Yoga Nidra For Sleep - White Night

This Yoga Nidra will guide you through body and breath awareness and a visualisation inspired by the beautiful poem by Mary Oliver, White Night. The intention of this session is to guide you softly towards a restful sleep. Whether you have been listening to guided meditations for years, or this is your first time, you will find something nourishing and warming here. Have a beautiful nights sleep.

Music composed by Narek Mirzaei (Music Of Wisdom).

Transcript

Welcome to this yoga nidra for sleep and relaxation.

This recording is loosely based off of a poem by Mary Oliver called White Night,

So we're going to be using some imagery from that poem in this recording today.

So as you arrive in this space for this nidra,

Just taking a moment to get really,

Really comfortable,

Perhaps lying in your bed,

Taking a moment to move around,

Spread out if you have space,

Relaxing the head and your pillow,

Warm under your blankets,

And safe.

And so to assist with this,

Before we fully,

Fully settle,

We're going to do a series of progressive muscle relaxations,

Where we tense and relax the muscles in the body in order to aid in this sense of full body relaxation.

So to begin with,

We're going to tense and tighten all the muscles in the upper body,

So the arms,

The hands,

The shoulders,

The torso,

Really tensing and tightening,

Clenching the fist,

Tensing and tightening,

Holding,

And relax.

We're going to tighten and tense all the muscles in the lower body,

The glutes,

The legs,

The feet,

The toes,

Tightening,

Tensing,

Holding,

And relax.

And now in the face,

Really tightening,

Clenching all the muscles in the face,

The jaw,

The eyebrows,

Really furrowing the eyebrows,

Holding,

Squeezing,

And relax.

And finally,

The whole body,

So really tightening,

Clenching,

Squeezing all the muscles in the entire body,

From the crown of the head,

The face,

The shoulders,

The arms,

The torso,

Legs,

Feet,

All the muscles all at once,

Holding,

Holding,

And relax.

And just feeling the after effects of that,

Feeling the whole body deeply,

Deeply relaxed.

And just taking a few deep exhales,

Really feeling the lungs filling with air,

And then a full,

Deep exhale,

And a few more of those,

Filling up the lungs,

And a full,

Deep exhale.

And again,

And as you do so,

Really feeling your body sinking down into the mattress,

Into the pillow,

Feeling the weight of the body softening into the ground beneath you,

And just starting to let go of the day.

As we start to get ready for rest,

Ready for a full night's sleep,

Starting to release the day,

Release what's happened today.

And we're going to now begin a segment of rotating our awareness around the body.

And as we do so,

You can imagine a warm,

Glowing moonlight globe,

Or pulsing,

Meeting that body part,

And melting into it,

Into a silky,

Liquid pool beneath you.

So as we start,

Just becoming aware of sensations in your jaw and mouth,

And maybe beginning there with imagining that warm,

Glowing moonlight meeting your jaw and mouth,

Imagining them melting and softening into the ground beneath you,

And sensing your left ear and your right ear,

And both ears together,

Sensing your cheeks,

Imagining that warm,

Glowing moonlight on your cheeks,

On your nose,

On your left eye,

Right eye,

And the feeling of both eyes simultaneously melting and softening into that silky,

Liquid pool,

Sensing the forehead,

The scalp,

Back of the head,

And the whole head in that glowing,

Warm moonlight melting and pulsing into the ground beneath you,

And sensing your left shoulder,

Your left upper arm,

Elbow,

Forearm,

Wrist,

Hand,

And fingers,

Feeling the entire left arm in that warm,

Glowing moonlight melting and softening,

And sensing your right shoulder,

Right upper arm,

Elbow,

Forearm,

Wrist,

Hand,

And fingers,

The entire right arm melting and softening,

And welcoming both arms and hands as they melt into the ground beneath you,

And bringing your attention back to the chest,

The abdomen,

The upper back,

Middle back,

Lower back,

And feeling the entire torso in that warm,

Glowing moonlight,

The entire torso front and back,

Entire torso softening and melting,

Sensing your pelvis,

Your left hip,

Left thigh,

Knee,

Calf,

Ankle,

Foot,

And toes,

The entire left leg in that warm,

Glowing light melting and softening,

And sensing your right hip,

Right thigh,

Knee,

Calf,

Ankle,

Foot,

And toes,

The entire right leg in that warm,

Glowing light melting and softening,

And welcoming both hips,

Legs,

And feet simultaneously as they soften into the ground beneath you,

Both legs relaxed and at ease,

The arms relaxed and at ease,

The whole body relaxed and at ease,

Sensing the entire front body soft and still and relaxed,

And the entire back body soft and still and relaxed,

The whole body relaxed and at ease,

Softening into the ground beneath.

And moving our awareness now to the breath,

We're going to start to simply become an observer of the breath,

And as you start observing and sensing your breath,

Perhaps notice the rhythm,

The rhythm,

The depth,

The temperature,

And the sound of your breath,

Just taking a few moments to observe,

To breathe,

To watch,

To feel,

And to sense,

Not changing anything,

Just observing,

Just watching the breath,

Observing the breath,

Letting the breath move through the body,

And we're going to start to visualize the breath like a silky current,

Yawning,

Rising,

And falling,

Your breath like a wave moving through you,

Yawning,

Rising,

And falling like a wave,

A silky current.

So we're going to bring our attention to the soles of the feet,

Just beginning by noticing any sensation in the soles of the feet,

And no sensation is a sensation in itself,

So just noticing any sensation,

Whether there's no particular feeling,

Or tingling,

Aching,

Or whatever it is,

And we're going to exhale fully,

And as you next inhale,

Imagine yourself drawing breath from the soles of your feet,

All the way to the top of the head,

And as you exhale,

Feeling the breath drawing back down from the top of the head,

All the way out the soles of the feet,

Inhaling to draw the breath up through the body to the top of the head,

And exhaling,

Feeling the breath retreating out of the body,

And out of the soles of the feet,

And out of the soles of the feet,

So just continuing like this in your own rhythm,

In your own time,

Inhaling to draw the breath up through the body to the top of the head,

Exhaling,

Feeling the breath retreating back out of the body,

Through the feet,

And out,

Like a silky wave rising up and over the body,

And drawing back down and out of the soles of the feet,

Like a wave drawing the breath up and through you,

And exhaling as the wave draws back down and out,

Inhaling and exhaling,

Like a wave rising and falling,

And continuing your own time,

Inhaling and exhaling,

Like a wave rising and falling,

And slowly coming back to your natural breath,

Coming back to your natural rhythm,

And again just softening into it,

Releasing the breath,

Releasing your observation of the breath,

Releasing your awareness of the breath,

And just letting what is be,

And now I'm going to invite you to take a journey with me to an expanse of water,

It could be wherever you want it to be,

A lake,

An ocean,

A river,

Or a pond,

Somewhere new and imagined,

Or real and remembered,

And as you arrive here,

Notice the day is turning to dusk,

Where might you be standing,

And what does the ground beneath you feel like in this space?

Can you feel stones beneath your feet,

Or sand between your toes?

Allow yourself to soften into the ground beneath you,

Softening into whatever is beneath,

Sand,

Stones,

Grass,

And as you stand here,

A gentle breeze blows,

Can you feel the breeze on your skin?

Is it warm air or cool air?

Whatever you need in this moment,

Can you taste the air?

Is it salty,

Or earthy,

Or sweet,

Fragrant?

Tasting,

Smelling the air,

And then maybe walk towards the milky water in front of you,

Perhaps to dip your toes in,

To feel the cool water lapping over your feet.

Do you go deeper,

Or stay in the shallows?

Do you fully submerge,

And lift your feet off the floor,

Or stay firmly planted,

Gazing up at the darkening sky?

Taking a moment just to explore this space,

Whether you're staying,

Paddling in the shallows,

Or standing on the solid ground,

Or submerging in the water,

Floating with your feet off the floor,

As the sky turns black,

And the moon,

Bone-white,

Hangs in the sky,

Moonlight shining on your skin,

And feeling that warm,

Glowing moonlight on your skin.

As you feel yourself light,

Feeling yourself lifting above the earth,

Or floating in the water,

Or floating above the water,

Light and agile,

Like a bird lifting off,

And maybe staying afloat,

Feeling the body light and free.

Maybe you even go higher,

And take flight over the milky waters,

Fingertips brushing the surface,

Breaking the surface of the water,

Feeling the cool water on the fingertips,

Or the cool water on the fingertips,

Feeling yourself free and light,

Flying through the night,

Gliding into the stars,

Feeling the starlight kissing your skin,

Free-flowing through the night sky,

Flying between the stars,

Touching the bone-white moon,

Exploring,

Free,

Agile,

Weightless,

And wherever you are,

Floating in this space,

Or floating back down to rest on the shoreline,

Feeling your body soft,

Relaxed,

Weightless,

And maybe letting go of these images,

And resting in this soft space,

Resting in the darkness,

Being with whatever is there,

Letting everything come and go with fluidity,

And letting go of everything,

Resting and allowing,

Drifting into a place of deep relaxation,

Drifting into a place of stillness,

Of sleep,

Of quiet,

Of rest,

Letting the body flow naturally into rest,

Into sleep.

Reviews

Thank you, Annie🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻Did this in the early morning hours, loved the floating: was it on the water, in the air? The realities glided into one another, creating an out-of-this-world experience: bliss🙏🏻🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🙏🏻

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