Unwinding Sleep

This is a progressive relaxation using Yoga Nidra and Loving Kindness to help you rest.
Please begin the following process approximately 2 hours before heading to bed:
- Turn off all screens & LED lights, use incandescent and natural light as the sun goes down.
- Acknowledge to yourself: “I've done all that needs to be done today. I've done my best.”
- Prioritise a self-care routine.
- Take a warm bath or shower just before getting into bed.
Enjoy this meditation 💛

Transcript

Hello.

Thank you so much for joining me this evening.

My name is Damien Chaparro.

This meditation will help prepare you for a restful night's sleep.

Your sleep is part of an ecology,

Not separate from,

But very much related to your day.

While we can't control everything that happens in our day,

This practice,

In and of itself,

Can go a long way in supporting a better night's rest.

The key is letting go.

If your day has been stressful,

Or if you just love deep relaxation,

Now is the time to practice.

Notice if there is any stressful aspect of your day that you're ready to let go of.

Is there something you can do right now before we drop in that will allow your space to feel more cozy,

More kind,

More welcoming?

Is there a situation,

Or a worry,

Or a concern,

Or something about your day that you can let go of now that would allow you to be at ease?

If so,

Do it now.

Once you're ready,

Lie down.

Close your eyes.

And begin just by acknowledging,

Internally,

That all the effort and all the need for doing today is done.

Take a deep breath in and on,

Your breath out,

Internally,

Letting go.

Feel free to take your time.

Make any adjustments now that allow you just to be a little bit more comfortable.

Classically,

We practice lying on our backs,

Legs slightly separate and arms down by their sides.

Feel free to bring a cozy blanket up over you and adjust the body so that you're in a neutral position.

You're welcome to place a pillow underneath the knees to soften the low back.

For your head,

Choose a pillow that doesn't create too much angle in the neck,

But just enough to steady the head.

Notice if you need to adjust anything about your space,

The temperature,

Turn down any lights.

Maybe move your phone just out of reach so you're not tempted to use your screens as you drop into bed.

And make sure that it's set to do not disturb.

The key here is to create a space where you can really make the most out of your practice.

Now,

As we begin our practice,

Know that you can't get it wrong.

Don't worry too much if your mind drifts in and out.

And if any of my suggestions don't suit you,

Feel free to ignore them.

We'll begin with a short practice just to release any immediate tension.

Begin by feeling into your right leg,

From the hip to the toe.

Without moving the leg,

Engage the muscles of your right leg,

The quadriceps,

The hamstring,

All the way through the toes.

Flex the calf,

The whole leg,

From all the muscles to the bone.

Breathe normally.

And on the exhale,

Relax the whole leg.

Enjoy the feeling of tension being released.

Guide your awareness over to the left leg now.

Feel from the hip to the toes,

With very little movement,

Contracting all the muscles of the leg,

From all the muscles of the leg to the bone.

Flex through the foot.

Top of your next inhale,

Let go on the exhale.

Feel the whole left leg relax.

Bringing your attention to your right arm,

From the shoulder down to the tips of the fingers.

Gently engage all the muscles of the hand,

Making a fist,

And the entire right arm,

Firm the muscles.

Breathe normally.

Use an exhale to release all the muscles.

Relax the hand.

Feel what you feel.

Feel the left arm now.

From the shoulder to the tips of the fingers,

Feel the left arm and hand.

And then kindly firming,

Squeezing all the muscles,

Clenching the fist,

The whole left arm.

And then using an exhale to release all the muscles of the left arm.

Move your attention now to the back and the shoulders.

Feel the bed beneath you.

Gently begin to squeeze the shoulder blades,

The shoulder girdle,

Create a little arch in the back.

Hold this contraction and breathe normally.

Using an exhalation,

Release completely.

Enjoy the energy as it moves with the release.

Guide your awareness now to the chest and the abdomen.

Gently contracting the abdomen,

Chest,

The sides of the torso,

Breathing,

Contracting,

And with an exhale,

Let it all go.

Now bringing your awareness to the whole body,

Bringing tension from the toes to the fingers,

All the way up,

Lengthening through the back of the neck.

Gently firm and squeeze and tighten the whole body.

The face,

The eyes,

The cheeks,

Squeeze and take a breath in.

And with your breath out,

Release,

Release,

Release.

Feel your whole body relax.

Every cell in the body,

Including your good heart,

More and more relaxed.

Take this chance now to make any little adjustments to your comfort.

Take the time to honor,

To nourish,

To create a space for yourself,

For deep rest and letting go.

Once you've found just the right position,

Allow your deepest layers to finally soften.

Acknowledge again and recognize that this is a space where you can let go of all the roles you play,

All your responsibilities,

All your to-do lists,

Everything.

This is a practice of letting go.

Let go of anything in your life where there is resistance.

It's time to rest fully.

Looking at the top of your head,

Feel your scalp softening,

Relaxing,

The subtle layers of the nervous system,

Your skin,

The little muscles that move the face,

Ears,

Neck.

Feel that sensation of softness relaxing the eyes and all the little muscles of the eye sockets.

Bringing your attention to the mouth,

Allowing the jaw to open slightly so there's a little space between the teeth,

Relaxing the tongue down into the mouth,

Relaxing the lips and the cheeks and the nose,

Relaxing your inner ears,

And then moving down the neck into the shoulders,

Allowing the deepest interior muscles of the shoulder girdle to relax.

And continuing with your awareness,

Gliding down the arms,

The torso.

Allow your attention to shine its light across the body,

Finding and releasing any tension that exists.

Consciously finding any remaining areas that are tense.

Now feel the back body.

Feel the bed beneath you.

Feel from the heels where they touch the floor or the bed.

And move your awareness from the heels all the way up,

Noticing any points of contact.

Finding those points of contact to rest,

To spread out,

To give way to gravity.

More feeling the felt sense that with each breath in,

The floor rises to support you.

And with each breath out,

Your body gives itself more fully to the floor beneath,

So that each breath allows a deeper letting go.

And with each breath out,

Your body gives itself more fully to the floor beneath,

So that each breath allows a deeper letting go.

Now direct your attention to any sounds that you notice.

Listen for the most distant sound you can find.

Can you feel and notice the sounds that are coming from the left side?

And which sounds are coming from the right?

Notice any vibrations,

Any sounds,

Allow all of them to be just as they are.

Notice also the background,

The silence within which all sound appears.

Feeling with the spaciousness,

The emptiness within which all sound,

All existence occurs.

And with each breath out,

Your body gives itself more fully to the floor beneath,

So that each breath allows a deeper letting go.

We're going to now take our awareness on a journey through the body.

Begin with the right hand thumb.

Watch the thumb softening,

Move your attention,

And mentally repeat after me.

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the right hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Right armpit,

Side of chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Shin,

Ankle,

Sole,

Top of the right foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

The whole right side of the body,

Guide your awareness to the left side,

Left hand thumb,

The index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

The lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Left shoulder,

Armpit,

Left side of chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Shin,

Ankle,

Sole,

Top of the foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

The fifth toe.

The whole left side of the body.

Guide your awareness to the back body,

Just feel,

Sense,

And feel the heels,

The backs of the legs,

The buttocks,

The lower back,

Middle of the back,

Upper back,

Shoulder blades,

Back of the neck,

Back of the head,

Top of the head,

The forehead,

Temples,

Eyebrows,

The eyebrow center,

Eyes,

Ears,

Cheeks,

Nose,

Lips,

The jaw,

The chin,

The whole face,

Front of the neck,

The throat,

The right side of the chest,

The left side of the chest,

Your heart center,

Upper abdomen,

Navel,

Lower abdomen,

The pelvis,

The entire right leg,

Entire left leg,

Both legs together.

Feel the whole right arm and hand,

The whole left arm and hand,

Both arms and hands together.

Awareness to the torso,

The neck,

The head,

The head,

Neck,

And torso all together.

Awareness to the whole right side,

The whole left side,

The whole back,

The whole front,

The whole body,

The whole body resting,

The whole body at ease,

Your whole body letting go.

In the deepest stillness of your body,

Feel the next breath that breathes you.

Begin to sense the subtle movement of the abdomen with each breath.

Cool inhale,

Belly rises.

Warm exhale,

Belly falls.

As the body breathes,

Begin to count your breaths from the navel center.

Counting internally,

Beginning with 30,

Breathing in,

30,

Breathing out,

29.

Breathing in,

28,

Breathing out,

27,

Continuing with your own slow,

Good breath.

If you feel you're able to keep your attention fairly easily,

You can count just on the inhale.

If you lose the count,

Begin again at 30.

Feeling the breath,

But feeling the whole body breathing.

The whole body breathing.

Evening l On the left of yourÖ Let go of the count.

Let go of the breath.

Guide your attention to the space of the heart.

We're going to finish our evening practice with loving kindness meditation.

Begin just by feeling the whole body,

The whole body.

And saying internally to yourself,

May I be well,

May I be happy,

May I be peaceful,

And may I be loved.

And think of someone that you love.

See them clearly.

And saying to them,

May you be well,

May you be happy,

May you be peaceful,

And may you be loved.

And think of someone that you know quite well that perhaps you haven't seen in a while.

See them clearly.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be peaceful.

And may you be loved.

And now thinking of someone that you've had conflict with.

Seeing them clearly.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be peaceful.

And may you be loved.

And now seeing yourself as a child.

The first memory to come to mind.

See yourself clearly.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be peaceful.

And may you be loved.

And just allowing your attention to expand out to all sentient beings on the planet.

All those who might be suffering in this moment.

And for all those alive,

Feeling,

Pulsing hearts.

May you all be well.

May you all be peaceful.

May you all be happy.

And may you all be loved.

Allowing that wish to spread through the entire body.

Such that we feel it at our very core.

And wishing you the most restorative rest possible this evening.

Be well.

May you be well.

May you be well.

May you be well.

May you be well.

May you be well.

Reviews

Deeply calming. Thank you. 🫶✨

Beautiful 🙏too sleepy to type 💤

Thank you for this it has been helping me nap and get to sleep while I’m ill. Your voice is dreamy, it makes me feel safe 🥲

I fell into a deep deep sleep which was awesome. Thank you.

Fell asleep just a few minutes in. The progressive relaxation part is very effective. Thank you!

Good. I fell asleep! I like his voice, good tempo and pitch. I don’t think I was awake past tightening and releasing muscles for arms and legs and shoulders.

Fell a asleep before it ended. And slept really nice. Thank you Damian. 🙏😊

Very nice combination of yoga Nidra, Tensing and relaxing muscles, body scan, and loving kindness. Soothing voice with background white noise. No bell at the end, thank goodness! I will come back to this one again and again. Thank you so much for this offering.

This was so relaxing, your voice very soothing, I loved it was a variety of relaxation techniques to try. The combo definitely worked for me. Thank you.

I love anatomical names of fingers, but why say right “hand” thumb when right thumb will do? I slept!

love the tensing and relaxing of body. speed and tone of voice is very soothing.

I really like this one, there is something very relaxing about tightening up your muscles and then relaxing them.

So relaxing, i fell asleep quickly and peacefully

.soulful soothing voice

Perfect for calming my busy mind and relaxing my body. I fell asleep before the end. Thank you 🙏💖😴

Just what I needed. Thank you.

Excellent! Nice pace and soft Voice. Never make it to the end. Thank you so much 🙏

Absolutely love this, such gentle tense and relax for the body, guided by soft voice and music. Beautiful, thank you 🙂

Thank you, Damian’. I went to sleep after an exciting day. I was quite wound up. I realized how much I have missed doing doing my “final relaxation” after yoga asanas. I look forward to doing this again tonight.

Damian, this is such a beautiful nidra meditation practice. The pace guided me into a place of deep relaxation and bliss. Thank you so very much.