Yoga Nidra For Deep Rest + 8 Hours Of Pink Noise
by Kari Doherty
This yoga nidra practice offers a gentle, grounding body scan with soft affirmations, inviting your nervous system to slow down and settle into deep rest. You can listen to this practice on its own and wake feeling refreshed after the 30-minute guidance, or enjoy it at bedtime and allow yourself to drift naturally into more than eight hours of steady pink noise, set at a soothing volume to support uninterrupted sleep.
Transcript
Come and lie down on your back.
Take time to arrange yourself so that you are completely comfortable and able to stay in this position for the next 20 minutes or so.
Be sure you have some cushion under your head for padding,
Maybe something under your knees for support,
And a blanket to cover you if you feel at all chilled.
Become aware of yourself lying on the floor,
Your whole body lying on the ground.
Become aware of the room.
Visualize the room that you are lying in and listen to the sounds around you.
Gradually bring the sounds closer in until the sound of your own breath is in the foreground of your awareness,
And everything else except my voice falls away.
Invite the body to relax fully,
Cultivating a sense of deep inner stillness.
Yoga Nidra is a meditative practice.
The intention is to stay awake and follow along on an inner journey.
If you find yourself falling asleep,
Gently draw yourself back to consciousness.
Repeat to yourself now,
Three times,
I am practicing Yoga Nidra.
I will stay awake.
I am practicing Yoga Nidra.
I will stay awake.
I am practicing Yoga Nidra.
I will stay awake.
From within,
Connect to a heartfelt intention or a positive resolve about yourself.
Let the words formulate naturally in a simple phrase,
Such as,
Letting go,
I take this time to care for myself.
You are welcome to use this phrase or work with one that emerges from within you.
Repeat your resolve three times.
Now we begin the rotation of consciousness by taking a trip through the different parts of the body.
Imagine that you are lying back in a shady grove,
The soft,
Moist grass beneath you,
A light breeze brushing each part,
As I name it,
Leaving it refreshed and invigorated.
Move your awareness swiftly through the body,
Following along with my voice,
Beginning on the left side with the hand,
Thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger,
Palm of hand.
Become aware of the palm,
The back of the hand,
The wrist,
The lower arm,
The elbow,
The shoulder,
Ribcage,
The left waist,
The left hip,
The left thigh,
The calf muscle,
The ankle,
The heel,
The sole of the left foot,
The top of the foot,
The big toe,
Second toe,
And fifth toe.
Feel the whole left side of the body fanned with the passing breeze,
The moist earth cradling you,
Moving to the right side,
Thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky finger,
Palm of the hand.
Become aware of the palm,
The back of the hand,
The wrist,
The upper arm,
The shoulder,
The armpit,
Ribcage,
The right waist,
The right hip,
The calf muscle,
The ankle,
The heel,
The sole of the right foot,
The top of the foot,
The big toe,
Second toe,
And fifth toe.
Feel the whole right side of the body fanned with the passing breeze,
The moist earth cradling you.
Move your awareness to the back of the head.
Let it sink to the ground,
Feeling embraced by the soft cushion of grass.
Experience the sensation of moisture like dew trickling down the back of the neck,
Along the spine,
And across the back,
Around the buttocks,
And down the backs of the legs.
Now go to the top of the head.
Feel the top of the head and forehead fanned by the wind,
A refreshing breeze blowing across the temples,
The left eyebrow,
And space between the brows,
The left ear,
The right ear,
Left cheek,
Right cheek,
The nostrils,
The tip of the nose,
The upper lip,
The chin,
The throat,
The left breast,
The right breast,
The heart center,
The abdomen,
The pelvis,
A light gust brushing over your skin like a feather.
Focus your awareness on the navel center and pelvic girdle.
Let your attention gather there.
Have a sensate awareness of the rise and fall of the belly with the breath.
Notice the sensation of spaciousness within the belly and spaciousness all around the belly.
With each breath,
Encourage a deep release and relaxation in the abdominal cavity.
Surrender the weight of the body to the cool,
Embracing earth,
And let the flow of the breath,
Like the flow of the breeze,
Waft within you,
And feel the coolness of the air as it brushes the inside of the nostrils and the back of the throat.
As you breathe in,
Say the word,
Balance,
Silently to yourself.
Let the exhale be slow and deep.
Feel the release of tension and say,
Calm,
Silently to yourself with each outgoing breath.
Exhale,
Calm.
As you breathe in and out,
Begin to imagine the inhalation breath first entering through the left nostril,
And then the exhalation breath exiting through the right.
Then inhale through the right nostril,
And exhale through the left.
Continue to breathe this way.
Inhale left,
Exhale right.
Then inhale right,
And exhale left.
Inhale balance,
Exhale calm.
Experience the breath like an inner current,
Its confluence coursing through you,
Like the gentle wind cleansing your insides,
Bringing complete balance and calm.
Be aware of the content of your consciousness,
Just as it is,
Without any need to change or modify your experience.
Relax and be with everything,
Just as it is.
Be aware of being aware.
Bring your sensate awareness to your physical body,
Thinking to yourself,
I have a body,
And I am aware of this body.
This body experiences different conditions of health and sickness,
Stress and relaxation.
I have a body,
And I am aware of this body.
This body is an experience unfolding in my awareness.
I have a body,
And I am more than the experience of this body.
I am aware of this body.
I am aware of the emotions that come and go in this body.
I have emotions,
And I am aware of these emotions.
These emotions are experiences unfolding in my awareness.
Changing,
Sometimes contradictory,
Swinging from love to hatred,
From calmness to anger,
From joy to sorrow.
I have emotions,
And I am more than the experience of emotions.
I am aware of these emotions arising in the field of unchanging awareness.
Be aware of the thoughts that run through the mind.
And are constantly changing.
I have thoughts.
I have a mind.
But I am more than this mind filled with thoughts.
Thoughts changing.
Chasing one another within this mind.
I am the awareness that perceives this mind,
And it's constantly changing conditions.
Be aware of all the objects in awareness.
Sensation.
Feeling.
Thought.
And experience.
Notice how each arises in the ever-present field of awareness.
Say to yourself,
I experience sensation,
Feeling,
And thought.
I am not separate from them.
All of these move within the field of my awareness.
I am the one who is aware of them.
I am aware and distinct from these movements.
I am the one who is aware.
Tap into the sensate feeling of this I am who is aware.
Trace the feeling of I am down from the brain and into the body.
Locate and feel the bodily location of I am.
In the heart center.
And rest in the heart as the feeling of pure awareness.
Be with the experience of I am.
Without judgment.
Free of any need to do or change.
Simply be with the purity.
Abiding in a sea of awareness.
A sea of consciousness.
To the flow of the breath.
Exhale calm.
Feel the rib cage.
And belly.
Expand with each inhalation breath.
And release with each exhale.
Become aware of your body.
From the beginning of the practice.
Your own.
Or the one offered earlier.
I take this time to care for myself.
Repeat your resolve once again three times.
You have the option.
To stay here.
Maybe you're still awake.
Give yourself permission to acknowledge your practice.
And decide what needs to happen next.
And if you're not sure.
Stay where you are.
You'll know.
When it's time to move on.
Or if it's time to stay.
Right where you are.
Just know.
That whatever you choose.
You can't go wrong.
