Yoga Nidra For Spinal Health

This Yoga Nidra practice is meant to reset your nervous system and includes a visualization for spinal health. This practice begins with a short tension and release practice and includes gentle jungle sounds to further restore the nervous system. I hope you enjoy this practice. Thanks for joining me!

Transcript

Namaste.

This is Allie and this is a short yoga nidra practice to reset your nervous system.

So please begin by getting yourself completely comfortable laying on a yoga mat or on a comfortable surface.

And as you settle in,

We are going to do a very short tension and release.

So begin by noticing your whole body resting on the surface beneath you.

And you might take any time that you need to adjust any props behind your legs or your head,

Perhaps blankets on top of your body.

And then bring awareness to your whole right side and begin to bring tension into the muscles on your right side,

Squeezing the arm,

Making a fist with the hand,

The whole right leg curling up the right foot.

And then as you bring tension into all of the muscles through the whole right side of the body,

Even bringing tension into your facial muscles,

Squeezing up the right side of your face.

Take a deep,

Deep breath in.

Hold the breath just for a moment,

Squeezing the whole right side.

And then as you exhale,

Release all of the muscles,

The whole right hemisphere of the body sinking down into the earth,

Breathing in a natural rhythm.

And bringing awareness now to your whole left side and begin to welcome tension into your left hemisphere,

Squeezing the muscles in the arms,

In the arm,

The fist,

The leg curling up the toes and squeezing the foot,

All of the muscles in the whole left hemisphere,

Even the left side of the face,

Taking a deep breath in as you hold the tension.

Holding that breath in just as long as it's comfortable.

And then when you release the breath,

Let all of the muscles soften.

Letting go.

Letting go.

And then both hemispheres of the body simultaneously bringing tension into the right and left arms,

Making fists,

Squeezing all the muscles in the front and back of the torso,

The legs,

The feet,

All of the muscles of the face.

Take a deep breath in.

Hold in the breath.

When you release,

Let all of the muscles soften and completely let go.

And then now letting your breath come to a natural rhythm.

And notice the sensations flowing through your body.

Let your jaw soften and your teeth apart.

Begin to release the tension all around the eyes and behind the eyes.

And as you release tension in the eyes,

Could you imagine the whole right and left hemisphere of the brain like a muscle that is softening and releasing?

Just like a clenched up fist unfurling,

Relaxing open.

Notice if your body could become even heavier now.

Notice your ears listening.

Notice the flow of air swirling inside the nostril.

Notice the breath touch the heart.

And let your presence abide here in the center of the chest.

If you have a sankalpa,

Could you connect to it now,

Calling it in?

If you're not familiar with sankalpa,

You might simply welcome the statement internally,

I accept myself just as I am.

Repeating your sankalpa internally one time with feeling.

And now bringing awareness to the sensations inside the mouth.

Sensing the roof of the mouth,

The teeth and the gums.

Inside of the right cheek,

Inside of the left cheek,

The tip of the tongue,

The root of the tongue,

The flow of air inside the nostrils,

The bridge of the nose,

The nasal flares,

The right cheekbone,

The left cheekbone,

The right eye,

The left eye,

The right temple,

Left temple,

The center of the forehead.

Could you imagine presence and relaxation spreading from the center of the forehead towards the hairline and the forehead,

And then presence spreading into the whole scalp.

Feeling the whole of the head.

Awareness to the entire right hemisphere of the brain,

The entire left hemisphere of the brain.

Both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously.

Moving down towards the base of the skull.

Feeling the first vertebrae at the base of the skull.

The very first vertebrae in the neck.

Could you imagine it turning in one direction,

In the other direction,

And back to center?

Moving down one vertebrae at a time.

Feeling your way to the second vertebrae in the neck.

Imagining it turn in one direction,

In the other direction,

And back to center.

Moving down to the third vertebrae.

One direction,

Other direction,

Center.

And fourth,

One direction,

Other direction,

And center.

The fifth vertebrae in the neck.

One direction,

Other direction,

And center.

Six vertebrae in the neck,

Turning in one direction,

The other,

And center.

And the seventh vertebrae in the neck,

Turning in one direction,

The other,

And center.

Moving into the thoracic spine.

Feeling your way through all twelve vertebrae in the thoracic spine.

Noticing how it feels in the ribs as you turn in one direction,

The other direction,

And center.

The second vertebrae,

One direction,

Other,

Center.

Third,

In one direction,

The other,

To center.

Fourth,

One direction,

Other direction,

And center.

Fifth vertebrae,

One direction,

The other direction,

And center.

Six,

In one direction,

The other direction,

And center.

The seventh vertebrae in the ribs,

One direction,

Other direction,

And center.

Seventh vertebrae,

One direction,

The other direction,

And center.

Eighth,

One direction,

Other direction,

And center.

Ninth,

One direction,

The other direction,

And center.

Tenth vertebrae,

In one direction,

Other,

Back to center.

Eleventh vertebrae in the thoracic spine,

In one direction,

Other direction,

Center.

Twelfth vertebrae,

One direction,

Other direction,

And center.

Moving through all five,

The largest vertebrae in the lumbar spine.

As you move down towards the sacrum,

Feeling the first vertebrae of the lumbar spine,

Imagine it turning in one direction,

Other direction,

And back to center.

The second,

Moving in one direction,

Other direction,

And center.

Third,

Moving in one direction,

Other direction,

And center.

Fourth,

One direction,

Other direction,

Center.

Fifth vertebrae in the lumbar spine,

Moving in one direction,

Other direction,

And back to center.

Noticing your whole spinal column,

The whole spinal column and the pelvis,

And sacrum,

And tailbone together.

Bringing awareness now to the right side of the chest,

The right shoulder,

Upper arm,

Elbow,

Forearm,

Wrist,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Tip of the thumb,

First finger,

Second,

Third,

Little finger,

Right side of the chest,

Waist,

Right hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Big toe,

Second,

Third,

Fourth,

Little toe,

And the whole right side of the body,

The whole right side,

Left side of the chest,

Shoulder,

Upper leg,

Elbow,

Forearm,

Wrist,

Palm,

Back of the hand,

Tip of the thumb,

First finger,

Second,

Third,

Little finger,

Left side of the chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Big toe,

Second,

Third,

Fourth,

Little toe,

Whole left hemisphere of the body,

Whole left side of the body simultaneously,

Both hemispheres of the body,

Welcoming both hemispheres of the body together.

As you feel your entire body resting,

Begin to welcome the sensation of your body breathing itself,

The natural flow of breath.

And with no need to alter or manipulate the breath,

As you bring awareness to the tip of your tailbone,

As you inhale,

Imagine your breath moving up the spine towards the base of your skull,

Exhaling down the spine to the tailbone,

Letting your whole spinal column with energy and breath,

Just imagining without changing the breath in any way.

In the inhale,

A wave of energy flowing up the spine,

Exhaling all the way down the spine.

Inhaling a gentle wave up the spine,

Exhaling a gentle wave down to the tailbone.

The next time you inhale,

Imagine the breath moving up the spine.

On the exhale,

Imagine breath and energy moving out of the spine in all directions,

Flooding through your whole body,

Organs,

Limb,

All the way into the toes and fingertips,

Inhaling a wave of energy up the spine,

Exhaling a wave of energy from the spine outward through your whole body.

If it's helpful,

You might imagine or sense a glowing light,

Perhaps a white light or whatever color feels right for you,

Inhaling the light and energy up the spine,

Getting stronger on the inhale,

On the exhale,

Moving outward in all directions.

Simply imagining energy moving and flowing,

Throughout your whole body.

Next,

Inhale,

Imagine breathing in through the crown of your head and out through the center of your forehead,

Inhaling through crown to the center of the brain,

The pineal gland,

Exhaling out through the mind's eye center.

And releasing this.

And for the next few moments,

Could you simply rest in the sensations of your body resting and energy and breath flowing through your whole body?

Nothing to do.

Just deeply resting now.

Sensing your whole body,

Whole body resting.

And might you welcome your Senkoppa here?

I accept myself just as I am.

And let's take a deep breath into that possibility,

Inhaling through the nose,

Exhaling through the mouth,

And again a deep breath in and out.

And one more time.

And now,

Very slowly bringing awareness back to the room around you,

The earth beneath you,

The pulsation of breath in and out.

And you might start to slowly awaken your body with little movements,

Fingers,

Toes,

Nodding the head,

Maybe a stretch or a yawn,

Taking as much time as you need to transition back to your waking light.

Or you might rest here as long as you need to.

You can come back to this practice as often as you like for a cumulative effect on your nervous system,

On your mind.

Thank you so much for practicing with me here on Insight Timer.

I look forward to hearing from you in the comments or inside of the Yoga Nidra as well.

And I hope that you have a beautiful day.

Thank you so much for practicing with me.

Reviews

I have scoliosis and love yoga nidra. Much appreciated. I'll be "back" 🙏🏽🍁🍂🍁💙🍁

Thank you for this wonderful yoga nidra. It’s massively helped relax my back which has been painful for the last few days. I’m very grateful. 🙏🏻♥️

Namaste, Ally 🙏. This was so good for my souls today. Thank you.

OMg that was so awesome … wonderful! Finally, I’ve found what I’ve been searching for…a definite keeper.

Thank you Ally! I could feel good energetic movement along my spine with the visualization of the rotation of the vertebrae. My now not as sore back thanks you enormously!

Phénoménal. Best start of the day Yoga Nidra I’ve found yet.

Wow! This was really powerful for me. I’ve had neck and back pain for decades and this practice released a lot of energy with twitching while we were going down the spine turning in each direction. Breathing up and down the spine reminded me of the microcosmic orbit breathing I learned in acupuncture school. Thank you Ally!

Wonderful! This was my first yoga nidra with spine inclusion. Thank you so much for the wonderful meditation.

This nidra really helped me relax and relieve the painful tension in my neck and shoulder. Thank you Ally!

Love the soft nature sounds in the background. I could feel my body shifting as we moved through the anatomy! Lovely.

Thank You 🌹I don’t know when I’ve felt this relaxed ❤️‍🔥much Love!

Excellent YN for the spine, did not want it to end! Thank you, Ally!🙏🏽💗🙏🏽

Loved it, Ally. My nursing career was largely spent working in neurosurgery. Many, many spinal cord injuries, many, many decompressions and fusions, many tumours. Unfortunately, a lot of my own back strain but a mind body approach has always worked for me. This is one more great practice for the toolbox. Thanks!

Outstanding practice. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge through such powerfully gentle, restorative methods. Namaste.💖

More powerful than I expected. Really helped with the tension along my spine. Thank you. Namaste.

Ally is the best. Seriously, the best. Thank you Ally.

Marvelous as usual! Thank you so much. 🙏🌻

That helped me so much. I was having pain in my spine that made my upper back and neck ache. This brought me much needed relief from the pain in all areas! Thank you so much. I will be listening again. I so appreciate the gift you share with others!🙏

I absolutely vloved this. Thank you.

Really liked the way down the spine.
I just relax at the beginning instead of tensing (which is too much for my body), but the rest was great. Thank you