Yoga Nidra/Yogic Sleep - Inner Child And Enchanted Forest

This yoga nidra journey invites you to relax through the body, mind, breathe and emotions. You will be guided to connect with your heart and inner child and to re-discover what makes your inner child happy. You will then be supported into a deeply restful state.

Transcript

Welcome to this Yoga Nidra today.

Just take some time now to settle into the space where you're resting and if you could just make yourself a little more comfortable.

And once you're ready,

Close down your eyes or perhaps adopt a gentle gaze and just let thoughts of the outside world fade away.

And just bringing awareness to where you are,

The building that you're in,

The room that you're in and the place where your body is resting right now.

And just notice what you sense as you rest here.

Are you cocooned in blankets or wrapped up in cosy clothes?

And just let this be an invitation to journey inwards.

And we'll begin now with three breaths with a big release of breath on each exhale.

So you might make a sound or a sigh and you can repeat this sound out loud or mentally to yourself.

So just breathing in now a long,

Slow,

Full breath,

Belly and chest rising and exhale releasing any tension in the jaw and shoulders.

And when you're ready,

Breathing in again,

Filling up your torso and exhaling perhaps with a sigh and releasing any tension in the arms and torso.

And a final,

Slow,

Deep inhale.

And on the exhale,

Releasing any tension in the pelvic region and lungs.

And on the exhale,

Releasing any tension in the arms and legs.

And just be in a moment of silence now.

I'm now going to invite you to set an intention.

You may already have an intention that you use today if you would like.

If not,

I will lead you through a small breathing exercise just now to help you feel in to what intention you would like to set for this practice.

So your intention is a heartfelt statement that you make to yourself and it gets repeated in the present tense.

So perhaps it may be,

I am at peace or I feel ease in all situations or I am healthy.

But what I'd invite you to do now is just to take a breath in through your third eye and then down into your heart.

And continue breathing in and out of your heart space.

And now just feel in to your heart and think about why you wanted to practice this yoga nidra today.

What is it that your heart is yearning for?

And as you feel a statement emerging,

Try to construct this into an intention in the present tense,

As if it's happening right now.

And once you have your intention,

Repeat it to yourself inwardly three times with feeling.

And we'll now move on to rotating your attention throughout the body.

And as I name different body parts,

Bring awareness to each part of the body.

The light of the mind's attention taking the form of brightly shining stars.

And as we visit each body part,

Place a star there,

Leaving it to twinkle.

And see the body of stars as a cool twilight sky.

And we'll map starlight around the body,

Growing into a large constellation.

So we'll start by placing little stars at the right hand thumb,

The second finger,

Middle finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

And shine a star at the palm of the other hand.

The palm of the right hand,

The back of the hand,

The right wrist,

Twinkling stars on the lower arm,

The right elbow,

The upper arm,

The right shoulder,

The right armpit,

The right waist,

And shine bright stars at the right hip,

The thigh,

The right knee,

The calf,

The ankle,

The heel,

The sole of the right foot,

The top of the foot.

The top of the foot,

And shine little stars on the big toe,

The second toe,

The third toe,

Fourth toe,

And fifth toe.

And now bringing the light of awareness to the left side of the body,

Placing twinkling stars on the left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Middle finger,

Middle finger,

Fourth finger,

And fifth finger.

Let there be a star on the palm of the left hand,

Back of the hand,

The left wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

And shine stars on the left shoulder,

Left armpit,

Left waist,

Left waist,

And stars shine on the left hip,

The thigh,

The left knee,

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

The sole of the left foot,

The top of the foot,

And twinkle little stars on the left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

And fifth toe.

And now focus on the back of the body,

Placing stars on the right shoulder blade,

The left shoulder blade,

The right buttock,

Left buttock,

The spine,

The whole back of the body shines with twinkling starlight.

Now shine stars on the top of the head,

The forehead,

The right eyebrow,

The left eyebrow,

And the third eye,

The space between the eyebrows.

Twinkling stars on the right eyelid,

The left eyelid,

The right eye,

The left eye,

The right ear,

And the left ear.

Allow stars to shine on the right cheek,

The left cheek,

The tip of the nose,

The upper lip,

Lower lip,

Stars twinkle on the chin,

The throat,

The right side of the chest,

The left side of the chest,

The middle of the chest.

The navel point and cooling,

Calming moonlight now shines down on the pelvic area.

Now see starlight twinkling through the whole of the right leg,

The whole of the left leg.

Stars shining bright on both legs together.

Bright stars shine on the whole of the right arm,

The whole of the left arm.

Stars twinkling on both arms together.

And twinkling starlight shines on the whole of the back,

Buttocks,

Spine,

And shoulder blades.

Bright stars on the whole of the front,

The abdomen,

And chest.

The abdomen and chest.

Stars shine through the whole of the back and front of the body together.

The whole head shining with starlight.

The whole body.

The whole body twinkling.

The whole body twinkling with the starlight of consciousness.

Begin to notice the body breathing naturally as you lie here.

And we'll begin to count with the breath.

And we'll count backwards from 11 to 1 like this,

Breathing in,

11,

Breathing out,

11.

11,

Breathing out,

11.

Breathing in,

10.

Breathing out,

10.

And continue breathing,

Counting backwards from 11 to 1.

If you lose count at any point,

You can return to 11 or any number that feels right for you and count down from there.

And when you reach 1,

You can stop counting and breathe normally.

And just release any counting that you may still be doing.

And allow your attention to move to the heart centre and just rest here.

So breathing with your attention at the heart centre.

More and more sense an emerald green glow filling your heart.

The heart centre,

Or heart chakra as it's known,

Is depicted as a wheel of energy which deals with the energies of love,

Giving and receiving love,

Kindness and compassion.

Sense these energies of the heart as you breathe,

Sense these energies of the heart as you breathe in and out of this area.

And feel the energy of your heart enfolding you with love.

And as attention remains at the heart centre,

You become aware of a sense of a younger version of you,

Your inner child.

This younger version of you still lives within you.

And as you breathe in and out of the heart chakra,

Also see your inner child enveloped with the energy of love,

Kindness and compassion.

And we'll move attention from the heart centre up to the dark space behind your eyelids.

The energy of your inner child remains with you.

And allow your mind to drift off now,

Dropping deeper and deeper into stillness.

And now sense or visualise yourself in the most magnificent moonlit forest.

Your inner child is with you and tells you this is an enchanted forest.

As your inner child looks around in bright eyed wonder,

You start to see through her eyes.

You see fairy doors in the trunks of trees and fantastical tree houses for the little woodland creatures.

Your senses are now wide open,

Like that of a child experiencing something for the first time.

What else do you see,

Hear or smell in this magical,

Enchanted forest?

In this wondrous place,

You are completely at ease.

You notice a swing hanging from the bow of a nearby tree.

Your inner child is already hop,

Skipping and jumping towards it.

The seat of the swing has space for both of you.

Swinging back and forth,

Higher and higher,

The expanse of sky with the bright moon and dazzling stars.

Feels almost touchable.

The light of the stars has taken millions of years to reach us here on earth.

The whole universe is out there and you are part of it.

What a reminder that you are part of something.

The whole universe is out there and you are part of it.

What a reminder that you are part of something so big.

You are surrounded and connected by magic and light.

As the swing slows and you both step off,

You kneel down in front of your inner child,

Meeting her at her level.

Hug her knowing you have just shared something magical in the enchanted forest under the night sky.

And now ask her,

What makes you feel happy?

And listen,

The answer might come as words,

An image or intuitive knowing.

And now feel the impact of the enchanted forest and your inner child on your whole body as you lay down to rest in a clearing on the forest floor.

And if your inner child is still with you,

Give her a hug goodbye and thank her for spending time with you.

And now bring your attention to the space between your eyebrows and do absolutely nothing.

Sense the whole body smiling.

A whole body smile and rest here in this energy.

And now repeat your intention that you set at the start of practice in your mind three times.

Let it go to the deepest levels of your being.

Trust that whether you know it or not,

Every part of you hears your intention and invites it to come towards you.

And now bring your attention back to the air in your mouth or nose as you breathe.

And bring awareness to where you are in space and time.

The country you are in.

The town you are in.

The building you're in.

And the room where you're resting.

And feel your body touching the surface you've been resting on.

The body is quiet.

The mind is calm.

The heart open.

And as you feel ready,

You might like to very slowly move or wiggle your fingers and toes.

And you may like to take your fingers and pitter-patter raindrops on your head and face.

And when you're ready,

You can sit up and open your eyes.

And this completes our Yoga Nidra.

Reviews

Thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻LOVE this nidra, and my inner girl does too: the twinkling stars, the enchanted forest, the swing…Love to you, and a wonderful 2025!🙏🏻🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🙏🏻

Lovely, gentle yoga nidra full of magic and connection.

Another peaceful and calming nidra from you Gail. So restorative, thank you ✨✨🙏🏼