Yoga Nidra For Better Sleep

In today's 30-minute Yoga Nidra deep rest meditation practice, we will be using techniques for better sleep that help move you to the 'hypnogogic' yoga Nidra state of deep rest. Whether this practice is a runway into sleep, or to improve your sleep the following night, it will enable you to hold a supportive space for yourself to rest deeply and restore your body and mind.

If you've enjoyed this practice, leave a comment with your experience - I love reading & responding to your experiences! If you'd like to practice with me again, follow me on The Wellness Words.

Transcript

Welcome to this yoga nidra practice for deep restorative sleep.

I am your guide and I will shortly be taking you through a sequence that uses techniques to help your mind and body ease into the deep presence and stillness where you can experience the state of deep rest without needing to fall asleep.

And then when you wish to go to sleep,

Whether it's straight after this practice or this evening,

You'll still find the benefits and find you get more deep restorative sleep in time.

This can transform your sleeping habits and help you move into better quality sleep faster.

So make yourself comfortable and begin to allow yourself to settle in.

If it would make your practice more comfortable,

Collect some blankets,

Pillows or eye coverings.

Whilst you're doing this,

I would like to invite you to subscribe or follow.

80% of people listening to my practices regularly are not subscribed,

But subscribing is completely free for you and it really helps me to continue creating and more importantly to get these transformational practices to more and more people all around the world.

It is so lovely to see people practicing these all around the globe,

Improving their wellness.

Now you're becoming settled in.

If you haven't already,

Close down your eyes and start to gather the sense of your body resting softly on the support below.

As you sense into this feeling of the support,

Is there any part of your body that you notice is holding tension or a part of your body that hasn't fully softened into the support yet?

Identify that part and now imagine that you could soften that part of your body with your mind.

You may find it supportive to say to that part in your mind's eye,

You can soften now.

Notice your body again and notice if there is any other part that could relax,

Even if it's just 5% more.

Once again just imagine that you could soften that part with your mind.

Notice the position of your tongue and move it into a relaxed position and relax down your jaw so that your teeth are just slightly apart.

And now take a moment to gently sense into where your attention is currently placed.

There's no need to change it,

Simply notice with curiosity where your attention is mostly placed.

You may feel your attention is in your thoughts,

Your emotions.

You may be scanning your external environment with your senses,

Focusing on sounds,

Light.

Just noticing here.

Now you've gathered the sense of where your attention is at,

Imagine you could gather that attention and gently guide it to move down into your body,

Away from the thinking mind and simply feeling the awareness of your body.

Allow your intuition to guide you on how to do this.

With your attention placed on your body,

Notice where you feel your breath.

Without changing anything,

Simply notice.

You may feel your breath in your nostrils,

Your stomach or your chest.

And rest back with this sensation of your body being breathed naturally without you needing to do anything here.

Just noticing as you deeply rest back.

With your attention still placed on your breath,

Extend your exhale for just a moment more.

There's no need to count,

Simply allow your body to change the shape of your breath so that you experience a slightly extended exhale.

Try extending the exhale again and if it feels good to you,

Sigh out the exhale through your mouth.

Take your next inhale through your nose.

And as you exhale from your mouth in an audible sigh,

Imagine releasing all the expectations on you today.

Feel that you're letting go of this heavy burden of expectation.

Continue breathing in this way and feel your body becoming lighter with each exhale.

Remind yourself that it's okay for this practice to feel completely free from the heavy weight of anticipation or expectation of what you should or could be feeling.

Simply release all of that now and just be present with your breath.

And now just allow yourself to watch your natural breath without changing anything about the breath as you rest here deeper.

Feel the weight of your body resting into the earth below you.

You are being cradled by the earth here.

You can release the expectation of even needing to hold your own weight.

The earth is cradling you,

Keeping you safe and supported as you rest back even deeper.

As you rest here,

Become reminded of your reason for practicing today.

Allow your intuition to guide you with words,

Symbols or even simply a feeling.

This reason for practicing is your sankalpa,

Your heart's desire.

Take a moment now to translate this into a supportive I or I am statement.

This sankalpa may resonate with you today.

I allow myself to be as I am in this moment whilst inviting in deep breath.

Take a moment now to allow your sankalpa to form.

Release that now and drift your awareness to the toes on your left foot.

Take a moment to allow your attention to fully absorb into the feeling of the toes on your left foot.

Now drift your awareness over to the toes on your right foot.

And sense into all 10 toes together.

Imagine that your awareness is split in two halves.

One on your left side of your toes and another half on the right side of your toes.

So you're holding both together but split.

Now allow your awareness to move up to the soles of your feet.

Again,

This split awareness between your left foot and the sole on your right foot.

Now both heels.

Both feet as a whole.

Sense into both ankles.

Allow your split awareness to absorb into your thighs.

And now imagine your awareness absorbing back into one part.

Now take a moment on the left of your pelvic bowl and drift this one sense of awareness all the way over now to the sensations on the right of your pelvic bowl.

Sense into your whole pelvis and hips together.

Allowing your awareness to move up now into your lower back at the base of your spine.

And now split your awareness between the sensations at the base of your spine and on the area you feel your breath.

So you're holding both the base of your spine and awareness of the breath together.

Without changing anything about your breath,

Send your exhale all the way up each vertebrae starting at the base of your spine,

All the way up to the top of your spine.

And on your exhale,

Send the breath back down to the base of your spine.

Inhale,

Sending the breath up the spine.

And exhale,

Allowing the breath to fall gently down from the top of your spine all the way back down to the base.

Feeling the sensation of your spine as you send the breath up the spine.

And down with your inhale and your exhale as you rest here deeply.

Continue to breathe this way in your own time,

Simply allowing the natural breath to unfold as you send it up your spine with your inhale and back down the spine with your exhale.

Release this awareness of your breath now and gather your awareness,

Allowing it to permeate the back of your chest.

And now allow it to permeate the front of your chest,

Sensing into the sensations on both sides of the chest and now your heart center.

And once again,

Imagine your awareness could split in two so that you can sense the left shoulder and the right shoulder together but separately in your awareness.

And now drift that split awareness down to the top of your arm on both sides,

Your elbows,

Both forearms together,

Both hands together.

And now sense into both of your thumbs and now one at a time bring in each finger into your awareness.

With your split awareness between the left and the right until all your fingers and thumbs are saturated with your awareness.

Now allow your awareness to gather back together at your navel center.

And now your lower abdomen,

Your solar plexus,

Your heart center,

Feeling into all the sensation here once more.

Both collarbones,

The pit of your throat,

Center of your throat,

The inside of your mouth and sense into the properties on the inside of your mouth.

The feelings,

Sensations and any properties such as textures,

Humidity,

Anything you notice about the sensation on the inside of your mouth.

Your tongue,

Top layer of your teeth,

Become aware of the bottom layer of your teeth,

The jaw,

Lips,

The space just above your lip,

The tip of the nose,

The nostrils,

Feeling your breath moving naturally through each nostril.

Both cheekbones,

Eyelids,

Any sensation you can feel around or within your eyes.

Both ears,

Your third eye center in between the eyebrows,

The top of your head.

And feel into the experience of the sensations just above the top of your head as if your awareness can extend out beyond your physical body and into the space just above the top of the head,

The crown.

And now holding your awareness,

The experience of the front of your body and the back of your brain,

Just imagining the sense of the front of your body and the back of your brain together with your split awareness.

Rotate your awareness now so that you are sensing into the front of your brain and the back of your body,

The front of your brain and the back of your body being held in gentle awareness.

And now allow your awareness to permeate your entire body like a sponge soaking up the sensation of being you just as you are as you rest here deeper and deeper with presence and ease.

Sense your entire body resting here.

And now drift your awareness to your third eye center,

And bask in the comfort of resting here just as you are.

Resting in the knowledge that you have created this space for yourself to recover,

Rejuvenate and reset your nervous system.

If you notice your attention wandering,

Simply thank yourself for noticing the quality of your mind.

Without any judgment or effort,

Bring your awareness back to your third eye center.

Rest here for just a few moments more.

Really taking in the experience of resting in stillness as yourself,

In your true authenticity.

Allowing the day to simply wash away as you rest here.

Move your awareness from your third eye center back onto your natural breath.

And on your next inhale,

Imagine your whole body expanding outwards as if the lines of your body become blurry and can expand all the way around your body,

Taking up more space in your environment.

And on the exhale,

Sense a gentle contraction,

Feeling your body settle back into itself,

Becoming more compact,

More centered.

And once again,

Inhale your body,

Allowing expansion and spaciousness.

And exhale,

Allowing your body to contract,

To settle,

And feel the groundedness that this brings.

And once more,

Inhale,

Feeling expansion.

And exhale,

Allowing the contraction and with it,

The settling of your body.

Be reminded of your reason for practicing today,

Your sankalpa.

I allow myself to be as I am in this moment,

Whilst inviting in deep rest.

Take a moment to allow your sankalpa to permeate your experience.

And allow yourself a moment to thank yourself for creating this experience.

This moment of rest today.

For allowing yourself to settle into rest,

And nourishing your entire being with deep presence.

Allow your intuition to guide you on how to thank yourself.

This may be in words,

A visual,

Or even a felt sense of gratitude.

You may wish to place the gratitude at your heart center.

Whatever feels most supportive for you,

There is no right or wrong way to feel into the gratitude for your practice today.

Just allow the thankfulness to absorb through your body,

Merging with the experience of deep rest.

Whenever you're ready,

Place your hands in a supportive embrace.

You may wish to place them at your heart center,

Or one hand on each arm in a self hug.

Go slowly and just do whatever feels the most supportive for you and your nervous system today.

If it feels supportive,

Start to make some slow,

Soothing circles with your hands.

And remind yourself that you are here,

You're supporting your body,

And you're supporting your mind,

And you're supporting your sleep.

And begin to make some bigger movements or stretches with your body in whatever way feels most wakeful and gentle.

Simply go slowly with lightness and ease.

And whenever you're ready,

You can either pause this recording and move into a more deep sleep for the rest of the night,

Or you can open your eyes and allow them to adjust back into your waking life.

And whilst you're adjusting,

If you're moving back into your day,

Take a note of how you feel now.

Have you felt anything shift,

Or change,

Or even remain the same?

Sense into your innate curiosity,

Non-judgmentally,

About how you feel now.

Before returning to your waking life.

Your practice is now complete,

And I would be really interested to read your experiences of today's practice.

So if you'd like to share your experience,

Feel free to leave a comment and let me know how you've experienced this today.

Thank you so much for joining,

And whenever you're ready to practice next,

I'm here on the wellness words.

Reviews

I am always in search of better sleep. Last night I found “Yoga Nidra for Better Sleep” and have been helped by The Wellness Words meditations many times in the past so I listened. I like the way the Wellness Words guided this “Yoga Nidra For Better Sleep.” 3 times I used it last night and found my way quickly to sleep and then back to sleep which is “better” for me. Namasté.