Welcome to this Yoga Nidra practice designed for sleep.
In this Yoga Nidra practice,
I won't be bringing you out of the Nidra state at the end.
There'll just be silence,
There'll be no gong sound,
As I just leave you to just be in that beautiful blissful state and hopefully send you off into a deep state of beautiful sleep.
So getting yourself comfortable and prepared for the practice of Yoga Nidra,
You'd want to be,
I'd say for this one,
Lying in bed.
And it might feel nice to have a pillow under your head,
Perhaps one under your knees.
I like blanket covering you.
It can also be really nice to have an eye pillow covering the eyes.
Or perhaps even just a clean face washer.
Just something to cover the eyes.
Once you're comfortable in your yoga nidra nest.
Making any small adjustments that you need to make to get yourself really super comfy.
Once you're there,
Just starting to become aware of your body,
The sensations of your body lying in the bed.
Starting to become aware of the breath.
Just noticing the in and out flow of the breath and at this point not attempting to change the breath.
Perhaps breathing in and out through the nose.
And just noticing if the breath is a little short and sharp and shallow.
Noticing how you feel in this moment.
Drawing your awareness to the face,
Starting to relax the face,
The small muscles around the eyes.
Relaxing the jaw,
The shoulders.
The arms.
The tummy.
The buttocks,
The legs and the feet.
Just allowing the body to become heavy and relaxed.
From here,
Starting to deepen the breath,
So deepening the breath in through the nose.
Breathing in through the nose for a count of 4.
.
.
3.
.
.
2.
.
.
1.
.
.
1,
Pausing at the top and then exhaling for 6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Pausing at the bottom,
Inhaling for a count of 4,
Finding your own count,
In for 4,
Breathing deeply in through the nose.
A moment of pause at the top and seeing if you can exhale for six.
Drawing the belly back to the spine to empty completely.
Again,
Drawing the breath in deeply through the nose for four.
Pausing at the top.
Exhaling letting the exhale linger for six One more time,
Inhaling for four,
Breathing deep in through the nose,
Sending the breath down to expand the belly.
Pausing at the top.
Exhaling for a count of six Just letting that practice go now.
Still just observing the breath,
Watching the rise and fall of the belly.
With the inhale and the exhale,
In and out through the nose.
Becoming aware of the sensations of the body.
Noticing the points of contact,
The body.
The back body.
On the bed.
Noticing the sensations of the back of the legs,
The back of the heels.
Whole back,
Back of the head.
Points of contact of that entire back body against the bed,
The mattress,
Or the yoga mat.
Becoming aware of the sensations of the blanket.
Touching the skin.
Becoming aware of the light touch of air as the air enters the nostrils with the breath.
Becoming very aware of your body.
Shape of the body.
Having a sense of the body just really melting into the mattress.
Almost as though the body is becoming one with the bed,
With the mattress.
Noticing the breath.
Noticing the movement of the body with the breath.
And for a moment you might tune into the dimension of sounds and listening for sounds.
What can you hear?
Practice of listening throughout the house,
But not getting too emotionally attached,
Just listening.
Observing sounds moving from one sound to the next.
Becoming aware of the sounds in your room.
Subtle sounds.
Listening for the sound of the breath.
Becoming completely engrossed.
Completely focused on the breath,
The sound of the breath,
The movement of the body with the breath.
And how the body can become heavier with each exhale,
Having a sense of letting go.
Letting go now perhaps allowing thoughts to be parked for the moment,
Thoughts about the day or tomorrow,
Can we just leave them at the door?
Leaving thoughts about today or tomorrow,
Just parking those thoughts for now and just taking the full awareness just to the sensations of the body.
The movement,
The sound of the breath.
Allowing the body to become heavy.
Completely still.
Completely still except for the movement of the body with the breath.
Watching them rise and fall of the belly with the breath.
With each inhale the navel goes towards the ceiling.
With each exhale the navel descends towards the spine,
But also a sense of just unraveling,
Letting go.
Bringing to mind is Sankalpa.
And perhaps for this yoga nidra designed for sleep,
Perhaps the sankalpa might be,
I allow myself to rest.
Or I allow myself to sleep.
I will allow my body to fall asleep into a deep slumber.
Or you might have your own Sankalpa,
But just inviting you to repeat the Sankalpa three times to yourself.
And then letting the sankalpa go.
Feeling the warmth of the blankets on your body,
The comfort of your mattress,
The comfort of your bed.
We will start our rotation around the body so I will mention a body part.
And then when I mention that body part,
The invitation is for you to imagine that body part illuminated or to take your full awareness to that body part.
Sometimes it can be helpful to even repeat what I've said in your head.
And if the mind starts to wander,
Which it naturally does sometimes,
Just gently guiding it back to the practice of moving around the body.
So we're starting on the right hand side of the body,
Starting at the right hand thumb.
So full awareness to the right hand thumb.
The right pointer finger.
The middle finger.
The ring finger.
Little finger.
Calm of the right hand.
In the back of the right hand.
The right wrist.
The right forearm elbow.
Upper arm.
The right armpit.
The right shoulder.
The whole of the right arm is heavy,
Like a lead weight,
Fully relaxed.
Awareness now to the right side of the chest.
The right waist.
The right hip.
The right thigh the knee the shin.
The ankle.
The sole of the right foot.
The top of the right foot.
The right big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Little toe.
The whole right side of the body completely still,
Relaxed,
Heavy.
Illuminated golden lights.
And moving awareness now to the left side of the body,
To the left hand thumb.
The left pointer finger.
The middle finger.
The ring finger.
A little finger.
The palm of the left hand.
The top of the left hand.
The left wrist.
And left forearm.
Elbow,
The upper arm left armpit.
And the left shoulder.
Whole left arm illuminated in golden light.
Heavy,
Relaxed.
Moving awareness to the left side of the chest.
The left waist.
Left hip.
The left thigh.
And knee.
Shin.
Ankle.
The sole of the left foot.
The top of the left foot.
The left big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Little toe.
The whole left side of the body.
Still.
Illuminated in golden light.
Relaxed.
Heavy.
Moving awareness now to the back body.
The back of the right heel.
Back of the left heel.
The back of the right calf.
Back of the left calf.
Back of the right thigh.
The back of the left thigh.
The right body.
The left body.
The small of the back.
The mid-back.
The upper back.
Spinal column from the tailbone all the way up to the midbrain.
And the midbrain back down to the tailbone.
Back of the neck.
Back of the head.
The whole back body.
Moving awareness now to the front body,
Starting at the crown of the head.
Imagining the crown of the head illuminated there in golden light.
Moving to the forehead,
Full awareness to the forehead.
Forehead is still.
Relaxed.
Becoming heavy.
The right eye The left eye,
Both eye sockets,
Muscles around the eyes,
Temples.
The right cheek.
The left cheek.
The nose,
The right nostril,
The left nostril.
The space between the nostrils and the top lip.
The right ear,
The earlobe,
Ear canal.
Left ear,
Left earlobe,
Ear canal.
Jaw full awareness to the jaw.
Top teeth,
Lower teeth,
The tongue.
Whole mouth and jaw together.
Front of the neck,
Throat pitch.
The right breast,
The left breast.
Whole entire torso.
The whole entire right arm and hand,
Fingers.
The left hand and fingers.
Both arms,
Hands and fingers together.
The whole right leg,
Foot,
And toes.
A whole left leg,
Foot and toes.
Both legs and feet together.
Whole body.
Completely still.
Completely relaxed Letting go.
Allowing the body to let go.
There is nowhere else to be.
There is nothing to do at this point,
Except to listen to my voice.
Just allowing the body to be heavy and still.
Taking your awareness again back to the breath.
Watching the rise and fall of the belly.
I'm going to imagine that we're standing at the top of a beautiful staircase.
And there's from the top of this beautiful golden staircase,
We can see all the way down.
All the way down the bottom there's the most beautiful river.
There's about 20 or so steps between the top and the river.
We're going to count as we make our way down each step.
Each time we exhale,
We'll step down one more step,
Taking us closer to that beautiful river,
That beautiful stream.
So from the top,
We inhale.
Inhaling number 20 and as we exhale we take a step down,
Number 20.
Inhaling the number 19.
Exhaling number 19,
Taking a step down.
Inhaling 18 Exhale,
18,
Another step down.
Inhaling 17.
.
.
Exhaling 17,
Taking another step down.
Following on in that pattern.
Committing yourself to that practice,
Slowly counting,
Making your way down the steps.
And the body becomes heavier and lets go with each step down.
If you lose count,
Just slowly coming back to the top,
Coming back to number 20.
Again,
Just gradually making your way down the stairs.
Continuing with the count.
Stepping down with each exhale.
The body gets heavier and heavier,
More relaxed each step.
And as you get closer to the bottom.
Start to see that beautiful golden stream of water.
There is the most beautiful garden.
Long soft grass,
Flowers.
Trees.
You start to make your way down.
Perhaps letting go of the counting practice.
And now there you are beside this beautiful stream.
This warmth from the sun on your skin,
Gentle breeze.
Seeing some leaves on the stream.
Watching as the leaves gently make their way downstream.
Almost seeing your thoughts as though they are leaves on the stream.
Any thoughts that are starting to bother you?
Noticing any troublesome thoughts,
Imagine just placing them on one of the leaves and sending them down the stream.
Off they go watching as they just drift away.
Again if thoughts start to coming into the mind,
Just placing those thoughts on the leave.
Floating par in the stream,
Sanding it on its way.
There you are.
Allowing yourself just to be there by this beautiful stream.
Experiencing the body is heavy.
Body feels very heavy.
Heavy and warm.
There's nothing stressful about this feeling of heaviness.
It's just this warmth.
And then experiencing the body.
As completely light as a feather.
This feather can be picked up and carried on the wind.
Floating up,
Up,
Up towards the sky.
Bouncing around with the wind,
Floating.
There's not a care in the world this light as a feather floating up towards the clouds.
Imagine you're starting to cuddle up into one of these soft clouds The cloud feels so tender,
So warm.
So light.
Just allowing yourself to be.
Floating on a cloud.
And then gently coming from the cloud back down,
Down,
Down,
Down.
Back to a place that feels better.
Place of rest for you,
Maybe it's somewhere you've been in your past or somewhere you like to visit in your mind.
It might be backed by that beautiful golden stream.
It might be somewhere else,
Somewhere that you feel completely safe.
Where you feel warm,
Held.
Regulated.
Just allowing yourself to be in that space.
The body is still very heavy.
Not moving Just allowing yourself to be in this space.
Allowing the mind to just drift off into sleep,
Letting go.
Let go My God.
Sleep.
Allowing yourself to sleep.
Deep,
Deep sleep.
