Yoga Nidra For Stress - Lake Visualization

This yoga nidra practice focuses on physical and mental stress in the body. You will journey to the shoreline of a vast lake and release any stress or anxiety there. This recording includes gentle wave sounds during the lake visualization and will wake you up at the end of the practice.

Transcript

In this sleep-based guided meditation for stress,

I will lead you on your own personal journey through the different layers of your body into a calming,

Sleep-like state.

Your brain waves will slow down and resemble the brain waves associated with deep sleep,

But you will still maintain a trace of awareness.

This form of meditation has been scientifically studied and shown to reduce stress by calming the nervous system.

It can also improve the quality of your sleep,

Increase your mental focus and attention,

And improve your creativity.

But the best part about this practice is that you don't have to do anything but lie down,

Get really comfortable and listen to my voice.

So start by lying down on the floor or a couch or a bed.

Lying on your back or if this is uncomfortable,

You can lie on your side.

And if you have any tightness in your back,

You may want to place a blanket or a bolster under your legs.

And you may like a pillow under your head or an eye pillow or towel to block out the light.

You also may want a blanket as your body temperature will drop during the practice.

Placing your arms by your side,

Let your legs separate and your feet gently roll out,

Making sure that you're completely comfortable.

And now gently close your eyes and start to become aware of your body.

Noticing all the points where your body is touching the surface that you're lying on.

So noticing your head,

Your shoulders,

Your upper back,

Your lower back,

Your hips,

The back of your thighs,

Your calves and your heels.

Do a quick scan of your body and notice how it feels right now at this moment in time.

Without judgment,

Notice any sensation,

Any pulsing or vibration or maybe even sensations of pain or tightness.

Notice if your attention is being drawn to a particular part of your body,

Welcoming everything just as it is without judgment.

And now start to pay attention to the natural rhythm of your breath.

When we're stressed or anxious,

One of the first things we do is take shorter,

More shallow breaths.

So take a really deep breath in,

Filling the belly and the rib cage and the upper chest with air.

And then slowly and gently exhale it all out.

And take another really deep breath in and then a long,

Slow exhale,

Letting go of all tension in your body.

It's time to transition from busyness to rest,

From the outside world to your inner world.

Slowly you will stay awake and alert,

But you will find the edge of sleep and learn to hover there in a place of complete relaxation without any effort.

If at some point you lose track of my voice,

Where you fall asleep,

There's no need to worry.

Trust that you will hear everything that you need to in the deepest parts of yourself,

Your subconscious will still hear my voice and you will still benefit from this practice.

If you do get distracted by outside noises or thoughts,

Just gently bring your attention back to my voice,

Using my voice like an anchor during this meditation.

Now bring awareness to your face and all at once squeeze and tighten your face.

So squeeze your eyes,

Your cheeks,

Your mouth,

Your chin,

Holding for a count of three and then letting go.

And now take a big breath in and a long,

Slow exhale out,

Allowing the skin on your forehead to completely release and softening the skin at the corners of your eyes and feeling your eyes sinking down heavy in their sockets,

Softening your cheekbones and separating your lips slightly from one another,

Releasing any tightness in your jaw.

And now moving to your shoulders,

Squeeze and tighten both shoulders as much as you can for a count of three.

And then release,

Feeling both shoulders dropping down and melting.

Take another big breath in and another slow exhale out.

And now bring your awareness to both of your arms and first squeeze both hands into a tight fist and then tense both arms tightly and hold for a count of three and release,

Letting go of any remaining tension in your arms or your hands,

Feeling your upper arms,

Your elbow,

Lower arms,

Hands,

And all the fingers softening and relaxing.

Awareness now to both of your legs and tighten all of your toes,

Tighten your feet,

Squeeze both your calf muscles and both of your thigh muscles.

Squeeze and tighten your entire leg for a count of three and then release,

Both legs soft and heavy now,

Hips dropping and melting and the whole body releasing down into the surface that you're lying on.

Make any final adjustments and once you feel completely comfortable,

Try not to move your body too much during the practice so your nervous system has a chance to completely rest.

Remember,

There's nothing to do but follow my voice.

We will now set your intention for the practice.

So ask yourself what you want to manifest most in your life right now using a short concise statement,

Starting with the words,

I am or I feel as if it is happening now.

Everyone's intention will be different,

But if you're feeling anxious or stressed,

You could try working with the intention.

I cope easily with the stress in my life right now or I feel calm and relaxed or I am peaceful.

A good overall intention to use is I love and accept myself just as I am.

Whatever your intention is,

Bring it into your awareness and then repeat it silently to yourself three times with conviction.

And now imagine that your attention is a seed that you're planting deep in your body.

We will now rotate your awareness through the body,

Helping us to move away from the stressful thoughts and become more present.

I will be moving quite quickly so your mind doesn't get attached to the thoughts.

As I mention a body part,

Try to feel any sensation in that body part.

Try not to think,

But instead just feel and try to stay awake and alert as you listen to my voice.

Begin by bringing your attention first to the right hand thumb,

The second finger on the right hand,

Your third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

And now the tips of the fingers on your right hand,

The palm of the right hand and the back of the right hand,

The right wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Right shoulder,

Armpit,

Right rib cage,

Right waist,

Right hip,

Right thigh,

Right knee,

Right shin,

Right ankle,

Right heel,

Right foot,

Right big toe,

Right second toe,

Right third toe,

Right fourth toe,

Right fifth toe,

And now the tips of all the toes.

And then feel your whole right side of your body,

Notice any sensations.

And now shift your focus to the left side of your body,

Starting with bringing awareness to the left hand thumb,

The second finger on the left hand,

The third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Tips of the fingers,

The palm of the left hand and the back of the left hand,

The left wrist,

Left forearm,

Left elbow,

Left upper arm,

Left shoulder,

Left armpit,

Left rib cage,

Left waist,

Left hip,

Left thigh,

Left knee,

Left shin,

Left ankle,

Left heel,

Left foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

And the tips of all the toes on the left side.

And now tune into the whole left side of the body at once,

Noticing any sensations.

And now bring your awareness to the back of your body,

The back of the ankles,

The back of the calves,

The back of the thighs,

The lower back,

The middle back,

And the upper back,

The back of the neck,

The back of the head,

The top of the head,

The forehead,

The right ear,

And the left ear,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

And the space between the eyebrows,

Right eye,

Left eye,

The right side of the nose,

And the left side of the nose,

The lips,

The chin,

The jaw,

The throat,

The middle of the chest,

The upper abdomen,

The navel,

The lower abdomen,

The pelvis,

And now the whole right leg,

And the whole left leg,

The whole right arm,

And the whole left arm,

The whole face,

And the whole head,

And then the whole body.

Just rest here,

Paying attention to all sensations in your entire body.

And now notice any sensations in the right side of your body,

In the left side of your body,

The back of your body,

And the front of your body,

Deep inside the body,

And the surface of the body,

And then the whole body at once from head to toe.

Remaining awake and alert,

But feeling completely relaxed,

We will now explore the feelings of opposites in the body,

Of heavy versus light.

So become aware of the sensation of heaviness in your body.

The whole body feels like it's sinking.

The arms feel heavy,

And the legs feel heavy,

Like gravity is pulling you down.

The whole body feeling heavier and heavier,

Like you're sinking down to the silence.

And now lightness.

Feel the sensation of lightness in your body,

The whole body feeling relaxed and light,

As if you were as light as a feather.

Your legs are light,

Your arms are light,

Completely weightless,

Like your whole body could lift off of the floor.

And now try to feel both light and heavy at the same time.

Feel these opposite sensations merging into one another.

And now repeat your intention again,

Silently to yourself three times.

And stay awake and alert as you listen to my voice.

Start to visualize that you're standing on the shoreline of a vast lake.

This great lake stretches out in front of you in all directions,

Beyond the horizon,

To the left of you,

And to the right of you,

As far as you can see.

No ending and no beginning.

Feel the soft sand under your toes and the warm sun on your face.

And feel the gentle breeze coming off of the water,

Listening to the sounds of the waves as they flow in and out with the tide.

No one else around except you at the edge of this beautiful,

Vast lake.

Imagine yourself here,

Feeling peaceful and calm.

And now I invite you to sit or lie down in the sand,

The edge of the lake.

The earth beneath you feels comforting,

Like it is protecting you.

Like this is a safe space to release any worries,

Any stress or anxiety.

If there's anything you feel you need to release,

Let it drop down into the sand and into the earth.

Still releasing any feelings or emotions that are no longer serving you.

Anything that's not yours that you're still holding onto.

Just let it all go.

And noticing a warm,

Gentle breeze coming off of the lake.

And just listen for any messages that you can hear whispered in the wind.

Any messages just for you.

Bring yourself up to whatever comes and whatever you hear or whatever you see.

And remember any messages that you receive.

And if you don't receive any messages,

That is fine too.

As you continue to rest here,

Feeling completely calm and open and expansive,

Just let go of any effort and drop into that place of deep stillness inside of you.

And just be.

And now from this place of complete silence.

Get your intention again,

Silently to yourself three times.

Our practice together is now coming to a close and we're ready to leave the lake shore.

But know that this place is always there for you whenever you need it.

Start to come back to this room.

Coming back to your breath.

And back to your body.

Feeling how you feel compared to when we first started this practice.

When you're ready,

Decide what part of your body wants to move first.

And start adding some micro movements,

Maybe wiggling your fingers and toes.

Stretching your body out long,

Moving gently and slowly.

And thank yourself for giving yourself this time to go deep within,

To release stress and restore a sense of calm and ease to the body.

When you're ready to make the transition to sitting,

You can curl over on your side into a ball and take a couple of breaths.

When you do decide to come up,

Move slowly and mindfully.

This practice is now complete.

But remember,

It is always here for you whenever you need it.

Reviews

This was so restful. The tensing and releasing sequence at the beginning was really helpful, and even though I kept drifting in and out of sleep throughout, I feel so relaxed and chill now.

Well designed and delivered. If one could be created to help us fall back asleep, that would be appreciated too. ❣️

Thank you very much 😊

So helpful

Thanks you, that was excellent

Excellent rotation of consciousness. Very relaxing. Lake visualization so the end seemed short but powerful. Thanks

Very soothing. Like a little pocket of peace. Thank you.

Peace in time of COVID dratj of my daughter. Deepest gratitude for your shared
gift 🙏

Sarah, that was fantastic!!! Just what I needed to get my day started with a calm and peaceful intention. You have a gift and I will tap into it regularly to de-stress. Thank you for sharing!

Soothing and beautiful. One of my favorite nidras. ❤️❤️❤️

This is my new favourite night time meditation. Thank you.

Loved this yoga Nidra - thank you Sarah. Your voice is so soothing and relaxing. I felt deeply rested after this practice. Thank you 🙏🏼

Outstanding yoga nidra practice. The muscle tension and release at the beginning really erases the body's chalkboard so you can sink into the practice. Very soothing voice and the water sounds are relaxing. 😴🙏

I really liked listening to this. Her voice is so soothing and calming. It takes you into a very relaxed place and makes going to sleep so much easier. I just drifted off to sleep without the normal fighting with myself to go to sleep. It’s usually a battle in my head to go to sleep and there’s been no battle since I’ve been listening to this. Thank you! Very nice!

This really helped with my stress and anxiety. So relaxing; listened twice and fell asleep both times. Next time I hope to hear it all the way through and look forward to more from you. Thank you 🙏🏻🌺

I fell asleep! You have a lovely voice, so soothing.

Beautiful, very soothing and relaxing. You have a lovely voice which makes it so much easier to engage.

Wonderful nidra! I've listened twice and have yet to get the end but I'll get there. Super soothing and relaxing!

This practice was effective as I drifted off for a while. I look forward to repeating the experience. Repeated 3/7