Day 11: Blissful Sleep With Yoga Nidra

This Yoga Nidra meditation with music is an offering to help you gently drift into sleep. Being well-rested is the foundation on which physical, mental, and emotional health is built. It is my deepest wish that you access nourishing, peaceful sleep through this meditation. But Yoga Nidra is so much more than a sleep meditation. Over time, Yoga Nidra will help you feel safe to let go, in life and in sleep. The music continues after the guidance concludes.

Transcript

Welcome to the Soothing Sleep Series here on Insight Timer.

My name is Hillary Jakendorf,

And thank you for allowing me to guide you into sleep tonight.

Prioritizing sleep and rest is one of the most important things you can do for your physical,

Mental,

And emotional health.

But as important as sleep is for our mental health,

Sometimes our minds are the very thing that keep us from falling asleep.

Studies have shown that writing a to-do list right before bed can reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep,

And the more detailed you get,

The better.

So if you have a lot on your mind tonight,

You might like to pause this recording,

Grab a pen and paper,

And give it a try.

I'll be guiding you in a yoga nidra this evening,

So take some time now to get yourself as comfortable as possible for the night,

Settling in fully and preparing your mind and body for sleep.

As a gentle reminder,

If you're not asleep at the end of this meditation,

Just go ahead and press play again.

Even if tonight is one of those nights where sleep is a challenge,

By practicing yoga nidra through the night,

You'll feel rested and refreshed in the morning.

Invite yourself to fully arrive in this moment,

Consciously recognizing that the day is done.

There's nothing more that you need to do,

You can let it all go.

Now you can rest.

Now you can turn inward.

Now you can sleep.

Guiding your attention into your physical body,

See if you can settle in a little more,

Letting yourself feel held by your bed,

Nestled in your sheets,

Cozy in your blankets.

Begin to notice if there are any areas in your body where there's tension,

Tightness,

Or contraction.

And if possible,

Explore beginning to soften these areas.

You might like to imagine that the warmth of your exhalation melts any tension right out of your muscles,

Helping you to let go a little more.

Begin to sense and feel your natural breath,

Just as it is.

And as you follow the movement of your natural breath,

See if you can create the feeling that,

With each inhale,

You're drawing breath up the back of your body.

And with each exhale,

Your breath flows down the front body.

Your body bathes in breath,

Natural,

Effortless breath flowing up the back body on the inhale,

Down the front body on the exhale.

Feel that the breath is clearing away any energetic debris,

Any remnants of the day.

And now,

With a feeling of ease,

Begin to explore extending your exhalation so that it's a little longer than your inhale.

Make sure not to try too hard.

Just slowly,

Gently extend your exhalation,

Little by little.

Feel your exhalation descending deep down into your body,

Soothing you,

Creating a deeper feeling of ease in body and mind.

Let your inhalation be spontaneous,

Effortless,

Arising on its own,

Your exhale conscious,

Slow and soothing.

Take three more breaths like this,

Each exhalation allowing you to release more and more of your weight to your bed.

Feel that you are supported,

Cradled,

Held,

And that you can let go.

Gently drift attention to sensations in the body.

Just noticing whatever is present in this moment.

Notice the touch of your body to your bed,

Feeling the fabric,

The texture of your sheets in contact with the back of your body.

Feel the sensation of your sheets covering your front body,

Your head resting on your pillow.

Feel the line of contact between your upper eyelids and your lower eyelids,

The gentle pressure of your upper lip resting on your lower lip,

The air touching your skin.

Feel the coolness of the air as it flows into your body through your nose,

Becoming breath.

Feel the warmth of your exhale as your breath becomes air.

Feeling sensation and flowing attention towards sound,

Just becoming attuned to the soundscape,

Welcoming in all the sounds without judgment,

Without concern.

Feeling through sounds,

Perhaps noticing if any of the sound vibrations create sensation in the body,

If sounds can be felt.

Feeling awareness of sounds inward,

Listening for the sound of your heartbeat,

Or perhaps feeling its vibration,

Listening for the sound of your natural breath.

Repeat the following phrase,

I rest and sleep easily and deeply.

Repeating I rest and sleep with the in-breath,

Easily and deeply with the out-breath.

Free breaths like this.

The awareness will now go on a journey through the body.

As each point is named,

Feel into it and visualize a twinkling star.

Feeling at the point between the eyebrows,

Feeling this point,

Visualizing a twinkling star.

Throat pit.

Heart center.

Center of the right side of the chest.

Right shoulder.

Right elbow crease.

Right wrist.

Tip of right thumb.

Tip of right index finger.

Tip of right middle finger.

Tip of right ring finger.

Tip of right little finger.

Right wrist.

Right elbow crease.

Right shoulder.

Center of the right side of the chest.

Heart center.

Center of the left side of the chest.

Left shoulder.

Left elbow crease.

Left wrist.

Tip of left thumb.

Tip of left index finger.

Tip of left middle finger.

Tip of left ring finger.

Tip of left little finger.

Left wrist.

Left elbow crease.

Left shoulder.

Center of the left side of the chest.

Heart center.

Navel.

Pubic bone.

Right hip point.

Right knee.

Right ankle.

Right big toe.

Right second toe.

Right third toe.

Right fourth toe.

Right little toe.

Right ankle.

Right knee.

Right hip point.

Pubic bone.

Left hip point.

Left knee.

Left ankle.

Left big toe.

Left second toe.

Left third toe.

Left fourth toe.

Left little toe.

Left ankle.

Left knee.

Left hip point.

Pubic bone.

Navel.

Heart center.

Throat pit.

Knee between the eyebrows.

Resting in a spacious awareness of the entire body.

Visualizing a constellation of twinkling stars across the body.

Drifting awareness now to the natural breath.

Sensing the subtle thread of breath flowing effortlessly through the inner space of the body.

Sensing the natural ebb and flow of each breath.

Now begin to add a count to the breath.

Counting backwards from the number 18,

Like so.

Breathing in 18.

Breathing out 18.

Breathing in 17.

Breathing out 17.

Let the count follow the breath.

And if you reach zero,

Just begin again.

And if you reach zero,

Just begin again.

And if you reach zero,

Just begin again.

And if you reach zero,

Just begin again.

And if you reach zero,

Just begin again.

Release the count.

And just feel that the breath is guiding you gently towards sleep.

Drawing your awareness more deeply inward.

Allow the awareness to be drawn into the space of the heart.

Feeling into this inner space as a sanctuary,

A place of deep healing rest.

Feeling into a sense of safety and tranquility here.

A feeling of being at home within yourself.

Bringing awareness from the space of the heart to the space of the mind.

Gazing into the space of the mind.

Allow the following images or experiences to drift by.

Walking on a beach as the sun sets.

Feeling the cool sand beneath your feet.

Waves of the ocean rising and falling.

Hear the gentle sound of the ocean waves.

Sense the expansive nature of the ocean.

The full moon.

The full moon reflected in the waves of the ocean.

Clouds drifting across the night sky.

Tendrils of smoke rising from a chimney meeting the cold night air.

Quiet forest on a snowy night.

Twinkling stars as far as the eye can see.

Sensing the infinite expanse of the universe around you.

The present moon appearing from behind the clouds.

Peaceful stillness and silence of deep night.

An inner feeling of tranquility.

Feel that you are at home,

At ease and at rest within the space of your own being.

Sign out.

You You You You You You You You You

Reviews

Lovely, calming guidance. Thank you. Namaste 🌺🙏🌺

Love your yoga nidras! Thank you ❤️

I never hear the end of this 😊😴💤 Thank you 🙏💕

Beautiful Hilary and this truly helps with guidance into a good sleep. Much thanks.

Fell asleep 😴 before it ended but loved the body scan and your soothing voice

Thank you

Very nice! Cool about lists. This is one of those nights...

Amazing. I really was struggling to sleep and this helped me drift off.

Thank you for this most effective sleep practice which led me into deeply refreshing sleep. Namaste

Thank you! Fell asleep quickly and slept well 🙏🏼❤️

Awesome meditation …listened several times last night… fell asleep each time 😴💤💤💤

That was so soothing and relaxing. I also appreciate the idea of a to-do list before bed, and a twinkle of starlight at each point mentioned during the nidra ✨

Beautiful soothing and peaceful end to the day. Thank you. 🙏🏻

Drifted off to a beautiful peaceful sleep. Thank you so much 🙏🤍✨🥰

Nice yoga Nidra session. I fell asleep 💤 before the meditation was done. That’s always a good sign

I was asleep before it was over! Thank you so much!

Gets me to sleep every night. Love all your yoga nidras on here. Thanks so much 💕

Very helpful prior to sleep 🛌 and in the middle of the night to back to sleep 💤

I have such sweet dreams when I listen to this.

Hi Hilary
But another really penetrable meditation from you which is why i have come to enjoy, and love meditating to your pieces .
Please can you do more in this saundra and more often 😉
Namaste
🙏🏻