Yoga Nidra For Sleep

I believe that quality sleep is an essential self-care practice. I created this Yoga Nidra to support you in falling asleep as well as being able to stay asleep through the night. If you plan on using this practice during the day you may want to set a gentle alarm so you can continue on with your day.

Transcript

The intention of this guided meditation is to help you fall asleep.

So if you have other things to do or did not plan to sleep after this meditation,

I invite you to set an alarm,

Something with a gentle tone to wake you up,

Let's say in 30 minutes or so.

As you prepare for this practice,

Finding a place to settle in on your back,

Make any adjustments you need to find a place of easy stillness,

A place where the body can be comfortable and linger.

Having the support of a pillow behind your head,

Maybe something underneath of the knees.

Check that the head and the spine are in a straight line.

As you settle into this practice,

A yoga nidra includes a sankalpa.

Because this practice is one for rest,

Perhaps the sankalpa is I fall asleep easily and stay asleep for a few minutes.

I fall asleep easily and stay asleep.

Or I wake up refreshed and alert.

We'll visit that sankalpa here at the beginning of the practice and that will be powerfully imprinted in your subconscious as you move deeply into the practice.

But for now,

Begin to let the weight of your body settle back.

The collarbones and the shoulders releasing.

As you draw the breath in,

Opening the chest to that breath,

Creating space.

And with the exhale,

Easing back into that space.

And the gentle expansion of your inhale.

And the easeful flow of your exhale.

And feel that movement,

The chest expanding,

As you inhale.

And sinking back and softening as you exhale.

Now begin to move your awareness to your feet.

And imagine breathing relaxation into your feet.

Inviting that sensation to travel up the ankles,

Calves,

Knees,

And thighs.

The whole of both legs,

From the toes to the hips,

Relaxed and sinking back.

Now draw your attention and breathe relaxation into your hands.

Feel that sensation travel up the wrists,

Forearms,

Elbows,

And upper arms.

From the fingertips to the shoulder heads.

Your arms heavy and sinking back.

Now breathe softness into your belly.

Feel the abdomen soften and sink back.

Bring your mind's eye to your lower back,

Mid back,

And upper back.

Inviting them to soften.

And feel this warm blanket of relaxation drifting up,

Draping over you as you continue to sink back.

Now the throat and jaw and temples soften.

The eyes and eyebrows soften.

And imagine that space between your eyebrows melting.

As you continue to soften and sink back.

Feel this sensation,

This relaxation wash over your forehead and the crown of your head.

Invite every exhale to be a wave of relaxation,

Gently washing over you as you sink back.

Completely relaxed.

Here picture your sankalpa,

Your affirmation for your desire,

For your intention to rest.

Your affirmation will have more power if you picture it from a place of gratitude.

In this place of gratitude,

Repeat to yourself the words of your resting affirmation three times.

Feel a deep sense of gratitude knowing that it is already accomplished.

Now we will bring awareness to each part of the body as you hear it described.

Notice any sensations as you go,

If you become distracted or notice the mind wandering.

Simply return to the practice.

Beginning with the palms of your hands.

Sense the palms of your hands.

Now both hands.

Be aware of both hands.

Feel your arms.

And now your shoulders.

Bring awareness to your throat center.

And your neck.

Feel your chin.

Your mouth and your cheeks.

Sense your nose.

Bring awareness to your eyes and eyebrows.

Feel your temples.

Now your forehead.

Bring awareness to the whole face together.

Now sense the crown of your head.

Become aware of the back of your head.

The head and neck together.

Feel your collarbones and your chest.

Notice your abdomen.

Bring awareness to your upper back,

Mid back,

And lower back.

The whole back together.

Bring awareness to your hips and your thighs.

Feel your knees,

Calves,

And ankles.

Become aware of your feet.

Now become aware of your back body.

From the crown of your head,

Cascading all the way down to the bottoms of your feet.

Your whole back body.

Now bring awareness to the front of your body.

From the tops of your feet,

Washing up to the crown of your head.

Your whole front body.

Now imagine bringing your front and back bodies together.

Like closing a cosmic shell.

Your front and back bodies together.

To feel your whole body together.

Wrapped in a healing white light.

Your whole body together.

Now allow that awareness to soften and come back to the breath.

The breath is more open.

Flowing in and out of the body.

Just you and your breath.

Feel the ebb and flow.

The gentle expansion as you breathe in.

The softening as you breathe out.

Now we will count the breaths backwards.

Starting with the number 37.

As you count to yourself,

Invite yourself to relax into the natural rhythm of your breath.

And know that if the mind wanders,

Simply start again with the number 37.

Allow the focus to rest on the breathing and on the counting.

Let's begin.

Breathing in 37.

Breathing out 37.

Inhaling 36.

Exhaling 36.

Inhale 35.

Inhale 35.

Exhale 35.

In 34.

And out 34.

Continue your counting.

Invite the awareness to continue to linger on the counting and the breath.

Remain focused on your breathing.

Now let go of the counting and return your awareness to regular breathing.

It's not important if you finish counting down to zero or not.

Simply return to your breath.

As you breathe here,

Take a moment to notice the pause at the top and at the bottom of your breath cycles.

Come back to an awareness of your body lying here in this room.

Begin to experience the sensation of gravity.

Like a thick,

Warm blanket covering the whole body.

Imagine now that the body is becoming heavy.

Feel the weight of the body as it sinks towards the floor.

The whole body is heavy.

Every cell is heavy.

Now relax that feeling.

And feel the whole body becoming light.

Almost weightless.

You are so light that you are barely touching the floor.

Like a feather ready to float away.

Feel the whole of your back body lightly touching the floor.

Almost floating.

Now relax that feeling.

Here begin to withdraw your mind.

And focus on the space in front of your closed eyes.

Your third eye center.

Here a transparent screen through which you can see infinite space.

A space that extends as far as the eye can see.

Concentrate on this space as you go on a journey.

Use all of your senses to experience this journey.

You are walking in a field.

Grass brushing your legs.

Sun warming your back.

Wild flowers are scattered through the field.

Dragonflies skip from stem to stem.

Hovering,

Admiring the blossoms.

You walk over to a patch of wild flowers.

Notice the colors of your flowers.

You feel the buzz of the dragonflies as they hover around you.

Blessing you with their wings.

Then you turn and see a forest.

Begin to walk towards your forest.

You see yourself from above or behind yourself as you walk towards your forest.

And as you approach the lush green forest,

You see a break in the trees.

You notice that the tops of the trees meet.

Creating a green tunnel into a lush green forest.

The temperature cools as the thick tree canopy shades you from the sun.

You hear birds in the distance as you walk along the path.

Thick and soft with pine needles.

You hear water,

Rushing water.

Continue down the path,

Pine needles crackling under your feet.

And as you continue on the path,

You feel soft,

Luxurious moss under your feet.

As the path slopes down,

You come upon a waterfall,

Spilling into a crystal clear pool.

You lie down near the pool.

You see yourself lie down near the pool.

You feel your body sink back into the earth.

Letting everything go.

Gentle rays of sun warming your skin.

A light breeze blowing against your skin.

You hear sounds of the waterfall.

You are content.

Completely alive in this moment.

Completely aware of how you feel.

Knowing everything is as it should be.

Here in this safe space,

Draw your awareness to your breath.

And come back to that gentle,

Subtle effort on the inhale as the body expands.

The softening,

The ease of the exhale as you sink back.

Feel the sensation as the breath moves slowly in and out of the body.

Feel the energy of the breath radiating out from the chest.

And permeating your entire being.

As you stay here,

Resting deeply and breathing.

Thank you for watching!

Reviews

Many thanks for this wonderful meditation. I slept very deeply afterwards 👍

I fell asleep and remember little. Just what I needed for an afternoon nap.
4/10/24

Sent me back to sleep before it finished thank you 🙏 😴

That was excellent. Different take on the traditional yoga nidra. I especially liked the reverse direction of relaxing the body at the beginning of the practice.

Lovely!❤️🙏🏽❤️

Slept really well and I have Covid so that’s very good thank you for your meditation.

Loved it, fell asleep right away. Never heard the ending

A wonderful yoga nidra. I love it when I sleep all night.

I love yoga nidra s for sleep. It looks this one will be my favorite for for months to come. I have not heard the ending yet. That shows it’s excellent for sleep. And thank you for NOT using music

Gretchen, thank you so very much for your beautiful meditation. A truly wonderful Yoga Nidra.

I so enjoy your voice, so peaceful.

Thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻I used it to fall asleep and twice more during the night, fell asleep very quickly. Then around 4 am, I used it one more time and heard it fully and slept 3 more hours.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻