Yoga Nidra For Sleep

This is a perfect practice for before going to bed to help you sleep.
If you have trouble falling asleep, switching off your busy mind - this practice will guide you into a more restful state, helping you sleep better and wake up refreshed and recharged

Transcript

Welcome to your yoga nidra for sleep.

This is a practice that will hopefully allow you to feel a little bit more prepared to get a good night restful sleep.

So I'm going to suggest you take a moment now to get comfortable to arrange the cushions or the duvets and really spend a moment making yourself comfortable.

Maybe giving your body a little sign that it's time to relax by breathing in and out through your mouth and forcing a yawn.

Maybe the yawn comes naturally.

Maybe just taking a deeper breath.

You're very welcome to stretch your body out and really just take those first few moments to make any adjustments to your position to your space that will allow you to feel completely at ease.

And I'm gonna ask you to take a moment to just acknowledge your position now.

To acknowledge the space around you and your position within the space.

To acknowledge the support underneath your head,

Underneath your back,

Underneath your body.

To pay a little bit more attention to your surroundings as you get comfortable and notice any sounds and the space between the sounds.

As you become familiar of your surroundings.

Maybe even sensing the temperature.

The temperature of your body,

The temperature of the air that you're breathing in and out.

And taking a moment to acknowledge your breath.

Simply noticing the breath coming in and coming out.

There is no effort required from you right here,

Right now.

You don't need to change anything about the breath.

You can just allow the breath to be exactly as it is.

And I'm gonna take you on a journey around the body next.

Everything that I will say as I guide you through this practice is just an invitation for you to make a choice.

So I would like for you to choose how far you would like to follow this practice and follow my voice.

Knowing that you can make those choices for yourself.

I encourage you to treat everything as an option.

So with that said you can move your awareness from body part to body part as I guide you as you follow the sound of my voice.

Or you can just allow the sound of my voice to gently play in the background as you maybe just notice those parts of the body.

So I'm gonna suggest you place your attention all the way to the crown of your head.

And just noticing the head and the weight of your head and the support underneath your head.

Just observing any sensations that you feel over there.

Maybe you feel the skin on your head,

Maybe you feel the hair,

Maybe you feel the softness of the cushion underneath.

And from the crown of your head I'm gonna ask you to gently move your attention,

Your awareness down into your forehead.

The space between the eyebrows,

Your eyelids in the space around your eyes.

Noticing and paying a little bit more attention to your ears,

Your cheeks,

Your nostrils,

Your lips,

Your upper lip and your lower lip and your chin and jaw.

And then moving your attention down into the center of your throat.

From your throat move your awareness down into your right shoulder,

Your right upper arm,

Your right elbow,

Down into your right forearm,

Your right wrist,

Into the palm of your right hand and the fingers of your right hand.

Can you observe any sensations you might feel in the right hand?

Then you're gonna take your awareness on the journey back up your right arm.

So through the back of your right hand into your wrist and elbow and shoulder and into your right armpit.

From the right armpit down through the right side of the body,

Through the right side of the waist and into your right hip,

Your right thigh,

Your right knee,

Right shin,

Right ankle and to your right foot.

Can you sense all toes of your right foot in no particular order?

One,

Two,

Three,

Four and five.

And as you feel into your right foot slowly move your awareness up your right leg so from the right foot into the right ankle back through the right knee into the right hip through the right side of your waist into your right armpit back into the throat and from the throat we're gonna travel down into the left side starting at your left shoulder moving down through your left upper arm into your left elbow left forearm left wrist and the palm of your left hand and as you travel into your left hand can you sense all five fingers of your left hand observing any sensations that you might have in your left hand and then placing your attention back through the back of your left hand into your left wrist left elbow and up into your left shoulder down into your left armpit and through the left side of your body the left side of the waist down into your left hip your left thigh left knee left shin left ankle and your left foot and the toes of your left foot in no particular order one two three four five and as you allow yourself to feel into that left foot and observing any sensations in your left foot slowly moving your attention back up through your left ankle into your left knee into your left hip through the left side of your waist into your left armpit back into the center of your throat my next invitation will be to bring your attention fully into your throat and from your throat we're gonna travel down into the space of the heart the center of your chest can you take a moment to stay here to feel and observe any sensations you might have around your chest right now and then moving your attention down into your ribcage on the left side of your ribcage the right side of your ribcage on the left side of your chest and the right side of your chest and down into your navel and pubic bone into the pelvis I wonder if you can take a moment to notice your left hip and your right hip and both of your hips together from your hips can you move your attention down into the top of your thighs top of your knees top of your shins top of your ankles and top of your feet can you feel your left foot and your right foot can you feel both of your feet together and then observing any sensations at your feet maybe just paying attention and acknowledging that two of your feet are there then placing your attention to your heels your left heel and your right heel both heels together and then back of the feet calves back of knees back of thighs your left buttock and your right buttock both buttocks together your sacrum your lower back your middle back and your upper back the length of your spine the left shoulder blade on the right shoulder blade both of the shoulder blades together back of neck back of head all the way around into the crown of your head down into your forehead your left eyebrow and your right eyebrow and the space between the eyebrows left temple right temple left eyelid and right eyelid left ear and right ear left cheek and right cheek left nostril and right nostril upper lip lower lip upper teeth and lower teeth can you observe any sensations around your face can you feel the left side of your face and the right side of the face can you take a moment to feel your whole body now left and the right leg left and the right arm taking a moment to just sense your whole body resting here reminding yourself that there is no effort required from you right now I'm gonna suggest you take a moment to maybe feel into the weight of your body and as you feel the weight of your body can you sense the back of your body getting heavier but can you also at the same time feel the top the front of your body becoming lighter is it possible for you to feel the back of the body being heavy and the top of the body feeling light can you allow these two opposites to exist at the same time back of heels back of hips back of shoulders and back of head sinking in towards your support a little heavier with each breath natural breath top of your feet top of your thighs your belly your chest the skin on the face nice and light your body moving gently in the rhythm of your breath coming and going not having to do absolutely anything for the breath to continue just witnessing your body breathing here you my next invitation will be for you to place your attention back into your hands can you imagine your right hand holding on to something nice and warm can you imagine or feel the warmth in the palm of your right hand what would this feel like at the same time I'm gonna suggest that in your left hand you imagine you are holding on to something cold not ice cold but a little chilly what would this feel like in your left hand to hold on to something cold can you imagine these two opposite sensations the warmth in your right hand and the cold in your left hand existing at the same time just taking a moment here to explore that to imagine what that would feel like and then slowly returning back and allowing yourself to leave the sensations from your right hand from your left hand and allow the natural temperature of your hands to come back to normal as you continue to stay still safely tucked in with no effort required to move or to be in any certain way or to feel in any certain way so allowing your body to be at ease as you stay aware of the breath coming and going giving yourself a gentle permission for the body to rest here for a moment for any tension to ease from the body for the support underneath you to hold you as you feel your body heavily softening into that support you you you you you my next invitation to you will be to just take a moment to bring your attention back into your body as you feel your entire body being supported the back of your body the front of your body the right side of your body and the left side of your body as you remind yourself of the position of your body within the space that you are in reminding yourself that you are practicing yoga nidra for sleep and that it's okay if you feel a little drowsy a little sleepy now maybe not really hearing everything that I say I would like to give you an option now to either take your body a little further into your sleep journey and maybe change your position in any way that feels comfortable and safe to do so with as little disturbance to yourself as possible as you feel the warmth of the blanket or the duvet that you are lying underneath on as you feel your breath calming and going it's allowing yourself to drift a little further and deeper into that gentle restful sleep