Yoga Nidra For Deep Restful Sleep (With Delta Starfish Music)

Welcome to this yoga nidra practice.

This practice is designed to help you fall asleep and rest well.

Begin by lying down in your bed.

Traditionally yoga nidra is practiced lying on your back with your arms out to your sides at about a 45 degree angle and your feet resting comfortably out to the sides as well.

In this position you can place a bolster under your knees.

You can cover yourself up with a blanket.

However not everyone is most comfortable lying on their backs.

So if you need to you can take any other position such as lying on your side,

Placing a pillow perhaps between your knees.

And you can take any other position that is most comfortable for you.

As you begin to settle in,

Take in a deep breath.

Feel your lungs expand and your rib cage expand as well.

And then as you exhale,

Feel any release and any sensations of relaxation setting in.

Allow your body to surrender to the support beneath you.

Rather than holding your body,

Allow your bed or your mat to hold you.

Allow the earth to support you.

Take in a deep breath again,

All the way filling your belly and exhale.

Take in another deep breath.

As you exhale,

Open your mouth and sigh out that breath.

And as you do this,

Notice how your body reacts and responds.

Do this again,

Inhale deeply,

A fathomless breath.

And exhale,

Allowing every muscle in your shoulders,

Your neck,

Your arms to surrender and release.

Allow yourself to be present in this moment.

And allow your presence to be your highest awareness.

And as you do this,

You'll notice thoughts will come in.

No need to try to stop them.

Just allow them,

Allow them to come and allow them to go.

And return to your breath.

Take in a deep breath and exhale,

Allowing your awareness to return to this present moment.

And throughout this practice,

You may feel as if you're coming in and going out of consciousness and that's perfectly fine.

Allow yourself to return your awareness to my voice and to my guidance.

Let yourself be a witness during this practice.

As a witness,

Things like thoughts or external sounds,

They are no longer distractions.

You become a host,

Allowing them to pass through.

So take in another deep breath.

Feel all the sensations of your body that call to you at this moment and exhale,

Surrendering yourself even deeper into stillness.

So take the next few moments to make any adjustments,

To take any movements that you need so that you can be comfortable throughout this practice and rest in stillness.

Now become aware of your intention,

Your sankalpa.

You may use your sankalpa that you've been working with or I'll present a different sankalpa.

And if you don't have a sankalpa,

You can use the one that I'm about to provide or will take a few moments and you can choose one of your own.

A sankalpa is an intention.

It's said in present tense and it's said with full conviction and optimism of its truth in this present moment.

For example,

I rest in knowing I am precious and beautiful.

I rest in knowing I am unique and rare.

You can use any of these sankalpas that I've provided or let's take a few moments here and settle on a sankalpa that really sits right and sits well with you.

If you already have your sankalpa,

Just take a few deep breaths here.

Now say your sankalpa in your mind with full conviction and optimism of its truth right now in this present moment and say that three times.

Now,

With a grateful heart,

Let your sankalpa go.

We will move on to a rotation of consciousness.

In this part of yoga nidra,

I will say a part of the body and all you have to do is rest your awareness on that part without making any movements or motions.

You can,

However,

Imagine that that part of the body is lighting up with an orange glow,

Orange symbolizing our lower chakras being rooted and grounded,

Orange being the color of the sacral chakra.

Let's begin.

Take your awareness to your right hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Arm pit,

Right side of the ribs,

Right side of the waist,

Right hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Right toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe.

Now take your awareness to your left hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Left shoulder,

Arm pit,

Left side of the ribs,

Left side of the waist,

Left hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Left leg,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe.

Inhale all ten toes,

Both heels,

Both calves,

Both hips,

The lower back,

The mid back,

The upper back,

The entire spine,

The neck,

The back of the head,

And the top of the head.

Right eye,

Left eye,

And both eyes,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

And both cheeks,

The entire jaw,

The entire face,

Both arms,

Both legs,

The entire body,

The whole body,

The whole body,

The whole body.

And without controlling or changing your breath,

Just become aware of your natural breath.

With gentle inhales and exhales,

Notice if they're deep or shallow.

And with a feeling of gratitude,

Begin to count your breaths from ten down,

Inhaling ten and exhaling ten,

Inhaling nine,

Exhaling nine.

Continue to count on your own,

And if you get lost,

It's okay.

Just return again to ten.

Continue counting your breaths at your own natural pace.

With gratitude,

Let the counting go.

Now begin to feel a sensation of opposites.

Experience the feeling of stillness,

Being completely still and placid.

And then become aware of a gentle movement,

Perhaps the movement of breath.

Now experience once again stillness,

The pauses between the breath,

Stillness.

Return your awareness to easy,

Gentle movement.

Now begin to experience the feeling of fullness,

The sense of being filled like the lungs at the top of a breath.

Now experience the feeling of spaciousness and openness,

As if the lungs were ready to be filled with air.

Now return to the feeling of fullness,

And once again the feeling of spaciousness,

The feeling that you have room to be.

Now begin to feel heavy,

A surrendering heaviness,

No effort.

And allow the feeling of lightness,

Once again no effort,

A floating,

Expanding lightness.

Then return to the sense and the awareness of heaviness,

And once again lightness.

Return to a neutral feeling,

Letting the opposites and those sensations go.

And take your awareness to the screen of your mind.

Visualize a bright,

Full supermoon,

And visualize yourself witnessing the radiant light.

You are resting.

You see a very ancient,

Yet well cared for path.

And you follow this path as you float in rest.

And you see the path winds through an ancient and sacred forest.

You see this path leads to a clearing in the forest.

When you rest your awareness in this space,

You hear the sounds of owls cooing and crickets chirping.

And you feel this sense of peace within your own heart.

You feel that you are in complete harmony with all that surrounds you.

Love and acceptance flow through you.

As you rest,

You are filled with joy.

And you experience a freedom,

True freedom,

In this moment.

With gratitude,

You let the visualization go.

And you allow your sankalpa to arise.

Once again,

Say your sankalpa in your mind with full conviction of its truth three times.

Continue to lay here in a deep state of relaxation.

And drift on to a deep,

Restful sleep.

FAREED.

You You You You You You You You You You You You You You