Yoga Nidra Journey For Stress Relief

Through gentle guidance and soothing music, this Yoga Nidra practice is designed to dissolve stress and cultivate inner peace. The technique you'll use in this meditation is called inner smile. It's a concept often used in mindfulness practices, where you direct love, care, and compassion to yourself.

A deep inner smile spreads like a relaxing elixir, making you receptive to transforming negative into positive.

Transcript

Welcome to this yoga nidra practice. Take the time to lay down on your back and to make yourself as comfortable as you can be and then gently close the eyes. Throughout this practice there will be short periods of silence for you to go deeper into the experience and to absorb the benefits of the practice. Make the commitment to remain awake and aware. If you notice you are drifting off, Come back to the sound of my voice. You don't have to understand or analyze anything I say. Remain awake and aware and allow my voice to be your guide. In this practice I suggest to bring to mind something or someone that makes you smile. This might be seeing someone you feel good about or remembering a time you felt happy and cared for or recollecting a time when someone gave you a compliment. Decide now what that image is and if nothing comes to mind you can use the image of a beautiful sunny day in early spring. If anything in this yoga nidra practice makes you feel uncomfortable and you want to stop, All you have to do is to move your fingers and toes, Open the eyes and you will come out of the nidra state. So let's begin the practice. Feel the body lying down on the floor or the bed. Feel the contact with the surface underneath you, The contact of the clothes on the skin. Allow every muscle in the body to soften, From the soles of the feet to the crown of the head. Relax and let go. Take some long deep exhalations and with each exhalation let go and relax the whole body. Now we come to a phase of rotating awareness around the body. When I name a part of the body, Visualize it in your mind's eye, Starting with the right hand, Right wrist, Forearm, Elbow, Upper arm, Right shoulder, Right side of the ribcage, Right side of the waist, Right hip, Right thigh, Front and back, Right knee, Front and back, Right calf and shin, The ankle, The heel, The sole of the foot, The top of the foot and the toes and the whole right foot, The whole right leg, The whole right side of the body. Moving awareness to your left hand, Left wrist, Forearm, Elbow, Upper arm, Left shoulder, Left side of the ribcage, Left side of the waist, Left hip, Left thigh, Front and back, Left knee, Front and back, The calf and the shin, The left ankle and heel, The sole of the foot, The top of the foot, The five toes, The whole left foot, The whole left leg, The whole left side of the body and then awareness to the roots of the spine, Moving up the sacrum, Lower spine, Mid spine, Upper spine, Back of the neck, Back of the head, Middle of the mind, Right ear, Left ear, Right eye, Left eye, The lips and the space where the lips touch and the tongue resting inside the mouth, The chin, The throat, The upper chest, The belly and now move the awareness to the whole front of the body and the whole back of the body, The whole body resting and relaxing. Now bring your attention to the sensation of your body breathing, Feeling the sensations of each inhalation and exhalation as it comes and goes, As you inhale notice your belly and chest expanding and as you exhale a sense of grounding and letting go. If your mind starts to wander bring it back to the sensations and the experience of breathing, So inhale to expand and exhale to release, So sensations of expanding and releasing with each breath, The entire body and the mind relaxing with each breath, Inviting a sense of ease and peace and now let go of the awareness of the breath and we come to a phase of recalling images, So imagine seeing, Feeling or hearing something that makes you smile, This can be recalling something pleasant from the past from the past or seeing someone you feel good about, Remembering a time you felt happy and cared for or recollecting a time when someone gave you a compliment or someone making a joke, Allow yourself to smile internally, So it doesn't need to be visible, It's only felt by you and if nothing comes to mind then you can just visualize a beautiful sunny day in early spring, Allow your inner smile to shine out of your eyes and then travel downwards into the internal organs in your chest and belly and then below your navel and further down in your pelvic floor, Notice the feeling of deep relaxation generated by the inner smile, Allow this inner smile to bring joy and deep relaxation and peace all over the body and now let go of any images that the inner smile brought into your awareness and begin your slow and gentle return, So take the time to come back to your body, Feeling the contact of the body with the surface underneath you, Hear any sounds in the near distance and in the far distance and start to incorporate little movements in the fingers and toes, Breathing in and out through the nose, Making your breath a little bit deeper, Deeper, Maybe you can stretch your arms over your head, Give yourself a full body stretch, Take a deep breath in and sigh out through the mouth, Congratulate yourself for taking the time to nourish your body and mind, The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

Reviews

Wow, this was so relaxing. I did it while my toddler was napping in my arms, but it still relaxed and calmed me completely! I didn’t want it to end. Haha.

This is very nice for an afternoon reprieve. Thank you so much.