Find your comfortable yoga nidra posture.
Position your hands in whatever way you prefer.
At a short distance from your sides with your palms facing upwards and fingers curled.
Or you might like something less formal for sleeping and just have them resting comfortably on your body or beside it.
Close your eyes and enjoy feeling the heaviness of your eyelids over them.
Take a slightly deeper breath.
As you breathe out,
Let your whole body sink and receive support from the surface beneath you.
Let your shoulders soften and release.
Let the back of your neck and head soften.
The weight of your arms and elbows sink.
Let your face and jaw be relaxed.
Move your attention inside your body and allow yourself to become still.
Now direct your attention into your heart center in the middle of your chest.
Tune in and notice how you are feeling here.
If you are holding any tension in the muscles in your chest around your heart center,
Let it gently disperse.
Bring to mind the goodness that is the true nature of your heart.
Gently invite a quiet inner smile that engages its warmth.
Recall something that happened during your day that you feel grateful for,
However small.
A shared smile,
Kind words,
A pleasurable encounter or something you saw in nature.
Anything that made you feel thankful for your life.
Think of it as you breathe in and out with your heart.
If you are working with a sankalpa or heartfelt intention,
Bring this to mind and say it to yourself three times in your first person statement.
For example,
I am stronger and wiser.
I see myself happy and fulfilled.
If you don't have one,
Just continue to rest peacefully in your heart center and enjoy breathing with it slowly and evenly.
And now take your attention up to your head and into your pineal gland.
Take a few moments to imagine melatonin being released from your pineal gland,
Deep inside the center of your brain.
Imagine it slowly seeping into the fluid around your brain and down into your spinal cord.
Imagine it flowing like warm honey through your circulatory system,
Down both of your arms,
Into your fingertips,
Down your neck,
The front of your body,
Through your organs,
Your heart,
Gut and liver.
Imagine it flowing through your pelvis and down into both legs,
Your thighs,
Knees,
Down to your ankles and feet and into your toes.
Imagine it seeping into all your tissues to create an enjoyable feeling of sleepiness.
Now bring your attention up to the crown of your head for a rotation of consciousness.
Let your attention be guided from body part to body part,
With the same smoothness as the flow of your melatonin.
Land your attention on each place as it is named and momentarily make a connection with it by noticing any small natural sensations you can feel there.
Crown of your head,
Forehead,
Right eyebrow,
Left eyebrow,
Right and left eyebrow together,
Point between the eyebrows,
Right eye and eye socket,
Left eye and eye socket,
Both eyes and eye sockets together,
Bridge of the nose,
Tip of the nose,
Whole nose together,
Right cheek,
Right ear,
Right inner ear,
Left cheek,
Left ear,
Left inner ear,
Both inner ears together,
Top lip,
Bottom lip,
Space between the lips,
Whole mouth together,
Chin,
Tip of chin,
Front of throat,
Right side of the face,
Left side of the face,
Both sides of the face together,
Back of the head,
Front of the face,
Whole of the head and face together,
Upper chest,
Middle of the chest,
Stomach,
Navel center,
Abdomen,
Pelvis,
Right hip,
Left hip,
Both right and left hips together,
Right thigh,
Left thigh,
Both right and left thighs together,
Right knee,
Right shin,
Left knee,
Left shin,
Right foot and right toes,
Left foot and left toes,
Both right and left feet together,
The whole right leg and foot together,
The whole left leg and foot together,
Both legs and feet together,
The whole right arm and hand,
The whole left arm and hand,
Both arms and hands together,
The right side of the body,
The left side of the body,
Both sides of the body together,
The whole of the body together,
The whole of the body together,
The whole of the body together.
Now create space for the presence of your breath.
Breathe in and out,
Enjoying the gentle rise and fall of your body.
Make connection with your observing self who is aware of everything you experience and continue to watch yourself breathing.
Still maintaining watchfulness,
Bring your attention forward to the space in front of your closed eyelids.
See the subtle shapes and colors there caused by whatever light and darkness is in the room.
Some of the wise creatures of nature who are also able to regulate their sleep will now be named.
See them on this space in front of your closed eyelids with detached awareness.
A dolphin with one eye open.
A dolphin with one side of its brain switched off,
Resting motionless.
A dolphin surfacing and taking a breath from its blowhole so that it can sleep but still breathe.
See it surrounded by its pod,
Slowly swimming close by,
Keeping it safe in the deep blue waters.
A sleeping mother owl perched upright.
A sleeping mother owl securely on her perch with her sharp talons and powerful feet.
A sleeping mother owl with her downy young lying beside her in a tree hollow on their stomachs so that they can rest their developing muscles.
A sea otter floating on its back wrapped in seaweed to stop it drifting away on the currents.
A sea otter with its hand linked with a fellow otter to keep them together while they sleep.
A big group of sea otters making an otter raft,
Sleeping together,
Some wrapped in seaweed,
Some with hands linked,
Some floating alone.
Feel your own body supported by a calm and tranquil sea.
Your arms and legs floating fluidly.
Place your attention into the back of your body from your head through to your heels.
Feel support and buoyancy in the whole of the back of your body.
Now move your attention to the front of your body from your head through to your toes.
Feel the temperature of the air in the room on your face.
Imagine a sense of lightness along the front of your body.
Feel this lightness in your face,
Lightness in your hands and arms.
Spread this sense of lightness and fluidity along the whole of your body.
Feel the support and buoyancy of the back of your body.
And the lightness and fluidity of the front of your body at the same time.
Feel support and buoyancy along the back of your body.
Lightness and fluidity along the front of your body.
Take your attention to your heart center again.
Wordlessly bring to mind your Sankalpa without disturbing the depths you feel.
Take it with you into sleep to allow your unconscious to work on it.
Or just rest peacefully deep inside your heart center.
Feel the spaciousness that is here.
The peace.
Feel heaviness and warmth throughout your whole body.
May your sleep be nourishing.
May you wake refreshed.
