iRest Yoga Nidra For Those Having Difficulties Sleeping At Nighttime

This meditation focuses on being with difficult sensations and on widening attention throughout the body to bring forward your natural sense of ease and groundedness.

Welcome to this practice of I-Rest Yoga Nidra meditation.

If you start this recording during nighttime after waking up with a feeling of stress and anxiety maybe,

Please know that you can stay in bed to create a peaceful experience in the bed which will hopefully help you to fall asleep.

You can also go out of bed,

Transfer yourself to another room where you can sit for a bit and this transition can be of help in being able to let go of the sleep agenda and allow yourself really to be with the current experience.

So please feel what's best for you and what supports you most and if needed pause the recording to find a comfortable position for the body.

And I think it's actually quite courageous that you are here.

It means you have taken an important step.

You have taken this step to step back from difficult sensations you experience and at the same time to create space for them to be fully with them.

Could you take a moment to feel this courage and this intention?

The courage to meditate when the body feels difficult and the intention to hold space for all that arises,

The full experience.

And we don't know if difficult sensations subside during the practice.

Also that is courageous.

And notice how the body feels when you connect with your courage and intention.

And maybe there's another intention that bubbles up and that will be of support.

Please connect with it and allow the whole of the body to connect with it.

And sometimes when we open up to sensations of anxiety,

When we're in the middle of the experience of anxiety or difficult sensations,

The inner resource might feel miles away and that's okay.

Just take some moments to explore if you can connect with your inner resource,

The felt sense of ease,

Calm.

Maybe take a spontaneous breath in and exhale fully allowing the body to release tension.

And indeed if inner resource feels far,

Far away,

Please allow it to move forward on its own time.

Let the body find its way back to it in the meditation.

Sometimes it's a process of remembering,

Remembering that it actually was never gone,

But when the body feels very busy it might be a bit difficult to open up to it.

So if the inner resource feels far away then please connect once again with the intention to hold space for all that arises.

You might repeat that mentally,

I hold space for all that arises.

Also difficult sensations.

And then take another nice and conscious breath in and out.

And feel the whole of the body and all you experience right now.

And please feel if the body needs an adjustment,

Perhaps a tiny change to give it a bit more support.

You might want to close the eyes if you hadn't done so yet or maybe keep them open and allow the gaze to become soft.

And be curious to what moves to the foreground.

Allowing yourself to experience the body as it is right now.

And let your attention follow the sensations that feel very busy.

Maybe notice difficult sensations you prefer to turn away from.

And if it feels helpful,

If the body feels very busy and very uncomfortable,

Very difficult,

You might create short mental notes.

I will give some suggestions.

So like eyes feel busy,

Sweating,

Busy heartbeat,

Body feels difficult.

And take your time for this.

Take your time for this and at the same time feel the body resting on the earth,

Breathing,

Fully alive.

And take another deep breath in through the nose and breathe out fully.

And very,

Very slowly without haste shift attention to the surface the body is resting on.

Can you notice the contact points?

Where is the body leaning a bit more in the earth?

And can you feel the ground is rising up to hold you?

Is there maybe a difference in these different contact points?

Or do they all feel the same?

Feel the breath in these contact points,

Giving weight on each exhalation to receive a little bit more support.

Feel the natural weight of the body on each exhalation.

Can you also notice that the body has volume?

The body has a physical position in the space,

In the room where you're in.

Feel there is an above,

Below,

A right,

A left,

A front and a back,

An in and an out.

Sensing the volume of the body in space.

Notice the body expanding on each inhalation and giving weight on an exhalation.

The body expanding on the inhalation and giving weight on an exhalation.

The whole body supported.

Once again if it feels of support connect with your intention.

The intention to rest in the experience as it unfolds to be with what is.

And maybe there was another intention for you at this moment.

We will now rotate attention throughout the body a little bit more to open up to sensations in the whole of the body.

Rest attention in the mouth and welcome sensations in the mouth.

Sensing the tongue,

The teeth,

The gums,

Inner walls of the cheeks,

The pallets,

Sensations in the jaws and slowly without any effort allow the lower jaw to sink a little bit and to move away a tiny bit from the upper jaw.

Both jaws soft.

Welcome sensations in the lips,

The upper lip,

The lower lip.

Are the lips softly touching?

Perhaps sense the space between upper and lower lip.

Then move attention to the eyes and welcome sensations in the eyes.

And on an exhalation allow the eyes to soften.

To rest.

And then for a moment feel the back of the head.

The back of the head.

And then feel back into the eyes.

The eyelids softly covering the eyeballs.

Upper and lower eyelids touching.

And then we move attention to the hands and welcome sensations in the hands.

Bring forward sensations in the left hand.

Perhaps a tingling in the fingertips.

Sensing the palm of the left hand.

Is it warm and soft?

Or maybe cold and a bit moist?

Just notice.

All of the fingers,

The whole left hand.

And if the hand feels difficult to feel then slowly move the fingers a little bit.

Exhale and release tension.

The left hand resting.

Welcome sensations in the right hand.

Sensing the fingers,

The fingertips,

Palm of the right hand.

The whole right hand soft,

Relaxed.

Maybe moving the fingers a little bit.

On your next exhalation releasing,

Letting go.

And then feel the belly and the pelvis.

Front of the belly and the pelvis,

The back.

And for some moments can you allow the belly and the pelvis to engage with the breath in the most natural way.

Pelvis and the belly soft,

Expanding on an inhalation and releasing on an exhalation.

No effort,

No control,

Nowhere to go,

Nothing to do.

Allowing pelvis and belly to dance with the breath.

Welcome sensations in the chest,

The whole of the chest,

The ribcage moving on the breath.

Inhale chest expanding,

Exhale chest releasing.

Sensing the front of the chest,

The back,

The sides,

The inside of the chest.

On each inhalation the lungs expanding and releasing on an exhalation.

Bring forward sensations in the shoulder area and without action soften the shoulder area from inside.

Letting go on an exhalation,

Shoulders resting,

The whole body resting.

This experience just as it is.

Holding space for that what arises,

Nothing to change.

Feeling the whole of the body sitting or lying,

Perhaps changing position if that feels supportive for you.

Welcome sensations in the feet,

The left foot,

Contact points with the ground,

Sole of the left foot,

Toes,

Whole of the left foot and sensing the right foot,

Contact points with the ground,

Sensing the sole of the right foot,

The toes,

The whole of the right foot.

Both feet sensations resting at ease.

Now welcome the body as a whole exactly the way it is right now.

Welcome the whole of the body the way it feels right now.

The whole of the body,

The feet,

The legs,

The buttocks,

Hips,

Pelvis,

Lower back,

Mid back,

Upper back,

The belly,

Chest,

Shoulders,

Arms and hands,

The face,

Eyes,

Lips,

The mouth,

Jaws,

The whole of the head,

The whole body,

Sensation exactly the way it is.

No need to change a thing.

Allowing yourself to step back from doing and to marinate in not doing a thing.

Allowing yourself to just be that what you are when you stop the doing.

Just be.

Rest in being and feel that the body is breathing.

The body breathing all by itself.

Nothing you have to do.

The body breathing in and out.

Belly and chest expanding on an inhalation,

Releasing on an exhalation.

Air floating in through the nose on an inhalation and floating out on an exhalation.

Cool air in,

Slightly warmer air out.

Can you notice there is nothing you have to do?

The breath is breathing the body.

The eyes soft,

The jaws relaxed,

The lips warm,

The hands and the fingers resting.

Body breathing in,

Body breathing out.

Belly rising,

Belly falling,

Chest rising,

Chest falling,

The whole body resting,

The whole body breathing.

Each breath as a wave on the surface of a vast blue calm sea.

Each wave in connection with that sea.

A new wave arising on the surface and dissolving back into it.

Allow yourself to be aware of all these waves arising and dissolving.

As the sea giving space to all these waves.

Notice natural sensations of calm,

Ease,

Groundedness,

No effort.

Sensing the whole body breathing in and out.

And sensations come and go like the waves.

Maybe difficult sensations,

Maybe pleasant sensations.

All come and go.

How is it to let them move into the light of being without the need to change?

But opening up to the full experience of these sensations.

How they animate the body?

How they move?

How they feel?

Change?

Arise and maybe dissolve.

The whole body breathing,

Resting.

Nothing to do,

Nowhere to go,

Nothing to contain.

Maybe the desire to go back to bed moves to the foreground.

Maybe the desire to rest here for a little bit longer in the warm and caring arms of meditation.

The loving heart of your being,

Your wholeness,

You.

The eyes soft,

The jaws relaxed.

Perhaps staying here,

Perhaps take yourself back to bed.

From here I send you love.