Yoga Nidra For Grounding & Deep Rest

A simple, soothing and grounding (trauma-informed) guided Yoga Nidra practice to invite a sense of deep relaxation. It will help your body, mind and soul feel deeply rested and restored. The practice includes a very gentle body squeeze and release at the beginning to support the release of any stored tension before moving into the practice of Yoga Nidra. At the end of the practice, you are guided back to a wakeful state.

Transcript

Welcome.

Welcome here in this space for Yoga Nidra.

A practice to allow you to let go for a little while.

A practice to allow the body and mind to deeply relax so that you can feel centred,

Grounded and connected.

Lying down comfortably in your Nidra nest.

Taking the time to make sure you are as comfortable as you can be.

And moving anything that doesn't feel quite right.

Be comforted that there is nothing to do,

Nothing to accomplish,

Nothing to reach for during our time together.

And I invite you to allow your body to sink into the supports holding you.

And as your body begins to settle,

Close your eyes.

And feel the whole body beginning to rest here in this place.

Feel the warmth and coziness of all your supports.

Paying attention to your physical comfort as much as possible.

Paying attention to how your body is feeling today with a gentle awareness and curiosity.

Welcome in all sensations as messages,

Little notes from the body to the mind.

And there's no need for any judgement here,

Just simply observe as a curious witness to the felt sensation in the body.

Listening to the sound of my voice,

Perhaps sometimes not even listening to my words.

Knowing that as I guide you through this practice,

I am simply offering invitations to you.

And if you're not connecting with what I'm saying,

Please be attuned to what you're feeling and follow that.

For that is the most important place to trust,

To follow what feels right for you.

And so to begin this practice we're going to move through the body,

A systematic deep relaxation where you're invited to squeeze and release each body part as we move around the physical body.

This systematic relaxation will help the body to release any residual tension that may be stored in any body part.

So just taking all of your awareness into your right hand and squeeze your right hand into a tight fist and then release.

And then moving to the left hand,

Squeezing the left hand into a tight fist and release.

Moving up to the right lower arm,

Squeezing the right lower arm in however that makes sense to you and release.

And then the left lower arm,

Squeezing the left lower arm in however that makes sense to you and release.

Moving to the right upper arm and into the shoulder joint,

Squeeze and release.

And the left upper arm into the shoulder joint,

Squeeze and release.

Shrug the shoulders to the ears,

Both the shoulders and then release back down,

Creating space between the shoulders and the ears.

Then focusing on the right side around the waist area,

Squeeze and release.

And then across to the left side,

Just allowing that focus to come across into the centre point,

Into the abdominals and the core.

Squeeze and release.

And then into the right buttock,

Squeeze and release.

Across to the left buttock,

Squeeze and release.

Moving to the right upper thigh,

Squeeze and release.

Across to the left upper thigh,

Squeeze and release.

Moving down to the right lower leg,

Squeeze and release.

And then the left lower leg,

Squeeze and release.

Into the right foot,

So you might like to curl your toes over,

Squeezing and then releasing.

And then into the left foot,

Again squeezing the toes and then releasing.

And coming up to the face now,

Squeezing all of the face muscles together into a tight ball and then releasing.

And then one last time we're going to squeeze the whole body.

Now squeeze the whole body,

Feeling that tightness for a moment and then release.

Softening the whole body and the face into this moment.

And focusing your attention on the gentle movement of the abdomen now as you breathe.

Allow the belly to soften as it rises and falls with each breath.

Feel the chest and the heart opening from the inside out.

Jaw released,

Relaxed and open.

Forehead relaxed,

Shoulders relaxed.

And as you lie here in the stillness you become aware of the change and movement that continues in your body as the breath breathes the body.

And the body breathes the breath.

Visualising the breath travelling down to the centre of the breastbone now.

Travelling all the way into the space of the heart.

Just pouring all of your awareness into this space.

And you listen out for your intention that may arise in this place.

Perhaps an intention of how you would like to feel or how you would like to be.

And if anything arises in this place,

Just visualising that intention rooting itself deep into the space of the heart.

And equally if nothing should arise at this time you can simply rest back in ease and comfort into this space and just enjoy the stillness for a moment.

And as we move to the journey around the body now I invite you to simply feel into each body part.

Feel the sensation just as it is.

And as you travel around just allowing the body part to soften and the gaze,

The gentle gaze of your awareness.

Boring all of your attention into your right hand thumb.

And then moving to the index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Palm of hand.

Back of hand.

The whole hand.

Wrist.

Lower arm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Armpit.

Right side.

Right weight.

Hip.

Into the right thigh.

The knee.

The shin.

The car.

The ankle.

The right heel.

The sole of the foot.

Top of the foot.

Into the right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

The whole of the right side of the body.

Moving to the left side.

Pouring all of your awareness into your left hand thumb.

Moving to your index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Palm of hand.

Back of hand.

Whole hand.

Moving up to the left wrist.

The lower arm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Armpit.

Left side.

Left waist.

Left hip.

Into the left thigh.

The left knee.

The shin.

The car.

Ankle.

Left heel.

Sole of the left foot.

Top of foot.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

The whole of the left side of the body.

Taking all of your attention into the back of the body now.

Starting with the right shoulder blade.

The left shoulder blade.

The back of the neck.

The whole length of the spine.

The right buttock.

Left buttock.

Back of the right thigh.

Back of the left thigh.

Right calf.

Left car.

Right heel.

Left heel.

Moving to the front of the body.

Top of the head.

Forehead.

Right temple.

Left temple.

Right eyebrow.

Left eyebrow.

Centre of the eyebrows.

Right eye.

Left eye.

Right ear.

Left ear.

Right cheek.

Left cheek.

Nose.

Mouth.

Chin.

Jaw.

Throat.

Right side of chest.

Left side of chest.

Centre of the chest.

The upper abdomen.

Navel.

Lower abdomen.

The whole of the right leg.

The whole of the left leg.

Both legs together.

All of the right arm.

All of the left arm.

Both arms together.

The whole of the front of the body.

The whole of the back of the body.

The whole of the head.

The whole body.

The whole body.

Aware of the whole of the body.

In this space now.

All of the body resting.

All of the body.

Aware of the whole of the physical body.

Sense the weight of the physical body.

Lying.

Resting.

Sense the boundary of the body.

Notice where the body ends.

Then where the space around begins.

Allow this enquiry to take you out into the felt atmosphere around the room.

Just in this moment.

And it's as if you're watching yourself resting in this space.

Seemingly doing nothing.

Actually doing everything.

Allowing yourself the gift of rest.

And then coming back to the felt sensation of the body resting on the ground.

Feeling into all the areas of the body connecting with the earth beneath.

Pouring all of your awareness into those connections of the body with the earth.

Feeling grounded and centered and connected in this moment.

As you connect with the earth beneath,

Feeling the weight of the body.

Weight of the body heavy.

Weight of the body connecting with the earth beneath.

And just returning once more to this subtle movement of the breath.

Aware of its constant rise and fall.

As the breath breathes the body.

And the body breathes the breath.

Visualizing the breath travelling all the way down to the centre of the breastbone back into the space of the heart.

Allowing your awareness to settle into this space as you remember your intention that you placed at the beginning of the practice.

Just seeing or sensing or feeling that intention to root itself deeply into the space of the heart.

Knowing that it's a place where this intention can be nourished and can flourish over time.

And if you didn't have an intention for this practice you can simply rest in this space with ease and comfort.

Feeling centered and grounded and connected.

And I invite you to notice any subtle differences that you may be feeling now as we move towards the end of the practice.

Perhaps the mind feels more spacious,

More calm and rested and the body more relaxed.

Notice it all and allow this feeling to continue with you throughout the rest of your day.

Just inviting the breath to deepen.

Imagining that the breath is like a little light.

Waking you from this place,

This state of awareness.

Inviting your inhales to become full and deep.

And your exhales to be long and slow.

Just visualising that the breath is moving through every part of the body as it begins to wake you up.

That it's bringing you to a more alert state of being.

And as you allow the breath to travel to the extremities of the body,

So the fingers and the toes.

Inviting for there to be some gentle movement in the body.

However that feels good to the body.

Whether that's stretching,

Curling up,

Rocking the body from side to side.

Moving the body gently as you begin to bring yourself back into a state of everyday living.

And taking with you anything that you would like from the practice,

Leaving behind anything else.

And knowing that this practice of yoga nidra is about to end.

Thinking about how you can bring just a little bit more of what makes you feel good into your day.

To take care of you.

Remembering that through resting we welcome ourselves home.

This practice of yoga nidra has now finished.

Thank you for listening.

Reviews

Really superb. Lovely voice.

What a delightful yoga nidra. Your voice is so tender. Thank you.

Really easy to go deep quicker with the body relaxation and longer body scan!

Lovely Yoga Nidra practice! Tightening the muscles at the beginning really helps to relieve tension. Your voice is very soothing. 🩷

This was sooo relaxing I kinda fell asleep for a little bit after 😍Thank you 💚💚💚

Really lovely, restful, & restorative restorative…thank you ❣️

Squeezing and releasing incrementally through the body. Interesting and relaxing. Joyful silence in background. Wake-up ending. 5/4/24

First part is more active, tensioning muscles, but after that came the real relaxation

Namaste

A beautifully calming methodical process that gently, unknowingly sends you off to a deep peaceful sleep….

Thank you Sara. My overly excited children on our first night of holiday were asleep in no time.

Love your voice Sara, so soothing 😌

Lovely meditation. Totally rejuvenated and peaceful. Thank you for sharing your gift 🙏🏻🧡

Soft, gentle and calming voice - really enjoyed moving round the body squeezing and releasing the muscles. A wonderful rejuvenating afternoon rest, thank you x