Yoga Nidra For Beginners

Yoga Nidra means sleep with a trace of awareness. It is a state of mind in between wakefulness and dream. When you're practicing yoga nidra, you are opening the deeper phases of your mind. This practice is meant for absolute beginners to learn staying awake during yoga nidra and becoming aware of own body.

Transcript

As we get ready for Yoganidra meditation,

Please get as comfortable as you can.

Lay down on your mat in a Shavasana pose,

Laying on your back,

The whole body is centered and straight,

Legs are slightly apart,

Arms away from the body,

Palms facing up.

Stand in one straight line with the spinal cord.

Gently close your eyes.

Make final adjustments,

Adjusting your blanket,

Your clothes and your body position,

So that you can practice without moving and with no physical discomfort.

Please keep your eyes closed throughout the whole practice and try your best not to move.

Become aware of the whole body.

The whole body from the toes to the top of the head.

The whole body is to be seen mentally,

Felt mentally and relaxed.

The practice of Yoganidra is an act of hearing and an act of feeling.

Once the practice begins,

Do not move the body,

Simply surrender the whole body to the floor.

Surrender the whole body to the floor.

Observe the mind,

Mentally check each and every part of the body and if there is any discomfort please fix it now.

And relax the body.

There should be no discomfort in any part of the body as it will divert your attention from the practice.

Make final adjustments and make yourself totally comfortable.

Scan your body now,

Check each and every part of the body,

Loosen all the joints,

Relax all the muscles.

Allow the body to flop on the floor.

Surrender the whole body to the floor and feel the relaxation getting deeper and deeper and deeper.

Do not sleep.

As the relaxation becomes deep,

Sleep will come but you have to remain alert and awake throughout the whole practice.

Say to yourself mentally three times,

I will not sleep,

I will stay awake.

Give yourself time to become calm and steady.

Take a deep breath in slowly and gently.

And as you breathe out,

Feel the calmness spreading throughout the body.

Longanidra practice begins now.

Become aware of the sounds in the distance.

Become aware of the most distant sounds that you can hear.

Let your sense of hearing operate like a radar beam,

Searching out for distant sounds and following them for a few seconds.

Move your attention from a sound to a sound without attempting to identify the source.

Focus of the sounds and do not attempt to identify the source.

Be aware of every sound that your hearing can pick up within the hearing range.

Become aware of the sounds around you.

Sounds of cars,

Sounds of people,

Sounds of nature,

Sounds of my speech,

Sounds of your breathing,

Sounds inside your body.

Be aware of all the different sounds that you can hear.

Now develop your awareness of the room you are in now.

Without opening your eyes,

Visualize all the walls of the room,

The ceiling,

The floor,

Your body laying on the floor.

See your body laying on the floor.

Become aware of the existence of the physical body laying on the floor.

Total awareness of the body laying in perfect stillness.

Develop awareness of all the physical meeting points between the body and the floor.

Become aware of the contact between the physical body and the floor.

Awareness of the contact points of the body and the floor.

Do not sleep.

Do not allow your awareness to drift away from my instructions.

Do not try to intellectualize or analyze my instructions.

Only follow my voice with total attention and feeling.

And if thoughts come to disturb you from time to time,

Do not worry,

Just continue the practice.

Now observe the natural incoming and outgoing breath.

Observe the flow of the natural breath in the body.

Just focus on the breath.

Become aware of the breath,

The spontaneous natural breath.

Do not force your breath.

Just be aware of the breath.

Experience the movement.

Experience the flow of the breath in the body.

Observe the gradual rise and fall of the abdominal muscles at the times of inhalation and exhalation.

Observe the expansion of the abdominal muscles at the inhalation and the contraction of the abdominal muscles at the time of exhalation.

Become aware of the breath which is deep,

Natural and spontaneous.

Do not try to alter the flow of the natural breath.

Do not try to concentrate on the process of breathing.

Just be an observer of the ingoing and outgoing breath.

With each exhalation experience the deepening of the relaxation of the physical body.

Do not sleep.

Do not sleep and do not move the physical body.

Say to yourself mentally,

I am practicing yoga nidra.

Remind to yourself that you are practicing yoga nidra.

Do not sleep.

Now it is time to make your sankalpa.

Sankalpa is the resolve.

A simple,

Positive resolve.

A simple,

Positive sankalpa reflecting your cherished wish which you wish to attain in your life.

Sankalpa is a short positive statement in a simple language and in a present tense.

Examples of sankalpa can be I am healthy and living a fulfilled life or I am on the way to financial independence.

Take a moment and discover your sankalpa naturally.

Let it come to you.

Now please repeat your sankalpa clearly with a feeling and awareness three times mentally.

Remember,

Anything in life can fail but not the sankalpa made during the practice of yoga nidra.

Repeat your sankalpa to yourself now.

Now we are going to rotate the awareness through different parts of the body.

Rotate the consciousness through different centers of the body as quickly as possible.

The awareness must move,

The awareness must jump from one part of the body to another according to my instructions.

I will be naming different parts of the body.

For example if I say right thumb,

Then mentally visualize right hand thumb.

Repeat mentally right hand thumb,

Become aware totally of your right hand thumb and relax completely the right hand thumb.

All of this will happen simultaneously and quickly.

And then I will name the second part of the body.

Have your attention to that part and in this manner we shall rotate our consciousness through all parts of the body.

Repeat the part in your mind and simultaneously become aware of that part of the body.

Make sure not to move,

Keep yourself alert but do not concentrate too intensely.

Become aware of your right hand.

Right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Palm of the hand,

Thumb aware of your palm,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Right waist,

Right hip,

Right thigh,

Kneecap,

Calf muscle,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the right foot,

Top of the right foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Become aware of your left hand.

Right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Palm of the hand,

Become aware of your palm,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Left waist,

Left hip,

Left thigh,

Kneecap,

Calf muscle,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the left foot,

Top of the foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Now to the back.

Become aware of the right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Lower back,

The right buttock,

Left buttock,

Spine,

The whole back together.

Now go to the top of the head,

The top of the head,

Forehead,

Both sides of the head,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

The space between eyebrows,

Right eyelid,

Left eyelid,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Nose,

Tip of the nose,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Chin,

Throat,

Right chest,

Left chest,

Middle of the chest,

Navel,

Abdomen,

Pelvis,

The whole of the right leg,

The whole of the left leg,

Both legs together,

The whole of the right arm,

The whole of the left arm,

Both arms together,

The whole of the back,

Buttocks,

Spine,

Shoulder blades,

The whole of the front,

Pelvis,

Abdomen,

Navel,

Chest,

The whole of the back and front together,

The whole of the head,

The whole body together,

The whole body together,

The whole body together.

Please do not sleep.

Say to yourself,

I am awake.

Total awareness.

No sleeping.

No movement.

The whole body on the floor.

Become aware of your whole body laying on the floor.

Your body is laying on the floor.

See your body laying perfectly still on the floor in this room.

Complete awareness of the whole body.

The whole body.

Relax the whole body completely.

And now gradually bring the attention to the environment.

Become aware of the sounds,

The sounds that you can hear around you.

Externalize the consciousness,

Awareness of the image of the environment.

Once again repeat this Ancalpa.

Repeat your resolve three times.

Now slowly move your toes,

Your feet,

Your fingers,

Hands.

Move your head from side to side.

Slowly stretch the whole body.

And keeping your eyes closed,

Gently sit up.

The practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.

Reviews

I’m new to Yoga Nidra. I started this last meditation last night, and fell asleep. I did it again this morning, it was perfect. I’m relaxed, refreshed, and ready to start my day. I look forward to continuing Nidra. Thank you. 🙏🏼