Yoga Nidra - Relaxation Practice

This Yoga Nidra practice is designed to help you systematically relax the different parts of your mind that keep you from fully entering into awareness. This practice can be used to help with stress, anxiety, at any point in the day or be played to help you fall asleep at night. Enjoy.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this Yoga Nidra practice.

Yoga Nidra is also known as yogic sleep.

In this practice we are both going to be looking at relaxing our mind and our body as well as planting an intention deep within our subconscious mind.

To do this practice you want to try to make yourself as comfortable as you can.

You can lie down on your bed or your couch.

If it feels good you can use an eye pillow or drape something over your eyes to limit the amount of light that comes through as well.

So just take a couple moments to find yourself in your comfortable position.

And then when you get there just take a couple deep breaths in.

Setting the intention for this practice,

The intention to be in this practice,

To relax,

To let go of any tension you might be holding onto.

So before we begin the practice I'd like to invite you to think of an intention right now,

Something that you might want to plant deep within your mind.

Something that you may need to hear,

A phrase or a mantra,

Whatever is resonating with you today.

It can be as simple as,

I am love,

Or I am beautiful,

I am strong,

I can accomplish my goals,

Whatever resonates with you.

It's not something that you want to overthink,

Just feel into what's right.

And then to relax ourselves for this meditation we're going to start by working from the outside in.

So first I invite you to just notice your surrounding space.

You can do this with your eyes open at first if you'd like and just take a look around.

Notice what draws your attention.

And then you can softly begin to close your eyes and then perhaps extend out the sense of hearing.

What sounds do you hear around you?

Without trying to label anything as good or bad,

Just notice those sounds and accept them as being part of this practice today.

Maybe you even send out your sense of smell and notice if there's any smells in the room.

Just finding things that anchor you into this present moment.

Next we're going to shift our awareness a little bit further in towards the breath.

Just start to notice your breath without needing to change anything at first,

Just noticing if your breath feels deep or shallow,

Light or heavy.

If it's going all the way down into your belly or maybe it's just slightly raising your chest and collarbones with each breath.

Notice as you breathe in that slight cooling sensation on the back of the nose or throat,

Being aware of how it feels to take a breath in.

This idea of that life force,

That prana,

Fueling you with every inhale.

Noticing how just by following the breath you can sink deeper into relaxation.

Then I'm going to invite you to count your breaths with me.

As you inhale,

You'll count one,

Exhale one.

Inhale two,

Exhale two.

Exhale three,

Exhale three.

Keep going into your own mental count.

Then keep going all the way up to 10.

If you lose track of the number,

That's totally fine.

Just start back down one.

There's no right or wrong way to do this.

Just breathing and counting.

And even if you get all the way up to 10,

You can just start back.

Inhale one,

Exhale one.

Then you can begin to release the count.

Just notice your breath again and never see if it's changed at all.

Or maybe you feel a little bit more connected to it.

Next I'd like to bring your awareness another step further inwards towards the knowing of the body.

I'm going to guide you through a brief body scan within this major practice just to help you let go of any more tension that you might be holding onto.

Sometimes the tension you're holding onto that you're not even aware of.

To do this,

We're going to start all the way down at the tip of the right big toe.

As we do this body scan practice,

Just noticing how you become aware of things.

Is it through visualization or feeling into sensation?

Maybe for you there's a temperature change as awareness touches onto a part of your body.

Or maybe it feels lighter or heavier.

Just notice as you move through this practice how your awareness affects your reality.

So starting at the tip of that right big toe,

Noticing if you can picture your toe or maybe it's easier for you to feel what the temperature is down there.

Or maybe if you're wearing a sock you can feel the fabric pressing up against your toe.

Whatever works for you,

Just using that level of awareness,

Recognizing that attention melts away tension.

So as I call out the different parts of the body,

Just allow your awareness to rest upon them,

Allowing everything to relax,

Setting an intention for everything to function the way it's meant to,

And letting go of any tension you might be holding onto.

So we'll go from that right big toe,

Move over to the second toe,

The third toe,

The fourth toe,

And the pinky,

Moving your awareness to the sole of the right foot,

All the way through the foot,

Relaxing the muscles and tendons and ligaments,

All those little bones,

Allowing them to settle into peace,

Be at rest,

Recognizing the top of your foot,

Moving your awareness to the right ankle,

Tracing that line of awareness up the shin,

Around the calf,

All the way up to the right knee,

Shifting from that right knee,

Moving up the quadriceps and the hamstrings,

These powerful muscles allowing them to let go and be at rest,

Moving up into the right hip,

All the way to the crest of the right hip bone,

Then letting go of any lasting tension in that right leg,

Feel it become heavy,

Feel it settling in.

Then we're gonna shift our awareness over to the left big toe,

Same thing,

Being aware of what sensations are there,

And then moving over to the second toe,

The third toe,

The fourth toe,

And the pinky,

Moving into the sole of the left foot,

Through the left foot,

Relaxing all those muscles and tendons and ligaments,

The top of the left foot through to the ankle and heel,

Relaxing up the calf,

The shin,

Tracing that line up the left leg to the knee,

The big muscles of the quadriceps and hamstrings,

All the way into the left hip and to the crest of the left hip bone.

Once again,

Letting go of any tension you still might be holding onto on the left side,

And then spending a little bit of time sending your awareness inside of your hips,

Around your root chakra,

Moving up into your sacral chakra area,

Where a lot of these very important organs are,

We wanna just send some attention,

And with our attention,

Send some love into that area,

Even relaxing all the heavy and strong glute muscles.

We'll follow that line of awareness into the lower back,

Tracing up the spine,

Relaxing these powerful muscles,

All the muscles in between the ribs along the back line,

Following up,

Relaxing and releasing around the shoulder blades,

Up into the lower traps,

The upper traps,

And anywhere else where you might be holding onto tension in your back,

And bringing your awareness through your body into the front line.

You can start around your navel here,

Just bringing awareness to where your organs are,

Where again we find a lot of these very important functioning parts of the body.

Send some awareness there and some intention for everything to function as it's meant to.

Relaxing your belly,

Softening the abdominal muscles,

Again the muscles in between the ribs on the front line of the body,

Even where your ribs connect to your sternum,

Feeling into your diaphragm,

Your lungs,

Your heart,

Allowing everything to relax,

And then bringing your awareness to the hollow of your throat,

Feeling this point of energy.

Just take a breath here.

From here we're going to move down the arms,

Starting with the right side,

Bringing our awareness up to the right shoulder,

Down the right arm,

The bicep and tricep,

Relaxing,

Softening the right elbow,

Forearm,

Wrist,

All the many muscles and bones that make up the hands,

All the way to the tip of the right thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And pinky,

Moving back up that arm,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Bicep,

Tricep,

Shoulder,

All the way back to the hollow of the throat.

Take a breath here.

Then we'll move down the left arm,

Moving up past the left shoulder,

Down again the bicep and tricep,

Past the left elbow,

Into the forearm,

In through that left wrist,

All the muscles that make up the hand.

Let everything be relaxed.

Bringing awareness to the tip of the left thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And pinky.

Back up through the left hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Bicep,

Tricep,

Shoulder,

Back to the hollow of the throat.

Take a breath here.

And then move from this point and start to bring awareness into the muscles of the neck itself,

These powerful muscles that stabilize and hold up your head every single day.

Start to feel them letting go and relaxing,

Tracing that line of awareness up into the jaw,

Softening and unclenching your teeth if you are.

The muscles around your nose and sinuses,

Letting everything just be at rest.

If you're squeezing your eyes shut,

Feel yourself softening your eyelids,

Softening your brow line,

The muscles around your ears,

All the way up into all the little parts of your scalp until you reach the very crown of your head.

And just do a brief scan of the rest of your body.

Notice if you're still gripping anywhere.

Notice if you can let go.

Now that you've relaxed your body,

Once again,

Just notice the state of your breath.

Just feel how differently the breath moves through a softened body.

I'd like to now invite you to visualize as you're standing at the top of a staircase.

It can be any staircase,

Maybe one you know or one that you're just seeing for the first time in your mind.

And you're going to start slowly taking one step after another down the staircase.

You don't feel like you're in any kind of a hurry.

You must really enjoy the journey because you take one step,

Then another.

And you continue to go down these stairs feeling more relaxed and at ease with every step you take until you find yourself 10 steps from the bottom.

9,

8,

Relaxing,

Letting go,

7,

6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1.

You take the last step at the bottom of the staircase and you find yourself in this vast room in your mind,

One that is made up of pure love and safety.

Knowing that nothing can hurt you here,

No judgment penetrates here.

You are at peace.

And then from here I just want you to gaze slightly ahead of you and visualize a flower there.

Again,

It could be a flower that you know or one that you're just seeing for the first time here in this room.

And you walk up to this flower and you lean over and with much gratitude you pluck it up in your hand and you just start to look at it.

You look at its beauty.

You're amazed that this flower can exist in this space.

You put it to your nose and you smell it.

Perhaps you even let it brush up against your cheek if that feels good.

Appreciating all the aspects of what makes it beautiful.

And then you're going to reach out with your other hand and pluck off a single petal.

You're holding on to this one petal.

You allow the rest of the flower to fall down to the ground to be reabsorbed by the soil in this place.

And you focus on this petal.

And you look at it so closely you see the texture on the surface of this petal.

Whether it's smooth or velvety,

Noticing what's there for you to offer.

And notice perhaps even if the color shifts on the surface of a single petal.

Taking it in and appreciating it.

Knowing that this petal is completely safe and very edible,

You have a choice to either lightly place it on your tongue and consume this flower petal.

Or you can release it as well.

It might drift down to be reabsorbed by the soil.

Again,

There's no need to overthink anything here,

Whatever feels right,

Just allow that to be so.

And then in the nature of balance,

As you pluck something from the soil,

You're going to bend over and you're going to plant something back into it.

You reach into your pocket and you pull out a seed.

This seed represents that intention that you set at the beginning of your practice.

That affirmation or mantra that you might need to hear.

As you place this seed in the soil,

Know that with it,

Your affirmation goes as well.

Let it be watered by the love in your heart and protected by the vastness of the space,

The grandeur.

You place your hand over the area where you planted the seed.

And you feel the love come off of you.

And you feel the love coming off of you back into the soil as well.

You take a pause just to appreciate the journey of a seed when planted,

The germination process,

The growing process,

Knowing that when you need it to,

That intention,

That affirmation will also grow into a beautiful flower and be there when you need it.

You stand up,

Taking a nice breath,

And you turn to slowly make your way back to the staircase.

Again,

In no hurry,

You slowly start to make your way up the staircase one step at a time.

Until you're 10 steps from the top.

As you take these last 10 steps,

You begin to feel some of your energy coming back into your body,

Some awareness,

Some feeling of freshness.

You take one step,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Feeling refreshed,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Feeling your alertness coming back,

Eight,

Nine,

And ten.

Coming to the top of the staircase and slowly allowing even the visual of the staircase to dissipate as you find yourself once again back in your body.

Perhaps you notice how differently your body feels,

Light or heavy or sometimes feeling nonexistent.

You can lie here for a moment just to appreciate that feeling of relaxed body.

And then we'll slowly begin to expand our awareness,

Starting again with a breath.

This time,

Just take in a few deep breaths.

Let out nice strong exhales.

And as you continue to breathe,

Maybe you expand your awareness and notice again if there's any sounds or smiles around you.

Maybe you want to invite some subtle movement,

Gentle,

Gentle movement into your hands or feet,

Wrists or ankles.

Maybe it feels good just to take a nice big stretch and let out a yawn.

You can stay here.

Just feel into the sensation of relaxation.

Or when it feels right for you,

Perhaps you gently open your eyes,

Blinking in a little bit more light with each blink.

Even noticing how different light looks through relaxed eyes.

And then integrating gently,

You can come fully back to the present moment,

Back to your surroundings.

Thank you for allowing me to guide you through this practice today.

Namaste.