Hello,
My name is Gabriella and this is a short Yoga Nidra meditation designed to set you up for a restful,
Easeful,
Relaxing,
Deep night's sleep.
Yoga Nidra is a wonderful practice to encourage deep sleep.
It actually translates as yogic sleep and one hour's practice is the equivalent of four hours real time sleep.
I recommend for this one to set yourself up on your bed or under the covers specifically,
Just allowing you to drift off into a relaxation after the practice is complete.
If you position yourself in Shavasana pose with arms either side of the body,
Palms facing up to the sky,
And legs about hip width apart facing out to the sides.
I recommend to turn the lights off in the room you're in or alternatively use an eye mask if that's available for you.
And once you're in position we're going to take three deep breaths together,
In through the nose and out through the mouth with eyes remaining closed.
This is a short practice for you to melt away all the worries and cares from your day and allow yourself to drift off into a wonderful dream state.
Inhaling through the nose,
Exhaling out the mouth.
Two more times,
One more time.
Now I'd like you to imagine that there is golden light travelling from your palms all the way up to your crown of the head.
And as you inhale you're inhaling this golden light from the palms of your hands all the way up to the top of the head.
And you're exhaling down this golden light all the way from the top of the head down to the soles of the feet.
So inhaling up from the palms of the hand,
Imagining or picturing this golden light travelling up through your body,
Up your arms,
Up your spine to the top of your head.
And then exhaling all the way down,
All the way down to the soles of your feet.
Creating a circuit of light throughout your whole body.
Inhaling from the hands to the top of the head and exhaling down from the top of the head to the soles of the feet.
And we'll do this together for a minute.
Just imagining this golden light is sending soothing,
Calming,
Restful energy throughout all the cells of your body.
Lighting up these cells with relaxation to the top of your head and exhaling down to the soles of your feet.
When we draw out the breath in this way we are allowing our sympathetic nervous system to slowly lessen and allowing the parasympathetic nervous system to come online.
This is the nervous system regulation which is alluded to rest and digest.
And so it is imperative that we breathe and extend our breaths,
Our exhales,
To slow down our heart rate,
To slow down our breath,
Slow down our tension and thought process,
Allowing us to drop into a much more restful place.
A couple more breaths here.
From the palms of the hands to the top of the head and then exhaling down to the soles of the feet.
Now I'd like you to imagine your whole head,
Feeling the weight of your head on the surface that you lie on.
Feeling the sensations of your head now.
Becoming aware of both arms.
Feeling the weight of both arms on the surface that you lie on.
Feeling the bones of your arms.
Becoming aware of the arms now.
Bringing your attention now to both legs.
Becoming aware of both legs.
Bringing your attention to both feet.
Noticing any sensations in both of your feet.
Becoming aware of both hands.
Feeling any sensations in both hands.
Now becoming aware of your back.
Feeling your back on the surface that you lie on.
Noticing the weight of your back on the surface.
Noticing what part of your back touching the surface that you lie on.
Becoming aware of the front of your body,
Your torso and your chest.
Becoming aware of your torso and your chest now.
Becoming aware of your abdomen and your pelvis now.
Simply noticing any sensations in your abdomen and pelvis.
There's absolutely no right or wrong.
Simply observing your abdomen and your pelvis.
Becoming aware of the whole entire body.
Becoming aware of the whole entire body.
Feeling the sensations of the whole entire body now.
I'd now like you to imagine that your body is feeling heavy.
You're allowing your body to relax even deeper into the surface that you lie on.
Allowing the force of gravity to pull you deeper into the earth.
Releasing any tension that you're holding in parts of your body.
And allowing the force of gravity to hold you.
Allowing the weight of your body to sink down deep into the earth now.
Feeling the weight of your body.
Feeling heaviness in your body now.
I'd now like you to imagine that your body is feeling light as a feather.
You're allowing this lightness to wash through your whole body now.
Becoming aware of this sense of lightness.
Imagining that you could float off into dream state.
Allowing yourself to float off into this lightness now.
Feeling this lightness wash through your whole body.
Allowing the sense of alertness to wash through your whole body.
Becoming aware of alertness now.
Now becoming aware of where there is tiredness in your body.
Allowing this sense of tiredness to wash through you now.
Becoming aware of the sensation of tiredness in your muscles,
Your skeletal system.
Becoming aware of tiredness throughout your whole body.
We're now going to do a counting exercise together.
And when we get to zero I'm going to slowly end the session so that you can drift off into sleep.
We're going to start at the number 27 and I'm going to demonstrate for you for a second.
If you finish before my count you can start from the beginning again.
If you lose your way while we're counting you can start from the beginning again.
So we're inhaling 27,
Exhaling 27.
Inhaling 26,
Exhaling 26.
And so on.
Inhaling 27,
Exhaling 27.
Inhaling 26,
Exhaling 26.
I'm going to close today's practice with one om.
Wishing you a wonderful restful night's sleep.
My name is Gabriella.
Hope to see you soon.
Om.
Namaste.
