Yoga Nidra For Deep Rest And Grounding

This long Yoga Nidra practice includes a long body scan and tree and garden visualisations to encourage deep relaxation and to inspire feelings of groundedness and mental clarity.

Photo by Gülşah Aydoğan

Transcript

Welcome to your Yoga Nidra practice.

To begin with,

Make sure that you are warm and comfortable.

Bring yourself into a comfortable position to rest.

You might like to come into Shavasana,

Lying on your back with your legs open to a little wider than hip distance apart,

And with your feet relaxing out to the sides.

Bring your arms a little away from the sides of your body,

With the palms facing upwards,

And tuck the chin in slightly to lengthen through the back of the neck.

If you would like to support yourself here,

You might like to take a cushion or a block under your head,

Or some support for your knees or feet,

Such as a rolled up mat or blanket under your knees or your ankles.

And if you know that lying on your back isn't going to be a comfortable position to stay in,

Find another position that does feel good for you.

You might like to bring your feet to the mat,

A tip distance apart,

With your knees resting together,

Or you might like to take the soles of your feet together and open your knees to the sides,

Perhaps supporting your thighs with blocks or cushions,

Or it might feel better for you to lie on your side,

Or even to do the practice sitting.

Wherever you are,

Make sure that you are warm enough.

Your body temperature is likely to drop as you practice,

So you might like to cover yourself with a blanket,

Even if you don't feel cold right now.

And once you've made yourself comfortable,

Feel your body beginning to relax.

Feel the support of the surface beneath you and give yourself permission to surrender into that surface.

And as you begin to relax into your practice,

Take a moment to acknowledge this very special time for you and your relaxation and rejuvenation.

Leave any cares or worries from your day to one side for now,

And welcome this time to honour and rest with your deepest self.

Now send the awareness down into your feet.

As you breathe in,

Send the breath into the feet,

And as you exhale,

Feel the feet relaxing.

Feel the toes relaxing,

And the soles of the feet,

The tops of the feet.

Now feel into the ankles,

Inhale into the ankles,

And exhale to feel the ankles relaxing.

And the calves,

Inhale into the calves,

Exhale the calves relax.

And the knees,

Exhale to relax the knees,

And the thighs,

The hips.

Inhale into the legs and the feet,

And exhale to feel the legs and the feet relaxing together.

Now feel into the lower back,

Inhale into the lower back,

And exhale to feel the lower back releasing and relaxing.

Feel any tension from the day gently melting away from the lower back,

And the upper back.

Inhale into the upper back,

Exhale to feel the upper back and the shoulders relaxing.

And the arms,

With each exhalation feel the upper arms relaxing,

The lower arms,

The hands and the fingers.

Now bring the awareness to the front of the body,

And just observe the breath flowing through the front of the body.

Notice where the breath flows into,

Into the chest or into the belly.

And with each exhalation,

Feel the whole of the body relaxing even more deeply.

With every exhalation,

The whole of the body becomes even more relaxed.

Now feel into the head,

And allow the exhalations to relax the head and the face.

As you exhale,

The back of the head becomes heavy and sinks into the surface beneath you.

Exhale to feel the face relax,

Tension melting away from the jaw.

Continue to feel the whole of the body relaxing more deeply with every exhalation.

Now send your awareness out to the sounds in your environment,

And become aware of the furthest sound that you can hear in the distance.

Without getting involved in what that sound is,

Or where it's coming from,

Just acknowledge that the sound is there.

And now draw the awareness into sounds that are closer to you,

To the sounds outside the room,

And to even closer sounds,

The sounds inside the room.

Bring the awareness to the sounds of your own body,

To the sound of your breath,

To the sound of your heartbeat,

And welcome all of the sounds,

Knowing that they won't disturb you as you practice,

But will only help you to relax even more deeply.

And before we begin the practice,

Just take a moment now to acknowledge that this is your time for your rest,

And that there is no way to get this practice wrong.

You are free to follow the guidance of my voice for as long as that serves you,

But if you wish to drift away and ignore me,

You are free to drift into your own space.

And if sleep comes,

That just means that your body needs to sleep.

This practice also contains several visualizations,

And these can be experienced very differently for different people.

They may come to you as images,

Or you may feel them as feelings,

Sensations,

Or a subtle sense of knowing.

There is no right or wrong way to experience them.

Allow them to come to you however they come.

And you can't get this practice wrong,

So just permit yourself to relax a little bit more now,

Knowing that the practice is going to bring you exactly what you need today.

Now we'll come to the cultivation of the inner resource.

The inner resource is a felt sense of safety and well-being,

And once you've connected with it,

It's a space that you can return to at any time if you need to.

So now,

Invite a feeling of safety to arise all around you and inside you.

If it helps you to feel the feeling,

You might like to remember a time when you felt safe,

Secure,

And well.

Or you could imagine a situation which would meet all of the conditions that you would need to feel safe,

Well,

And secure.

Welcome this feeling of safety as it arises around you,

And welcome it into your body.

Intensify the feeling of safety inside your body.

Feel it vividly.

This is your feeling that you have cultivated for yourself,

And you can return to it at any time if you need to.

Absolute safety,

Security,

Well-being.

And if you have a personal intention for your practice today,

Just take a moment now to acknowledge that intention.

Whatever has inspired you to show up to practice today.

Deep rest and rejuvenation.

Healing.

Grounding.

Mental clarity.

Just bring that intention into your awareness now,

And take a moment to acknowledge it.

If you have a sankalpa,

Now is the time to recall your sankalpa.

The sankalpa is a deep vow or prayer from the heart for something you long to attain or experience in this life.

Allow the sankalpa to arise naturally.

There is no need to force it.

It may arise as a short positive statement,

Or it may come as an image or as a feeling.

There is no right or wrong way to experience the sankalpa.

Welcome it however it comes.

And if you don't have a sankalpa,

Drop the awareness to the heart center and just observe the heart.

If your heart has a message for you,

Or if a sankalpa is there,

It will arise very naturally.

But it's not essential to have a sankalpa,

So there's no need to try and make anything happen.

Simply observe the heart center as it is right now.

Now we'll begin the rotation of consciousness around the body.

Allow the awareness to rest at each body part as it's named,

Beginning at the right hand.

Bring the awareness to rest at the right hand thumb.

Bring the awareness to rest at the right hand thumb.

And the right index finger.

The right middle finger.

The right ring finger.

The right little finger.

The palm of the right hand.

The back of the right hand.

The right wrist.

The right forearm.

The right elbow.

The right upper arm.

The right shoulder.

The right side of the chest.

The right side of the abdomen.

The right waist.

The right hip.

The right thigh.

The right knee.

The right shin.

The right ankle.

The right heel.

The sole of the right foot.

The top of the right foot.

And each of the right toes.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Moving to the left side,

Bring the awareness to the left hand thumb.

The left index finger.

The left middle finger.

The left ring finger.

The left little finger.

The palm of the left hand.

The back of the hand.

The left wrist.

The left forearm.

The left elbow.

The left upper arm.

The left shoulder.

The left side of the chest.

The left side of the abdomen.

The left waist.

The left hip.

The left thigh.

The left shin.

The left ankle.

The sole of the left foot.

The top of the left foot.

And each of the left toes.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Now we'll send the awareness up the back of the body.

Bring the awareness to the right heel.

And the left heel.

The right calf.

The left calf.

The back of the right knee.

The back of the left knee.

The right buttock.

The left buttock.

The whole of the spine.

Send the awareness up the whole of the spine.

The right shoulder blade.

The left shoulder blade.

The back of the neck.

The back of the head.

The top of the head.

And moving down the front of the body.

Bring the awareness to the forehead.

The right eyebrow.

The left eyebrow.

The eyebrow centre.

The right eye.

The left eye.

The right ear.

The left ear.

The right cheek.

The left cheek.

The nose.

The tip of the nose.

The upper lip.

The lower lip.

The chin.

The jaw.

The right collarbone.

The left collarbone.

The space between the collarbones.

The right side of the chest.

The left side of the chest.

The centre of the chest.

The navel.

The lower abdomen.

The right hip.

The left hip.

The right knee.

The left knee.

The right ankle.

The left ankle.

The right toes.

The left toes.

And now the whole of the right leg.

Bring the awareness to the whole of the right leg.

The whole of the right arm.

The whole of the right side of the body.

And the whole of the left leg.

The whole of the left arm.

The whole of the left side of the body.

And the whole of the body together.

Awareness on the whole of the body together.

The whole of the body together.

Bring the awareness to the breath.

Follow the natural breath.

Watch the air flow into the body.

Into the chest.

Feel the natural expansion of the chest with the inhalation.

And follow the breath back out again.

Back out of the chest.

Out of the body.

Watch the breath as it flows in and out.

And now begin to count the breaths backwards from 27 to 0.

Like this.

Breathing in 27.

Breathing out 27.

Breathing in 26.

Breathing out 26.

Breathing in 25.

Breathing out 25.

And so on.

Keep watching the breath and counting.

If you make a mistake or if you reach zero,

Go back to 27 and start again.

Continue to count the breaths.

Stop counting.

And see yourself sitting on a hilltop on a summer's day.

Warm sunlight beams down onto your head from the clear sky above you.

And the grass beneath you is soft and comfortable.

As you sit on the hilltop,

Picture yourself growing roots that extend down from the base of your spine into the earth beneath you.

Send the roots deep into the earth.

And send your awareness down into your roots.

Deep into the earth.

Feel your roots drawing nourishment up from the earth and into your body.

Send the awareness up and down the roots with the breath.

Exhale the awareness down the roots,

Deep into the earth.

Inhale the awareness up the roots,

Drawing nourishment from the earth into your body.

And now send the awareness up to the top of your head and see the top of your head blossoming like a tree.

See branches growing from the top of your head extending up towards the sun,

Up towards the sky.

See green leaves growing on those branches.

And send the awareness up into the branches,

Into the leaves,

Into the sky.

Draw the radiant sunlight from the sky down through the branches and into your body.

Each time you inhale,

Send the awareness up into the branches,

Into the leaves,

Into the sky.

And each time you exhale,

Draw the radiant sunlight from the sky down the branches and into your body.

And are you able to send the awareness out to the earth and the sky together?

Inhale the awareness down your roots into the earth and up your branches into the sky.

And exhale to draw nourishment from the earth and light from the sky into your body.

Inhale into the earth and the sky.

Exhale to receive nourishment and light.

Now see yourself standing in front of a door within a high stone wall.

There is a key in the lock of the door.

You turn the key and you open the door and step into a garden.

You walk into the garden,

Closing the door behind you.

And you notice all of the different plants and objects around you.

You walk through the garden,

Listening to the sounds of any birds or any animals.

And you come to one part of the garden which you see needs some work.

And there are some tools stacked beside the wall.

You take the tools that you need and you carefully tend to the garden.

Do whatever it is that you need to do here.

Any weeding,

Planting,

Watering.

You finish your work,

Satisfied with your patch of garden.

And you find a place to sit where you can enjoy looking over the whole of the garden.

Spend some time here with the plants,

The trees and the flowers.

And resting in the peace of the garden,

You enter into a deep meditation.

If you have a sankalpa,

Now is the time to recall your sankalpa.

Welcome it as it arises from the heart,

Your deep prayer or vow.

Give it your full attention.

And if you don't have one,

Bring the awareness to the heart space and observe what's happening at the heart right now.

And if you made an intention at the beginning of the practice,

Bring that intention back into your awareness now.

Whatever inspired you to show up for your practice today,

Take a moment to acknowledge it once again.

Now we'll return to the inner resource,

The deep feeling of safety you cultivated at the beginning of the practice.

Invite that feeling of safety to arise for you again.

Feel that feeling of safety and well-being all around you.

And feel it inside your body.

Welcome the feeling.

Feel it vividly.

This is yours.

And you can always return to this feeling at any time if you need to.

In your practice.

And in your life.

And now,

Very slowly,

Begin to turn the awareness back outwards.

Notice the sounds that are present in your environment.

Allow the awareness to jump from sound to sound without getting distracted.

Allow the awareness to jump from sound to sound without getting too involved in any one sound.

Just notice that those sounds are there.

Acknowledge them.

And now become aware of the feeling of the air against your skin.

Of your clothing or blanket against your skin.

The feeling of your body resting on the surface beneath you.

In your mind,

Can you picture yourself resting peacefully?

Can you recall the colours of the clothes that you're wearing?

The colour of your blanket or your mat?

Can you picture the room around you?

The colour of the walls?

The furniture and the objects around you?

Now begin to deepen the breathing as you prepare to end the practice.

Start to make some small movements.

Gently moving the fingers and the toes.

Slowly circling the ankles and the wrists.

And when you're ready,

Give yourself a long stretch in any way that feels good for you.

Take your time.

There isn't any rush.

When you're sure that you're feeling wide awake again,

Gently blink your eyes back open and come back to sitting.

This practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.

Thank you for listening.

Reviews

Such a lovely, relaxing yoga nidra! Thank you Jessica 💚