Yoga Nidra For Deep Rest

This yoga nidra practice with Kelly is designed to support you in creating the conditions for deep rest and preparing the body for sleep wherever you find yourself. Utilize this practice to help you orient to your inner world and drift into restful sleep.

Transcript

This yoga nidra practice is focused on helping you to tap in to a space of deep breath and prepare your body for sleep wherever you find yourself.

You might begin practice by finding a comfortable way or space to recline your body to find a lying down position.

It might be that you choose to support yourself in a way that's more upright,

Like a seat.

If you're in a comfortably reclined position,

You might support your body with a blanket under your knees or under your ankles.

And in whichever position you find yourself,

You might cover your body with a blanket for warmth.

You could begin by taking a deep breath in through your nose and a soft settling breath out.

If you haven't already,

You might allow your eyes to drop closed.

Allow the tops of the shoulders to soften away from your ears.

And begin to find a sense of the body settling in whichever way it's oriented.

You might begin to notice the spaces where your body is connected to a form of support,

Either under the back line of your body or where your seat is connected.

Notice where the body is supported and allow the body to become heavy.

Notice the spaces for parts of your body that are open to the space around you.

Notice how as you breathe,

The body expands into the space around it.

And how each time you breathe out,

The body settles,

Returns.

With your eyes still closed,

You could remember the space around you,

What it looked like right before you closed your eyes,

The solid quality of the floor underneath you,

The image of the windows or walls around you,

And the ceiling above you.

Notice in relationship to those things,

Your body taking up space as if you were observing yourself from above,

You notice your body at rest occupying space.

You could begin to draw your attention back to yourself.

Beginning up toward the head,

You start to trace a line of awareness around your skin.

Allow your awareness to touch every part of this outer boundary of your body.

The physical barrier that separates you from the world.

Notice the spaces between your fingers,

Just under your fingernails,

The experience of the spaces where your skin is open to the air around you and where your skin is in contact with your clothing.

From this outermost layer,

The space that is most external,

You begin to diffuse your attention into your body,

Allowing attention to slowly move through layers of tissue.

These are liquid spaces of the body.

Until you find your way in to a place that feels like center,

Then you can allow your awareness to rest there.

As you rest awareness in the center of your space,

You might begin to notice the rhythm of the breath of the body breathing.

With nothing to change or do or fix,

From your center space,

Observe the breath rise and observe the breath release.

You might notice if there's a particular sensation associated with your inhale that draws your attention or a particular sensation that you can identify related to your exhale that draws your awareness.

You might notice the space just below your navel,

The lowest part of the belly,

And see if you can allow that space to become a little softer.

Notice if you can identify that wave-like quality of your breath coming down into the very lowest part of the belly.

From this awareness at your center,

You could set an intention for your time in the space of deep breaths,

A sand kalpa,

Or a heart wish,

A sincere desire.

And as that sincere desire presents itself to you,

You might silently repeat it to yourself three times.

You could start to shift your awareness up toward the crown of your head and allow your attention to rest there.

As you find this next breath in,

You might visualize the breath moving down the body from the crown of the head,

Going past the heart and the belly,

All the way down to the bottoms of the feet.

As you breathe out,

Watching that occur in reverse,

The breath leaving the body from the bottom up.

Inhale,

Watch the body fill from the crown of the head.

All the way to the soles of the feet.

You exhale,

Body empties from feet to crown.

Inhale,

Body fills,

Top to bottom.

Exhale,

Body empties,

Bottom to top.

Take a few more rounds of breath,

Observing this for yourself.

You could allow your breath to settle back to its natural rhythm and return your awareness gently up to the crown of your head.

From the crown of your head,

You could let your attention wander down both sides of the scalp,

The right side of the scalp,

The left side of the scalp.

You could come to notice the center of the forehead,

The right side of the forehead,

The left side of the forehead,

The right eyebrow,

The right eye.

You can notice the right temple,

The right ear,

The right half of your nose,

And the right nostril.

And notice your right cheekbone,

Right cheek,

The right half of your jaw,

Inside the mouth,

Noticing the teeth on the right side,

The right half of the tongue.

Coming to the left eyebrow,

The left eye,

The left temple,

The left ear.

Notice the left cheekbone,

The left cheek,

The left side of your jaw,

The teeth in the left side of your mouth,

The left side of your tongue.

Notice your whole face,

The whole of your head.

Draw your awareness down into the neck,

Into the throat.

Notice the right half of your neck,

The left half of your neck,

The hollow at the base of the throat where the collarbones meet,

The right collarbone,

The right shoulder,

The right shoulder blade,

The right upper arm,

Your elbow,

Your forearm,

The right wrist,

Top of the right hand,

The palm,

The right thumb,

First finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And pinky finger.

Notice the whole right arm.

Return to the left collarbone,

The left shoulder,

And the left shoulder blade,

The upper arm,

The elbow,

Forearm,

The wrist,

The top of the hand,

Palm of the hand,

Left thumb,

First finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And pinky finger.

Notice the whole left arm.

Return to the space where the collarbones meet.

Notice the center of the chest,

The sternum,

The right hemisphere of the chest,

And the whole right half of your ribcage.

It wraps around the side of the body and joins in the back of the line of the spine.

Notice the left hemisphere of the chest,

The whole left ribcage wrapping from front to back.

Notice the belly,

The right half of the abdomen,

The left half of the abdomen,

The front of the right hip,

The back of the right hip,

The front of the left hip,

The back of the left hip,

The right thigh,

The right knee,

Right shin bone,

And the right calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

And the left and bottom of the right foot,

The right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Come to notice the left thigh,

The left knee,

The left shin,

The left calf,

The ankle,

The heel,

Top of the foot,

Bottom of the foot,

The left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Notice the whole left leg,

The whole right leg,

The whole right side of the body,

The whole left side of the body,

The whole front of the body together,

The whole back of the body together,

The whole of the body together,

Sense the body becoming heavier,

Even more at rest,

As if the body here could drop down or drop in another layer.

Notice the body heavy,

The whole body completely at rest.

Notice the whole body completely at rest.