Welcome to this yoga nidra for busy ADHD minds.
If you've ever sat down to meditate and immediately remembered the 17 things that you forgot to do,
Replayed embarrassing conversations from 2009,
Started planning your future and then realised that you were supposed to be meditating,
Then welcome.
There is no expectation here for your mind to be empty,
For your attention to stay in one place,
Or to get this right whatsoever.
This yoga nidra will give the nervous system and your brain lots of gentle invitations along the way to help it slow down and settle.
So finding a position that feels comfortable and supported to you that might be lying down maybe curled up under a blanket,
Making yourself a cosy yoga nidranist.
Whatever feels best for your body today.
And as we begin to go into this practice,
Just see if you can.
.
.
Allow my voice to do some of the work for you today.
Just letting the words drift over you while you rest.
And if you need to move during this practice,
That's okay.
If you lose track of what I'm saying or you fall asleep,
That's also okay.
We are keeping our standards low.
And mediocre in this practice.
So we'll begin with a gentle progressive muscle relaxation.
Where we will create a little bit of tension in certain parts of the body before releasing it.
And as we soften these muscles,
We're sending the body a gentle reminder and message that it is safe to let go for a while.
Any movement doesn't feel right today.
Simply imagine it or bring your awareness to that area instead which is still a great signal.
And if holding the breath isn't comfortable,
You can just breathe normally throughout this.
So let's begin with the feet and the legs.
So just taking a moment to bring your awareness into both of the legs and the feet.
And taking a comfortable breath in.
And gently curling the toes.
Tightening the feet and the calves.
The thighs and the glutes.
It doesn't have to be extreme,
But just squeezing so you can create some tension.
And then slowly exhaling,
Letting everything soften.
Releasing the effort.
And feeling the legs become heavy against the surface beneath you.
And breathing naturally.
And let's do that once more,
So breathing in and gently squeezing the feet,
The legs and thighs and the glutes.
Holding for a few moments.
And then letting it all go.
Releasing the breath,
Releasing the body parts.
And just notice the difference between holding and releasing.
And now bringing awareness into the hands and the arms.
Taking a breath in and gently making fists,
Tightening the hands,
The forearms and upper arms.
Just holding for a moment if that feels comfortable.
And then exhaling.
Reducing.
Letting the arms become heavy beside you.
And we'll just do that one more time at your own pace.
Squeezing,
Releasing.
Allowing the muscles to completely soften.
Now bringing awareness to the face.
Taking a gentle breath in,
Softly scrunching the face.
Squeeze the eyes and the nose and the jaw.
And perhaps even the forehead.
And then exhaling and allowing the whole face to soften.
Letting the jaw unclench,
The tongue rest in your mouth.
And the space between the eyebrows smooth.
Now lifting the shoulders up towards the ears.
Holding any tension that you've been carrying there.
And slowly letting them melt back down.
We elect them to come.
Just a little heavier.
And finally if it feels comfortable taking one last full breath in gently creating a little tension throughout the whole body.
The legs,
The arms,
The torso.
And the face.
Holding for a moment if that feels comfortable.
And then with a long,
Slow exhale or a big sigh,
Just letting everything go.
Allowing the whole body to sink into the support beneath you.
Perhaps making any final adjustments now.
Finding that position where you can be completely comfortable for the rest of the practice.
And now just noticing how the body feels after that.
Perhaps seeing if it feels a little heavier,
More settled.
Often people with ADHD don't arrive into meditation and suddenly switch to being calm.
We arrive carrying the day with us.
Still buzzing and thinking and moving and planning.
So rather than trying to jump from 100 miles an hour into complete stillness.
We're simply giving the nervous system a few gentle stepping stones in this practice.
So the muscle relaxation has already helped the body begin to let go a little bit.
And of course there's no expectations around this and you having to feel any different.
But we're now going to soften things a little further with some gentle humming breaths.
One of the reasons humming can feel so soothing is.
.
.
That the vibration stimulates the vagus nerve.
Which helps send a simple message to the body that you are safe and you can begin to relax now.
So taking a breath in.
And we're going to hum on the exhale.
Feeling the vibration in the chest.
Or maybe you feel it in the throat or the face.
And again,
Breathing in.
Help me.
This also naturally slows down the exhale without having to force it.
Which gives another gentle nudge to the nervous system.
I'll let you do a few rounds on your own now.
And then just checking in again to see how you feel.
There's no need to feel anything different.
We're just checking in and noticing.
To build that awareness within our bodies.
So we now come to the rotation of consciousness part of the nidra where we'll bring our awareness to different body parts.
You don't need to focus perfectly.
If your attention wanders off,
That's completely fine.
Just gently welcome your attention back,
If you're able to,
To my voice or to the body part that I've named.
So starting with bringing your awareness to the right hand thumb.
First finger.
The second finger.
The third finger.
The fourth finger.
Palm of the hand.
The back of the hand.
The rest.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Opera.
Shoulder.
And then moving your awareness into the left hand thumb.
The first finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Old finger.
Palm of the hand.
The back of the hand.
The wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Shoulder.
Feeling both of your arms together.
And then bringing awareness to the right leg.
Feeling into the hip.
The thigh.
Ankle.
Feeling into the whole of the right foot.
And then moving your awareness into the left leg,
Feeling into the hips.
The thigh.
And cold.
Foot and then expanding your awareness to both of the legs and the feet together.
And bringing your awareness to the face.
We often saw a lot of tension in the face.
Feeling into the forehead.
The right eye.
The left eye.
And the space between the eyes.
The right eyebrow.
The left eyebrow.
And seeing if you can feel into the space behind the eyes.
Feeling the temples together.
The right cheekbone.
The left cheekbone.
Feeling into both sides of the jaw.
The top lip.
The bottom lip.
The Tongue.
And the whole of the mouth together.
Moving your awareness into the neck.
The heart center.
Feeling the whole of the stomach together.
Seeing if you can sense the rhythm.
And the movement of the breath in the belly.
Now feeling into the back.
The right shoulder blade.
The left shoulder blade.
The upper spine.
And the lower spine and back.
And now seeing if you can sense the whole body together.
So expanding your awareness to fill the whole body.
Feeling all of the sensations.
In the whole of the body.
And now back to just noticing the natural rhythm of the breath.
You don't need to change anything here.
Just the gentle movement of breathing.
And feeling into that.
Perhaps noticing the inhale.
And the exhale.
Like waves arriving and leaving the shore.
I'm just resting here for a moment.
There's nowhere that you need to be,
Nothing that you need to remember or catch up on.
We're just giving our bodies this thank you in the form of rest.
And showing yourself some appreciation for showing up and taking the time to practice today.
And if thoughts come or you drift into a daydream,
That's absolutely fine.
If you've been listening carefully or you've been thinking,
Is this working?
That's all okay too.
Maybe your attention wandered a hundred times.
Whatever your brain is doing right now is welcome.
Because in the state of Nidra,
Rest is still happening.
Behind the scenes.
And as we come to close this practice now.
Just beginning to notice the room around you.
Sensing the sounds.
The temperature of the air.
Perhaps feeling the surface beneath you.
Feeling into where the body meets the surface beneath you.
And inviting some movement in the fingers and the toes.
Perhaps stretching and taking some deeper breaths.
And when you feel ready,
Gently opening the eyes.
And just seeing and sensing the environment that you're in and readjusting to the outside world.
Thank you so much for taking this time to rest today.
My name is Annie Ray and I look forward to resting and regulating with you again soon.
