Bedtime Yoga Nidra

This practice of yoga nidra is designed to be listened to just before sleep. Yoga nidra is a restorative and healing practice that relaxes the body and calms the mind in preparation for deep, restorative slumber. Rest well dear friends.

Transcript

This is a traditional Yoga Nidra practice.

Yoga Nidra translates as yogic sleep,

Or sleep of the yogis,

And the aim of the practice is to allow your body to rest completely,

While the mind stays alert.

All you have to do is to listen to the sound of my voice,

And allow your attention to be guided to each of the places that I mention.

This practice is intended to be used before sleep,

So at the end of the practice there will be no ending,

You'll just be able to drift off into sleep,

But do try and keep your mind alert until the end of the practice.

So begin now by making yourself comfortable,

Settling down in your bed,

Making sure that your head and neck are supported,

And if you need to,

Placing anything under the knees to release your lower back.

When your body feels completely comfortable,

You may like to turn out the light and close your eyes.

If you prefer,

The light can be left on,

And the eyes can be left slightly open in a soft gaze.

When it feels right for you throughout the practice,

There'll come a time where you'll want to close your eyes,

In order that you can succumb completely to the practice.

So beginning now by focusing on your body,

Resting in your bed,

Warm and comfortable,

Having a sense of the body becoming heavier,

Settling down into the bed,

Perhaps feeling the weight of any bedclothes over you.

If your eyes are closed now,

Capturing in your mind's eye the position of the door in the room,

The walls surrounding you,

Imagining the shape of your body resting in the bed,

Having your legs extended away from you with a space between the feet,

Let the ankles soften and relax out to the sides,

Let the hands be resting,

Palms facing up,

Away from the body,

Drawing the shoulders down away from the ears,

And widening across the shoulder blades,

Taking the head from side to side a few times to release any tension in the neck,

And then perhaps lifting the hips slightly,

And sending the tailbones down towards the feet,

Lengthening through the spine.

As you replace the buttocks back on the bed,

Feeling them sinking and spreading,

Bring your awareness to your breathing,

And take a long,

Slow,

Deep inhale in through the nostrils,

And as you breathe out,

Sigh the breath out through the mouth,

And then another long,

Slow inhalation,

Filling the lungs,

And again sighing the breath out through the mouth,

Once more breathing in slowly and deeply,

And sighing the breath out fully,

And then allowing your breath to return to its normal,

Natural rhythm,

Breathing in through the nose,

And out through the nose.

Sense now the in-breath expanding through the chest,

And the out-breath releasing any remaining tension.

Traditionally in Yoga Nidra,

We have what is known as a sankalpa,

Or a purpose,

Intention,

And if you have a sankalpa,

Just state that to yourself now,

Definitely and positively three times,

With conviction and clarity,

And if you have no sankalpa at this moment,

Just leave a space and the sankalpa will come when it's ready.

So we'll begin the practice of Yoga Nidra.

As we go through the practice,

As I have already mentioned,

All you need to do is to listen to the sound of my voice.

Yoga Nidra cannot be done incorrectly.

You're here,

Now,

Listening,

And that's all that you need to do.

So becoming aware once more of your body,

And directing your focus down to the right thumb in your right hand,

Noticing now your right thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

The palm of the right hand,

The back of the hand,

The wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

The right shoulder,

And armpit,

The right side of the ribcage,

The right side of the chest,

The right hip bone,

Front of the right thigh,

Back of the right thigh,

Back of the right knee,

Front of the right knee,

The right shin and calf,

The right ankle,

Heel,

Top of the foot,

Sole of the foot,

The right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Awareness now from the right foot up through the right leg,

All the way up through the right side of the body,

And then across to the left side of the body.

Becoming aware now of the left thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And little finger.

Be aware of the back of the left hand,

The palm,

The wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

The left shoulder,

And armpit,

The left side of the ribcage,

The left side of the chest,

The left hip bone,

Front of the left thigh,

Back of the left thigh,

Back of the left knee,

Front of the knee,

The shin,

Calf,

Left ankle,

And heel,

Top of the left foot,

Sole of the foot,

The left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Take your awareness now back up through the left foot,

Through the leg,

All the way back up to the left shoulder,

And then across to the left collarbone,

The right collarbone,

And the space between the collarbones.

Become aware of the middle of your chest.

Sense the heart beating in the chest.

Be aware of your solar plexus,

Below the ribcage and above the navel.

Notice your navel,

The space between the pubic bones,

And take your awareness around to the tailbone at the base of the spine.

Sensing the tailbone now at the base of the spine,

And bringing your awareness up through the base of the back,

Into the lower back,

The middle of your back,

And your upper back.

Noticing the left shoulder blade,

The right shoulder blade,

The space between the shoulder blades,

Back of the left shoulder,

Back of the right shoulder,

The back of the neck,

Back of the head,

And the crown of the head.

Be aware now of your forehead,

Left temple,

Right temple.

Noticing the left eyebrow,

And the right eyebrow,

Right eyelid softly closed over the right eye,

Left eyelid softly closed over the left eye,

The bridge of your nose,

Tip of the nose,

Left nostril,

Right nostril,

The space below the nostril,

And above the top lip.

Noticing your left cheek,

And your right cheek,

Your right ear,

And inside the ear,

Left ear,

And inside the ear.

Noticing the top lip,

The bottom lip,

Tongue resting in the mouth,

The space within the mouth.

Be aware of your chin,

The left side of your jaw all the way around to the right side of your jaw.

Noticing the front of your neck,

The space between the collarbones.

Noticing the centre of your chest,

Sensing the spiritual heart centre inside the chest,

And becoming aware of the movement of the chest as you breathe.

Rising up with the in-breath,

Releasing down with the out-breath,

Feeling the breath rise with the in-breath,

Chest lowers with the out-breath,

Breathing in,

And breathing out.

Feeling the body warm and relaxed.

I am practising Yoga Nidra.

Yoga Nidra is the form of my awareness.

And taking that awareness now to the space between the eyebrows.

Taking your awareness inwards to the centre of your skull,

Picturing a bright light shining in the centre of your skull.

Feeling the light radiate through the whole of the skull,

Warming inside your head,

And spreading down through the neck,

Into the throat,

The chest.

Sending warm light down now through from the chest,

Into the abdominal cavity,

And all the way down into the legs,

Toes and feet,

And out into the arms,

Hands and fingers.

Body resting now filled with bright luminous light.

Sensing the light reaching out into every part of you,

Warming and softening,

Healing and releasing.

Cleansing your body,

Every cell in the body.

Picturing now a yellow square,

A green tree,

A sunset,

A lake,

An orange,

A red circle,

Your bedroom,

A close friend,

A night sky,

A dolphin.

Allowing the images to fade now,

And turning your attention back to your body resting.

Noticing the heaviness of your limbs,

The softness of the abdomen,

The lightness of your breath.

I am practicing yoga nidra,

Being aware of the whole of the right side of your body,

And sending your breath into the whole of the right side of your body.

Breathing from the top of the head,

All the way down the right side of the body,

Into the toes of the right foot.

Moving your awareness across to the left side of the body,

And breathing now into the whole of the left side of your body,

From the crown of the head to the toes of your left foot.

Moving the awareness to the back of the body,

Breathing in to the back of your body,

With every breath the body feeling heavier and heavier,

And then moving your awareness to the front of your body,

Sending the breath now into the front of your body,

And with every breath the body feeling lighter.

Becoming aware now of the whole of your body,

The whole of the body,

The whole of the body.

Sending the breath into every part of your body,

Feeling the body filled with breath,

Feeling energy.

I am practicing Yoga Nidra.

And this practice of Yoga Nidra is now almost over.

I am almost ready for sleep.

Returning your attention to your Sankalpa if you have one,

And again repeating your Sankalpa three times with conviction.

And if you don't have your Sankalpa,

Again leave space for it to come if it's ready.

Breath flowing easily,

Body resting,

Mind light and relaxed.

And now there is no need to do anything at all.

The practice of Yoga Nidra is now over,

And you can allow yourself to fall into a deep,

Long,

Restful sleep.