Let's practice this meditation lying down.
On your bed,
Make yourself cosy,
Comfortable.
Allow your palms to be open,
As if receiving the magic gift of deep,
Restful sleep.
And let your eyes wander around the room,
Not fixing on anything in particular.
And gently allow them to fix onto one object,
And slowly begin to open and close your eyelids.
Very slowly,
Melting and dissolving the world out there,
And moving inwards.
And now let them softly close,
Opening your internal vision,
Pulling your attention from the distractions of the outside world,
Moving inwards.
And begin to take a few deep breaths,
And sigh out,
Extending your exhales.
Take an inhale,
And exhale,
Sigh out,
And again,
Inhale,
And exhale.
Last time,
Inhale,
And exhale,
Sighing out.
Now let go of doing and thinking,
And notice what's present here and now.
Allow a wave of peace and relaxation to wash over you.
Relax your body and give in to the restorative powers of yoga nidra meditation,
As we wind down into deep,
Restful sleep,
Allowing the body to move into being.
And now set the intention to remain physically still,
And find internal stillness at the same time.
Simply allow my words to wash over you.
You might begin to drift in and out,
Just allow,
Be open,
And receive this practice.
Now bring to mind your intention for your dreams tonight.
Set the intention that you'd like to manifest in the powers of deep sleep.
It could sound something like this,
I sleep peacefully,
I will remember my dreams tonight,
I am happy and loved,
Or something else that you are working towards in your life.
I'll give you a few moments to set your intention now.
Now drop it into the practice like a tiny seed being planted,
And allow the magic of the night to manifest your heart's deepest intentions.
It's not wrong to need to close the door,
Restore,
Replenish yourself.
Rest is an important part of our daily life,
It's not being lazy,
Or all these judgements we have about them.
Productivity is not the goal of life.
Now begin to notice the space around you,
All five senses opening to the space around you.
Feel the touch of air in your skin,
And the surface you're resting upon.
Notice any smells or fragrances in the air,
And now the tongue,
Notice any tastes or taste buds alive when I draw your attention to them.
Now bring your attention to your ears and hearing,
How many layers of sound can you hear,
Listen to yourself,
Even your own internal voice,
Your own breathing,
The sounds of nature.
Notice them all,
Not getting stuck on one,
Just allowing them to be here,
And notice the space around you,
In front of you,
Behind you,
To the left,
And to the right.
And invite the sensations of ease,
Peacefulness,
Safety,
Calmness into the body,
Fully relaxing here into a meditative state,
Simply just be,
Nowhere to go,
Nothing to do.
And let's bring the awareness to the breath and the body,
Take nice slow deep breaths,
Take a deep inhale and feel your belly rise,
Exhale and let your belly sink.
Continue to breathe and relax as I count down from 10,
To 1,
10,
Feel your head and neck sink into the mat,
Close in your face,
8,
Feel your shoulders and shoulder blades melt into the mat,
7,
Relax your arms and hands releasing any tension,
6,
Feel the back of your ribs touch the mat as they expand with your breath,
5,
Let your lower back relax into the mat,
Feel your buttocks sink into the mat,
3,
Relax your pelvis,
Legs and thighs,
2,
Feel your calf muscles on the mat,
1,
Let your feet fall out to the side,
Continue to breathe deeply,
Take a deep inhale and as you exhale,
Let your entire body fall completely heavy into the mat and again,
Deep inhale and exhale,
Completely letting go,
Let your body fall heavy,
Sinking deeper and deeper,
Just letting go,
Now bring your attention to the entire physical body,
Lying on the floor in complete stillness,
From the top of your head to the tips of your toes,
Feel the body become heavier and heavier,
The legs are heavy,
The arms,
The head,
The back,
The whole body melts,
Letting go and as we go on a journey together to scan the entire body,
You can think about switching off the lights as I mention each part of your body and as you do,
Notice if any thoughts,
Emotions or memories arise,
Not getting stuck on one,
Just noticing,
Now notice the space around your head,
Neck,
Shoulders,
Chest,
Arm,
Hands,
Fingers and notice any sensations in the hands and the spaces between the fingers,
Now the abdomen,
Hips,
Thighs,
Back of the knees,
Ankles,
Feet,
Sense the space around the toes,
Perhaps sensing the space in between the toes,
Feel the body from the inside,
All the different layers of the body,
Moving from the skin inwards,
Tissues all the way down to the bones and sense into the bones,
Heavy,
At night when we rest our body restores and replenishes all of our cells and tissues,
Feel into every cell and the spaciousness of the cells and begin to notice the space feeling of the body,
The body dissolving into space,
Try and locate the innermost centre of the body,
Feel into the innermost centre and now the outermost periphery of the body,
Feel into the outermost periphery and begin to notice your breath,
The gentle rise and fall of your breath,
The breath rises,
The breath falls,
The body functions by itself and draw your attention to your navel,
The rise and fall with each inhalation and exhalation and begin to shape the breath,
Inhale for 4 and exhale for 8,
The chest stays still,
The belly rises for 4 and falls for 8,
Continue to do this for the next few minutes and let go of counting the breaths and come back to breathing normally and notice what's present now and allow the body to release and let go on the exhales,
Letting go of any tension in the body,
Relaxing from the tips of the toes to the top of the head,
Wave of relaxation from the tips of the toes to the crown of the head,
Relaxing on the exhales,
Now let go of the breath and just notice this internal stillness that is here,
As if time has stopped,
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to go,
Simply a sense of peace and now let's do a review of your day,
This day that was a gift,
It may not feel like that now,
But one day we will realize that every day is a gift,
So look back,
Right back to the start of your day,
Maybe it was still dark or light,
How did you wake up feeling today,
Did you sleep well,
Poorly and what was the strongest emotion present,
No judgment,
Just observing and when you woke up in your bed this morning,
What was your intention for today and now look through the contents of your day,
Activities you did,
The people you interacted with,
Notice how you felt during these,
Were you happy,
Sad,
Indifferent,
Bored,
Excited,
Just noticing,
Going through this time sequence of events and maybe there's something you would like to change,
Perhaps a conversation or a choice,
Simply visualize you changing that to how you would have liked it to have happened and don't get stuck on anything in particular,
During our sleep tonight we will process the day's event along with all of its emotions,
This practice can be helpful to ignite that process and is also good for memory recall and now begin to visualize tomorrow,
See yourself waking up in your bed after a night of deep restful sleep,
You wake up feeling energized,
Calm and now imagine how you would like to feel tomorrow as you take on the day's activities and welcome something to your mind that you're grateful for about yourself,
It could be something simple such as your eyes for seeing or your ears for hearing or it could be a quality of your personality,
Being optimistic or caring,
Whatever it is be grateful for this attribute in yourself,
Now allow this sense of gratitude to expand to someone in your life,
A partner,
A friend,
Expand gratitude to them and now expand further to a group of people in your life,
Your family,
Your colleagues,
Your community and now to people you don't know,
Be grateful for the people who support you in life that you will never meet,
The farmers growing your food,
The scientists creating medicines and be grateful for the trees giving us oxygen to breathe and the rain for giving us fresh water,
All these large and tiny processes that support our existence and now bring your intention to mind and envision it as if it were true right here and now and be grateful for its manifestation as you drift into deep restful sleep,
Sleep well dear one
