Yoga Nidra To Quiet The Mind For Deeper Sleep

Welcome to this practice for quietening your busy mind and returning the mind and body to a state of calm regulation.

I am your guide and I will shortly be taking you through a sequence that brings together a number of techniques that can reduce the mental chatter,

Get you out of your head and non-judgmentally drift your attention back into your sensing body.

Before we start,

I would like to invite you to subscribe so that you get early access to my brand new yoga nidra and meditation practices.

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

You can use blankets,

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

Now take an intentional slow breath in through your nose and exhale out through your mouth.

On your next exhale,

In your mind's eye,

Simply ask what type of exhale does my body need and exhale in the way that you feel guided to.

If you are not yet accustomed to asking yourself these types of questions,

You may not get a clear answer here but that is okay,

Just continue breathing and trust your intuition of whatever exhale your body guides you to do.

One more time,

Inhale slowly through your nose,

Ask yourself what exhale does my body need and exhale what your body wants to release.

Now bring to your mind your expectations for this practice,

For your day or even the expectations you're holding for yourself.

You may expect to feel a certain way or not feel a certain way.

Just notice what comes to mind when you draw your attention to the expectations.

You may be noticing resistance or the words should,

Could.

Allow these expectations to float into your frame of consciousness.

With each expectation and the shoulds or the coulds that appear,

Imagine that you could gather them up in your mind so that you have a sort of a pile of expectations in your mind's eye,

Just like you're sweeping up leaves on a windy day.

Gather up all these expectations and now with your next intentional exhale,

Imagine the exhale is a gust of wind releasing all your expectations back into the air and taking them away.

Feel the relief throughout your body as you release all these expectations with your exhale.

And now rest your attention on your heart space in the centre of your chest and imagine it has been cleared of the weight of expectation.

Sense into lightness or freedom here at your heart centre.

With your attention still partly on your heart centre,

Take a moment to ponder what brought you here today.

What brought you here today to this practice?

This is your sankalpa,

Your reason for practicing.

Translate this now into a supportive I or I am statement such as I am clearing my mind and allowing my body to rest.

Now you have your complete statement of your reason for practicing,

Imagine placing this at your heart space.

In whatever way your intuition guides you to do this,

Simply allow your intention to be placed at your heart space.

Simply rest here for just a moment as your intention integrates throughout your whole body.

As I call out each body part,

Build the sense of the sensations and the energy within each part,

Without judging any sensation.

Imagine placing a soft glowing orb on each part that allows you to focus on the sensation,

Almost like a torch lighting up each part in the dark.

So starting on the right side,

Place the soft glowing orb on your right hand thumb,

Feeling into the sensations on your right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger and your little finger.

Palm of the hand,

Feel the sensations in the palm of your hand and imagine that you could breathe in and out through the palm of your right hand.

Back of your hand,

Right wrist,

Lower arm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

The right shoulder,

The armpit.

Now drift your attention down to the right side of your waist,

Right hip,

Your right thigh and all the sensations you can feel in your right thigh.

Knee,

Calf,

Your right ankle,

Heel,

The sole of your foot,

Top of the foot,

The right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and your little toe.

Now drift your attention and the soft glowing orb to the left side of your body,

Your left foot,

Your left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe,

The top of your left foot,

The sole of the foot,

The heel,

Ankle,

Calf muscle,

Your left knee,

Left thigh,

The left side of your hip,

The left side of your waist,

The left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger and your little finger.

Drift your attention to the palm of your left hand,

Imagining that you could breathe in and out of the palm of your left hand,

Back of your hand,

Your wrist,

Lower left arm,

Elbow,

Your upper arm,

Left shoulder,

The armpit,

The centre of your chest,

Feeling the soft glowing orb of light illuminating all the sensations here in the centre of your chest,

Your heart centre.

Drift your attention now to both collarbones together,

The base of your throat,

Middle of the throat,

The inside of your mouth,

See if you can feel the temperature and humidity as you light up these sensations in the centre of your mouth,

The lips,

Your left nostril,

Feel the breath moving up through your left nostril and exhaling out of your right nostril,

Feel the breath being inhaled through your right nostril and exhaled out of your left nostril.

Drift your attention now to both cheeks together,

Both ears,

Both eyes,

Feel the little micro movements on your eyelids,

Both eyebrows together and now focus in on your eyebrow centre,

The centre of your forehead,

The crown of the head.

Now follow the sensations from the base of your skull all the way down,

Down your spine,

The back body,

To the base of your spine,

Following the sensations all the way down each vertebrae to the back body.

Imagine that the flashlight of attention can illuminate now the front of your body,

Bringing your awareness to all the sensations you can feel as you feel the front of your body as a whole.

Now imagine lighting up your whole body together,

Feeling the sensations as part of one whole,

Your whole body.

As I name the following symbols,

Bring to mind what image comes up for you,

Without refining the image,

Just simply allow the images to move into your frame of consciousness and move on to the next,

Allowing the images to integrate all on their own.

Bring to your mind the moon in a peaceful sky,

A water droplet slowly streaking down a window,

A beautiful flower in bloom,

A still mountain situated in front of moving clouds,

A glistening feather,

A gentle stream,

The infinity symbol,

An endearing bridge,

An inviting pathway,

A smooth pebble in your palm.

Rest your attention now onto your navel centre,

Feeling into the energy here at your navel centre.

Now feel the energy at the base of your spine,

The heart centre and all the energy stirred up here in your heart centre.

And now rest at your third eye centre,

Allow yourself to rest here,

Basking in the peace and calm that you have created for yourself.

Now bring back your reason for practising today,

Your sankalpa,

And in your mind speak it,

I am clearing my mind and allowing my body to rest.

Imagine your intention becoming a soothing colour and imagine it in a tone and temperature that represents soothing and calming for you.

And with your eyes still closed,

Imagine your reason for practising becoming a light in your chosen colour out in front of you.

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

Feel the colour inviting you,

Feel its soothing presence,

And now allow the colour to cocoon your entire body,

Feeling its comfort.

Feel your body calming as the soothing light of intention cocoons your whole being,

Giving you the strength to move forward.

Now allow the colour to cocoon your entire body,

Feeling its comfort.

Now allow the colour to cocoon your entire body,

Giving you a sense of peace and oneness.

Allow yourself to feel into this sense of being enough,

Being complete,

Being who you are.

In your mind whisper,

I am practising yoga nidra.

With your eyes still closed,

Feel the texture of the support beneath you,

Sensing the depth and properties of the support.

You might want to use your palms or the tips of your fingers to sense the texture,

Slowly moving to get a sense,

Or allow your back body to really sense into the support beneath you.

And now focus in on the sounds around you,

Or my voice,

And become aware of your surroundings.

Become aware of what is surrounding you with your eyes still closed.

And whenever you're ready,

Gently move in whatever way feels wakeful to you,

Slowly and with lightness and ease.

Your yoga nidra practice is now complete,

So whenever you're ready you can open your eyes and allow yourself to gently adjust to being awake and present again.

I hope that you have enjoyed this practice today,

And you feel like your mind has slowed down or is clearer.

Just notice how you feel now,

And if you feel drawn to sharing your experience of this practice,

You are more than welcome to leave a comment and share with the community.

I enjoy reading about each unique experience of these practices.

And if you've enjoyed this practice,

Subscribe and even share so that we can bring these restful practices to more and more people around the world,

Supporting them in finding the benefits of deep rest.

Thank you for being here today,

And I hope you come back soon to practice with me here on the wellness words.