticing the whole outline of the body resting down.

And gently and softly allowing your breath to deepen just a little bit.

Just enough to give a sign to the body,

To the mind.

To slowly come back into a more everyday wakeful state of being.

Eventually rolling yourself over to either side of your body,

Left or right.

Still feeling the effects of your practice linger within your body.

And see if you can stay connected to that feeling as you now slowly start to move more fully back out into the rest of your day.

Gently opening up your eyes if you haven't done so.

And from here I'd like to thank you for your trust,

For letting me guide you through this Nidra.

And I wish you a beautiful rest of your day.

Thank you.

Reviews

This was really deep and wonderful, especially your guidance with your chosen words and tone. For me the music was too intense, too dramatic. Do you recommend any of your recordings with a softer or no music? Thank you 🙏

Loved this thank you x

Amazing

I loved everything about this. I went very deep and lost touch with my body entirely for a while. Just floating in consciousness. Thanks

Beautiful!

This is so relaxing and magical. I love the musical accompaniment- it enhances the mood perfectly.
You have a wonderful voice for guided meditation.
Lovely and gentle.
Thank you. 💖

Heel diepe ontspanning, dankjewel 🙏

A favourite Nidra teacher, always a great journey with Alicia’s guidance

Thank you for just the right yoga nidra practice for me at just this moment. Wonderfully relaxing and refreshing.

Thorough. Pacing was good, I started to wander 15 minutes in. I think that was just me and not the place of the guide. Will do this one again.

I love your nidras!

Wonderfully relaxing and beautiful! Thank you

Wonderful meditation from one of my favourite teachers. The music may seem a bit strange for some, but it is very hypnotic and I was completely gone. Love it! Well done again, Alicia 🙏🏽❤️

Very relaxing. I fell asleep. Loved the music.

Prachtig hoor Alicia 👍🏻🪷🙏🏻

🙏

Beautiful 🌸 thank you 😊