Hi and welcome to this 10 minute NSDR session.
NSDR stands for non-sleep deep rest and it involves using tools and techniques to direct your nervous system,
Your body and your mind into a state of deep rest.
NSDR protocols have been shown to improve cognitive function,
Memory,
Learning capacity,
Help with sleep issues,
General relaxation and reduction in stress and anxiety.
And this is a simple practice that you can do whenever you need it throughout the day to find a short,
Sweet moment of relaxation and rest.
I'd encourage you to do this practice either in a comfortable seated position or if you would like to,
Then you can also do this laying down on your back.
So take a moment here to find that comfortable position and if you feel comfortable doing so,
I would encourage you to close your eyes for this practice.
So gently closing the eyes,
Finding that comfortable position.
And through this practice we're going to be working with body scan techniques and slow extended exhale breathing,
What I like to refer to as the safety net breath,
To move your nervous system into its parasympathetic state,
Its rest and digest state.
This is the part of the nervous system that we want to be in to fully relax,
To get good quality sleep and really to allow us to decompress and unwind.
So as you find yourself in this comfortable position,
See in this first few moments if you can allow yourself just to soften the body a little bit further.
Maybe you're holding some tension in your back,
In your neck,
In your hips,
In your legs,
Wherever it might be.
Feel free to take any small movements that you need to,
Just to let go of any tension that you might still be holding on to.
And once you've taken those small movements,
Allow the body to come to a place of stillness.
Allow yourself,
Give yourself permission to be still and to rest.
And as you come into stillness,
I invite you now to bring your inner gaze,
Bring your awareness to your feet.
This might feel a little bit tricky to begin with,
But just see if you can rest your attention on that specific part of your body.
Noticing any sensations that might be present there and really just tuning into that space.
And from there,
Begin to scan and move your attention gently and gradually up the body.
So moving now into your lower leg,
Up to your knees,
Moving into your upper leg and into your hips.
And as you reach your torso,
Hold your focus and your awareness in your lower belly.
And with your attention here,
Start to notice perhaps that gentle rise and fall as your breath flows naturally.
And take a deep inhale in through your nose down into that space.
And then softly,
Gently,
And slowly blow the exhale out of your mouth through pursed lips.
Good.
And just taking three more breaths just like that.
Breathing in and exhaling.
And taking two more breaths like that at your own pace.
And now allow the breath to settle to a comfortable natural rhythm and continue to scan up into your chest and your heart space,
Into your shoulders,
Your neck,
Your throat,
Into your jaw and your face.
Just gradually moving your awareness up through the body until you reach the crown of your head.
And as you reach the crown of your head,
See if you can invite an even deeper sense of relaxation as you take a deep inhale through the nose.
And again,
Blowing the exhale slowly,
As slowly as you can out of the mouth.
And notice as you extend that exhale,
Your entire body begin to soften and relax,
That relaxation washing over your entire body.
And as you start to scan now back down through your face,
Making sure that you're not holding any tension through your face,
Around your eyes,
In your jaw and continuing to scan down until you reach your lower belly again.
And from here,
Once more bringing your awareness to the breath.
As we begin to come back to that safety net breath,
Breathing deeply in through the nose and blowing the exhale slowly out of the mouth.
And now continuing with that breath for one final minute before we close our practice.
And if your mind starts to wander,
Just always bringing your attention back to the breath,
Deepening and slowing the inhale and extending the exhale.
And now finishing the breath that you're on,
Letting that exhale go nice and slowly,
Allowing the breath to return to its comfortable natural rhythm.
And gently in your own time,
Starting to bring some small movements back into the body.
And if you have your eyes closed,
You can gently blink them open.
I hope you enjoyed that practice.
I would really encourage you to make NSDR part of your daily ritual,
Weekly ritual.
The more that you can integrate these kinds of practices,
The better you're going to be feeling on so many different levels.
A healthy,
Regulated and resilient nervous system is the key to living a happy and non-reactive life.
So I hope you have a great rest of your day and I'll see you again soon.
