Bedtime Yoga Nidra

This is a 20minute Yoga Nidra practice for when you need a little boost of energy during the day, or to help you quiet down the mind before bed. There is no background music during this practice. Enjoy

Transcript

Welcome to your yoga nidra practice.

Take a moment to choose a position of comfort for yourself right now.

I invite you to explore your options to see how you want to experience this next 20 minutes of our time together here.

You might want to lie down,

You might want to stay seated.

Find a position of comfort where you can feel your body being fully supported.

Make sure that you are warm enough and that the position that you pick is the one that will be comfortable for the duration of the practice.

I'm going to encourage you to remain as still as possible during the practice.

However,

If at any point you become uncomfortable,

Please feel free to change your position.

Try and do that with as little disturbance to yourself and to your practice as possible.

But just remember that it's your practice,

That it's your choice and that you can make these changes and adjust so that the practice fully serves you.

And so take a moment to perhaps make any changes to your position right now.

Maybe take a stretch or a deeper breath or yawn signaling to your body and your mind that you are entering this space,

Your space where there's very little effort required from you but to follow the guidance of my voice.

And even when you do that,

Remember that you always have a choice to either follow through everything that I say or just allow the words,

The sound of my voice to wash over you.

So I'm going to ask you to try and remain awake by listening to the sound of my voice through the practice.

You will be asked to move your awareness to various parts of the body and different sensations.

See if you can try not to concentrate too intensively as it might prevent you from fully relaxing,

Knowing also that maybe you find yourself on the periphery of dreaming and sleep and maybe even snoozing off a little bit and knowing that this is okay and this is normal too.

During this meditation,

Please use and absorb what you need in this moment and leave whatever doesn't work for you behind.

If the mind becomes overactive with thoughts or worries,

See if you can guide yourself back to the sound of my voice.

And so slowly,

I would like for you to become aware of any sounds that you can hear right in this moment.

Maybe starting from the most obvious,

The sound of my voice coming through.

And then paying attention to the world around you and the space that you are currently in and perhaps noticing any sounds that are moving through the space.

Focusing your awareness on the most distant sound that you can hear.

And then allowing your sense of hearing come a little closer,

Searching for these sounds that are a little bit more nearby and following them for a few moments here.

Becoming familiar of what the space that you are in feels like for you right now.

Moving your attention from sound to sound without labeling anything.

Just gradually,

Maybe even noticing the space between the sounds.

And then becoming aware of your breath.

Noticing the rhythm of your breath.

No need to change your breath in any way to adjust or force the breath.

Maybe just simply placing your awareness on the act of breathing.

And if that doesn't feel comfortable to you in this moment,

Go ahead and just follow the sound of my voice.

Maybe the breath comes in through your nose and comes out through your nose.

Maybe there is a sense of coolness as you inhale.

Following the breath through the nostrils,

Sinuses,

Back of your throat and all the way into your lungs.

Inhale and exhale.

Allowing the breath to make its way into the body and out from the body.

Just following your breath here for a few moments.

Moving from inhale to exhale.

Without rushing the breath,

Without changing the breath.

Releasing any control over your inhale or your exhale.

Staying fully alert and aware of your body within the space and your breath within the body.

We're going to begin the practice now.

And so I'm going to take you on a journey moving your awareness throughout the body.

Remember that you can make choices for yourself.

You can place your awareness into those parts of the body as I guide you through them.

Or you can just follow the rhythm of my voice.

So we're going to start the practice on the right side.

And I would like for you to place your awareness into the right hand thumb.

And we're going to gently move the awareness into the second finger,

The third finger,

Fourth finger and fifth finger.

And the palm of the hand,

And the back of the hand.

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm and shoulder.

Right armpit,

Right side of the waist,

Right hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Calf,

Ankle and heel.

And the sole of the right foot and the top of the right foot.

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and fifth toe.

And then we're going to let our attention move on to the left side of the body.

And rest the awareness onto the left hand thumb.

And second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger and fifth finger.

And the palm of the left hand and the back of the left hand.

And the wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm and shoulder.

Left armpit,

Left side of the waist,

Left hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel.

Sole of the left foot and top of the left foot.

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and fifth toe.

Now go to the back of your body as you feel your right heel and your left heel.

Your right calf and your left calf.

Back of right knee and back of left knee.

Left buttock and right buttock.

Lower back,

Middle back,

Upper back and the length of your entire spine.

Right shoulder blade and left shoulder blade and the space between the shoulder blades.

Back of neck and back of head.

As you move your awareness to the top of your head and we slowly begin our journey through the front of the body.

Starting at the forehead,

Moving into the right temple,

Left temple.

Right ear and left ear.

Right eyebrow and left eyebrow and the space between the eyebrows.

Right eye and left eye.

Right nostril and left nostril.

Right cheek and left cheek.

Upper and lower lip and both lips together.

The chin,

The jaw,

The throat and the right collarbone and left collarbone and the space between the collarbones.

Right side of your chest and left side of your chest.

The center of your chest.

The space of the heart.

Upper abdomen,

Navel,

Lower abdomen,

Pubic bone.

Right groin,

Left groin and pelvic floor.

The whole of the right leg and the whole of the left leg and the whole of your right arm and the whole of your left arm.

And the whole of your face.

The whole of your head.

The whole of your torso.

And the whole of your body.

The front of your body.

The back of your body.

The right side of your body.

And the left side of your body.

Taking a moment to acknowledge your entire body within the space.

Can you feel the breath moving through the body?

My invitation to you now will be to imagine your whole body becoming light.

As light as though your body could almost float away.

The head is light and weightless.

Your arms are light and weightless.

Your torso is light and weightless.

And perhaps your whole body begins to feel light and weightless.

Maybe you can even imagine your breath becoming a little lighter.

Taking a moment to imagine or feel that light sensation washing away through the body.

And I would like for you now to imagine your body becoming heavy.

And feeling the heaviness in all parts of your body.

The muscles,

The bones.

Everything becomes a little heavier.

The head is heavy.

Your arms are heavy.

The torso feels heavy.

And the entire body feels heavier and heavier.

Yet fully supported.

Remaining alert and aware of the space that you are in in your body within the space.

I wonder if you can maybe imagine these two sensations of lightness and heaviness being in your body at the same time.

I wonder if these can exist at the same time in your body right now.

Maybe moving your attention from a sense of feeling light to feeling heavy.

Or in different parts of the body.

Feeling light and other feeling heavy.

And for a moment moving your attention between the two.

Allowing the feeling of complete calm to slowly,

Slowly wash over you.

A sense of effortless manifesting within your mind,

Within your body,

Within your breath.

Relaxed yet aware and calm.

Resting here for a moment longer as you maybe begin to concentrate your attention on the space that you are in right now.

There's no need to open your eyes or move in any way.

Just simply reminding yourself of your surroundings in the world around you.

Try not to get involved in any sounds.

Just moving from sound to sound slowly coming back to whatever sounds you can hear.

Coming back to feeling the breath moving through the body.

Maintaining your awareness of the breath at the same time.

Slowly becoming more aware of your physical body within the space.

Your position within the space.

Any support you might have around you,

Any props,

Blanket.

Your legs,

Your torso,

Your back,

Your arms,

Your head.

Knowing where you are in the room,

Hearing the sounds in your space.

Quietly until you feel ready,

Maybe just start to think about moving out of the position you are in.

And slowly starting to take your time to move your hands and feet.

And when you're ready,

Gently opening your eyes and taking a moment or as much time as you need to come out of the practice as our practice is now complete.

You can stay here for a moment longer if you wish.

You can take a nice stretch or you can simply move on to whatever you have planned next for yourself.

Thank you for joining.