Yoga Nidra: Sleep Naturally

Tossing, turning, clock glowing—can't sleep, can't stay asleep, can't get back to sleep? Learn the missing skill: wakeful rest—teaching your body to deeply relax while your mind stays gently aware, so sleep can arrive on its own. No forcing, no pills, no struggle.
Through the time-honored practice of Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep), I guide you lying down—clear cues, no effort. This isn't seated meditation or breathwork; it's a nervous-system training that helps at bedtime and during those dreaded 3 a.m. wake-ups.
You'll come away with tools you can use in silence, without your phone: a calming breath pattern, a traditional body scan to melt tension, a one-line sankalpa (intention) to recondition your relationship with sleep, and a short self-guided sleep template you can run anywhere. I built this from what finally worked for me after years of restless nights.
Your body remembers how to rest—this course shows it the way home. Learn to rest, and let sleep find you.

Leçon 1: The Foundation Of Wakeful Rest

Welcome. Today we begin by learning how to rest while still awake. In this first session of Yoga Nidra: Sleep Naturally, you’ll practice softening the body while staying quietly aware. This is the groundwork for natural sleep.

You’ll be introduced to two simple elements: Sankalpa, your inner intention, and Pratyahara, turning the senses inward. Your intention for today is “My body knows how to rest naturally.” Through repetition, your body and mind begin to remember ease.

If sleep has been restless or hard to find, this practice helps you notice what rest actually feels like. With time, the same calm you create here begins to follow you into the night, allowing sleep to come on its own.

Leçon 2: The Optimal Body Scan

In this session, you’ll learn how to guide your attention through the body in a precise, restorative sequence that follows the brain’s natural sensory map. The body scan teaches your nervous system how to rest deeply without falling asleep, creating what scientists call Non-Sleep Deep Rest.

As you move awareness from face to feet, the body releases tension, the mind becomes quiet, and a deeper recognition appears—you are not the body that rests, but the light that restores it. This practice strengthens the connection between body, mind, and soul, preparing you for natural, effortless sleep.

Leçon 3: The Science Of Transformation – Why Yoga Nidra Creates Lasting Change

In today’s session, you’ll explore how Yoga Nidra brings about real, measurable change in the body and mind. Through gentle awareness and deep rest, the nervous system learns new patterns of calm and safety. As your practice deepens, your body begins to produce the same restorative brainwaves found in deep sleep—while you remain quietly aware.
You’ll experience this transformation directly as the body softens, the mind settles, and awareness remains steady. Over time, this process reshapes how your system responds to stress, helping you sleep more easily and live with greater peace.

Leçon 4: Paradoxical States – Expanding Consciousness Through Impossible Experiences

In this session, you’ll explore one of the most powerful aspects of Yoga Nidra: the experience of paradox. You’ll learn how to rest within sensations that seem opposite—soft yet light, vast yet tiny, moving yet still, asleep yet awake. As you do, the mind’s need for control relaxes, and your awareness expands beyond familiar limits.
This ability to hold opposites gently trains your nervous system for true sleep: to be deeply relaxed while quietly aware. The more you rest in paradox, the easier it becomes to let go into natural, effortless rest.

Leçon 5: Divine Healing – Receiving From The Divine Source

This session guides you to rest in gentle connection with the Divine Source, the presence of peace and love that brings quiet renewal. As you rest, let this presence reach every part of you. Allow the body to ease, the mind to settle, and the heart to feel supported.
Through steady awareness and soft attention, healing begins to unfold. From this space of calm, natural sleep returns on its own.

Leçon 6: Surrender As Enlightened Freedom

This session helps you discover what real surrender means. It is not giving up, but letting go of control so the heart and body can rest. When you stop trying to manage every thought or outcome, the nervous system relaxes and peace returns.
As you practice, you’ll feel how surrender brings freedom, how letting go allows love to hold you, and how trust opens the way to natural sleep.

Leçon 7: Self-Guided Yoga Nidra: Your Sleep Template

This closing session shows you how to rest on your own. You will learn a simple seven-step practice that can be used anywhere, quietly and gently, without sound or guidance. Each step helps the body settle, the breath soften, and the mind release control.
By the end, you will know how to begin rest on your own and let sleep come naturally.

Reviews

The gentle reframe around sleeping, where you’re not focusing on falling asleep (this was what I’d always done) but rather on the steps to take where sleep happens as a result is not only refreshing but is an intuitive way to approach to the struggle I’ve always had to fall asleep. The teacher’s guidance, calm, and kindness helped me a lot too. Thank you.

Excellent in every way. Thank you

Thank you, this is a great course - I will take it again - as there is so much to learn in this one, your guidance is very calming and professional - thank you ✨🙏😴

What a beautiful and helpful course Shireen! Thank you so much - my sleep is improving ( at night ) as I practice yoga nidra in the day. I will start the course again, it has been very useful. Many thanks and Blessings 🙏✨🕊️