Yoga Nidra For Developing Awareness

In this yoga nidra practice, you will be guided through body and breath awareness to help drop you into a very calm, relaxing state of awareness. Yoga nidra is a deeply restful, restorative meditation practice that is accessible to any level of experience and helps to engage the parasympathetic nervous system, improves the quality of sleep, and nourishes your entire being.

Transcript

Welcome to this first practice in the Discover True Rest program.

This meditation continues our focus on building awareness.

So begin to prepare yourself and your space,

Getting as comfortable as possible.

Find a restful position that suits you right now in this moment.

As you get settled,

Just notice if it's possible for you to be 5 or 10% more comfortable.

Maybe a blanket or a soft eye covering is needed today.

Begin to tune into the breath.

Notice that you are breathing and notice the qualities of the breath.

What's the temperature,

The speed,

The depth?

Not trying to change it or judge it at all,

Just notice.

And as you continue to settle into stillness,

Let's take three deep inhales together and sigh out the exhales.

So breathing deeply inhaling all the way down to the bottom of the lungs,

Filling up entirely.

And exhale,

Maybe an audible sigh.

Two more like that at your own pace.

Inhaling fully,

Taking air all the way down to the bottom of the lungs,

Filling you up and exhaling out the mouth.

Last one,

Inhaling.

Let it go out the mouth.

Returning to a natural breathing pattern,

Making any final adjustments that you need and then settling into stillness.

You can always move if you need to but see if you can choose stillness for this practice.

If you do need to move to adjust any clothing or scratch an itch,

Then just do so very mindfully as slowly as possible,

Trying to not disturb the calm that we are creating.

Once you've found your restful position,

Repeat mentally to yourself,

I'm aware that I'm about to practice yoga nidra.

The practice begins now.

Bring awareness to the space that your body takes up.

Starting with the crown of the head,

Moving your awareness from the top of the head down to the toes,

Noticing everything in between the crown of the head and the toes.

Noticing now the sides,

The width of the body,

Finding your widest point,

Maybe your shoulders,

Your hips,

And feel the space from side to side.

Notice where your arms extend out to,

The space between the arms and the body,

The space between the feet.

Now bring your attention to the height of the body.

How tall does your body stand off the ground from the back of the body to the front of the body?

Notice that space,

The back of the skull to the tip of the nose,

The space behind the ribs to the space in front of the torso.

Notice the back of the pelvis lying on the ground and the front of the pelvis.

Become aware of that space.

Notice the backs of your heels and the tips of the toes,

The height of the foot.

Shift awareness to the senses.

Notice your sense of sight,

If it is completely dark or if there's some light filtering in through the eyelids.

Where does that light come from?

Where does that darkness come from?

Notice that by taking away the sight,

Perhaps the other senses are heightened.

Tune into the feelings of touch,

Sensations on the skin.

Notice what the air feels like on your bare skin,

What the clothing feels like on the parts of you that are clothed.

If there's a blanket perhaps over you,

Notice where that blanket starts and ends and the difference that makes.

Notice your tastes in your mouth and smells in the room.

Notice if you can taste the smells.

And finally moving the awareness to sounds,

To hearing,

Knowing that that's the only sense that you'll need to utilize for this practice.

Become aware of any sounds around you.

Moving your awareness as far away as possible.

Hearing distant sounds,

Not spending too much time focusing on any one particular sound,

But notice it and move on continuing to search for the next sound as far away as you can.

Moving the awareness closer just perhaps to outside the building or the room that you are in.

And closer still inside the building or room that you're in.

Moving your hearing closer still to sounds that are coming from within the body.

Can you hear yourself breathing without changing it?

Maybe you can hear your heartbeat or your blood pulsing.

What other sounds are coming from the body or within it?

Letting that practice go,

Knowing that all you need to do is try to be still and listen.

Coming now to the rotation of consciousness.

Bring the awareness to different parts of the body as named.

Visualize this body part,

Maybe repeating the name of it mentally in your mind as you send all of your awareness into that body part.

And then moving on to the next one,

Not lingering,

Just staying with the instructions.

Bringing all of your awareness into the right hand,

All of the right hand.

Moving just into the right hand thumb,

Repeating that in your mind if you like,

Right hand thumb.

Moving all of your awareness in the thumb,

Might feel tingling or heat,

Other energetic sensations.

Right hand thumb,

Moving to the right hand index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Middle finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Right side ribs,

Side waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Shin,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the right foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

Whole right side of the body,

Awareness of the right side of the body.

Moving attention to the left side into the left hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Left side ribs,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Shin,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the left foot,

Top of the foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

Whole left side of the body,

Awareness of the whole left side,

Moving up the back of the body and down the front,

Awareness now of both sides of the body at the same time,

The heels,

Left and right heels,

Calf muscles,

Backs of the knees,

Hamstrings,

Glutes,

Lower back,

Middle back,

Upper back,

Shoulder blades,

Back of the neck,

Back of the head,

Crown of the head,

Forehead,

Eyebrows,

Temples,

Eyelids,

Eyes,

Bridge of the nose,

Tip of the nose,

Cheeks,

Ears,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Line where the lips touch,

Teeth,

Gums,

Tongue,

Jaw,

Throat,

Chest,

Upper abdomen,

Lower abdomen,

Whole of the pelvis and hips,

Whole of the right leg,

Whole of the left leg,

Both legs at the same time,

Whole of the right arm,

Whole of the left arm,

Both arms together,

Whole of the torso,

Front,

Back and sides,

Whole of the neck and throat,

Whole of the head and face,

The head,

Neck and torso together,

The head,

Neck,

Torso,

Arms and legs,

The whole body together,

The entire body at the same time,

Awareness of the whole body.

Let that awareness go.

Without changing it,

Notice once again that you are breathing.

Notice that the breath is automatic,

Effortless.

It's been happening this entire time.

Notice the sensation of air entering and leaving the nostrils.

Become aware of the gentle rising and falling of the navel.

Without trying to change it or control it in any way,

Just notice the subtle movement in the body that the breath creates,

Focusing your awareness on the navel.

Continuing with this focused awareness,

You can begin to repeat in your mind,

Navel rising,

Navel falling,

Navel rising,

Navel falling.

As this awareness deepens,

Introduce a backward counting from nine,

Navel rising,

Nine,

Navel falling,

Nine,

Navel rising,

Eight,

Navel falling,

Eight,

And so on at your own pace,

Backward counting from nine.

When the count is lost,

Just start again at nine.

If you reach zero,

Simply start again.

Now let that awareness go.

Let the counting go.

Just become aware of how relaxed the body is,

Awareness of how quiet the mind is,

How soft the breath is.

Hold this awareness,

Bask in it,

This beautiful state of calm,

Tranquil,

Quiet.

Nothing to do,

Nowhere to go.

Take a deep breath,

The Thib soJoe.

Continue to rest in this beautiful deep state of awareness for as long as it serves you.

When you are ready,

Tune into the sensation of your body lying on the floor.

Feel the weight of your body.

Feel the points of connection between your body and the mat or blanket beneath you.

Notice points of the body that aren't connected,

Maybe the backs of the ankles,

The lower back,

Back of the neck.

Just noticing your body lying on the floor.

Starting with your eyes closed,

Begin to visualize the room around you.

Bring to mind the walls,

The ceiling,

The floor,

Any furniture,

Anything that you're lying on or anything that's covering you.

Visualize where your body is located within the room.

Become aware of the fact that you have been practicing yoga nidra and that the practice is now complete.

In and only when it feels right to you in this moment,

Begin to deepen the breath.

Inhaling deeply all the way down to the tips of your toes and exhaling it all out.

As many of those breaths as you like to bring your consciousness back into the body,

Into the physical presence.

Taking your time.

When it feels right to you,

Begin to introduce the gentlest of movements.

Wiggling the toes,

The fingers,

Maybe stretching the arms overhead and the legs down below for a big body stretch.

Moving slowly and mindfully.

Eventually,

Perhaps drawing the knees into the chest,

Rocking side to side if that feels nice.

Lying on the side,

Whichever one feels more comfortable today.

Sitting there on your side in a little fetal position,

Using your underarm as a pillow and pause to let that movement catch up.

Noticing the effects of stillness and the introduction of movement,

How it changes,

How it feels.

When that is settled,

Press the floor away from you to come up to a seat nice and slowly.

Just taking a moment to notice the effects of the practice.

Notice if anything has shifted in your body,

In your mind,

In your thoughts,

Or in your breath.

If it feels nice to bring your hands to your heart center,

Pressing your palms together,

Or resting both hands on top of your heart.

Do so now to close the practice.

Sending yourself so much gratitude and compassion,

Thanking yourself for showing up,

For making the effort to creating this time and space.

Seeing that sense of gratitude fill you up and surround you.

Bringing the thumbs to third eye center as you bow to that light within yourself and all living things everywhere.

Namaste.

Namaste.

Reviews

Such a beautiful nidra! Thank you so much for creating this and sharing!

So lovely thank you

Felt my whole body melt into being… wonderful ~ thank you 🌸

A beautifully relaxing practice. Thank you and Blessings 🕊💜

Very nice practice. Relaxing

A beautifully relaxing practice thank you

Thank you Tessa. I love your pacing and your voice. Your authenticity comes through beautifully.

A lovely yoga nidra! Will definitely be revisiting, thank you

Really lovely yoga nidra , with nice music. Thank you x

Thank you! This is a keeper. Namaste :)

Thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻Loved the pace, your wording, everything AND therefore disappointed that you did not guide beyond rotation of consciousness and breath awareness🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻