Yoga Nidra: Your Well-Deserved Rest
A restful Yoga Nidra practice to bring you to a place of stillness and receive deep rejuvenation when you need it. The practice includes a long body scan, breath awareness, rapid visualizations, and some time to rest in peace and stillness. Music by Relaxing Time Image by Steph Meade
Transcript
Welcome to your practice.
Make sure that you're in a comfortable position for your rest.
Take any support that you need for your body so that you can surrender into relaxation without feeling any physical discomfort or distraction.
If it feels good for you to lie on your back in Shavasana,
Come into Shavasana,
Taking your legs out to a little wider than hip distance and bringing your arms to your sides with the palms of the hands facing upwards.
Or if you feel like you're not going to be able to comfortably lie like this for the whole of the practice,
Then choose another position that feels better for you.
Perhaps bringing your feet together and opening your knees to the sides,
Or bringing your feet to the mat at hip distance apart and dropping the knees together.
Or if it feels best for you,
You can also do this practice sitting.
And once you've found your comfortable position,
Feel into your body and feel the weight of your body resting into the surface beneath you.
Feel the support of that surface beneath you holding your body.
And know that the earth beneath you will be supporting you all the way through the practice.
So it is safe for you to completely let go and surrender into the comfort of the surface that you're resting upon.
Now move your awareness to the breath and watch the gentle flow of the breath coming in and going out of your body.
Notice how the breath flows into the lungs and the chest gently expands as the lungs fill with air.
And notice how the breath flows back out again.
As you watch the breath,
Notice how every exhalation naturally guides your body into relaxation.
With every exhalation,
Tension gently releases from your muscles.
Every exhalation guides your body towards deep rest.
Now move the awareness into the nose and feel the gentle movement of the air flowing in and out of the nostrils as you breathe.
Feel the cool air flowing into the nostrils and the warm air flowing out.
And now move to the ears.
Can you feel the sensation of the air inside your ear?
And with the awareness inside the ears,
Just acknowledge any sounds that you can hear in your environment right now.
Let the awareness jump from sound to sound without getting too involved in any one sound.
Just acknowledge that those sounds are there and know that they're not going to disturb you as you rest today,
But can only encourage you to relax even more deeply.
And just take a moment now to acknowledge that this is your time for you to receive the rest that you need and that you deserve.
And there is no way that you can get this practice wrong.
You can listen to my voice for as long as that's useful for you,
Or you can drift away and ignore me.
And if you do fall asleep,
It just means that your body needs to sleep and is taking advantage of this opportunity to get the rest and rejuvenation that it needs.
And take some time to acknowledge as well that this rest is completely for you.
It is your time to turn inwards for your peace and your healing.
And as you rest,
The events of the outside world are of no concern to you.
Picture yourself surrounded by a bubble of light in the colour that you most love.
And see how all of your concerns from the day,
All the things you might need to do,
Any problems or any worries,
Are all outside of that bubble.
And they'll still be there for you when you finish the practice.
But just acknowledge for now that right now,
None of those things are your concern.
This is your well-deserved time,
Just for you.
We're going to take a journey around the body.
So bring your awareness to each body part,
As I name it,
And rest the awareness at that place.
Beginning at the tip of the tongue,
Rest the awareness at the tip of the tongue.
And the whole of the tongue,
Bring the awareness to the whole of the tongue.
The roof of the mouth.
The bottom of the mouth.
The teeth.
The gums.
The upper lip.
And the lower lip.
The nose.
The ears.
The right cheek.
The left cheek.
The right ear.
The left ear.
The right eye.
The left eye.
The right eyelid.
The left eyelid.
The right eyebrow.
The left eyebrow.
The eyebrow centre.
The forehead.
The right temple.
The left temple.
The top of the head.
Now bring the awareness to the right shoulder.
The right upper arm.
The right elbow.
The right lower arm.
The right wrist.
The palm of the right hand.
The back of the right hand.
The right thumb.
The right index finger.
The right middle finger.
The right ring finger.
The right middle finger.
Bring the awareness to the left shoulder.
The left upper arm.
The left elbow.
The lower arm.
The left wrist.
The palm of the left hand.
The back of the left hand.
The left hand thumb.
The left index finger.
The left middle finger.
The left ring finger.
And the little finger.
Bring the awareness to the space between the collarbones.
To the left side of the chest.
The right side of the chest.
The centre of the chest.
The navel.
The lower abdomen.
The right hip.
The right thigh.
The right knee.
The right shin.
The right ankle.
The right heel.
The right toe.
The sole of the right foot.
The top of the right foot.
Each of the right toes.
1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Bring the awareness to the left hip.
The left thigh.
The left knee.
The left shin.
The left ankle.
The left heel.
The sole of the left foot.
The top of the left foot.
Each of the left toes.
1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Bring the awareness to the right heel.
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.
The right shoulder blade.
The left shoulder blade.
The back of the head.
The top of the head.
The forehead.
The right eyebrow.
The left eyebrow.
The eyebrow centre.
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 collarbone.
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 the whole of the right foot.
Bring the awareness to the whole of the right foot.
The whole of the right leg.
The whole of the right arm.
The whole of the right side of the body.
The whole of the left foot.
The whole of the left leg.
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.
The whole of the body together.
Now bring the awareness to the breath.
Watch the breath flowing naturally in and out of the body.
Observe the gentle rising and falling of the chest as you breathe in and out.
And now begin to count the breaths backwards from 27 to 1.
Like this.
Breathing in 27.
Breathing out 27.
Breathing in 26.
Breathing out 26.
Breathing in 25.
Breathing out 25.
And so on.
Keep the awareness on counting the breaths.
If you make a mistake or if you reach the end go back to 27 and start again.
Continue counting the breaths.
Move the awareness to the eyebrow centre.
Observe the eyebrow centre.
Notice what's happening there at the eyebrow centre.
Observe any shapes.
Any colours or patterns.
Or just darkness.
Without getting too involved just notice what's there.
Keep the awareness at the eyebrow centre.
I'm going to name some different things.
And as I name each one allow an impression of that thing to form.
There's no need to force anything to happen.
Just allow each one to come by itself however it comes.
We'll begin with a still lake on a frosty morning.
Pebbles on a beach.
The glowing full moon.
A palm tree.
A lavender bush.
A dew drop on a leaf.
Pink clouds in the evening sky.
A unicorn.
Bluebells in the woods.
The sun rising over the Egyptian pyramids.
Leaves blowing in the wind.
A rainbow.
Move the awareness to the centre of the chest.
To the heart centre.
Resting here in the peace of the heart centre.
You are free.
Slowly begin to turn your awareness back outwards.
Notice the sounds that are present in your environment.
Allow the awareness to jump from sound to sound.
Without getting too involved in any one thing.
Just notice that the sounds are there.
And now become aware of the feeling of your body resting into the surface beneath you.
Move the awareness to the breath.
And feel how every breath reanimates the body.
Breathe into your hands and your feet.
And begin to gently move your fingers and your toes.
Make some circles with your wrists and your ankles.
And when you're ready give yourself a big stretch in any way that feels good for you.
When you're sure that you're wide awake again slowly open your eyes.
Your practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.
Thank you for listening.
