Surrender To A Golden Sleep - Yoga Nidra Meditation

Hi and welcome to this session.

I am Femke from Studio Yoga Nidra and together we are going to unwind,

Put our day to rest and get ready for a deep night's sleep.

And we're going to do that step by step,

By letting go of everything and everyone and surrender to sleep.

By putting aside the hustle of the day and allowing our tiredness to set in.

Not by seeing it as something negative,

As a lack of energy or a lack of willpower,

As a phew,

I can't anymore,

I'm done.

But by accepting it just as it is,

A natural rhythm,

A cycle,

Just like up and flow.

It comes and it goes,

And it's not something you have to fight against or control,

It's just sleep,

Like up and flow.

We're going to start by making ourselves comfortable.

Make sure you lie down somewhere quiet,

Where you won't be disturbed.

Lay down on a mattress and put a pillow under your head.

Gently roll your head left and right until it's centered and supported well.

Pull a blanket over you and support your head and knees with a pillow if necessary.

Now dwell for a moment on that blissful feeling of rest when you lie on your mattress.

Soak it all in.

You don't have to keep your body upright anymore.

You can let go of everything and surrender to the comfort and softness of your mattress.

Feel how your muscles relax,

One by one.

Now take a deep breath in through your nose.

Hold for a moment.

And exhale back with a deep sigh.

And again.

While you breathe in,

You visualize how you gather all the tension of today in a tight little ball.

You hold your breath for a moment.

And then you blow that little ball of tension as far away as you can while you exhale.

Now let's do that again.

Inhale and gather all the tension in your body.

Wrap it into that little ball.

Hold your breath.

And then you blow that little ball as far away as you can with a deep,

Deep sigh.

And repeat that one more time at your own pace.

Now that we let go of all that tension in our body,

It's time we let go of the tension in our mind,

That's been building up during the day.

It's time to lay it all to rest and let it go.

Because there's nothing left for you to do now.

In this moment,

There's nothing to arrange,

Nothing to plan or nothing to contemplate.

Gradually you'll notice all kind of thoughts coming up now or during the rest of the meditation.

This is completely normal.

As you gradually start to rest physically and mentally,

Space frees up in your thoughts and unprocessed impressions of the day pop up.

And then it's normal that they require attention now.

But you can choose what to do with it.

You can engage with every thought that passes by,

Or you can just acknowledge it and put it aside.

It's not in your control that they come,

But it is in your control whether or not you engage with them.

So each time such a thought arises,

Choose to give it no further attention and return to this meditation and to my voice.

Now breathe in again deeply,

Hold for a moment and breathe out.

Let's do that again.

Breathe in,

Hold and breathe out.

Now think of one thing from today that you are grateful for,

Something positive,

No matter how small,

That you are grateful for.

Something that makes you feel warm inside.

And go back to that moment and feel how the warm feeling of gratitude embraces you.

Then let's take a journey through your body.

Bring your attention to your right hand and imagine that with a brush you are painting a golden warm glow over your right tongue,

Your index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger.

With your brush,

Paint a warm glow over the palm of your hand and the back of your hand.

Feel how all of your hand tingles from the warm golden glow.

Paint your wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Right shoulder.

Poke your brush along your armpit and further down your right flank to your right hip.

Paint your right thigh,

Your knee,

Your lower leg.

Then your ankle,

The top of your foot,

Your big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and your little toe.

With your brush,

Apply the warm golden glow to the sole of your foot and the heel of your right foot.

Feel the entire right foot shimmering with that warm golden glow.

Next,

Paint your calf,

The hollow of your knee and your right buttock.

Now feel your entire right leg as one big vessel full of sensation.

Then bring your attention to your left hand.

With your brush,

Paint a warm golden glow over your thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Right finger,

Little finger.

Paint a warm glow over your palm to the back of your hand.

Now feel how your entire left hand is tingling with that warm golden glow.

Paint your wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Entire shoulder.

Press your brush alongside the left side of your body to your hip.

Then paint on towards your left thigh,

Your knee,

Your lower leg.

Your heel,

Top of your foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and your little toe.

With your brush,

Apply the warm golden glow to the sole of your left foot and your heel.

Feel your left foot shimmering with the golden warm glow.

Next,

Paint your calf to the hollow of your knee and the left buttock.

Now feel your left leg as one big vessel full of sensation.

Bring your brush to your lower back and feel your brush travel up your spine and how that warm golden glow spreads from your lower back to your shoulder blades,

To the back of your neck and the back of your head all the way up to your crown.

Travel along your forehead with your brush and feel how it wipes away all the tension in your forehead.

Paint your right eyebrow,

Your right eyelid,

Your lower eyelid and the place where the eyelids meet.

Now feel your eye as one ball of golden energy.

Leave an extra lick of paint to the place between your eyebrows and feel how the glow makes your head light up.

Then apply your brush to your left eyebrow,

Your upper eyelid,

Lower eyelid and the place where the eyelids meet.

Paint your eyeball and again feel how your left eye pulses with this warm golden glow.

Now feel both eyes together.

Then continue to go along your nose and feel the warm glow on your upper lip,

Your lower lip and the place where the lips meet.

Paint your right jaw,

Your left jaw and let the paint flow down towards your chin and your neck.

With your brush go to your right collarbone,

Your left collarbone,

Along your right breast,

Your left breast and your breastbone.

Paint area of your stomach,

Your navel and further to your lower abdomen and feel how the warm glow lights up your lower abdomen.

You are now completely covered with a warm golden glow.

Feel how that warm glow puts a blanket of peace and grace over you.

Warm and secure.

Now feel the glow in your right arm,

Your left arm and both arms together.

Feel the glow in your right leg,

Your left leg and both legs together.

Feel how the glow lights up your upper body,

Your back and your belly.

Feel how the warm glow lights up your head.

And then feel your body as a whole.

How the glow fills your body and the warmth and the energy it radiates into the space around.

Now feel how heavy your body is.

Feel how your body weighs onto your mattress.

How gravity is pushing it down.

Feel how heavy your head is.

Your arms.

Your upper body.

Your legs.

So heavy you cannot move them.

Now experience how light your body feels.

How light your head feels.

As if it is beginning to float.

As light as a feather.

Feel how light your arms are.

Your legs.

Your entire body.

As if you are floating above the ground.

Now feel again how heavy your body is.

Weighing down onto your mattress.

And then bring back again the feeling of lightness.

Feeling above the ground.

Then feel both of them together.

Feel how light and heavy your body is.

Then I'm gonna ask you to bring your attention back to your breathing.

And count down from 10 to 0 with each exhalation.

And with each exhalation feel how that warm golden glow fills you up more and more.

Like a warm blanket giving you all the peace you need to let go and surrender.

So now there's nothing left for me but to wish you a good night's sleep.

Namaste.