Fourteen Minutes To Deep Relaxation & Sleep

Relax the body and the mind to move to a state of deep relaxation and sleep. We use the body scan techniques from yoga nidra together with some guided imagery to help achieve relaxation and inner peace.

Transcript

Hello this is Clive.

This is a short meditation aimed at helping you get to a state of deep relaxation and maybe even sleep.

It's a thing that sometimes evades us all so let's see where we get to with this.

Start by just closing your eyes making sure the body is comfortable wherever you are.

Maybe you're sitting down in a comfortable chair,

Maybe you're lying on a sofa or maybe you're in bed.

Wherever it is just have a little wriggle.

Make sure you're in a relaxed place.

Then let's take a couple of deep breaths in and out.

In and out.

We're going to go through some techniques from Yoga Nidra here and they work on relaxing the body progressively.

So let's start at the top of our head.

Close your eyes and feel your attention at the top of your head.

What does it feel like?

Any itches?

Any pain?

Just let it relax.

If you've got a headache then just breathe into that.

It's there,

Maybe it'll go away,

Maybe it won't.

But just accept the state that it is and breathe into it.

Think of your eyeballs.

Relax your eyes.

Sometimes when that happens to me my eyes seem to point off in different directions or roll up or down in my head.

Just let them go wherever they are,

Wherever they want to be.

Feel the eyelids relax and your face.

Just let it go.

Any tension between your eyebrows or in your forehead?

In the cheeks?

In the jaw?

Just let it go.

How about your mouth?

What about your tongue?

Relax your tongue.

Your whole face and head should just feel calm and quiet.

Move down the body to the throat.

Relax your neck.

Maybe you can feel the blood pulsing in your neck.

Just feel it smooth and gentle.

Let go of any tension in your throat.

Move down to your shoulders.

If they're pulled up just let them slump,

Let them go.

Maybe there's no dignity in sleep but we're not after dignity,

We're after relaxation.

So let your shoulders go.

We're going to work down each arm now.

So start with your dominant arm.

If you're right-handed then that'll be your right arm and if you're left-handed then that'll be your left arm.

What does the upper arm feel like?

If there's any tension there then let it go.

The elbow.

Just let that relax to a comfortable position.

The forearm.

Maybe there's some tightness in there.

If there is then you can just gently clench your fist and relax it.

Feel the difference.

If you've got a manual jaw-bore,

Even if you've just been typing all day,

Your hands can feel tense and wound up.

So through each finger just let them go.

Your thumb and your index finger,

Your middle finger and your ring finger,

Your little finger.

Let the whole hand be loose.

On the other arm now,

The upper arm.

Breathe into it.

The elbow.

Let the joint be loose.

The forearm.

Again if you want to just gently clench and unclench the fist.

The back of the hand.

The thumb.

And then each finger in turn.

Give them a little wiggle if you want to feel what they're like.

And then let them go.

So both arms now.

Just relaxed.

And then back to your chest.

Your upper chest.

Release anything there.

Your upper back.

Maybe the stiffness in there again.

If it won't shift then just accept it as it is.

If you find a pain anywhere or a little niggle,

Put it in a box.

Put it on the table of your mind and let it go.

You don't need to focus on it.

You just need to accept that it's there and move past it.

Down your back to your lower back.

And then round to your belly.

Let your belly go.

Again.

No dignity.

Just release.

Down to your hips.

Your butt.

Then we'll go down one leg.

So just pick a leg.

Feel the quads and the hamstrings.

Let them go.

And the knee.

Again let that joint just unwind.

The calf.

Breathe into it.

The ankle.

Give it a little wiggle if you want to.

Then just let the foot fall where it wants to.

Let your toes unwind.

If you find that hard again just give them a little clench and then release them.

Any muscle that's a bit tight you can just give it a little squeeze and then release it.

The other leg now.

So the upper leg.

Again if you need to just squeeze and release then that's fine.

The knee.

The calf.

Anything in the shin maybe.

If you've had a busy day walking around.

The ankles.

And then that other foot.

Squeeze and release the toes.

We're just going to go back up the body just checking in.

Checking to make sure everything is totally relaxed.

Deep relaxation is as good as sleep for most things.

How are those calves?

And the upper leg.

And the hips and the groin and the butt.

Your belly.

And your chest.

And check the arms.

They should just be just puddled down beside you.

Your upper chest.

Your shoulders.

Your throat.

Your neck and your head.

And now what's inside your head.

Your face is relaxed.

Your eyeballs are relaxed.

Inside your head can be relaxed.

If there's still activity in there.

If you've got some thought or some ear worm from the day.

You can just let it be.

Your mind is like a lake the Buddhist say.

And the thoughts and the emotions are waves from the wind.

But they're not the whole lake.

So maybe there's a little choppy corner somewhere.

Look at the whole lake.

Imagine it there.

Calm and unruffled.

There's some waves.

There's always waves.

But even those will die down at night.

So just let them go.

Maybe there's moonlight on the lake.

So just see it there.

Quiet and calm.

Nothing moving.

Tranquil in the night.

Let your thoughts just calming down.

A busy day but now they're calming down.

If there's anything left in your mind from the day.

You can just note it.

It'll be there tomorrow.

But for now there's just the lake and the mountains and the moonlight.

And breathe and rest or sleep.

And with that I'm just going to leave you to it.

Thank you.

Reviews

You have a very relaxing voice and way of talking and your message is very soothing. Thank you 🙏🏼

Clive this meditation is just right for me. Not too prescriptive just enough guidance. Thank you. I will be back again! Thank you.🙏

Wonderful! I will listen to this over and over again. Thank you so much, Clive.

Excellent! Did help me move to a more peaceful state.

Very effective at getting me relaxed fully and able to fall asleep. Thank you.

Very nice!

Very relaxing. Thank you! 🙏💚✨

Thank you for this calming and beautifully peaceful practice. Namaste

I didn't hear the end 💤. Thank you for your calm tone and kind voice 🙂

Very easy to follow his guided meditation. I relaxed quickly and and was asleep before the end of his time

A great yoga nidra! I didn’t hear the end of this short little gem.

Outstanding ! Very relaxing & effective meditation for sleep. Thank you. Namaste 🙏

Good. Fell asleep but woke up right away. Will try again.

Hi Clive, I’m working my way through your meditations 😃
I found this deep body scan to be very relaxing.
Thank you 🙏 so very much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Nice simple body scan with a soothing voice. Calming

Beautiful 🙏

Enjoyed this. His voice is relaxing and wonderful.

So calming, thank you.

Your voice is so soothing!

Wonderful meditation - lovely kind voice and well-paced guidance. I especially liked the image of the tranquil lake in moonlight to quiet the mind - thank you❣️