Deep Rest For Health & Healing

Welcome to this yoga nidra practice.

The sequence today has been designed to support down regulation of your nervous system and we're going to do this by finding your inner sanctuary for today that you can access at any time to bring more ease and peace into your waking life.

But each time you practice your inner sanctuary may look a little different and that's okay,

Your intuition will guide you during this practice to find the inner sanctuary that you need today.

Before we start I would like to invite you to subscribe so that you get access to more of my free yoga nidra and meditation practices as soon as they're uploaded and subscribing helps to support the wellness words and keep me doing what I'm doing so thank you in advance.

So begin to settle back into the space that you have designated today as your yoga nidra nest.

If you feel a bit of restless energy stirring in your body that's okay and to be expected.

A short practice that can help with this restless energy is to bring your thumb and your forefinger to your ear,

The outer of your ear and massage the outside of your ear as you're settling down.

You may wish to begin at the top of your ear and in your own time move all the way down through the outer ear massaging it in a way that feels comfortable.

As you're doing this massage you may yawn or simply begin to feel the restless energy settle.

This is because the ear is connected to the vagus nerve which triggers the parasympathetic response and in the theory of auricular acupuncture there are many points on the ear connected to our organs so when we stimulate the ear you can actually balance the energy in your body allowing this calming energy to settle down any restlessness.

Continue massaging the outer of your ear and focusing on any points of the ear that you feel are making you more calm and more at ease and you can subtly massage your ear in your waking life when experiencing stress or anxiety to help you return to a place of calm and balance.

Whenever you're ready and you feel you've gained the benefits from this ear massage you may wish to move into a laid down position.

Traditionally yoga nidra is practiced laying on your back with your hands by your side but the most important thing is that you are resting back in a position that feels the most comfortable for your body today.

Whenever you're ready close down the eyes or take a soft unfocused gaze and take a slow inhale through the nose as much as feels comfortable and then release the exhale through the mouth.

See if you can make the exhale audible and slow.

Breathe like this again a slow deep inhale and a slow audible exhale feeling into the release as you exhale.

Try this one last time inhaling comfortably slow through the nose and then making an audible sigh out through your mouth allowing the stress of the day to leave your body with this long exhale.

Now place your attention on your third eye center which is located in the center of your forehead.

Take a moment to allow your awareness to fully absorb into the third eye center and begin to notice the peacefulness of this open abundant space at your mind's eye.

Notice whatever you notice here,

You may have lightness behind your eyes or simply a pitch black night sky of awareness.

Simply notice and allow yourself to release any expectations or judgments that you have for this practice today.

Allow yourself to be free of any thoughts about how this practice should feel,

What you should think or do.

Instead give yourself permission to be,

To just be exactly how you are.

There is no way to do this right or wrong and each day you practice will be very different and that is okay.

Simply allow yourself to be as you are and rest back here in stillness.

And with your attention placed at your third eye center ask yourself what brought me to this practice today?

What brought me to this practice today?

If this is your sankalpa or intention for the practice today take a moment here to translate this reason for practicing into a statement set in the present moment that begins with an I or I am.

You may wish to use this one.

I am resting to allow my body and my mind to heal and I trust that my body knows how to do this instinctively and is moving me into a place of homeostasis.

Allow your sankalpa to form and just remember that words are simply symbolic of a feeling or a sense.

So there is no need to get the words right or even remember.

All you need to do is focus on the feeling you want from your intention.

And simply find the words that describe this but if it's just one word or a phrase that's absolutely fine.

Take another moment to mentally or physically feel the essence of your sankalpa.

Now rest your attention at your heart center and sense into any sensation you feel here at your heart center.

Welcome these sensations with curiosity and attention,

Allowing them to be as they are.

Now imagine you could breathe in through your heart center.

Without changing the shape or the rhythm of your breath,

Breathe in and out naturally through the heart center.

Feel as if you are breathing into the space,

Filling your heart center with warmth and comfort.

And feel as your body absorbs in return the love and unconditional support that lives here at your heart center.

Now as you rotate your awareness on each body part,

Feel the part of you absorbing the awareness as the awareness shines on each sensation within each body part.

Allow the sensations to be exactly as they are without changing anything.

Invite your body to remain still and at ease and bring your attention to the top of your head and allow a moment for your awareness to be absorbed fully into the top of your head.

And now drift your awareness down to your forehead,

Your right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Right ear,

From the outer ear all the way through to your ear canal and the space between the ears.

Allowing your awareness to saturate from the space between your ears through to your left ear,

All the way out from the inner ear to the outer ear on your left side.

And now allow your awareness to drift to both cheeks and the tip of the nose.

Feel the breath moving in and out of your left nostril.

Become aware of the temperature as your breath drifts through your left nostril.

And now bring your awareness to your right nostril and the breath moving through your right nostril.

And now both nostrils together.

Feeling the quality of the air moving through your nostrils,

Keeping your breath exactly as it is,

Just noticing as you rest here.

And now the upper lip,

The chin and the jaw.

And now allow your awareness to saturate the inside of your mouth.

Feel the temperatures and the sensations here at the inside of your mouth.

Feel the inside of your mouth vibrant with sensation.

The middle of the throat,

The base of the throat,

The left collarbone,

The left shoulder,

The left hand thumb,

The right thumb,

Third finger.

Now allow your awareness to be absorbed into all the fingers on your left hand together.

Now drift your awareness over to your navel center,

The left side of your waist,

Left side of the pelvis,

The calf muscle,

Ankle,

The left heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

The left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe.

And now all toes together.

Now your right side of your waist,

Right side of the hip bone,

The sole of the right foot,

And the top of the foot,

Second toe,

Third toe.

And now all your toes together on your right foot in your awareness.

Drift your awareness back to your navel center,

Your solar plexus,

Your heart center,

Allowing the sensations to saturate your awareness here at your heart center,

The right collarbone,

Right shoulder,

Second finger,

Third finger,

And all your fingers on your right hand together in your awareness.

Now bring your awareness to the back of the body,

Taking a moment to allow the back of the body to absorb all of your awareness.

Feel as if the back of your body is like a sponge,

Absorbing your awareness,

Allowing your awareness to soothe the back of your body.

Now move your awareness to the front of the body,

The front of your body.

Allow the front of your body to soak in the awareness gradually.

With ease.

Now with your awareness still partially on the front of your body,

Bring the back of your body into your awareness also,

And hold both front and back in your awareness together,

But as separate parts.

And now bring into your awareness,

Your arms,

And now the top of your body,

Your neck and your head,

Feeling into your body as a whole as you rest here.

Allow the sensations to swirl around your body.

These sensations are showing you that your body is always supporting you,

Conducting it's important processes to allow you to be here and rest.

And now place your awareness on your third eye centre in the middle of the forehead,

Noticing once more the colours or darkness in this space.

Allow yourself to become immersed in the night sky of awareness here,

As you rest deeper and deeper.

Allow your intuition to guide you in the visualisation or if you'd prefer,

Simply deeply sensing the setting as you imagine that you're on an inviting pathway lined with flowers or plants that you love.

Really feel this pathway in your awareness,

In your mind's eye,

And allow yourself to move down the path,

Noticing that ahead of you is a clearing,

And in this clearing is a comforting building.

This building looks so charming and so cosy,

Sense into what you can hear as you're looking at this building,

You may hear the peaceful sound of birds chirping or a river flowing.

Really try and build the sense of these sounds,

And notice how nice the weather is,

In this setting,

It's your favourite conditions out,

So take a moment to bask in this beautiful setting.

Imagine that you could go inside this cosy building,

As you walk through the entrance,

You're surrounded by the most cosy and warm surroundings.

You notice there is some comfortable seating,

And the air is scented with a natural relaxing scent.

Really notice what that scent is for you,

Could be vanilla,

Cinnamon,

Or even the smell of fresh baking.

You notice whatever smell feels the most comforting for you.

You notice now that there is a guestbook on a nearby table,

And on the inside page of this guestbook,

It reads,

This is your inner sanctuary,

Your unique space to rest and to heal.

And as you read this,

Allow yourself to feel a sense of welcomeness and openness.

And imagine you could take a seat on the most comfortable looking seating in the room.

Notice what makes this area of the room the most comfortable.

Notice what makes this area of the room the most comforting.

Become aware of textures,

Lighting,

And the surroundings.

And as you take a seat,

Feel your body sinking into the support.

And as you feel yourself resting back in the support,

Feel a sense of groundedness and comfort.

You are being supported here.

Allow yourself to rest back into the easefulness of this moment.

You may be joined by other beings in this setting,

Animals or people that make you feel grounded.

Or you may simply be finding it peaceful and calm to be experiencing this on your own.

Notice how your body feels as you experience this sanctuary.

Notice which part of your body feels the most settled.

Allow your awareness to scan your main energy channels,

Your heart center,

Third eye center,

And your navel center,

Or the center of your throat.

And just notice how these areas of your body feel in this safe,

Healing setting.

Noticing whatever you feel,

Allowing the sensations to be as they are.

Take comfort now in knowing that your nervous system has brought you to this particular setting to visualize for a reason.

It is what you need today for healing.

Feel into the sense that this sanctuary is bringing to you exactly what your body is asking for.

Rest in the knowing that you don't need to do anything,

Make any effort,

You can simply be.

You can access this sanctuary at any time.

The more that you access this state of deep rest in a soothing sanctuary,

The more your brain remembers and can access this state.

And your sanctuary may be different each time you practice,

Because your intuition knows exactly what you need.

Give thanks to your inner compass for guiding you here today to this sanctuary.

And take a moment to feel the release and the relaxation that gratitude gives in your body as you say thank you to yourself.

And before we close the visualization,

Reimagine the guestbook in your mind or gather a sense of opening and turning a new page.

And on this page is your sankalpa or intention.

You may see it written or you may want to write it yourself or simply allow yourself to feel how your sankalpa feels when you look at this page.

Give yourself a moment to be reminded of your sankalpa,

Imagining that you're now projecting it from your heart center.

I am resting to allow my body and mind to heal.

I trust that my body knows how to do this instinctively and is moving me to a state of homeostasis.

Now release the visualization or the sense that you've built up in your mind and keep your attention at your heart center.

Feeling the energy of your intention here for a one moment longer.

If it feels good for you,

You may wish to bring your hands up to your heart center and feel the gentle pressure and support.

It may be supportive to make slow soothing circles on your chest with your hands or simply just remain still and feel into the support of your hands here at your heart center.

You may wish to bring back some gratitude and say thank you to yourself for practicing today and thank you to yourself for allowing your body this time to regenerate during deep rest.

Whenever you're ready,

Make a few more small movements and allow yourself to become aware of your surroundings.

Begin to notice any sounds around you and my voice.

If you're using an eye pillow with your eyes still closed,

You may wish to lift it off of your eyes and let your light touch the closed eyelids.

And in your own time allow yourself to be awake and present and open your eyes.

Your yoga nidra practice is now complete.

And whilst your vision is adjusting,

Take a moment now to notice how you feel following your inner sanctuary awareness.

Take this moment to notice what has come up for you and feel free to share it with the community in the comments.

It really does make my day to read how you've experienced the practice and what your inner sanctuary was like today.

And remember the more that you practice your mental retreat,

The inner sanctuary,

The more you rewire the neurons in your brain to create this experience of easefulness in your everyday life.

And if you know someone in your life who may benefit from this practice of inner sanctuary awareness,

Feel free to share it with them and let them know that you're thinking of them.

It can be a real act of kindness to gift someone a meditation,

Knowing that it is completely free to practice,

But can bring a whole host of positive benefits to them and to the world around them.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

Whenever you're ready to practice next,

I'll be here.

Take care.