Flashlight Of Fireflies Body Scan- Yoga Nidra+ PMR!

Flashlight of Fireflies” is a calming bedtime meditation that blends progressive muscle relaxation and Yoga Nidra to gently release physical tension and mental restlessness.

Using the soothing image of fireflies trapped inside a flashlight, this practice guides you to relax each part of your body—especially the neck, shoulders, and jaw—symbolizing the slow release of inner light and energy that’s been held all day.

As you breathe and let go, the flashlight opens, and the fireflies drift peacefully into the night, just like your thoughts and tension fading away.

This meditation is designed to help calm the nervous system, ease anxiety, and prepare you for deep, restful sleep by turning physical release into a gentle, imaginative ritual of emotional freedom.

Transcript

Good evening and welcome to tonight's bedtime yoga nidra progressive muscle relaxation grounding exercise with an emphasis on shoulder and neck release.

Let's begin finding your comfortable place in your bed where you're away from the world and as you settle into your mattress let the weight of your body start to sink.

Allow your feet to fall open,

Your knees and you're allowed to wiggle around,

Move or adjust throughout this practice whatever your body needs in this moment to find its comfort.

This is your time to rest,

No effort,

No expectation,

Just you,

Your body and your breath.

Begin by drawing a slow gentle inhale through the nose and an exhale softly out the mouth.

Let your next breath in bring awareness to your body.

As you exhale begin to let go of the day.

We'll now move through the body gently tensing and releasing different muscle groups.

This is your way of shaking off the tension and giving your nervous system permission to finally settle in,

Let go and reset into relaxation.

Your eyes can start to close so you can focus in on the body a little bit more.

As we scan let's start at the feet and the toes.

Imagine a flashlight that's clicked on in your headspace,

In your mind's eye.

Drawing that attention on the feet and the toes as we begin there.

Curl your toes and your feet,

Squeeze and hold them in this position and release.

Let the muscles melt.

Notice as you do it again how it feels to curl the toes and the feet in every which direction that feels tight and tense.

Squeeze as you inhale and when you're ready as you exhale you soften the muscles and allow them to melt.

You know what holding on feels like now and now you know what letting go feels like.

It's time for rest and it's time to let go.

As we move up the body,

Move the flashlight in your mind's eye,

Drawing attention,

Illuminating the calves.

Flex your feet towards your knees and tighten the calves.

Hold here as you have that nice deep inhale and release.

Lower the legs and let them grow heavy as the ankle neutralizes and the knees play outwards in any direction that's comfortable.

Let's go ahead and flex the foot in the opposite direction.

Creating a point and feeling the calf tighten in this direction.

Start to bring and engage the muscles,

Flexing your feet up towards your knees a little bit further and hold it right there.

Tighten as you take that deep breath in and release.

Allow the foot to relax,

Allow the calf to relax on both sides of the legs.

Let them grow heavy,

Let them melt into the mattress beneath you.

Perfect.

Now drawing the light of attention on to the thighs,

The right thigh,

The left thigh,

Back to the right thigh,

Back to the left thigh.

Now both thighs at once are illuminated.

Engage the muscles in your thighs,

Start to flex through the feet,

Flex through the calves all the way up past the knee on to the legs,

The quads,

The hamstrings,

Everything working together.

You are holding that tension.

When you're ready,

Allow them to release and fall into the bed.

They melt down all three segments together at once.

Let's do that one more time.

Big inhale in,

You tighten,

You tense,

You start at the feet,

You move up to the calves and now the thighs all as one in unison.

And as you exhale,

Soften,

Release into the bed.

Remember to let it melt,

Allow it to sink like a marshmallow that was over the bonfire.

Let it melt,

Let it drip into the covers,

Really let that sweetness warm up and release.

Next,

We're going to go ahead and bring the flashlight in our mind's eye up towards the glutes,

So the backside of the body.

Let's go ahead and squeeze them.

If you need to contract the whole leg again and then really squeeze into this big set of muscles that you sit on most of the day or utilize throughout your day,

Feel free to.

And release,

Allow the hips to sink into the mattress.

Big inhale,

Let's do that again,

Glutes engage,

The biggest muscle,

This is your seat.

We do a lot of holding here and as you exhale,

Learn to release this area,

Let the tension go from the hips,

From the thighs,

From the calves,

From the feet,

Let the legs go completely now.

Let's go ahead and make our way over to the right hand and then drawing the light over towards the left hand.

Let's bring the light back over to the right,

Back over to the left,

And then let's illuminate both the right hand and the left hand at once,

Finding that balance within the body.

Perfect.

When you're ready,

We're going to sprawl the fingers out,

Splay them like a fan,

Stretching in all directions.

And then as you inhale,

Let's tighten the fingers into the palm of the hand and make a fist.

As you exhale,

Release the palms,

Open and splay them in the opposite direction,

Fingertips go wide in all directions,

Nice,

Big,

Huge stretch,

High five.

And then one more time,

Big inhale,

We're going to make a fist,

Tighten the fingers into the palms.

When you're ready to release the hands and the wrist,

Exhale gently and notice how the opposing energy feels,

To switch from the yin to the yang,

To tighten,

To tense,

And then to let go.

To be in control and then to release.

It's a beautiful thing to gain knowledge and awareness through this practice.

Let's make our way up to the arms,

Let's go ahead and bend the arms slightly and squeeze your biceps as if you're flexing and you're very strong.

You want to show your bed how much you want to relax.

Squeezing as you inhale and let the arms drop wherever they want to go,

Heavy and warm.

Let's do that one more time.

We're going to bend at the elbow and we're going to squeeze into the arm,

Flexing on It's as if we're winning an award for as relaxed we can become tonight.

Can you beat yourself on the other days?

It's you against you.

What can you do?

How much can you release?

Let yourself have this moment and every moment that you practice,

Let yourself win.

Release the arms with the exhale,

Allow them to become warm and heavy and melt into the mattress beneath you.

Now let's go ahead and take our flashlight of awareness in our mind's eyes.

We imagine it's starting to scoop up the right shoulder and the left shoulder into your upper traps,

Your neck area.

This is where so many of us hold tension and this is what we consider our armor.

Let's start with the shoulders.

Lift them up towards your ears as if you're shrugging.

Tighten and tense them,

Squeeze them up towards the ears,

Hold,

Notice the tension.

What does it feel like?

It might be a little much,

Back off,

Or you might want to grip into the clench as you exhale,

Release and soften,

Being gentle and kind with yourself.

Let's do that one more time.

We're going to lift the shoulders up towards the ears as if you're shrugging.

You can even fully tighten down the arm and the hand if that helps in this moment,

Just to grab it all together at once with the upper body and then release the shoulders as if you dropped a heavy backpack after a long day.

It's time to let that extra stress that we hold go.

Let gravity take it.

Let the bed take it for you.

Let it file it away until you wake up in the morning and then you can get back into that backpack.

Feel the warmth of release,

The space that opens up around your collarbones as you practice that.

One more time,

Big inhale,

Tighten and squeeze those shoulders up towards the ears and releasing,

Melting.

That last time,

The breath now moves more freely.

Now gently press the back of your head into the pillow or mattress,

Whatever is beneath you.

It could even be a yoga mat or a towel,

It doesn't really matter,

Even just the flooring.

Gently allowing that opposition of the surface and yourself.

Feel the back of the neck and the upper traps engage.

As you inhale,

You hold this little bit of tightness and tension.

You create it on purpose with control.

As you exhale,

You release.

You let just the body weight be natural.

There's no extra pressure at this moment.

If it's okay,

Slowly roll your head from side to side,

Chin goes over the right shoulder.

As you exhale,

Chin moves back towards center as you draw that line with your chin back over towards the other side of the left shoulder.

Moving with your breath and with awareness back towards center.

Now imagine your shoulder blades sliding down your back.

Let your upper back widen.

Let the weight of the day drain from your neck,

Your traps,

Your shoulders,

Down and down into the earth.

You're not carrying anything anymore.

The books of knowledge are on your shelf until the morning.

The backpack has what you need.

Everything's with you.

You're where you need to be and where you can allow yourself to release.

Let's start to move the flashlight and the awareness in our mind's eye up towards our jaw.

Focusing on the center of the chin,

You're taking your tongue and running it around the outside of the bottom teeth.

From the left to the right,

Notice what that feels like and then slowly clench your teeth as if you were biting down on something.

Feel the tightness in your jaw,

Holding it and then releasing it,

Letting your mouth fall open slightly.

Take the chin,

The lower part of the jaw,

Over towards the left side,

Back towards center and over towards the right.

One to two more times,

Moving the jaw side to side.

And then start to scrunch your face whenever you're ready.

The foreheads,

The eyes,

The cheeks and hold,

Making that face.

Smooth your brows,

Let your eyes fall heavy and let the scrunchy face go.

Now your body is completely still.

It knows what it's like to hold and it knows what it's like to not hold.

Heavy,

Relaxed,

Safe.

Take a moment to scan for any lingering tension,

Especially in the shoulders and the neck.

Send your breath there and soften just a little bit more.

Now bring awareness to the center of your chest,

The heart space.

Visualize a warm golden light glowing there.

This is your center,

Your calm.

With every inhale,

This light grows brighter.

With every exhale,

It spreads like little fireflies.

Through your shoulders,

Down your arms,

Into your breath and your hips,

Your legs,

Your feet.

That flashlight opened up the jar of fireflies and now they disperse throughout the body entirely.

Balanced,

Soft and steady.

Now bringing attention to your root,

The base of your spine.

Visualize this golden energy connecting you down to Mother Earth,

Hooking you in like a steady thread,

Grounding you safe and still.

Unbreakable,

That bond.

Let any last bits of tension drain down and out of you.

Through the legs,

Through your feet and breathe into the earth.

Let yourself drift.

There's no need to hold on anymore.

You're supported,

You're safe,

You are whole.

Let the body sleep if it's ready or stay in this quiet peace as long as you like.

There's nothing left to do.

You are enough and you are released.

Good night and sleep well.

Namaste.