Hello and welcome to your yoga nidra practice especially for sleep.
My name is Kumari and I'll be your guide.
Because this is especially for sleep,
I won't be bringing you out of the yoga nidra afterwards and I'll let the music play for a bit longer.
Take time now to ensure for your complete comfort,
Tucking in pillows and blankets,
Making sure that you're cozy warm.
Whatever way you fix yourself up to have a peaceful and restful night of sleep.
Another element could be to cover the eyes,
Maybe with an eye pillow or a soft scarf.
Setting yourself up for comfort is such an important aspect of yoga nidra.
It facilitates a deepening in the body's ability to release and let go.
If you need more time,
Go ahead and just pause this and come back when you're ready.
So now that you're all settled in,
Let's just start to become aware of your surroundings.
Noticing if there's any sounds and becoming aware of your place in the room.
And just imagining you could see yourself tucked in and lying in your bed ready for sleep.
Start to really feel your body against the mattress and the pillows.
Allowing yourself to completely rest back into the comfort of your bed.
Laying the arms and legs heavily,
Letting go of all motion now.
Calling your body and mind into stillness.
Can you let your attention rest at the jaw now?
Just feeling the jaw,
Maybe even opening and closing it a few times.
Let go of the tongue if it's on the roof of the mouth.
Relaxing the muscles in the cheeks,
The forehead,
Even the tiny muscles in the whole scalp.
It's time to let go of expression.
Allowing your face and all of its many little muscles and tissues to soften.
Feeling into the weight of the head and the rhythmic pulse of the breath within you.
Perhaps feeling it at the nostrils.
Can you imagine that each inhale washes over the brain and each exhale a soothing catalyst.
Washing away anything that no longer serves you through the exhale.
And now calling in the Brahmari breath or the Bee breath to take yourself into an even more relaxed space.
Calming and regulating the nervous system through this breathing practice.
It's simply making a humming sound on your exhale like this.
Join me now.
And now this is the last one.
Letting go of the Bee breath.
Feeling the tranquility in the whole body.
Your whole being receptive to rest.
Sensing the whole body still at ease.
It's time to let go.
Welcoming the awareness of the space of your heart.
Sensing your breath inside the chest.
Welcoming this special sankalpa for sleeping.
I allow myself to rest deeply.
Repeating this three times in the mind.
I allow myself to rest deeply.
And so it is.
Follow my voice as I guide you around the body.
Letting attention rest.
Sensing and feeling each area.
We'll begin with the right hand thumb.
The index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Pinky.
And the palm of the hand.
Sensing and feeling the palm and all five fingers now.
The whole right hand.
Wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Shoulder.
The shoulder blade.
Armpit.
Right clavicle.
The right side of the chest.
The right half of the abdomen and waist.
Hip.
Thigh.
Knee.
Lower leg.
Ankle.
And all five toes.
The big toe.
Second toe.
Third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
Aware of the sole of the foot.
And the whole right foot.
And the whole right leg.
The whole right half of the body.
Sensing the whole right half of the body.
The front.
And the back.
Slowly move attention to the left thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
And pinky.
All five fingers.
And the palm.
A sense of the whole left hand now.
Wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper arm.
Shoulder.
Shoulder blade.
Armpit.
Left clavicle.
The left side of the chest.
The left half of the abdomen and waist.
Left hip.
Thigh.
Knee.
Lower leg.
Ankle.
All five toes.
The big toe.
Second toe.
Third.
Fourth.
And fifth.
All five toes.
And the sole of the foot.
Sensing the sole of the foot.
And now the entire left foot.
And left leg.
Into an awareness of the whole left half of the body.
The whole left side.
The front.
And the back.
Shift awareness now to the buttocks.
And the base of the spine.
See in the mind's eye the whole spine.
From the base.
All the way up the neck to the head.
An awareness of the whole back side of the body.
And now a sense of the entire scalp.
The forehead.
Right eye.
Left eye.
Both eyes together.
Right ear.
And left ear.
Both ears simultaneously.
To the third eye.
And the nostrils.
The right cheek.
The left cheek.
The upper lip.
Lower lip.
Both lips together.
Aware of the tip of the tongue.
The surface of the tongue.
The roof of the mouth.
The gums and teeth.
The root of the tongue.
And the whole inside of the mouth at once.
Tingling.
Sense now the base of the throat.
To the center of the chest.
Awareness radiating everywhere.
Sensing and feeling the whole body.
The whole body.
Deeply.
Relax.
Trillions of cells.
Whole body.
Into even deeper stillness.
Return to the feeling of the breath inside the body.
Notice where the breath is felt.
And just imagine that you could breathe in and out of the center of the chest.
Inhaling to the center.
Exhaling from the center.
Now can you imagine breathing your breath from the center to the crown of the head.
And then down the body on the exhale to the toes.
Inhale up from the toes through the whole body to the crown.
Exhaling down to the toes.
Keep washing the energy of the breath up and down the body.
Whole body breathing.
Now upon your next exhale let go of that breathing visualization.
And now counting the breath from 10 to 1.
Inhale 10.
Exhale 10.
Inhale 9.
Exhale 9 and so on.
Letting go of the counting wherever you're at.
Whole body deeply relaxing.
Could you guide your awareness to rest in the whole right leg and foot.
Aware of the right leg and foot.
And now the left arm and hand.
Send awareness to the left arm and hand.
And now could you sense the right leg and foot and the left arm and hand at the same time.
And now fill all of that awareness into the left leg and foot.
Sensing the left leg and foot.
And now the right arm and hand.
Sensing both simultaneously now.
Left leg and foot.
Right arm and hand.
And now sensing both legs and feet at the same time.
Both arms and hands.
Both arms and hands.
Expanding into an awareness of the whole body.
Observing the whole body as the witness.
Now allow these images to arise and dissolve.
A candle flickering in darkness.
A mountain reflected in still water.
The open sky at dawn.
An ancient tree with deep roots.
A single eye.
A spiral unfolding.
The moon in her fullness.
A path through the forest.
A sacred temple.
Your own reflection in a calm lake.
Hands open in offering.
Footprints disappearing in sand.
A feather falling.
The face of a wise elder.
The sound of your own breath.
Letting all the images dissolve now.
Resting back in the radiant feel of awareness.
Time and space as pure presence.
Receiving.
