A very warm welcome.
Tonight you are giving yourself the gift of deep restorative rest.
So I invite you to lie down very comfortably,
And if you haven't done so already,
You can close your eyes and just allow the body to begin to relax.
And that's not really something to do,
But it's really more of a letting happen by itself.
So just letting the body let go into gravity.
And take a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in,
And at your own pace,
Exhale fully.
And maybe do that three times,
A full,
Long,
Deep,
Joyful,
Pleasant inhalation,
And then exhalation.
And as you exhale,
Really allow your body to just sink into the surface beneath you.
And then in a moment,
We will start with a very gentle,
Very simple yoga nidra practice,
Bringing awareness to your body and your breath,
And guiding you into a calm,
Peaceful sleep.
So let's start with the right side of the body.
And what we're going to do is not think about,
But really just simply feel with your feeling.
Allowing the body to just notice itself in the simplest way imaginable.
So starting with your right hand,
Make contact with your thumb.
And then feel your index finger.
And then the middle finger.
And just remember,
If you don't feel a lot,
That's perfectly fine.
We're just opening up to the vibratory,
Sensory qualities that are there to be felt.
And there's really no right or wrong way to do this.
Feeling the ring finger.
And then feeling the little finger.
And then feel the palm of your right hand.
One thing you can do if you don't feel a lot,
Is then to see if you can feel the space of the place you're visiting.
So if you,
For instance,
Cannot feel the palm,
Then just notice the space of the palm,
If that's available to you.
Now moving to the back of the hand.
And then the wrist.
Notice how enjoyable this is,
To just pay simple attention to the body.
Fully relaxed.
Without any have to or should.
And then let's feel the entire forearm.
And then the upper arm.
And then feeling the shoulder.
And the armpit.
And from the armpit,
Staying on the right side,
Feel the side of your torso,
Your flank.
And then noticing the hip.
Sensations and the space of the hip.
And from the hip,
Feel the thigh.
And then the knee.
The calf.
And then go towards your ankle.
And feeling the heel.
And the sole of the foot.
And the toes.
Notice that you feel each part softening as you breathe with attention there.
And now let's shift the attention to your left hand.
Again,
Starting with your thumb.
Visiting the thumb with our awareness,
With the breath.
And then the index finger.
The middle finger.
The ring finger.
And the pinky of your left hand.
Feeling the palm.
And the back of the hand.
The wrist.
No right or wrong way to do this.
Just noticing,
Relaxing,
Feeling the forearm.
The upper arm.
Gently breathing.
The shoulder.
The armpit.
This is really giving very deep love to the body.
Attention is love.
Awareness is care.
Feeling the flank on your left side.
And then your hip.
Feeling the thigh next.
And then knee.
Then go to the calf.
Any residual thinking is completely welcome.
There's nothing wrong with that.
We're just paying attention to the body.
Going to the ankle.
And then the heel.
And then the sole of your foot.
The toes.
And let every part relax completely.
Maybe taking another long,
Deep,
Enjoyable inhalation and exhalation.
As your body becomes heavier and more relaxed with every breath.
And then let's move to the midline or the central body here.
So bring your awareness to the center of your body and then specifically your back.
Just your entire back.
Feel how your back is laying on the surface.
And allow it to sink even deeper.
As your awareness touches the entire backside of your upper body.
And then noticing any feelings,
Sensations and spaciousness itself in the chest.
And then the abdomen.
And then your entire spine.
And then bringing attention to the head as always.
And then your face.
And allow any tension in your face that is willing to let go to just soften.
And then your jaw.
And can you also feel your eyes.
And the forehead.
And finally the scalp.
Notice the gentle rise and fall of your belly with each breath.
Feel your whole body heavy and calm and supported.
Now just for a moment.
Bring a gentle attention to your natural breath.
Feeling it moving in and out.
Slow and steady.
Almost like waves of breath washing over you.
And I really want to invite you with every exhale without forcing it to let go even more of any tension.
And with every inhale inviting calm and restfulness into your body.
And if you want to you can very gently,
Very silently set an intention for restful sleep.
Maybe something like I allow my body to rest completely.
Or I wake up refreshed and renewed.
Whatever helps you to kind of encourage yourself for beautiful deep sleep.
And now as your body and mind are fully relaxed.
Gently release your awareness to the nature sounds.
And let it begin to guide you.
Drifting deeper and deeper.
And allow sleep to take over.
Sweet rest is on its way.
