Welcome to this night time yoga nidra for a fabulous tomorrow so maybe you're in bed,
Maybe you're on the sofa or on the floor but wherever you are take some time to get as comfortable as possible you don't need to be laid in a certain way you can snuggle up,
Cover yourself up with a duvet and get ready to be guided into deep sleep but the most important thing is getting yourself as comfortable as you possibly can so let's just make sure that your head is totally supported and comfortable this will allow your neck muscles to relax let's make sure that your shoulders,
Arms and hands are completely comfortable that your spine is comfortable all the way from the skull right down to the pelvis and just making sure that your leg bones can relax in your hip sockets and that your legs are comfortable all the way down to the tips of your toes taking any other movements that you need and then starting to think about committing to stillness so remembering that the highest priority is your comfort,
Don't lie there feeling uncomfortable but then the next priority is dropping down into stillness and mentally preparing yourself for drifting off into sleep and just putting down any ideas around trying to fall asleep that effort sometimes contributes to keeping us awake instead just thinking about trying to relax and knowing that if you aren't asleep by the end of this practice you can just listen again and trust that the relaxation will help you feel rested tonight and fabulous tomorrow taking your attention to the insides of your mouth noticing if there's any different tastes there and turning your attention to your sense of smell not needing to search out any particular smells simply noticing if any smells start to drift towards you and then noticing the sense of touch maybe the textures and temperatures of your bedsheet your nightclothes and the air and allowing your attention to drift to your sense of sight keeping your eyes closed or your gaze soft but allowing your attention to drift to your sense of sight allowing your eyeballs to rest in stillness communicating to the brain that you are safe and that it's time to relax and gradually allowing your attention to drift to the sense of sound allowing sounds to come to you gently noticing any sounds that are outside of your room and then starting to just gently notice any sounds inside of your room and then noticing the sound of your breath and if it feels right for you allowing your exhale to just be slightly longer than your inhale with each exhale letting your body drop a little deeper down into the earth each exhale a letting go of the day a letting go of anything that's not relevant to surrendering into this moment and then letting that practice go and with this hopefully slightly calmer mind let's run through your day and make peace with it so that we can move into tomorrow completely clear was there anything that happened today that you can learn from?
And if so just confirming that learning to yourself and letting it go was there anything in your day that you really enjoyed that you'd love to do again?
Is there anything that you definitely don't want to do again?
Anything you wish you'd done slightly differently?
And anything that you handled really really well?
And concluding with something from your day that you are really grateful for maybe a friend,
A loved one,
A pet,
An experience or a learning and then let that go now you've processed your day,
You learned from it and now we can let it go and we'll turn the attention back to the breath with the option of layering on a mantra I am resting so I can sleep deeply I am resting so I can sleep deeply on the inhale saying to yourself inside your head I am resting and on the exhale saying to yourself so I can sleep deeply and if you get lost or you forget don't worry at all just start again when you're ready I am resting so I can sleep deeply and if it feels right for you at this moment setting an intention for tomorrow make it short and simple and repeat it to yourself a few times we'll now move the awareness around the body allow this to wash over you softening and relaxing the body parts as you hear them name let's start at the space between your eyebrows softening and relaxing the space between your eyebrows your whole forehead the skin of your scalp the bones of your skull temples,
Ears and innards the ears,
The hinge of your jaw,
The tip of your tongue,
Your whole tongue the insides of the mouth,
Cheeks,
Chin,
The front of your neck the sides of your neck the back of your neck the space between your shoulder blades left shoulder blade left shoulder left upper arm left elbow lower arm wrist wrist the palm of the left hand left thumb index finger middle finger ring finger little finger the whole left hand the whole left arm left shoulder left side of the chest right side of the chest right shoulder upper arm elbow lower arm right wrist the palm of the right hand right thumb index finger index finger middle finger ring finger little finger the whole right hand the whole right arm right shoulder right shoulder blade the space between the shoulder blade upper back sides of the ribcage the whole chest the whole belly sides of the waist the lower back left side of the pelvis left hip left thigh kneecap and knee joint lower leg left inner ankle outer ankle heel the sole of the left foot left big toe second toe third toe fourth toe fifth toe the whole left foot the whole left leg left side of the pelvis right side of the pelvis right hip right thigh right kneecap and knee joint lower leg right inner ankle outer ankle heel sole right big toe second toe third toe fourth toe fifth toe the whole right foot the whole right leg right side of the pelvis the whole pelvis both legs both feet the whole pelvis the whole torso both arms both hands the whole torso your head your whole body your whole body your whole body allowing your attention to rest at your belly the Manipura chakra the home of willpower self esteem confidence discipline and empowerment this is the home of knowing that you have whatever it takes to do what you need to do tomorrow rest your awareness gently at your belly and believe gently allowing your attention to move to your heart the home of all love including self love the home of all compassion including self compassion resting your attention at your heart and remembering you are doing your best and we'll count the breath backwards from 27 inhale 27 exhale 27 inhale 26 exhale 26 if you get lost or you reach 0 start again at 27 if you get lost or you reach 0 start again at 27 and then letting that go and dropping into your deep sleep it's the best thing for you now and tomorrow let go and sleep deeply
