35 Minute IRest® Yoga Nidra

This 35-minute iRest® yoga nidra guided meditation is great to fall asleep to. You could also listen to this in the morning. Probably best not to listen to it after 5 pm unless you intend to go to sleep and stay asleep. It is said that 30 minutes of yoga nidra is equivalent to 3 hours of sleep, so this length of practice could reset your sleep clock.

Transcript

Begin your practice of I-rest by adjusting your body so that you feel completely supported.

Just letting go into the surface that your body is resting upon.

During I-rest,

Welcome every experience as a messenger.

Just inviting you to explore a particular sensation,

Emotion,

Thought or the recognition of being spacious awareness.

Welcoming and responding to each messenger that arrives in your guesthouse of awareness with curiosity and openness.

And bringing attention to your senses,

Allowing each perception to come to you.

Your mouth,

Nose,

Ears,

Eyes,

The sensation of your body,

Perceiving sounds,

The air caressing your skin,

The heaviness or lightness of your body,

Senses wide open and receptive,

Sensing the vibrant aliveness of the body just as it is.

Recall your intention for today's practice.

Perhaps simply to remain alert and attentive,

Or to inquire into a particular sensation,

Emotion or belief that you wish to work with today.

Or perhaps to abide as joy,

Being or awareness.

And fully welcome and affirm your intention for today's practice with your entire body and mind.

And now recall your heart's deepest desire,

Wish or mission.

The feeling of life living through you as a deep longing.

Perhaps for health,

Healing or awakening.

A spontaneous desire that you want to manifest more than anything else.

Affirming and experiencing the felt sense of your heartfelt desire as true right now.

And as you are ready,

Set your heartfelt desire aside and sense how it affirms itself throughout your practice and beyond in your daily life.

Bring attention to your inner resource,

Resting back into the felt sense of being or well-being and notice where and how you experience it in your body.

A safe haven that helps you feel secure and at ease.

Seeing the felt sense of being and well-being as spacious,

Open,

Timeless,

Perfect,

Familiar.

Unchanging yet fresh and always present.

Always open and receptive.

Welcoming sensations that invite the feeling of ease and well-being throughout your body and mind.

And if it helps,

Invite in memories of people or images.

A wise man or woman,

Power animal,

An object or a place in nature.

Images that nourish feelings of being secure,

Peaceful and at ease.

And the felt sense of being and well-being throughout your body.

Know that you can return to your inner resource at any time,

Day or night and throughout your practice of I-rest.

Whenever you feel the need to rest,

Relax and feel totally secure and at ease.

And now allow my words to be your words as you rotate your attention through your body.

Seeing your jaw,

Lips,

Teeth and gums.

Mouth,

Ceiling of the mouth,

Floor and inner walls.

Left and right.

Tongue,

Back of the throat.

The entire jaw and mouth as sensation.

Give up being involved with thinking and instead welcome sensations just as they are,

As they come to you.

Sensation of the left ear.

The right ear.

Both ears at the same time as sensation.

The left nostril.

The right nostril.

The flow of air and sensation inside both nostrils.

The left eye.

Eyebrow.

Temple.

Cheekbone.

The entire left eye as sensation.

Right eye.

Eyebrow.

Temple.

Cheekbone.

The entire right eye as sensation.

Both eyes at the same time as a field of radiant sensation.

And without analyzing,

Sensing your way,

Sense the forehead,

Crown of the head,

Back of the head and the neck,

Sensation within the neck and the inner walls of the throat.

The left shoulder,

Left upper arm,

Elbow,

Forearm,

Wrist,

Left hand and fingers.

The entire left arm as radiant or vibrating sensation.

The right shoulder,

The right upper arm,

Elbow,

Forearm,

Wrist,

Right hand and fingers.

The entire right arm as radiant or vibrating sensation.

Let go of analyzing,

Let go of thoughts.

Thoughts drifting away like balloons sailing away into the sky above.

And welcoming both arms as radiant sensation.

The sensation of the upper chest and back,

The mid chest and back,

The belly and lower back,

The floor of the torso,

The ceiling of the torso,

The entire torso a sphere of sensation.

Let go of thinking.

The entire torso alive as sensation,

Radiating inwardly and outwardly in all directions.

The entire left leg as vibrant sensation.

Alert,

Attentive,

Sensing now the right leg,

Right hip,

Right thigh,

Knee,

Foreleg and calf,

Ankle,

Foot and toes.

The entire right leg as vibrant sensation.

And sensing both legs at the same time as vibrant sensation.

Sensing the front of the body,

The back of the body,

The left side,

The right side,

Inside the body,

Surface sensations,

Welcoming the entire body as vibrant sensation.

Radiating in all directions inwardly and outwardly.

Welcoming every experience that is now present,

While interweaving your inner resource of being and well-being.

Feeling secure and at ease.

Feeling yourself as being.

In which all of these changing sensations are unfolding.

Sense the body breathing itself.

Letting go of analyzing and thinking.

Just sensation.

The natural flow of air as sensation enters and leaves the body.

Nostrils,

Walls of the throat,

Chest and abdomen.

Chest and abdomen.

Welcoming the sensation of the body breathing itself.

And while sensing the abdomen rising and releasing as breath naturally flows in and out.

Begin counting from seven to one.

Like this.

Seven inhaling,

Abdomen rising and expanding.

Seven exhaling,

Abdomen releasing and relaxing.

Six inhaling,

Abdomen rising and expanding.

Six exhaling,

Abdomen releasing and relaxing.

Continue counting with your body's own natural breathing rhythm.

Breathing and counting.

Alert,

Attentive.

Completely absorbed in counting from seven to one.

As the body breathes itself.

And if you lose count,

Start again at seven.

Counting,

Body breathing itself.

Abdomen expanding and relaxing.

Alert,

Attentive.

Breathing and counting.

Seven exhaling,

Abdomen rising and relaxing.

Alert,

Attentive.

Counting as the body breathes itself.

And as it feels right,

Allow the counting to fall away.

While remaining attentive to flows of sensation and energy throughout the body.

Alert and attentive.

The body a field of radiant sensation.

Welcoming every experience that is now present.

And if it feels helpful,

Interweaving throughout the body the felt sense of your inner resource and your own awareness.

And if it feels helpful,

Interweaving throughout the body the felt sense of your inner resource of being and well-being.

And feelings of being secure and at ease.

Welcoming feelings that are present.

Perhaps warmth or heaviness.

Without changing what you perceive.

And if it's helpful,

Locate an opposite feeling.

If you're sensing warmth,

Find coolness.

If heaviness,

Lightness.

And then come back to the original feeling.

Then experience its opposite.

Moving back and forth between these opposites.

At your own rhythm.

And then perceive opposites at the same time.

Experiencing how this acts on your body and mind.

Experiencing how this acts on your body and mind.

Not with the thinking mind.

Instead sensing with the entire body.

Without analyzing.

And sense how everything is a movement in awareness.

Dissolving into being unchanging awareness.

In which all of these changing sensations are arising.

And welcome an emotion that's present in the body.

Or an emotion that you're working with in your life.

Or an emotion that you're working with in your life.

And then come back to the original feeling.

Or an emotion that you're working with in your life.

And if it's helpful,

Recall a memory that invites this emotion into your body.

And if no emotion is present,

Stay with what's most calling your attention.

If it's helpful,

Weave in your inner resource of being and well-being.

And feelings of being secure and at ease.

Sensing the emotion that's present.

Or whatever is most calling your attention.

Where and how do you feel this in your body?

Welcoming images or thoughts that may accompany what you're experiencing.

Welcoming your experience just as it is.

Without judging or analyzing.

Sensing your body.

Inquire where is the center to this emotion or experience.

Where is its outermost boundary or periphery?

And if it's helpful,

Locate an opposite emotion or experience.

And notice where and how you feel it in your body.

And then move back and forth between these opposites.

Experiencing first one,

Then its opposite.

In your own rhythm.

Sensing how each affects the entire body.

And then sense opposites at the same time.

While feeling how this acts on your entire body and mind.

Welcoming everything just as it is.

Interweave your inner resource of being and well-being.

In which all of these changing sensations are unfolding.

And if it feels right,

Locate a thought or belief that you take to be true about yourself.

And if no belief is present,

Simply stay with what's most calling your attention.

If it's helpful,

Weave in your inner resource of being and well-being.

And feelings of being secure and at ease.

Sensing the belief that's present.

Or what's most calling your attention.

Notice where and how you feel this belief in your body when you take it to be true.

Welcoming memories,

Images,

Or emotions that co-arise.

Without analysing.

Welcoming your experience just as it is.

And if it's helpful,

Bring to mind an opposite of this belief.

Notice where and how you feel this opposite in your body when you take it to be true.

Is there an image or an emotion that arises with this belief?

Welcoming your experience just as it is.

Knowing that you can interweave your inner resource at any time.

And now return to the original belief.

Sensing what's present in your body and mind.

And then welcome the opposite belief again.

Holding it as true.

Welcoming your experience with curiosity and openness.

And at your own rhythm,

Alternate several times between these opposites.

Then when it feels right,

Welcome both beliefs at the same time.

Experiencing how this acts on your entire body and mind.

Welcoming all that's now present in awareness.

Experiencing yourself as unchanging awareness.

In which all these changing perceptions are arising and passing away.

And welcome sensations of joy,

Happiness or even bliss in your body.

If it's helpful,

Recall a memory of a particular event,

Perhaps an animal or someone in your life who you love or who loves you that invites the felt sense of joy into your body.

Experiencing sensations of joy or happiness expanding throughout your entire body.

Joy flowing throughout your torso,

Arms and legs.

Your entire body alive with the felt sense of joy.

If it's helpful,

Interweave your inner resource of being and well-being in which all of these changing sensations are unfolding.

Notice how joy is unfolding in awareness.

Feel yourself dissolving into being spacious and unchanging awareness in which the feeling of joy is present.

Setting aside the thinking mind,

Welcome the felt sense of being and well-being.

Notice how being is arising in the unchanging spacious field of awareness.

And now let go and dissolve into being awareness.

Sense into the core centre of awareness.

Sense into the outermost edge or periphery of awareness.

Sensing your way being unchanging awareness formless yet undeniable everything just as it is.

Awareness awake and aware of itself.

Abiding as awareness and welcoming the felt sense of being,

Reflect back upon the journey you've just taken.

Sensing the different perceptions that have been present sensations emotions,

Thoughts joy being and unchanging awareness.

And take a moment now to welcome and affirm your heartfelt desire with your entire body.

Affirm any intention you wish to carry into your daily life or into your next practice.

Sensing your body the room around you.

Imagine going about your waking life yet all the while awake and aware as awareness in which all of life is unfolding.

Awareness awake and aware of itself.

Taking your time,

Transition back to your waking life.

Your body fully awakening into its natural state of eyes open,

Alert and wakeful consciousness.

Reorienting to your surroundings to where you are and where you are now going.

Coming fully back alert,

Wide awake and grateful for taking this time for yourself.