A Yoga Nidra Guided Relaxation For Sleep

A yoga nidra guided relaxation to help you get to sleep, or get back to sleep with gentle ease. Find rest, relaxation and calmness as you create a calm space as you rest in bed. Simply listen and be guided by my voice. This track has no music

Transcript

So welcome,

This is Susan and this is a Yoga Nidra guided relaxation for helping to get you to or help you to return to sleep.

And Yoga Nidra is a practice that's deeply relaxing.

And so first of all could you position your body so that it feels comfortable to you.

And you might be lying on the back of your body,

You might be letting your legs rest straight with your arms resting by your side.

Or maybe you're lying on the side of your body but just using as much support as you need to be as comfortable as possible.

Use all the blankets,

Duvets,

Cushions and pillows that you need to let yourself settle to be ready to sleep now.

And letting your attention simply come to notice all of the parts of your body as they're connected resting down onto the bed that you're lying on.

And just letting your body soften into that support of your beautifully,

Deliciously comfortable bed now.

And just making sure that your neck and your head are comfortable.

That your body is comfortable as it rests too.

And that your legs are comfortable,

Your feet comfortable.

And there's nothing at all that you need to make happen.

You're simply listening.

You're just simply listening to my voice,

My suggestions,

My invitations to rest here now.

And so I'd like to invite you to follow my words and allow them to take you to a relaxed and a calm place.

To take you off to sleep.

And everything that I suggest is simply an interesting invitation that you can take or you can leave.

And so first of all,

I'm going to count down from 12 to 1.

And as I do this,

Just allowing and inviting for yourself to become more and more effortless and more and more relaxed as I count the numbers down.

So at 12,

Just allowing your body to feel very soft,

Letting everything settle.

Moving down to 11,

Becoming a little more softer,

Slower inside.

And 10,

And 9,

And 8.

Moving slowly towards 7.

Just resting softly in this effortless awareness to 6.

At 5,

Each step becoming slightly more effortless as you rest,

Just breathing,

Letting go.

At 4,

Moving to 3.

Very gently to 2.

And 1.

Softly down to 0.

And just resting here in effortless awareness.

And as you lie here in this relaxed,

Calm place,

Allowing this sense of relaxation to become more and more with each breath.

Just allowing yourself to become more deeply relaxed.

Deeper and deeper,

Softening,

Relaxed,

And at ease.

And just knowing that it's natural for you to find each and every night as you come to find that stillness in bed,

That you feel ready to relax.

And as you settle into your beds,

That time for rest and relaxation,

Getting closer,

And the time is right for you to rest,

To go to sleep.

And so you can relax into this knowledge that you're wonderfully tired each and every night,

Calm and relaxed.

And you're so wonderfully tired that it's natural to look forward to a wonderful night's sleep.

Looking forward to falling asleep,

To having a lovely rest of sleep.

And gently knowing that you will sleep well and with ease.

And all of the thoughts and ideas,

Images,

Feelings,

They can fade away from your mind now.

They can fade away now,

Letting your mind become calmer now and clearer.

And you can have a wonderful sensation of peacefulness now,

Of calmness,

Of relaxation.

As you let everything go,

And it's time for you to rest,

To go to sleep.

And you're left with these wonderful sensations,

A sense of ease,

Calmness,

Restfulness,

And relaxation as you lie here now.

And you get to have this experience of going off now to a deep,

Refreshing sleep,

Allowing you now to become more relaxed as you move towards that replenishment of sleep,

Allowing yourself to find real comforts in your bed.

So you sleep well.

And you'll enjoy your sleep,

And you'll wake at the appropriate time for you,

Feeling gently refreshed each and every morning,

Ready for the day ahead.

And knowing that maybe things happen to disrupt your sleep,

And knowing that that's okay,

And that you can simply return each and every night to this rest,

This sleep.

So whether you need to get up to use the bathroom to get a drink,

Or you're woken by a noise,

Knowing that's all okay,

Whatever the reason might be,

Knowing that you can head back to that restful place to get back to that beautiful,

Deep,

Restful sleep.

And as you lie here,

Resting,

Relaxing,

One thing that might be lovely to do right now is just to rotate your attention and your awareness around your body,

Just checking in with the different parts of your body,

Maybe inviting them to soften and relax a little bit more.

So I'm going to simply name a series of body parts,

And as you hear them,

As you simply listen to my voice,

You can bring your awareness to that place,

That part of your body,

Or imagine that part of your body gently softening,

Releasing,

And relaxing in some way as your attention comes to it.

Maybe you even have a sense of a gentle warmth in that place,

Whatever works for you.

So beginning by taking your attention right up to the top of your head,

Imagining,

Feeling that place,

Relaxing,

Softening,

Releasing,

Letting go,

And then moving your attention down,

Down to the center of your forehead and relaxing there,

Bringing your awareness to your right eyelid,

To your left eyelid,

To the right cheek,

To the left cheek,

Relaxing your top lip and your bottom lip,

Taking your awareness to the upper jaw and the lower jaw,

To the tip of your tongue being relaxed,

And to the very root of your tongue.

And now wondering your awareness down to the center of your throat,

Slowly down your neck,

To the right side of your neck,

To the left side of your neck,

Softening,

Relaxing now,

To the right collarbone,

To the left collarbone.

And then maybe it might be nice now to move your awareness and those feelings of relaxation and ease,

Of softness,

Of letting go.

Maybe let them come to your right shoulder and then to the right upper arm,

To the right elbow,

Right wrist,

And to the palm of the right hand,

To the back of the right hand,

To the right thumb,

To the right first finger,

The middle finger,

The ring finger,

And the little finger,

And back up to the right wrist,

The lower arm,

The right elbow,

The upper arm,

To the right shoulder.

And then maybe it could be nice now to move your awareness and those feelings of rest,

Relaxation and softness,

Of letting go,

Bringing them to the left shoulder now,

To the left upper arm,

The left elbow and wrist,

Into the palm of the left hand,

To the back of the left hand,

To the left thumb,

The first finger,

The middle finger,

The ring finger,

And the little finger,

Back to the left wrist,

And the left lower arm,

The left elbow,

The upper arm,

And the left shoulder,

Back to the center of the throat.

And now perhaps you could move your awareness and that feeling of soft,

Easeful relaxation,

Down to the center of your chest,

To your heart center,

To the right side of the chest,

To the left side of your chest,

To the center of the chest,

And then down to the navel,

Down into the cradle of the pelvis,

And then wandering down to the right hip,

The right thigh,

The right knee,

The right calf,

Right shin and ankle,

To the sole of the right foot,

To the very tips of each of the toes,

The right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Tip of the right little toe,

Letting your awareness wander up to the right ankle,

Right knee,

Right thigh,

The right hip,

And then over to the left hip,

Those feelings of softness and rest and relaxation,

To the left thigh,

The left knee,

The left calf,

The left shin,

Left ankle,

Left heel,

Left sole of the foot,

To the tip of the left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Left fourth toe,

The tip of the left little toe,

And then back to the left ankle,

Left knee,

Left thigh,

Left hip,

And you might like to wonder your attention and that feeling of softness and restfulness,

However that feels for you,

Back to the navel,

And then back up to rest at your heart,

Slowly moving up to the left side of the chest,

The right side of the chest,

Back up to the throat,

To the chin,

The lower lip,

The upper lip,

To the tip of your nose,

The right eyelid,

The left eyelid,

The centre of your eyebrows,

To your forehead,

And then back to the very crown of your head.

And then my next invitation is for you to consider a part of the body that perhaps feels gently heavy,

Gently weighted,

Maybe it's a part of your body that is in contact with your bed,

And you can explore feelings of heaviness,

Of connectedness,

Of groundedness there,

And could you allow it to expand a little until the whole of your resting body feels this weightedness,

This beautiful soft heaviness,

Almost as if you're sinking down into the softness of a duvet,

To soft ground,

Feeling grounded and relaxed,

Beautiful calmness,

A sense of ease,

And then it might be nice to feel,

Identify,

To imagine a part of your body that feels gently light,

Maybe it's a part of the body that's away from the bed,

Away from the earth,

Maybe it's a part that's gently moving with your breath,

Maybe there's a sensation,

A feeling that ever so slightly is floating away from the ground,

From the bed a little,

And this feeling of lightness,

It might be interesting to explore that sensation,

Exploring the feeling of lightness,

Or inviting that lightness to extend and expand and permeate into the whole of your body,

All the way from the very crown of your head,

Right through the relaxed body to the tip of your toes,

Exploring that lightness now,

And then it might be nice to experience moving between those two sensations,

The gentle softening and sinking,

The groundedness and heaviness in your body,

And that gentle sense of the body having a lightness,

A floating,

A rising,

And maybe that happens to the movement of your breath,

A lightness as you inhale,

A groundedness as you exhale,

Just exploring that in your own way now.

And you might almost feel as if you're gently floating on some kind of gentle wave or current,

Rising and falling,

If that feels like a nice thing to do now as you rest and relax here.

And as you're practicing here,

That sleepiness,

That tiredness,

That invitation to find that time to rest and sleep,

And as we do that naturally in the evening,

Maybe a feeling of the twilight and then the night sky,

The beautiful rich darkness of the night sky slowly descends as the light levels fade and darken,

A sense of maybe a gentle fading sunset,

The feeling of that might come into your body.

Maybe that leaves an array of stars overhead.

Maybe you're just being bathed in this starlight or moonlight as you rest under this night sky.

Maybe you're floating safely beneath those stars,

And there's just the edge of a sense of a dream as you rest here now.

And that dream is up to you.

Just remember you're safe and relaxed here,

Resting,

Relaxing in your beds.

Maybe you see stars shooting overhead.

Maybe you're simply resting into the easy stillness of the earth,

Feeling safe and supported and held,

Rocked by your breath as it ebbs and flows effortlessly,

Calm and relaxed,

And just allowing yourself to save this experience,

Being taken further into that sense of a dream,

Letting your mind wonder wherever it would like to go peacefully,

Calmly,

Under the scars,

Under the sky,

Allowing yourself to drift off as I wish you a very sound and restful sleep.

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Reviews

This was wonderful. Put me to sleep right away! Thank you.