Welcome to this yoga nidra practice to help you go to sleep.
Nidra is a practice of yogic sleep which means that the physical body is resting,
Is still and is sleeping but there is still some awareness.
This practice has been recorded to help you drift off to sleep at the beginning of the evening.
Or if you find yourself awake in the night you might use it to help to go back to sleep.
If you find that you're still awake at the end of the practice that's perfectly alright.
Seeing if you can take the pressure off yourself to fall asleep quickly.
Knowing that just by listening to this recording you are soothing the nervous system and taking deep rest.
We'll use an intention in this practice.
You might like to create an intention for yourself around taking deep and nourishing sleep.
An intention in yoga nidra is a wish for something positive in your life.
So perhaps just thinking about that now before we start the practice about what your intention might be.
The intention is best phrased in the present tense as if it's already happening.
So an example might be I sleep easily and deeply and wake up feeling refreshed.
Knowing that there's no way to do this practice wrong,
There's nothing to be done.
Just to be here resting the body and the mind is more than enough.
Thoughts will come and go and that's perfectly alright just allowing that to happen.
Let's see if you can step back from the thoughts guiding your awareness back to the practice and back to the sound of my voice.
So welcome to this practice of yoga nidra.
Welcome home to yourself.
The first part of the practice is to get really comfortable.
You don't need to adopt any particular posture but as this is a practice to help you fall asleep you might like to lie in the position that you most often fall asleep in.
So that might be lying on the back or on the side.
Making sure you've got whatever pillows and covers you need to ensure your maximum comfort and warmth.
And if there are any final movements or adjustments that you would like to make I invite you to make them now.
And then inviting stillness to settle in over the body.
And closing the eyes if you haven't done so already.
Letting there be a welcome now for the soundscape around you.
Just allowing all sounds that are present right now just to come to the ears without any judgment or labeling.
Welcoming all of the sounds.
Sounds from far away outside the space where you are now.
Any sounds from within the room.
Sounds from within the body perhaps the sound of the breath.
Letting there be a welcome for all of the sounds.
Feeling the touch of the air upon the skin perhaps on the skin of the face or the hands which might be uncovered.
Noticing the texture and the temperature of the air upon the skin.
Feeling also the places where the body is covered by clothing or by covers.
Noticing how the clothing and the covers move with the breath.
Feeling all of the places where the body is held and supported by the surface beneath.
With the exhale now breathing right down through all of those points of contact.
As if you could give away the whole weight of the body down into the surface below.
And then bringing to mind the intention that we set at the beginning of the practice.
Just gently repeating that intention three times in the mind in the present tense as if it's already happening.
As if we could plant the seed of that intention into our awareness and allowing it to grow.
So next we'll invite our awareness to travel around different parts of the body.
We don't need to make any movements or do anything other than just inviting the awareness to rest in the different parts of the body.
You might like to imagine that the physical body is like the dark night sky.
We can place points of starlight around the body creating a great constellation with our awareness around the night sky of the body.
Starting at the point between the eyebrows and placing a star there.
Placing a star at the base of the throat,
The point between the two collarbones.
The star at the right shoulder,
The right elbow,
The wrist,
The right hand thumb,
The index finger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger and the little finger.
Stars at the wrist,
The elbow,
The shoulder and the point between the two collarbones.
Placing a star at the left shoulder,
The left elbow,
The wrist and a star at the tip of each the left hand thumb,
The index finger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger and the little finger.
Stars at the wrist,
The elbow,
The shoulder and a star at the base of the throat.
A star at the heart center,
The left side of the chest,
The right side of the chest.
A star at the navel and the center of the pelvis.
Placing a star at the right hip,
The knee,
The ankle,
The right big toe,
The second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the little toe.
Stars at the ankle,
The knee,
The hip and the center of the pelvis.
Awareness traveling across to the left hip and placing a star there,
The left knee,
The ankle,
The left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the little toe.
Stars through the ankle,
The knee,
The hip and the center of the pelvis.
A star at the navel,
The heart center,
The point between the two collarbones and a star at the eyebrow center.
The whole body,
The whole body,
The whole body twinkling with the starlight of conscious awareness in the night sky of the whole body.
Inviting the awareness to rest upon the breath now.
Just observing the gentle rhythm of the natural easy breath as it moves in and out of the body.
And now as we focus on the breath coming and going,
Let the awareness travel with the breath along the spine.
Moving up the spine with the inhale and down the spine with the exhale.
Inhaling up to the crown of the head and exhaling down to the tailbone.
Inhaling up,
Exhaling down.
After the next exhale down the spine,
Inviting the awareness to the breath in the nose.
Noticing the shape of the breath in the nose in the form of a triangle with the base being below each nostril and the apex at the top of the nose between the eyebrows.
Observing the inhaling breath,
Traveling up the sides of the triangle through the nostrils all the way up to the eyebrow center.
And then allowing the awareness to travel down the sides of the triangle to the base with the out breath.
Observing the flow of the breath.
As we breathe in the triangle in the nose,
Noticing the coolness of the inhale and the exhale.
Also observing the shape of the breath in each nostril.
Where does the breath flow more freely?
And now mentally alternate the awareness between the nostrils as you breathe.
So inhaling through the left nostril,
Exhaling through the right,
Inhaling through the right,
And exhaling through the left.
And continuing like this at your own pace.
Breathing up one side,
Exhaling down the other,
And then reversing the direction.
And then exhaling through the right nostril.
And then exhaling through the left nostril.
After the next exhalation through the left nostril,
Becoming aware of a larger triangle formed by the space between the eyebrows and the arms by the side,
The tips of the fingers of each side.
And in a similar fashion,
The breath travels up the left arm on the inhale,
Up to the eyebrow center,
And down the right arm on the exhale,
And back up the right arm with the inhale,
All the way up to the eyebrow center,
And down the left arm on the exhale.
And then exhaling through the right nostril,
Exhaling through the right nostril,
And then exhaling through the left nostril.
After the next exhalation through the left side,
Becoming aware of an even larger triangle between the eyebrow center at the top and the soles of the feet.
Continue to breathe in a similar fashion,
Inhaling up one side from the soles of the feet up to the eyebrow center,
And exhaling down the other side,
Down to the sole of the foot.
After the next exhale through the sole of the left foot,
Returning to the medium-sized triangle that runs from the tips of the fingers up to the eyebrow center.
This time,
The awareness flows simultaneously up from both fingertips of both hands all the way up to the eyebrow center with the inhale,
And back down both arms at the same time with the out-breath.
And then exhaling through the right nostril,
Exhaling through the left nostril,
And then exhaling through the right nostril.
After the next exhalation through the tips of the fingers,
Coming back to the triangle in the nose that runs from the eyebrow center down to the nostrils.
And this time,
The awareness flowing with the breath,
Inhaling up both sides together up to the eyebrow center and exhaling down.
And then exhaling through the right nostril,
Exhaling through the left nostril,
And then exhaling through the right nostril.
And then exhaling through the right nostril.
And after the next exhalation,
Just returning to everyday breathing,
Letting go of all of the triangles.
Bringing the awareness now to a feeling of being grounded through the left arm.
The left arm resting on the bed,
Soft and relaxed.
Now inviting a feeling of lightness in the left arm,
As if it could float up completely effortlessly.
And coming back to the feeling of the left arm being relaxed and grounded.
And then moving to the right arm,
Inviting a feeling of the right physical arm being grounded and relaxed on the bed.
And now inviting a feeling of lightness in the right arm,
Light and effortless.
And then feeling the right arm grounded,
Connected to the bed,
Relaxed and supported.
And then feeling the left leg grounded and relaxed.
And now the left leg feeling light,
As if it's floating effortlessly.
Now the left leg resting on the bed,
Relaxed and softening.
And the right leg feeling supported by the bed.
And the right leg feeling light.
And now the right leg resting and grounded.
And now inviting that feeling of the whole body relaxing.
The whole body letting go and relaxing down into the bed.
The whole body profoundly relaxed.
And inviting a feeling of lightness throughout the whole body.
The whole body feeling light and free.
And now the whole body feeling grounded and centered,
Relaxed and resting.
Relaxing sleep to settle in over the body.
Relaxing into a deep and nourishing sleep.
