Welcome to this Yoga Nidra for Sleep.
Yoga Nidra is a guided relaxation and as this is a practice for sleep,
I won't bring you back at the end.
So I'll just let you drift off into your sleep hopefully.
And although this is a practice for sleep,
Don't feel like you have to fall asleep.
And don't worry if you are not falling asleep because a lot of the time our difficulty falling asleep comes from this anxiety about not falling asleep.
So take a few moments to make yourself really comfortable lying down on your bed,
Putting your pillows under your head,
Your duvet,
Sheet,
Blanket over your body.
You can lie down on your back as we might do traditionally in the Yoga Nidra practice but many of us don't like sleeping on our back so if you prefer to lie on your side in any shape then just have a little play,
Have a little moment to set yourself up,
Making yourself as comfortable as you can be.
And when you're ready,
Just take a gentle breath,
Gentle conscious breath,
So you really feel your inhale and your exhale.
And doing this a few times,
Just feeling your breath.
Nothing changes,
Just feel your breath coming in and out of your body.
Whenever you feel comfortable closing your eyes,
Then close your eyes.
And allow your body to start to soften into your bed.
And in your mind's eye,
Picture a sky at night,
Maybe imagining that you're lying outside somewhere,
Somewhere where you can see the sky really clearly,
The stars and the moon,
Almost as if your ceiling or the roof of your house is open out towards the sky,
Noticing the darkness of the sky and the contrast with the stars,
The stars shining bright,
The bright white light.
And as we take our journey through the body,
Imagine that bright white light from the stars filling up that part of your body,
Filling up that part of your body with this sense of glow,
Light,
Ease.
Starting with the toes of your left foot,
The sole of your left foot,
Your left ankle,
Your left shin,
Your left calf,
Your left knee,
Your left thigh,
Left hip,
The whole left thigh,
The whole right leg,
The whole left leg full of that bright light from the stars in the sky.
Now bring your attention to the toes of your right foot,
The sole of your right foot,
Your right ankle,
Right shin,
Your right knee,
Right thigh,
Right hip,
Your whole right leg,
Your whole right leg full of the bright light from the stars in the sky.
Now bring your attention to your belly,
Your chest,
Your left armpit,
Right armpit,
The left side of your waist,
The right side of your waist,
Your lower back,
Middle back,
Upper back,
Your left shoulder,
Right shoulder,
Your whole torso,
Your whole torso full of the bright light from the stars in the sky.
Now back to your left shoulder,
Left upper arm,
Left elbow,
Left forearm,
Left wrist,
The palm of your left hand,
The back of your left hand,
Your left hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Fifth finger,
Little finger,
Your whole left arm,
Your whole left arm full of the bright white light from the stars in the sky.
Now bring your attention to your right shoulder,
Right upper arm,
Right elbow,
Right forearm,
The back of your right hand,
The palm of your right hand,
Your right hand thumb,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Fourth finger,
Little finger,
Your whole right arm,
Your whole right arm full of the bright light from the stars in the sky.
Now bring your attention to your throat,
The inside of your mouth,
Your left and right eye,
Your left and right cheek,
The back of your head,
The back of your neck,
The crown of your head,
The space between your eyebrows,
Feel your whole head filled with the light from the stars in the sky.
Now feel the whole of the back of your body,
Feel it full of the bright light,
The whole of the front of your body,
Your whole body,
Feel your whole body as if you were floating in the air.
Filled with the bright light from the stars in the sky.
Now bring your attention to the part of your body where you can feel the breath most keenly.
So maybe that's your belly,
Lower ribs,
Maybe that's the space between your nose and your upper lip.
Just feel the breath coming in and out of your body without changing it.
Just a soft gentle breath.
As we start to count down the breath from the number 21,
Counting down on the exhale.
So 21 on the exhale,
20 on the exhale,
19 on the exhale,
And so on.
Keep counting down the breath,
Counting down on the exhale.
And if at any point your mind drifts off,
You lose count,
Or if you get to zero,
Just start again from 21.
Counting down on the exhale.
I'm just going to be quiet for a moment,
Letting you count,
But know that I'm still here.
Whenever your mind drifts off,
Know that that's completely normal.
Just gently nudge the mind back to counting from 21 on the exhale for a few more moments.
And now let go following the breath.
And come back to looking at the stars,
The night sky.
So in your mind's eye,
Maybe visualizing being somewhere where you can see the night sky.
Maybe the roof of your house,
Your ceiling opens up,
Giving you a beautiful view.
The sky at night.
Noticing the darkness of the sky,
The contrast with the brightness of the star.
Watching the lights pulsate brighter and less bright.
Next time you see a star going a little bit brighter,
Feel your body light.
Feel your body light as if there's no more any gravity.
Feel your body light as if there's no gravity.
The brightness of the light pulling you up towards the sky,
Towards the stars.
And as the light changes again,
Feel your body getting a little bit heavier as you slowly drift back down towards your bed.
And again,
Maybe noticing a star pulsating brighter.
And the brightness of the light pulls you up towards the sky.
Your body light floating up towards the sky.
Watching the earth getting smaller and smaller.
All the worries in the world.
Noticing how small everything looks from higher.
The rooftop,
The houses,
The tree,
The people,
The animals,
The forests,
The lakes,
The ocean,
The country,
The whole world smaller as you're drifting up towards the stars.
And then as the light changes again,
Feel your body heavy.
Slowly,
Slowly drifting back down.
Very gently drifting back down.
Back to your bed.
And then simply watching the space behind your eyelids as you drift off.
Drifting off to sleep.
Sleep well.
Sleep well.
Sleep well.
