Yoga Nidra To Help You Fall Asleep

Well,

Hi friends,

It's Jax,

And welcome to your yoga nidra to relax into sleep.

We're going to relax the full body so that you're able to get some nighttime rest and tranquility and just feel really at peace where you're at.

So right away,

Let's breathe together.

Inhale two times through the nose and exhale let it go.

Let's do that two more times.

Inhale two times through the nose and exhale let it go.

Inhale twice and exhale soften and release.

And to get you really settled and relaxed at the beginning,

We're going to breathe in for a count of five and then exhale to a count of five.

And we'll do the first two rounds together to get a feel for it and then you'll do three more on your own.

So take an exhale out the nose to prepare.

Inhale one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Exhale five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Exhale five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And then take three more rounds on your own and start to recognize your own unique rhythm.

And really start to find your sweet spot here.

So how slow can you breathe equal length inhalations and exhalations?

And then just let the breath be.

Let the breath be equal length inhalations and exhalations.

And let this breath,

Let this be the sweet spot.

Let this be your home base.

So if your mind starts to wander,

You come back to this home base,

This smooth rhythmic breath.

Every time you inhale,

You feel the mind soften.

On every exhale,

You feel the mind clear.

And every time you inhale,

You feel the body relax.

And every time you exhale,

You feel the body release.

And can you get 5% more comfortable where you're at?

So maybe you move a pillow or a blanket,

An article of clothing.

Take any last little fidgets and wiggles here to get yourself completely relaxed.

So relaxed that you don't want to move.

So relaxed that you allow yourself to start to feel completely supported by everything around you.

Feeling yourself drift deeper and deeper into a relaxed state here.

Take another deep inhale and exhale.

Feel your body already relaxing,

Already letting go.

Bring your awareness to your face now.

Soften your eyebrows,

Eyes,

Temples,

Cheekbones,

Jaw.

Great space between the lips.

Relax the tongue.

And send a message to your face that it is time to soften and release.

And find the softening echoing and rippling into your torso.

Your shoulders,

Your arms,

Your hands,

Tell them to let go,

To release and soften.

Ungrip,

Unwind.

And send a message from the hips down to the thighs,

To the ankles,

The feet.

Tell them to.

Tell them it's time to soften and release.

And allow yourself to settle deeper into stillness.

Starting to allow this settling of stillness.

No effort needed anymore.

Allowing yourself to sense and feel.

And know that it's time to really allow yourself to let go.

Body relaxed.

Breath smooth.

Mind settled.

And to go deeper into your own yoga nidra practice,

We're going to create an intention,

Also known as a sankalpa.

And this sankalpa will be your mantra,

Your focal point.

And the root of a meaningful sankalpa comes from the willingness to be present.

So take a couple of breaths here,

Allowing yourself,

Giving yourself permission to come into the present moment.

So the focus for this yoga nidra is rest.

And we're going to work with the sankalpa,

I am allowing myself to rest.

If that resonates for you,

I want you to internally repeat that three times.

Or if there's something else you want to affirm or something else you want to cultivate,

Go ahead and repeat that three times.

I am.

I am.

I am.

And now let your body and your mind relax as best as you can.

Knowing that you being here and creating an intention is enough.

You've done the work.

You've shown up.

So now take this time to get comfortable and relax as best as you're able to.

And this is a chance to experience total stillness,

Total relaxation,

Even if only for one breath.

Even if just for one instant.

Let this yoga nidra be therapeutic for you.

Whatever that means for you.

And if your mind wanders,

That's okay.

That's what the mind likes to do.

Simply notice this,

Refocus,

And bring your focus back to the sound of my voice.

Let me guide you back into this experience.

Let me guide you back to a place of relaxation and ease.

And let this space be yours.

And next,

Along our journey of inner stillness and rest,

I'm going to guide you to a body scan.

And I'll guide you to different areas of your physical body.

And following the guidance of my voice,

Allow this body scan to be effortless.

Allow yourself to notice different areas of your body going from point to point with a rested awareness.

Being with the body and giving all your focus on the areas mentioned.

And being with those sensations just as they are.

And these sensations can be tingling,

Buzzing,

Temperature,

Pressure,

Or maybe it's neutral.

And notice that too.

There's no right or wrong way to do this.

Give yourself permission to release control of what something should be and allow this to be your own experience.

There's nothing you need to do but simply rest in your own awareness.

And begin by bringing your awareness to the right hand.

Awareness in the whole part of your right hand.

The right thumb,

Pointer finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And pinky finger.

The palm of the right hand.

The back of the hand.

The right wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Right armpit.

The right side of the waist.

Right side of the pelvis.

Hip.

Thigh.

Back of the thigh.

Right kneecap.

Back of the knee.

And the lower leg.

Ankle.

Heel.

And the sole of the right foot.

Top of the foot.

The right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

And fifth toe.

And allow your awareness to be with all the sensations happening from the right big toe,

All the way up the leg,

The hip,

The torso,

The shoulder,

The arm,

And the hand.

The whole right side of the body.

Buzzing with sensation.

And now,

Bring your awareness to your left hand.

Awareness now landing in the left hand.

In the left thumb.

Pointer finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Pinky finger.

The palm of the left hand.

Back of the hand.

Left wrist.

Forearm.

Elbow.

Upper arm.

Shoulder.

Armpit.

The left side of the waist.

Left side of the pelvis.

Hip.

Thigh.

Back of the left thigh.

Left kneecap.

Back of the knee.

Lower leg.

Ankle.

Heel.

And the sole of the left foot.

Top of the foot.

In the left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

And fifth toe.

And feel the whole left side of the body from the left big toe.

Up the leg,

Up the hips,

The thighs,

The sides of the waist,

The left shoulder,

The arm,

The fingers,

That whole left side of the body.

Vibrant with sensations.

Pure awareness rested in the whole left side of the body.

And now find your awareness landing at the crown of the head.

The highest point of the head rested awareness at the crown.

And find that awareness moving like a stream of water down the crown of the head to the forehead.

Awareness completely immersed in the forehead.

And find that awareness gliding down to the right eyebrow.

Left eyebrow.

The center of the brows.

The right eyelid.

Left eyelid.

The right eye.

And all the muscles behind the right eye.

The left eye.

And all the trillions of cells behind the left eye.

And awareness gliding over to the bridge of the nose.

The tip of the nose.

The left nostril.

The air flowing in and out of the left nostril.

The right nostril.

The air flowing in and out of the right nostril.

Find that awareness gliding down from the nostrils to the upper lip.

Lower lip.

The space in between the lips.

The tongue.

The top row of teeth.

Bottom row of teeth.

Sensations flooding the whole inside of your mouth.

And allow that awareness to move to the hinges of the jaw.

The chin.

And imagine your awareness like a drip of water starting at the chin and gliding all the way down to the throat.

The sides of the neck.

And that awareness landing at the hollow of the throat.

And gliding over to the right collarbone.

Left collarbone.

The right chest muscles.

And the left chest muscles.

The sternum.

The ribcage.

The abdomen.

And finally find your awareness landing at the navel.

Awareness in the whole body now.

The whole body as one.

Starting with the whole right leg.

The whole left leg.

Both legs together.

The whole right arm.

The whole left arm.

Both arms together.

The whole body.

The whole front of the body.

The whole back of the body.

The whole sides of the body together.

The whole body here rested together as one.

Feel the whole body now.

Mixed and at ease.

And now bring your awareness to your breath.

Simple breath awareness without trying to alter or change the breath in any way.

Just practice that simple breath awareness.

Observe the breath.

Witness the breath.

Witness the breath.

And now become aware of the diaphragm.

The ribcage.

The abdomen.

These are all muscles of the breath.

Nails of respiration.

Start to tune into those subtle movements associated with the breath throughout your entire body.

Bring the awareness back to that soothing ebb and flow of the breath.

We're going to release and soften the tension in the muscles surrounding the breath starting at the belly.

On your next inhale,

Feel a soothing and expansive energy flowing outwards from the belly.

And on your next exhale,

Allow the belly to become soft and relaxed.

And then now bring your awareness to your ribcage.

And on your next inhale,

Feel a soothing and expansive energy flowing outwards from the ribcage.

And on your next exhale,

Allow the ribcage to become soft and relaxed.

And last is the diaphragm.

On your next inhale,

Feel a soothing and expansive energy flowing outwards from the diaphragm.

And as you exhale,

Allow the diaphragm to become soft and relaxed.

Belly soft.

Ribcage is soft.

Diaphragm is effortless.

And we'll begin to count down from 10 to 1 using the breath,

Allowing this practice to be one to go deeper and deeper into a space of rest and relaxation.

On your next inhale,

Inhale deep and exhale 10.

Inhale,

And exhale 9.

And then keep going like this until you get to 1.

Then if you lose your space and place along the way,

You can just re-come back to number 10.

You can restart at 10 and just slowly and gently make your way down to 1.

And allow this part to be effortless.

Simply observing the breath,

Being with the breath,

Letting things unfold just as they are.

Moving out of the way to let yourself rest,

Restore and relax.

And you can let that cycle of breath go now.

And simply observe the rhythm of the breath without trying to exert any conscious influence over the breath.

One breath may be short and shallow.

Another breath may be deep and long.

However,

The breath is flowing is just fine.

But the focus here is to just observe it fully,

To be with it fully.

And on your next breath,

Feel if you can become heavy.

Hear the word heavy and feel the sensations of heaviness in the body.

And feel the weight of the body becoming heavier and heavier.

Inhale through the nostrils.

And on the exhale,

Find yourself sinking deeper and deeper into the surface beneath you.

Feeling completely supported by the surface beneath you.

Letting yourself be dense.

And use the breath to aid you here.

Let the inhales be smooth and silky and let the exhale sink you out and down.

So the exhale sinks you into the support underneath you.

The exhale sinks out and down at the back of the body.

Simply sinking and dropping into the whole body.

The whole body feeling heavy and supported.

Inhale,

Feel your body.

And exhale,

Feel the weight and heaviness of your body.

And see if you can feel into the quality of heaviness.

What does the quality of heaviness feel like?

What is the sensation of heaviness feeling like in your body?

And what does it feel like to be completely supported so that you can get heavy here?

Breathe into that.

Feel into that.

Be with that heaviness.

And now welcome in the quality of lightness.

And as you breathe in,

Let that inhale feel lighter.

Let that inhale feel lighter and lighter.

Welcome in the quality of that sensation of lightness.

And feel that there is a lifting slightly on the inhale.

Opening you into that lightness.

And similar to a cloud floating by in the sky,

Where do you feel this light floaty feeling in the body?

And what does it feel like to be light?

So breathe in that lightness on the inhale.

Feel if you can become light.

Hear the word light and feel the sensations of lightness.

Feel your body getting lighter and lighter.

Breathing into that sensation,

Feeling into that sensation,

Letting it absorb every sound,

Every bone,

Every muscle,

Every ligament,

Feeling light and supported.

And now bring awareness to both sensations,

Heavy and light.

And start to create some distance between those two sensations.

So find yourself stepping away from both heaviness and lightness in the body and just observing heaviness and lightness from afar.

So you're not in the experience anymore.

You're now the observer,

The witness,

Noticing them with rested awareness,

Creating some distance from heavy and lightness.

And what does it feel like to experience both from afar,

To observe from afar?

Take a few breaths exploring that.

Don't try too hard.

Just play with it as an idea.

Playing with observing both at the same time.

Releasing any expectations,

Surrendering and dissolving into rested awareness.

And check in with your body.

Can you relax 5% more?

Allow yourself to loosen into the guidance you're receiving.

And start to soften around heaviness and lightness.

Let that quality of heaviness completely sink away and let that quality of lightness float away.

And simply let your body be.

Imagine any gripping in the mind,

The body,

The breath.

Invite a sense of calm,

A sense of ease.

Letting the breath be silky and smooth here.

Soft and gentle,

Grounding you into this moment with rested awareness.

And now I want you to imagine yourself in a small cabin in the woods.

And in this small cabin,

It's nighttime here with the midnight sky peeking through a large window.

And you've just finished up a warm bath and now you have your favorite pair of PJs on.

Comfy,

Smooth.

And you got some warm fuzzy socks on your feet.

Got you feeling really comfortable.

And you make your way to your bed and as you lie down in this cabin,

You feel really comfortable and cozy,

As snug as a bug in a rug next to the fireplace.

And a soft blanket is draped over you.

And you look out to the right out the window and you can see the shining,

Glimmering stars in the midnight sky.

And you smile when you see how full the moon looks on this clear night as it luminates the lush green trees in the forest.

You feel at peace here with smells of fresh lavender lingering in the background.

All is well here.

And you feel relaxed,

You feel rested,

You feel at ease.

So give yourself permission to enjoy total stillness and silence without all the tension,

To be able to just rest in the perfect peace of your own true self.

This chance to become totally still and silent is the greatest gift you can give yourself.

So give yourself that permission to rest.

Yes?

.

.