Yoga Nidra For Sleep - Find Center & Remember

Weaving Chinese principles into the classical guided meditation of Yoga Nidra (conscious sleep), we release old patterns and plant new seeds while lying on our backs. By surfing the waves of our conscious and subconscious minds, we eventually reach a superconscious state of deep relaxation - where healing, insight and magic take place.

Transcript

Aloha my friend,

It's me,

Bruno Zaloum and this is a Yoga Nidra practice.

Yoga Nidra means yogic sleep or conscious sleep.

This guided meditation is designed to put your body and thinking mind to sleep while keeping your awareness wide awake.

Your consciousness will be hovering between the worlds of sleep and wakefulness,

Where deep insights and healing happen.

Please find a quiet and dark place where you won't be disturbed.

You will be laying down on your back the whole time,

Preferably on a mat or on the floor.

Make yourself super comfortable and feel free to use pillows,

Blankets,

Towels,

Bolsters to support your head,

Your knees or maybe to cover yourself as your body temperature will naturally drop during Yoga Nidra.

Okay,

Ready?

Now that you're all nice and comfy on your back,

Take your awareness down to your legs,

Your toes,

Your feet,

Your shins,

Your knees,

Your thighs,

Up to your pelvis.

Begin to relax your whole legs.

Notice if there is any resistance to gravity and relaxation and allow your next exhale to completely let it go.

Now let your awareness rise to your torso,

From your belly to your abdomen,

Your chest,

Your lungs,

Your heart,

Your liver,

Up to your throat.

Begin to feed your whole torso front and back of the body.

Completely relax.

Now bring your awareness up to your face,

Your head,

From your neck up to the crown of your head.

Start to feel your whole face relaxing from your jaw,

Your mouth,

Your nose,

Your cheeks,

Your ears.

Your eyes begin to feel the muscles around the eyes softening the optical nerves.

And then go inside of your brain,

Allow your whole brain to relax,

To rest.

And then feel the back of your head resting on the floor behind you,

Completely supported,

Completely relaxed.

You can now bring your awareness to all parts of your body,

From your legs to your torso up to your face.

Let your awareness move from your head down to your torso,

To your belly,

Your pelvis,

Moving down through your legs,

Your knees,

Until you reach your toes.

Begin to feed your whole body from the toes to the crown of the head,

To the fingertips.

Completely relax.

The practice of Yoga Nidra starts now.

Bring your awareness to all the sounds around you.

Begin to notice each sound by itself,

Without trying to name the sound.

So just move your awareness from one sound to the next sound.

Like a frequency,

A signal,

So that there is no story attached to each sound.

There is just the vibration of the sound.

As you continue refining your radar,

Catching and releasing sounds,

Start to bring your awareness closer and closer to your physical body.

Let your search for the sounds become more internal.

The sound of your heart beating,

The sound of your breath.

Without trying to control the breath,

Just begin to observe your natural rhythm,

Watching your inhales and exhales as they're happening.

Allowing the breath to move naturally through you.

And all that you're doing is observing it.

Your awareness is at your nostrils.

And just observe yourself inhaling and exhaling naturally.

Begin to sense the quality of the inhale.

A little bit more nourishing,

Energizing,

Uplifting.

And then notice the quality of the exhale.

Great surrender,

Softness,

And grace.

As you're continuing to observe your breath,

Patiently,

Like a mother watching her child falling asleep.

But you're not falling asleep.

You're completely aware and completely relaxed at the same time.

Now begin to slowly shape your breath a little bit more consciously.

Following your inhale from your nostrils down your throat to your lungs,

To your belly.

And then on your exhale,

Follow your breath,

Leaving your belly through the lungs,

Through the throat,

Up through the nostrils.

Just begin to follow this very simple linear path of the breath as it moves from nostrils to belly and belly to nostrils.

And start to elongate your inhales and your exhales slightly.

So that you can start to feel that your breath is elastic and very satisfying.

Please continue shaping your breath,

Molding it so that you can really enjoy it.

Continue shaping your breath linearly from belly to nostrils and nostrils to belly.

On your next inhale,

Imagine your torso like a sphere,

A big ball.

And start to fill your sphere with your breath so that your breath reaches your kidneys,

Your middle back,

Even the backs of your lungs.

Begin to fill and empty your torso like a big balloon in all directions without straining,

Just shaping,

Making it more and more elastic,

Nourishing,

And spherical.

Please continue shaping the breath in all directions.

Now completely let go,

Let your breath come back to a natural rhythm.

Do not shape the breath anymore.

Let yourself be breathed by the breath.

Very nice.

From this place of calm and center,

Take your awareness to the center of your chest,

To your sternum,

Your energetic heart center.

And bring to your awareness your intention,

Your desire,

Your sankalpa,

Anything that you wish to embody,

To attract,

Or to have in your life.

Repeat your intention three times with a gentle awareness around the heart center.

Every time you repeat it,

Try to imagine it,

Feel it.

Very nice.

Trust that your intention has been heard.

And get ready to meet yourself in your purest,

Finest form in a journey of rejuvenation and complete clarity.

This journey starts in the body with the rotation of consciousness.

Let your body be completely still.

The only thing that is moving is your awareness.

So let your awareness move towards the center of your chest,

Around the heart center,

The sternum.

From this place,

Let your awareness travel down to the tip of your right thumb.

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

The palm of the right hand,

The right wrist,

Elbow,

Right shoulder.

Take your awareness back to the heart center.

From the heart center,

Let your awareness travel down to the tip of the left thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger,

Palm of the left hand,

Left wrist,

Elbow,

Left shoulder.

Back to the heart center.

Back to the heart.

From the heart,

Let your awareness travel down to your right hip,

Right knee,

Ankle,

Tip of the big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

The right ankle,

The right knee,

The right hip.

Back to the heart center.

From the heart,

Move down to the left hip,

Left knee,

Ankle,

Tip of the big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

Left ankle,

Left knee,

Left hip.

Back to the heart center.

From the heart,

Let your awareness move up to your chest,

Your neck,

Your lips,

Your nostrils,

Your right ear,

Left ear,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Forehead,

Crown of the head,

Back of the head,

Back of the neck,

Upper back,

Middle back,

Lower back.

Now feel the backs of both legs.

Feel the soles of both feet.

Let your awareness move back to the heart center.

From the center of your chest,

Let your awareness radiate throughout the whole body.

Begin to feel every part of your body filled with awareness.

Whole body awareness.

Now with a gentle awareness around your legs,

Allow yourself to feel the area from your toes up to your belly.

Begin to feel your digestive organs,

Reproductive system,

Your pelvis,

Your thighs,

Your knees,

Your calf muscles,

Down to your tippy toes.

Let your awareness reside in this whole area.

The legs,

The roots of your being.

Now allow yourself to remember someone that makes you feel grounded,

Stable,

Connected.

Allow the memory of a person that gives you stability,

Good grounds,

Safety.

Allow this memory to come,

This person,

This face.

Now let your awareness move up to your torso,

Above your belly.

Begin to feel your lungs,

Your liver on the right side,

Your heart on the left side of the chest,

Up to your throat,

Your thyroid gland,

The filter between your heart and the world.

Begin to occupy the whole area of the torso with your arms,

Your lungs,

Your chest,

Your throat.

And now remember someone that makes you feel able and capable,

That really has your back in life.

Remember that person,

Remember that face.

Now let your awareness move up to your face,

To all of your senses,

With your mouth,

Your nose,

Your ears,

Your eyes,

Your brain,

The skin of your face,

Your hair.

Begin to feel your whole face occupying this area with your awareness.

And let your mind remember a person that gives you inspiration,

A big vision in life,

Someone to really look up to.

Allow the memory of this person to come to you.

Remember that person.

Beautiful.

Let it all go.

Once again,

With a gentle awareness around the heart center,

Plant your intention three times,

But this time with lots of feelings and lots of imagination.

Begin to imagine,

Visualize,

And feel your intention as if it's happening right now.

Please continue.

Beautiful.

Now let it go.

The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

You can slowly begin to bring your awareness back to the sounds all around you,

The sensation of the air caressing your skin,

And then start to bring your awareness closer and closer to your physical body.

Listening to the sound of your breath,

The sound of your heartbeats.

You can go ahead and swallow and listen to the sound of your saliva going down your throat.

Let this act wake you up.

Start bending your elbows and place your hands gently on your chest.

Begin to feel life happening underneath your palms,

All this movement inside of you.

These fantastic systems working all together in harmony inside the container of the body.

Take a big inhale through your nose,

Fill yourself up from your toes up to the crown of your head,

And then open your mouth and exhale.

Let it all go.

Beautiful.

You can bend your knees,

Give yourself a hug,

And then roll to your right side.

Take a moment on your right to let your experience integrate in the body,

In the mind,

And in the heart.

Feel free to stay on your side for as long as you need.

If you're transitioning back to your day,

You can slowly push yourself up,

Maybe sit down for a few minutes to integrate,

And then go ahead and continue your day.

If you're getting ready to go to bed,

This is a great time to go to sleep.

Thank you so much for practicing with me,

My friends.

It was a pure pleasure to guide you.

Please visit Bruno.

Yoga for weekly life classes of Yoga Nidra and more.

Namaste.