Yoga Nidra For A Restful Night's Sleep

Okay so welcome,

Welcome to this practice of yoga nidra and this really is a practice where you don't need to do anything now.

This is a practice hopefully that will invite you to move into a deeper state of rest with feelings of relaxation and if you would like you could allow those feelings of rest and relaxation to carry you into a good and restful night of sleep.

So however this practice unfolds for you just knowing that it is of benefit deepening our relationship with feelings of rest so that we might come to trust them and invite them into our awareness a little bit more.

So first of all just noticing your level of comfort as you listen.

So you might need to readjust the blankets around you or the cushions or pillows beneath you knowing that you can move at any time but we we look to start the practice with a real sense of comfort that we can minimize movement as much as possible.

We want to make sure that we're warm enough so wherever we're practicing we feel really warm and comfortable now.

You may not be quite ready to let your eyes close or you may be comfortable to start with the eyes closed.

See what feels more comfortable for you and then start by taking three or four slower breaths and really allowing that breath out to be really slow and perhaps even a little longer than the breath in.

So there's a real shaping of the breath,

A deliberateness to these opening breaths.

Slowly drawing the breath in and down and slowly releasing the breath.

You might even enjoy a sigh or a yawn on that last deeper breath.

Like a real invitation through that sound and sensation of yawn or sigh or slowness of breath for the body to really begin to mirror that slowness.

We're inviting it into a space of rest and we don't need to do anything for that rest to come to us.

You might like to just follow along with my voice but know that you can let go of my voice at any time and you could if you want drift into sleep at any time.

Feeling now this body warm and comfortable and having a sense now that you can stay with that deliberate breathing if that makes you feel more at ease or you can let go of it now.

So there's a sense of the body breathing you as it does when you're asleep.

Just tuning in and maybe bringing some gentle attention to that rhythm of breathing that you're experiencing.

That really gentle ebb and flow of breath.

So just noticing the inhale coming into the body and the exhale leaving the body.

You might notice that first of all just in the nose.

You might also notice that in the body itself.

You may notice the rising and falling of the physical body with that inhale.

Body rising and lifting gently and with that exhale that sense of settling and letting go as the body softens toward rest.

And you could imagine now that each breath out was inviting that softening and that settling to travel down through your body.

Each breath out an invitation to let go of the tension or any tightness that you've carried with you throughout your day.

That you could lay it down now to rest.

Feeling any sensations of tension or tiredness moving out with the next breath.

Moving out of the head and the neck and the shoulders.

And with the next breath out sensations of tension or tiredness moving out through the shoulders and the arms and the hands and the fingers.

Next breath out.

Tension moving down and out through the back,

Through the left side and the right side.

Next breath out.

Tension and tiredness moving down and out through the chest and through the belly.

Next breath out.

Tension moving down through the right hip,

Through the right leg,

Foot and toes.

Next breath out through the left hip,

Left leg,

Foot and toes.

Just being with that sensation of breath rising and falling and imagining now the whole body from the crown of the head to the tips of your toes being invited to lay down tension and tiredness into this willing and welcoming support that you can feel through the pillows or their surfaces beneath and around you.

You can in this space feel warm and comfortable and feel that that tension can be held by the support so that the body can give it up for a moment and soften.

And you could choose to at this moment just notice any sensations of this opening towards rest or sleep.

Just noticing maybe of a sense of softness being possible or being felt in the body.

And follow the next breath out right into the center of you wherever you believe that to be knowing that you can't get that wrong.

And just having an awareness of the very center of you as you stay gently present to the feelings of the body and the sensations of the environment in which you're listening.

And you could imagine that this very center of you is a place where all is well and calm and steady always.

You might like to imagine that sense of calmness and steadiness through words or through images or pictures that help you connect to those sensations of calmness and steadiness and ease.

Again you can't get this wrong.

Whatever you choose is just as it should be.

And take a moment maybe to really connect in the center of you with imagined,

Remembered or the felt experience now of calmness and steadiness.

And we might imagine that we can capture that quality of calmness,

Of ease by way of the light of our attention.

Remembering that you choose where your attention goes and you can let go of my voice at any time.

But I invite you now if you would like to move that light of attention around your body as if to gently welcome those parts of the body into your awareness.

As if we might gift through our attention those qualities of calmness and ease to the body itself so that it might rest more fully,

More deeply and more comfortably into moments of relaxation or into an easy and deep full night's sleep.

Moving the light of your attention from the center of you now to the crown of your head,

To the space between your eyebrows,

To the base of your throat and then back right into the center of you.

Reconnecting with those images or feelings of calmness and ease and carrying them again through the light of your attention inside the right arm now,

Inside the right shoulder and elbow and wrist,

Into the palm of the hand and the back of the hand and the very tip of the right hand thumb,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger and little finger and then traveling that awareness back to your center,

Reconnecting again with calmness and ease and with your attention guiding those qualities inside the left arm now,

Inside the left shoulder and elbow and wrist,

Into the palm of the hand and the back of the hand and into the very tip of the left hand thumb,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger and little finger and then back to the very center of you,

Reconnecting again with calmness and ease and offering that light of attention now all the way through the back itself,

The left side,

The right side,

The spine,

Offering it through all the spaces of the chest,

Offering it through all the spaces of the ribs and all the spaces of the belly,

Into the right waist and the left waist and then coming back to that central point to reconnect again with calmness and ease and then bringing the lower body into our soft attention now,

Offering this gift of calmness and ease,

Carrying it into the right leg inside the right hip,

Knee and ankle,

Into the sole of the foot and the top of the foot and the very tip of the right big toe,

First toe,

Second toe,

Third toe and little toe and then gliding the attention back to your center,

Moving that calmness and ease into the left leg now,

The left lower body,

Left hip,

Knee,

Ankle,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot and the very tip of the left big toe,

First toe,

Second toe,

Third toe and little toe and then back to your very center.

Imagine,

Feel and know your whole body in this place now,

Warm and comfortable,

Opening to sensations of rest,

Calmness and ease.

We'll take five conscious breaths,

We'll imagine the breath now moving in through the feet,

Traveling up through the body to the crown of the head and then traveling back down and out through the feet as if it was bringing a wave of restful sensation through the body which may invite a deeper sense of relaxation and even a carrying into sleep,

If that would be nice.

Breathing in,

Feet to the crown of the head,

Breathing out,

Down through the body for five.

Breathing in,

Through the feet to the crown of the head and breathing out,

Down through the body for four.

Carrying on in this way in your own breath rhythm,

Counting down to zero,

Inviting the breath to carry a deep sense of relaxation that might bring greater comfort and rest to the body and if you would like,

Could carry you into a deep and easy night's sleep.

You could,

Having reached zero,

Let go of any focus of mind,

Any focus of attention,

Expanding into awareness and drifting into a restful night's sleep.