Yoga Nidra For Tension Relief

Relax with this guided yoga nidra meditation practice to help release physical and mental tension. Yoga Nidra is a deeply restorative practice that promotes physical, mental, and emotional relaxation. All that it requires is resting on the floor with your eyes closed and listening as you are guided through a body scan, breath awareness, and visualizations.

This practice is designed to withdraw you from distractions from the mind and body, accessing deeper realms of the mind, and allowing you to release the sources of tension, anxiety, and unwanted habits. Regular practice of Yoga Nidra results in feeling less stress, increased energy, mental clarity, and a better night's sleep.

Transcript

This is a guided yoga nidra meditation for tension relief.

Welcome or welcome back.

I'm Farah and in this practice we will focus on calming the body and the mind while letting go of deeply ingrained tensions.

Begin by finding a comfortable and quiet space where you can lie down without being disturbed.

Take the next few moments to allow yourself to get as comfortable as possible.

You might choose to place support underneath your knees to take pressure off of your low back.

You might choose to place support underneath your head to take pressure off of your neck.

A blanket over the body will ensure warmth and a sense of safety.

You might have something to place over your eyes.

Know that it is worth the effort to get even 1% more comfortable here.

Take all the time you need to settle in.

Eventually allow your eyes to soften until they gently close.

Let the weight of your body surrender down into the support beneath you.

You will now begin to enter into a state between sleep and wakefulness,

Accessing gateways into the subconscious and unconscious mind.

You will be guided by my voice on a journey,

Entering a state of deep relaxation.

Yet you will do your best to remain awake and alert.

Resolve to yourself that you will not fall asleep.

Begin to focus on being rather than doing.

Allow yourself to be open to receiving and witnessing whatever presents itself.

In this deep state of relaxation,

Limiting beliefs about yourself will lose their charge.

The autopilot of your pre-programmed mind will turn off and you will enter into a deep state of present moment awareness.

At any time if your mind becomes overactive with thought,

Just come back to the sound of my voice.

It is to your greatest benefit to remain as still as possible as we now surrender into the stillness of this moment.

It is now time to state your Sankalpa,

Your intention.

A short positive statement in present tense.

Your Sankalpa is a seed of transformation that you will plant into your subconscious mind.

Some examples of a Sankalpa might be,

I am calm and relaxed.

Or I am relaxed and ready to let go of anything that no longer serves.

I now ask for you to mentally repeat your Sankalpa,

Your intention,

Three times with full feeling and awareness.

And now begin to follow my guidance as I move your awareness through your physical body.

As I name each area,

Draw your attention there.

Notice any sensations that may be present.

Deeply relax that area and then move on with me to the next part.

Start by drawing all of your awareness into the space between your eyebrows.

And then guide that attention down into the center of your throat.

Feel the whole of your right shoulder,

The right elbow,

The right wrist,

The tip of your right hand thumb,

Tip of the first finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

And fourth finger.

That attention comes back into the right wrist,

The right elbow,

The right shoulder,

And back to the center of your throat.

And now feel the whole of your left shoulder,

Your left elbow,

Your left wrist,

The tip of your left hand thumb,

Tip of your first finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

And fourth finger.

Attention comes back into the left wrist,

The left elbow,

The left shoulder,

And back into the center of your throat.

Move your awareness now down into the center of your chest.

And then feel the whole of your right ribcage.

Come back to the center of your chest.

And now feel the whole of your left ribcage.

And come back to the center of your chest.

Attention moves down into the solar plexus right below your ribs.

And down to the space behind your navel.

And down to the base of your spine.

And now feel the whole of your right hip,

Your right knee,

Right ankle,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

And fifth toe.

Awareness coming back into the right ankle,

The right knee,

The right hip,

And back to the base of your spine.

And now feel into the whole of your left hip,

Left knee,

Left ankle,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

And fifth toe.

Awareness moves back into the left ankle,

The left knee,

The left hip,

And back to the base of your spine.

Move your awareness back up to the space behind your navel,

The solar plexus right below the ribs,

The center of your chest,

The center of your throat,

The space between your eyebrows.

And now gather your attention to the top of the head and then back to the space between the eyebrows,

Sinking into an even deeper relaxation.

The whole body heavy,

The whole body relaxed,

The whole body letting go.

Now become aware of your breath.

Begin to notice any and all sensations of your breath.

Try not to control your breath,

But rather allow the breath to move on its own accord,

Allowing the breath to move naturally in and out.

Shift your attention to the movement of your abdomen.

Become aware of the rise and the fall of your abdomen.

Feel the rise and the fall of your abdomen with each and every breath.

With each and every breath,

It expands and contracts.

And now shift your attention to the chest.

Your chest is rising and falling slightly with each and every breath.

Feel the rise and the fall of your chest.

And now shift your attention to the throat.

Become aware of the breath moving up and down your throat.

Feel the breath moving up and down the throat.

And now shift your attention to the nostrils.

Become aware of the breath moving in and out of the nostrils.

Feel the breath moving in and out of the nostrils.

Complete awareness of breath.

And now settle deeper into relaxation and expand your awareness as we now explore sensations of our dualistic nature and polarity.

Increase your sensitivity inside of the body as we awaken and bring to the surface stored sensations.

Stay present and allow the process to naturally unfold as you observe with a detached state of awareness.

Allow whatever comes into your field of awareness to be present without any judgment or preference.

By remaining witness,

You are allowing yourself to release your identification with pre-programmed thoughts and feelings.

Tension.

Let all of the feelings of tension that are held and stored within your body rise to the surface.

Let the energy and sensations of tension be experienced now.

Be calm and allow all tensions,

Whether they are physical,

Mental,

Or emotional,

Tensions that are stored within the deeper recesses of your mind,

That are embedded into the cells of your body,

To arise now.

Stay detached.

Every and all tensions,

No matter how small,

Let these bubble up to the surface.

Simply be witness to any images,

Emotions,

Or memories that may arise.

Have no interference.

Let everything be safe to experience.

All is welcome.

Feel the sensation of tension in your body.

Tension holds its own unique experience and vibration in the body.

Feel it now.

Continue to stay calm and allow for this sensation of tension to move through your body.

Keep pulling up more and more tensions that have been locked into your body and mind over time.

You are the observer for all tensions that are ready to be seen at this time.

Feel the vibration of tension,

Bringing it from the unconscious to the conscious mind.

Notice if there is one area of your body where the vibration is stronger.

Just observing these sensations.

And now begin to allow the sensation of tension to fade away.

And we come now to awaken the feeling of relaxation.

Let relaxation be fully experienced inside of your body.

What does relaxation feel like as a vibration?

Let any images,

Emotions,

Or memories be free to come to the surface.

Relaxation holds its own unique experience and vibration in the body.

Feel it now,

The energy of relaxation.

Allow for this sensation of relaxation to move through your body,

Perhaps remembering a time when you were very relaxed.

Let all of the inner relaxation that is built in and encoded in your system be directly experienced now.

Call more and more relaxation to the surface to be felt.

Calling in all experiences of relaxation and intensify your awareness of this sensation in the body.

And then allow this sensation of relaxation to fade away.

And now once again bring tension to the surface and then relaxation simultaneously.

Hold tension and relaxation in the same moment.

Experience the polarity of tension and relaxation and hold both of these sensations in the same moment of time.

You are calm and open to this experience of balancing these sensations at the same time.

Feel this in your system,

Tension energy and relaxation energy.

Sense these dualities at the same time,

Tension and relaxation,

And feel this in your system in a calm way.

And now begin to allow these sensations to fade away.

We now prepare for visualization.

Simply create these images in your mind's eye with as much color,

Detail,

Awareness,

And feeling as you can.

Relax all effort and sense yourself becoming more and more creative.

Start to imagine a deep,

Wide,

Slowly moving river.

Begin creating the details of this beautiful river in your mind.

Allow yourself to become memorized by the endless flow of water gracefully moving through the riverbed,

A constant flow of movement,

Old water being replaced with the new.

Now place yourself in the middle of the current,

As if the water were holding you there motionless.

Feel this warm and comfortable current of water moving slowly past the skin on your feet,

Your legs,

Your hips,

Your chest,

And your shoulders,

So that you become a part of this swaying current.

Hear the unique underwater sounds,

The water gently rolling over the rocks,

The sand rushing through the water,

And your legs swaying back and forth with the current.

Enjoy this gentle massage.

The water lovingly caressing your body as the water continues to nourish you.

Begin to notice your tension releasing itself into the stream.

Be in all tensions,

Physical,

Mental,

Or emotional,

No matter how small.

Allow all tensions to release themselves into the current.

Concentrate not on staying afloat or staying in place,

But only on letting go of your body's tension and drifting with the current of the stream.

And now feel how light your body is at this time,

How relaxed and peaceful you feel.

Know that the very fact that you are imagining your tension floating away with the stream's current makes it possible and real.

Your tensions are being released and you feel light and relaxed.

Tell yourself this now.

As you feel ready,

Begin to walk out of the river and allow this imagery of the river to begin fading away,

Holding on to these feelings of lightness,

Relaxation,

And peace.

Now remember your Sankalpa,

Your intention.

Repeat mentally the same intention that you made in the beginning of this practice in the same words.

Repeat your intention now three times with full feeling and awareness.

Now visualize this statement coming true in your life.

What does it look like?

How does it feel?

Regardless of what you consciously recognize that has or has not changed,

Know that something deep within has shifted to connect you to your intention.

Now slowly begin to bring awareness back into your breath.

Awareness of breathing and awareness of relaxation.

And only as you are ready,

Begin to slowly flutter your eyes open.

And begin to make any small movements that feel good to you in this moment.

Take all the time you need to welcome yourself back into your space.

And allow yourself to carry with you these feelings of lightness,

Relaxation,

And peace throughout the rest of your day.

Thank you so much for taking the time to practice with me.

I really appreciate it.

It's an honor.

And it always means a lot if you liked this video.

Leave a comment sharing how your practice went.

I would love to practice with you again sometime soon.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

Reviews

This practice jumped out at me as I was scrolling through. It was exactly what I needed, as I’ve been feeling an underlying current of tension in my body lately. I love the opposite sensation part of this, and holding both at the same time: tension and relaxation. I will plan to return to this practice regularly for a while to see if I can create deep and lasting shifts. 🙏

Thank you Farrah! This is a really great Yoga Nidra!❤️‼️☮️🌺🧘‍♂️
I am leaving in a few days to meet my daughter at Bullhead City on the Colorado River! Perfect meditation to share with her!!

Wow, what an amazing yoga nidra meditation.
Loved it and will definitely repeat it. Thank you. 🙏💜🌷.

One of my favorite Nidras ever! Something about it puts me in a deep, hypnotic-like state of relaxation. Thank you!

Loved this one! Don't know if anything particular happened but it was deeply relaxing 🙏