Welcome to this Yoga Nidra meditation for deep conscious sleep.
My name is Elka.
Allow me to be your guide throughout this practice.
Yoga Nidra is the act of non-doing and can be practiced by anyone,
Even those with the busiest of minds.
Take a few moments now and give yourself permission to sink into rest and allow any subtle awarenesses to shift from thinking to simply listening and being.
Take a few moments now.
Give yourself permission to let your day go.
Allow your thinking mind to drift away and simply listen and be present with all that you experience throughout this meditation.
And it is simply okay to drift off.
Allow your body to sink into rest and notice your mind simply shifting from thinking to listening and being.
Settle in now.
Make sure that you are warm and comfortable,
Finding a position where you can begin to soften,
Relax the muscles,
And prepare your body to surrender into deep,
Restful sleep.
Feel your body lying down in your bed or on your sofa or perhaps lying on your yoga mat.
Feel and accept your body just as it is.
Allow sensing and feeling to open.
There's no thinking involved.
Let your mind gently rest as you begin to feel.
Feel your head on your pillow.
Notice the softness of your pillow,
Your blanket,
Your clothing.
Welcome any sensations that you have here behind your closed eyes.
Feel and sense your eyelids,
Your eyeballs,
Eye sockets.
Could you begin to take in the darkness behind your closed eyes?
Or perhaps even noticing now this deeper experience,
Shapes,
Patterns,
Colors,
Textures,
And light?
Feel your eyes softening with your gentle awareness.
And now could you begin to welcome the sensations inside your ears?
Feel and sense your ears listening.
Ears receiving sounds,
Noticing sounds outside the room,
Noticing sounds inside the room,
And listening to the sound of my voice.
Ears simply listening and receiving.
Now let's give your mind something to focus on.
Sometimes our minds might need some extra time to slow down.
And that is okay.
You may drift in and out of this meditation,
But your subconscious mind is always listening.
And you're receiving the benefits of this practice.
But notice if you can drift back in whenever you drift out.
Drifting back into the awareness of your experience.
Drifting back into sensing and feeling.
And the sound of my voice.
Everything is here to help you now.
And know that every time you return to this meditation,
You are cultivating a deeper state of peaceful calm and promoting deep conscious sleep naturally.
Is there anything else you can do to prepare yourself now?
Perhaps even settling in a little more?
Making any adjustments to your head,
Neck,
Shoulders,
Arms and legs?
Focus whatever your body needs.
In Yoga Nidra,
We declare an affirmation or intention for our practice.
This is called a sankalpa.
An intention that is spoken deep from within the heart and gently unfolds over time.
If you are already working with a sankalpa,
Intention or affirmation,
Speak it now and weave this gentle message throughout this practice.
If this is new or unfamiliar for you,
Could you begin to welcome a feeling of peace or calm to be woven throughout this practice?
Welcoming whatever you need here.
Allow whatever this feeling,
Allowing whatever this intention of your heart to be present here,
Now,
Within your body,
Within your mind,
And throughout this practice.
And if nothing is arising from this space within you now,
That is okay too.
Please join me in this quiet declaration.
I am spreading peace throughout my entire being.
Repeat your message three times quietly inside your mind and seal it into this practice.
Now we will move through a rotation of consciousness of the marma points of the body.
This is kind of like a mental massage.
Gently mentally relaxing parts of the body and also soothing the mind.
This helps to reduce static inside our minds and thoughts and helps us to promote calm,
Clarity and focus.
As I name each marma point,
Become aware of the sensations that arise and gently imagine as though you are putting these body parts to rest,
Adding a touch of sleep to each body part as it is named.
When you do this you are sparking actual physical reaction inside the body part and you're also mirroring the neurons inside the brain,
Allowing your brain and body to rest and restore.
You do not need to think about this,
Only sense and feel your way through.
We begin now by feeling the center of the forehead.
Notice the feelings inside the center of your forehead and now the pit of your throat.
And now feel inside your right shoulder,
Right elbow,
Wrist,
Thumb,
Putting to sleep the index finger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger,
Your little finger and feel back inside your wrist,
Your elbow,
The right shoulder and the pit of your throat.
Take some time as you gently move your awareness over to the left shoulder,
Elbow,
Wrist,
Thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Middle finger,
Back inside the wrist,
Elbow and left shoulder.
Travel back into the feelings inside the pit of your throat and now feel down inside the center of your chest and now is it possible to move into all the sensations in the right side of your chest,
Back into the center of your chest and now travel with your awareness over to the left side of your chest,
Feeling the left side of your chest.
Now travel back into the center and feel inside your navel and down inside the lower abdomen and now could you feel over to the right hip,
Knee,
Ankle,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe.
Travel back inside your right ankle,
Knee,
Hip,
Lower abdomen,
Over inside your left hip now,
Feeling left hip,
Knee,
Ankle,
Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe,
Feel your awareness move back inside your ankle,
Your knee,
Your hip,
Lower abdomen,
Navel center and inside the center of your chest,
Your throat and back into the forehead,
Feel all awareness at the center of your forehead.
Let's do this again,
Gently placing awareness and I touch asleep inside the center of your throat,
The right shoulder,
Elbow,
Wrist,
Thumb,
The tip of your index finger,
The tip of your middle finger,
The tip of your ring finger,
The tip of your little finger,
Your wrist,
Elbow,
Right shoulder,
Center of the throat,
Left shoulder,
Elbow,
Wrist,
Thumb,
Tip of your index finger,
Tip of your middle finger,
Tip of your ring finger,
Tip of your little finger,
Wrist,
Elbow,
Shoulder,
Center of the throat,
Center of the chest,
Right side of your chest,
Back into the center of the chest,
Left side of the chest,
Back into the center of your chest,
Belly,
Lower abdomen,
Right hip,
Knee,
Ankle,
Tip of your big toe,
Tip of your second toe,
Tip of your third toe,
Tip of your fourth toe,
Tip of your little toe,
Ankle,
Knee,
Hip,
Lower abdomen,
Left hip,
Knee,
Ankle,
Tip of your big toe,
Tip of your second toe,
Tip of your third toe,
Tip of your fourth toe,
Tip of your fifth toe,
Ankle,
Knee,
Left hip,
Back into the lower abdomen,
Belly,
Center of your chest,
Center of the throat,
Center of your forehead,
All sensations in the center of your forehead.
And now feel the whole body as one sensation.
Noticing the whole body as one vibrant sensation of sleep,
Calm.
Whole body resting.
And could you notice your breath?
Perhaps noticing the breath at the tip of your nose.
Feeling breath flowing in.
Feeling breath flowing out.
Noticing your whole body breathing.
Noticing your whole body resting.
And could we invite this body to rest into even deeper layers of consciousness now?
Could you gently count the breath as it flows in and as it flows out?
Breathing down from the number 27 down to zero.
When you breathe in,
Count 27.
And when you breathe out,
27.
Counting down each breath.
Breathing in 26.
Breathing out 26.
And so on and so on until you reach zero.
If you lose count,
Begin again.
Each time you count down,
Feel your body sinking deeper and deeper.
Each breath is like a layer in which you can deeply sink and rest.
Notice your body sinking into the soft surface beneath you.
Feel your body resting.
Notice your body heavy.
Feeling arms heavy.
Legs heavy.
Head heavy.
Notice how your whole body feels heavy.
Your whole body sinking into heaviness and the support beneath you.
Welcome your whole body to feel heavy like a rock.
And within this heaviness,
Is it possible to also welcome the feeling of your body getting smaller as you sink?
Your whole body sinking.
Smaller and smaller.
Heavier and heavier.
Each time you breathe out,
Each time you count down.
Heavier,
Heavier.
Feeling smaller,
Smaller.
Sinking into the support beneath you.
And could you now welcome the feeling of your body getting lighter and lighter?
Feeling like a balloon and getting bigger and bigger as your body feels lighter and lighter.
Feeling your body floaty.
Lifting up like a gentle balloon.
Notice yourself feeling light and free.
Feeling light and free floating in the sky like a balloon.
Expanding bigger and bigger.
Whole body is light and floaty.
Whole body light as a feather.
And from here,
On this bird's eye view,
Could you see yourself resting in your bed,
On your sofa,
Or on your yoga mat,
Noticing your small,
Tiny body deeply sleeping,
Comforted,
Supported by the surface beneath you,
And also feeling light and floaty,
Witnessing yourself resting,
Peaceful?
And could you travel back down into this heavy body again,
Feeling your whole body sink?
Whole body sinking heavier and heavier,
Deeply resting.
Whole body shrinking as you sink.
Your whole body sleepy,
Heavy,
Safe and supported.
Whole body releasing and letting go into the heaviness.
Whole body heavy,
Small,
Resting.
Feel your whole body surrendering into sleep.
Your whole body sleeping,
Deeply peaceful.
Deeply peaceful.
Thank you.