Yoga Nidra For Sleep

With the practice of yoga nidra, your sleep can become deeper and over time you teach your body to rest. This 19 minutes yoga nidra for sleep is ideal to listen to as you want to sleep. It is absolutely okay if you fall asleep during the yoga nidra. Simply find a comfortable place to be and listen.

Transcript

Hi friend and welcome to Yoga Nidra for Sleep. As we begin our Yoga Nidra practice for sleep, I invite you to do whatever you need to release any pent-up energy in your body. Send a sigh once or twice out of your mouth. It might be helpful for you to stretch and do a couple of body clenches where you open your arms and spread your fingers and spread your toes and clench everything very tightly again. Hold that for just a moment and now relax. Maybe with a sigh out of your mouth. Again breathe in, Hold your breath for just a moment, Clench all of your muscles, Then sigh as you relax. Now allow yourself to move into a position where you can fully relax. I invite you to release all expectations about your practice. Though you may have an intention, You are simply going to welcome, Recognize and witness whatever arises. As you feel your body in this moment, Close your eyes and see if you can allow yourself to relax just 10% more than you are right now. Now begin by simply noticing whatever you are experiencing in this moment. Notice sounds and sensations. Notice emotions and thoughts. Simply allow the process of awareness to have its way with you. Remember that your natural component is that of relaxed awareness. So the more you become aware through your inner yoga neutral practice, The more you will relax. If you happen to fall asleep, That's okay. The part of you that I am speaking to is still paying attention, Regardless if your conscious mind is alert or asleep. Come back to the awareness of simply feeling your body, Just experiencing it as sensation and welcome the sensation of body. Recognize it as sensation and simply be the witness to sensation of body, Your entire body. Feel your head and hands, Arms and legs, Front and back. You are simply witnessing body. There's nothing to do, Change or hold on to concerning your body. You are simply witnessing body. The course of your yoga neutral practice, You are setting the conditions for deep awareness and may be your intention for this practice to cultivate an awareness that will facilitate deep, Peaceful and nourishing sleep for you. You are practicing awareness that will facilitate a deep, Peaceful and nourishing sleep. As you go through deepening layers of awareness, Just be curious how the body naturally begins to become more and more relaxed. You are not going to try to make anything happen. You will simply watch your body become more and more relaxed. Now in this moment, Remember a place you love to be. This is your personal sanctuary. This is your own private paradise where you can imagine or remember a time when you were very relaxed. Remember or imagine a time where you were very relaxed and see the scene with your eyes. Notice if you're seeing it on a screen or watching yourself as a character in a movie, But actually seeing the scene with your own eyes. Maybe what you see is the peace and darkness of a quiet room or a peaceful sunset over a beach. Bring to life a scene where you can be extremely relaxed. What does it smell like in this scene? Notice the sounds of this relaxing scene. Perhaps it's quietness that you notice. Are there any tastes associated with this scene? And how does your body feel as it becomes more and more relaxed? Perhaps you're feeling weightless or comfortably heavy. Just give yourself a moment as you enjoy this scene. Allow yourself to run through your senses and bring this scene alive. Feel yourself relaxed in this scene and allow to relax your body, Your mind and your spirit in this very moment. You can return to this scene whenever you wish. This is a resource that exists within you that never changes or diminishes and you can always come back here whenever you want to. Now in this moment I want to bring your attention to your sankalpa, Your intention. And if you have your own purpose for practicing today, Repeat that as a statement in your mind that is specific, That speaks to you now and that is positive. Or if you'll allow me, I'm going to suggest the sankalpa for our practice today. Unless you have your own sankalpa, Please repeat in your mind. I'm creating the conditions to facilitate deep, Peaceful and nourishing sleep. I'm creating the conditions to facilitate deep, Peaceful and nourishing sleep. And as you repeat that a few times in your mind, Let that seed be planted in the fertile soul of your heart. As you continue to deepen your awareness through your yoga nidra practice, You'll create the conditions necessary for this seed of intention to grow and to bloom. We're not forcing anything to happen. We're merely aligning ourselves with our true nature, That of awareness. As we do so, We will naturally create the conditions for all parts of our being to optimize, Even that part that seeks deep, Peaceful and nourishing sleep. I invite you to open up to awareness itself through the sensation of your body. You're simply welcoming, Recognizing and witnessing the filling of your body without the need to fix or change or do anything about your body. Simply welcome the sensation of face and give it permission to relax. Relax all the muscles in your face, Around your eyes, Around your mouth, Around your nose and your ears. Just allow everything to relax with as much ease as possible. You're not trying or forcing yourself to do anything. You're merely noticing how your face naturally becomes more relaxed the more you pay attention to it. Now be aware of the sensation of your scalp, The crown of your head and the back of your head. Fill your entire scalp and simply release and become more and more relaxed. Fill your entire head. The more it relaxes, Notice how it takes on a new kind of energy, A new kind of prana. It might feel like a heaviness or a tinkling or a lightness. Welcome, Recognize and witness any way in which your head begins to feel the more and more you become relaxed. Your head is becoming more and more relaxed as you simply become aware of its sensation. Notice that the sensations come and go and you might be aware of this body part in one moment and that in the next, But realize that the changing of sensation is illuminating and unchanging awareness. I invite you to be with that unchanging awareness in this moment. Experience yourself as awareness, Having a physical experience in the form of sensation of body. As awareness, Experience yourself as sensation of neck and throat. As awareness, Simply notice the gentle rise and fall of your chest as you breathe. There is nothing to do or to change. You're simply noticing the gentle rise and fall of your chest as you breathe. And feel your belly as it becomes more relaxed. There's nothing to hold, To try to grip, Nothing to change or to do. You're experiencing your belly as deep relaxation. Now be aware of the sensation of back, Shoulder blades and spine. Trace the sensation of spine from the base of your skull all the way down through your upper back and neck, Middle back, Shoulders, Shoulder blades, To lower back and all the way down to your tailbone. Somehow allow your entire spine to relax and feel heavy and restful. At any time during our practice, If anything arises, Sensations or thoughts or emotions, Simply welcome, Recognize and witness them without any aversion, Without any attachment. Notice anything that arises for what it is. Merely be the witness to whatever arises. Allow yourself that freedom to move deeper and deeper into relaxation and if you find yourself beginning to slip into sleep, There's nothing to resist. The part of you that I'm speaking to is still paying attention. You are experiencing yoga nidra as you cultivate the conditions to facilitate deep, Peaceful and nourishing sleep. You are awareness itself, Experiencing itself as a body becoming more and more relaxed. Whether your mind stays completely alert and awake or whether you fall asleep, You're nevertheless receiving deep, Peaceful and nourishing rest and creating the pathways for your body, Mind and spirit to cultivate the conditions to facilitate deep, Peaceful and nourishing sleep. Your awareness feeling itself as a body that is systematically relaxing. Be aware of the sensation of pelvis and be curious about the sensation of pelvis. Trace the sensation of pelvis down to the leg bones, To knees. Trace the sensation from knees down to lower legs, To ankles, To feet and to toes. Now feel your entire body as if there's a wave of relaxation that starts at your head and slowly starts to move down your body, Making your entire body more and more relaxed. As it passes, It makes each part it touches become more relaxed. Starts at your head and slowly moves down to your eyebrows, To the bridge of your nose, Through your lips and chin, Your neck, Collarbones, Becoming more and more relaxed. Moves through your chest and your back, Down through your ribs and your belly, Through your pelvis and your legs, Through your knees and ankles, All the way down to your feet and your toes. Then another gently wave comes making you even more relaxed, Slowly moving down your body starting with your head, Chest, Belly, Pelvis, Legs and feet. And now another wave from head to toe, Slowly moving down as you notice your body becoming more and more relaxed. Whether you slip into sleep or simply enjoy the rest, Be awareness itself experiencing deep, Peaceful, Nourishing rest, Creating the conditions for deep, Peaceful, Nourishing sleep. In this moment with your body even more relaxed, Allow yourself to be without a care in the world. Give yourself permission to move into the realm of sleep. Even if there's a part of you that's paying attention to my words, You can drift into the realms of sleep and allow your mind to rest. You're allowing yourself this moment to drift into a place where nothing is except deep and peaceful, Nourishing sleep, A place where your body is relaxed, Your mind is soft, Clear and at ease, Receptive to dreams and receptive to any information that may come through you. Allow yourself to be in this place of deep sleep and imagine being pulled deeper and deeper into sleep, Into a place of pure awareness, Pure beingness, Where you can feel a body and a mind somewhere out along the… but you're not responsible to control them in any form or way. You're simply experiencing yourself as pure awareness. There is a mind somewhere, A body somewhere, Yet you are experiencing yourself as pure awareness. There is nothing to do. There's nothing to change. There's nothing to be. You are experiencing yourself as awareness, Pure awareness. Feel your body at rest, Naturally moving through the mechanics of automatic breathing. You hear and feel your heartbeat, Yet you are experiencing pure awareness, Open to pure awareness. In this place of pure awareness, Repeat your sankalpa. I'm creating the conditions to facilitate deep, Powerful, Nourishing sleep. I'm creating the conditions to facilitate deep, Peaceful, Nourishing sleep. You are aware. You are experiencing beingness. Anything that arises during this space, You will merely practice welcoming it, With pure observation, Recognizing it for what it is, And you're simply going to experience witnessing whatever arises. There's nothing to do or change. You're merely experiencing this deep rest. Now give yourself a moment to remember that this place of rest is one where you can always come back to. Whether you find yourself here while sleeping or on your way to sleep is a valuable tool to create the conditions to facilitate deep, Peaceful, And nourishing sleep. Be a regular visitor to this place. As you start to come back into waking consciousness slowly, I want you to bring your attention back to the physical sensation of body. Notice perhaps how it's becoming relaxed. As you feel your body, Notice the groundedness in your legs. Feel your pelvis and belly, Your chest, Your hands, Your throat, And your head. Then be aware of the place on your body where you feel most relaxed. For a brief moment, Bring to mind all your senses that experience that beautiful personal paradise. Fill in the details of that restful paradise, The scene with the colors, The smells, Tastes and sounds, The textures, The emotion, The feeling of being at peace, Calm, And at ease. In a moment, We will be finishing our yoga nidra practice. Because of the work that we've done today, We've given ourselves a relaxing experience and exercise in creating the conditions to facilitate deep, Peaceful, And nourishing sleep. You'll find yourself more clear-headed, With greater clarity in your waking every day. You'll notice a deeper, More ready ability to drop into rest, And you'll have an easier time sleeping. If you find yourself in a sleepless state, Rest assured that you can achieve deep rest, Even if you're not finding sleep. This also has the power to rejuvenate body, Mind, And spirit by cultivating the ability for regular deep, Nourishing sleep. Through this practice, You will find yourself increasing your awareness, As well as the quality of your sleep. In a moment, You'll hear me count down from five, And as I do so, That will signal the end of our yoga nidra practice. Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Yoga nidra is over. I'm sending you love and light. Namaste.