Yoga Nidra Meditation For Restorative Sleep

Welcome to this practice for creating the perfect conditions within yourself for deep,

Restorative sleep that re-energizes each layer of your being.

I am your guide and I will shortly be taking you through a sequence that retrains your brain to send relaxation and deep sleep signals to your body,

To help you fall asleep quicker and get more of the good quality,

Restorative sleep.

This is a flexible sleep practice,

Meaning that you can do this at any time of the day.

Practicing before bed can give you a smooth runway into sleep,

But you can always practice this during the day and feel the benefits of better sleep that night.

The benefits of regular yoga nidra practice reach far beyond the time of practice.

Before we start,

I'd like to invite you to subscribe so that you get early access to my new yoga nidra practices.

So make yourself comfortable and take a few moments to move into a position that feels restful and cosy.

The best position is one where you feel comfortable being completely still for the duration of the practice.

Yoga nidra is traditionally practiced laying on the back with a straight spine.

You can use blankets,

Supports for your joints or an eye pillow to get as comfortable as you can be.

So when you're ready,

Close down your eyes and start to gather a sense of your body resting here in this moment.

Take a moment to sense into the body and how it is feeling,

Without judgement,

Just noticing.

Is there any part of your body that is holding spots of tension or hasn't softened into relaxation yet?

Identify that part and just imagine that you can soften that part with your mind.

You might find it supportive to say to that part,

You can soften now,

Or I invite ease into this part.

With each part that you invite ease into,

Feel your body being fully supported by the earth below you.

Drift your attention to your mind's eye,

And bring to your mind a lovely cosy inside space full of plush and comforting furnishings.

The light is low and restful,

The room is a really comfortable temperature,

There is a large floor to ceiling window that looks out onto the most beautiful view where you can see out onto your favourite elements of nature.

As you're in this inside space,

Bring to mind a sense of your expectations for this practice,

Or the expectations you have for yourself.

These could be how you should practice or how you should feel.

As you bring each expectation to mind,

See the expectation light up a candle in this indoor space.

Your expectations may be a felt sense,

Single words like should,

Or even an image that comes to your mind.

Follow your intuition on what feels right here,

Each expectation lights another candle.

Feel the increased warmth,

And see if you can sense a fragrance emanating from the candles of expectations.

Sense how the light has increased in the room with each candle.

Now approach each candle of expectation,

Slowly but with purpose,

And compassionately put out each flame.

As each flame is extinguished,

Feel the weight of expectation on you release.

Feel yourself getting lighter and more relaxed as each candle is released.

Sense how the room feels more cosy and conducive to deep rest as the light reduces down again with your expectations fully released.

Now release the visualisation and rest your attention on your third eye centre between the eyebrows and just feel into the space there.

Now we're going to set a sankalpa or intention for this practice.

Feel into your heart space and wonder what brought you here today.

This is your sankalpa.

Translate it to a supportive I or I am statement.

And if nothing appears that is okay,

Here is a sankalpa that may resonate with you today.

I am resting deeply,

Replenishing my energy so that I can show up in my day as my most authentic and rested self.

Allow your sankalpa to form for just another moment.

If the words don't quite resonate,

Play with some words that do resonate for you,

Knowing that words are simply representations of your feelings and that they are not essential for your sankalpa.

Your heart already knows what it desires without the need for language representing the desire.

Now that your sankalpa is fully formed,

Whisper the intention one more time in your mind or simply feel it deeply in whatever way feels intuitive for you.

Release your sankalpa now and feel your attention dropping from the thinking,

Busy mind into your felt senses of feeling and listening.

As I call out each body part,

Try to build the sense of all the sensations and energy within each part.

There's no need to change the sensations or judge them,

Simply watch with curiosity and openness to the experience that they're offering you today.

The crown of the head,

Forehead,

Right eyebrow,

The space between your eyebrows,

The sensations in your third eye centre,

Left eyebrow,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Right ear,

Space between the ears,

Left ear,

Right nostril,

Feel the air flowing through your right nostril,

Left nostril,

Feel the air moving in and out of your left nostril,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Chin,

Your whole jaw,

The middle of your throat,

Feel the sensations in your heart centre in the middle of the chest,

Your right collarbone,

Right shoulder,

Upper arm,

Elbow,

Wrist,

Hand.

Move your attention from your right hand to your navel and imagine that you could breathe in and out of your navel centre.

Just imagining the breath moving in and out of your navel centre.

Sense into the sensations in your upper abdomen,

Lower abdomen,

Your pelvic bowl,

Your right thigh,

Knee,

Ankle,

Your right foot and imagine you can breathe in and out of the sole of your right foot.

Just imagining the breath moving up through your body through your right foot and out again from the sole of your foot.

Now sense into the sensation in your right ankle,

Knee,

Thigh,

Pelvic bowl,

Lower abdomen,

Navel,

Your right hand,

Wrist,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Collarbone,

Middle of your chest,

Your heart centre.

Now drift your attention from the middle of your chest to your left collarbone,

Your left shoulder,

Upper arm,

Elbow,

Wrist,

Your left hand.

Shift your attention from your left hand to your navel and imagine that you could breathe in and out of the navel centre.

Feel the sensations now in your upper abdomen,

Lower abdomen,

Pelvic bowl,

Left thigh,

Left knee,

Ankle,

The left foot.

Imagine that you could breathe in and out of the sole of your left foot.

Just imagining.

Gather a sense of the breath moving up through your body and out again through the sole of your left foot.

Now feel into the sensations in your left ankle,

Knee,

Thigh,

Pelvic bowl,

Lower abdomen,

Navel centre.

Breathing in and out through your navel centre,

Just imagining.

Drift your attention now from your navel centre to your left hand,

Wrist,

Left elbow,

Upper arm,

Left shoulder,

Collarbone,

Middle of your chest the sensations in your heart centre,

Middle of the throat,

Your whole jaw,

Chin,

Lower lip.

Feel the sensations in your right cheek,

Left cheek,

Right nostril and the breath moving in and out of your right nostril,

Left nostril and the breath moving in and out of your left nostril,

Your right ear,

The space between the ears,

Your left ear,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Your third eye centre in between the brows,

Your forehead,

The top of your head,

The sensations in the top of your head.

Now imagine that you could breathe in and out of the top of your head,

Just imagining the breath in and out through the top of your head.

And on your next exhale,

Imagine sending the breath from the top of the head all the way down your body and out through the soles of your feet.

Inhale again and send the exhale through your body down out of your toes.

Repeat one more time,

Inhale and send the exhale through your body down out through your toes.

Now place your awareness on your third eye centre or the centre of your brows and tune in to any sensation in this place and lay resting deeply in complete stillness.

Feel the bliss of resting in complete stillness.

You may notice thoughts moving into your frame of awareness,

Gently and with compassion simply ask yourself this question,

What am I thinking?

You don't need to change anything,

Just simply observe what comes into your frame of awareness when you ask yourself,

What am I thinking?

Ask yourself again,

What am I thinking?

There is no need to intentionally think of something here,

Simply become aware of whatever thoughts drift into your awareness.

Bring your attention on your third eye centre.

Gently release that now and bring your attention to the sensation of the movement within your body,

Remaining still and just observe,

You may be drawn to the movement of your breath moving in through your chest or flowing through your nostrils or you may have sensations of warmth or coolness moving around in your muscles and slight movements in your face.

Simply sense into whatever processes and movement is happening in your body without changing anything or intentionally making any movements,

Simply observe.

Gently drift your attention now to any sounds within your external environment,

This could also be the sound of my voice.

Simply sense into the quality and the movement of the sound around you.

Sense into the sounds around you as you lay here in stillness,

Simply being an observer of anything that is happening that you can hear around you.

Sense into the layers of the sound,

Some sounds may be crisp and clear,

More further away and more muffled,

Or it may be completely silent and all you can hear is the sound of my voice.

Now gather all your attention and move it back inwards,

Sensing the movement within your body.

Feel the movement created by your breath or micro muscle movements or even the movement of temperature around your body.

Feel into the sensations within your body as you simply rest here in stillness observing.

Release that now,

And as I name objects and symbols,

Bring to your mind's eye a picture or a sense of each symbol that I name.

There is no need to refine an image that comes to your mind,

Simply let the first thing that comes to your mind be there and move on to the next.

Soft cloud gently dropping light rain,

A crescent moon,

Shade underneath a large tree,

The infinity symbol,

A relaxed animal,

A bunch of fragrant lavender,

A glimmering violet amethyst crystal,

A full moon.

Now move your attention to your heart's centre and rest here in stillness for just a moment.

Rest in the deep rest that you have created for yourself here,

Feel its restorative effects.

Fill your awareness of your heart's centre with the deep knowing that resting now will help you to show up in your life with presence and vitality.

Fill your heart space with the gratitude that you have created this space for yourself today to rejuvenate your entire being.

Sense the gratitude moving from your heart space all the way through your body,

In whatever way feels intuitive for you.

Release that and bring your sankalpa into your awareness once more and whisper it in your mind.

I am resting deeply,

Replenishing my energy so that I can show up in my day as my most authentic and rested self.

Feel your sankalpa being absorbed by every cell in your body,

Feel each cell dancing to the rhythm of your sankalpa.

Know that your intention has been accepted by your deepest layer of being.

Now in your mind's eye whisper,

I am practicing yoga nidra.

With your eyes still closed,

Start to build a picture in your mind of your surroundings.

As you do this you may begin to notice scents or the sounds around you.

If you're using an eye cover,

With your eyes still closed gently lift it and sense the light on your closed eyelids.

Start to become more aware of your surroundings now as you move out of the yoga nidra deep breath state.

You could bring in some slow gentle movements,

You might rub your palms together or you might feel the need to stretch out your limbs,

Whatever movements feel supportive and awakening in your body.

When you're ready you can open your eyes.

You are centred,

You are grounded and you are rested.

Your yoga nidra practice is now complete.

If you have enjoyed this practice follow along for more guided meditations on the wellness words.