Welcome to your practice.
I am Liz Nerland and today I will be guiding you through a practice of non-sleep deep rest.
This is a form of yoga nidra that was coined by Dr.
Andrew Huberman.
Through repetition,
This practice will help you develop the skill of relaxing the nervous system and mind.
It will help move you from a physiology of stress into a physiology of renewal,
Creativity and deep rest.
You will learn to shift from a state of thinking,
Planning,
Doing,
Anticipating into a state of pure awareness,
Pure sensation and deep relaxation of body and mind.
This practice will open you to the profound healing effects of deep rest.
Let's get started.
You can either find a seat or you may choose to lie down assuming that you are able to stay awake.
Find a shape where your body will distract you the least and then invite the eyes to close or just rest the gaze on a single point if you choose not to close your eyes.
Throughout the practice,
I want you to breathe effortlessly unless instructed to do otherwise.
Start by taking some expansive inhales through the nose and full exhales either through the mouth or nose.
With each inhale,
See if you can breathe deeply enough to bring movement into the low ribs,
The side ribs,
Breathing right to the base of the lungs,
Followed by long,
Slow,
Complete exhales.
Breathing in this way will start to slow your heart rate and calm your nervous system.
The long,
Slow exhales send a message to the brain that it is safe to come down,
To calm down,
To rest,
Digest,
Heal,
Create.
And with these exhales,
You may start to feel a softening in the body and then come back to an effortless breath.
In your mind's eye,
Visualize or imagine a golden light above you and start to imagine this light sending a beam down to shine on the soles of your feet.
Focus your attention on the soles of the feet and notice what you are feeling.
Without assigning any meaning to what you feel,
Can you simply sense,
Sense,
Notice,
And experience the soles of your feet?
Now imagine this light beam starting to expand to cover the tops of the feet,
The shins and calves,
The thighs and hamstrings,
The pelvis.
This light starts to illuminate the whole lower body right up to the waist.
Can you feel into the contact points between your lower body and the surface that you are resting on?
Taking three expansive breaths here,
Inhaling deeply through the nose if possible,
And then exhaling completely,
Slowly,
Controlled through the nose or through slightly pursed lips.
And repeating that breath two more times.
As you exhale,
Allow your lower body to sink down,
Dropping into the surface that you are resting on,
And then returning to an effortless breath.
Start to see the spotlight,
This golden orb,
Shifting to the abdomen,
Lower abdomen,
Upper abdomen,
Illuminated in golden light.
Feel into the abdomen and simply notice what you sense here.
Can you feel the slight movement of the belly as you breathe?
Do nothing.
Feel everything in the space of the abdomen.
And now visualize or imagine the light expanding to the chest and throat and down the length of the arms into the hands.
The breath is effortless.
Can you notice how your back meets the floor or surface that is beneath you?
Feel into the contact points between your back and the surface you rest on.
Moving into a few rounds of deep breath,
Inhaling deeply,
And with that slow,
Complete exhale,
Allow the back and upper body to sink down into the surface you are resting on.
With every exhale,
The upper body is surrendering to the pull of gravity more and more.
And coming back to an effortless breath,
Imagine this golden light shifting to illuminate the face,
The top of the head,
And the back of the head.
Effortless breath as you feel into the muscles of the face and relax them.
Let the eyes sink back into the head,
The jaw,
The lips,
Relax and release.
Forehead softens.
Moving into a few expansive breaths with long,
Slow,
Controlled exhales.
With every exhale,
The head sinks down more and more.
And now returning to an effortless breath.
Feel this golden light expanding from the top of the head,
Down the neck and arms.
Let it flood over the chest and abdomen,
Waist and pelvis,
Legs and feet.
Visualize or imagine your entire body illuminated by this golden light.
Moving again into a few rounds of expansive breathing.
With every inhale,
Drawing more of this light into your body.
With every exhale,
Letting the entire body sink down.
The light above you starts to fade as you breathe it into your body,
Your cells,
Your bones.
And as that light outside of you becomes dim,
Allow yourself to return to an effortless breath.
Feeling into the toes and starting to bring some movement back into them.
Feeling into the feet and ankles and inviting some movement into the ankles and feet.
Feeling into the legs,
Pelvis,
Chest and arms.
Start to awaken the body through conscious movement,
Controlled movement as the master of your nervous system.
Reaching the arms up overhead for a full body stretch.
Feeling into the neck,
The head,
Maybe moving the head a little bit,
Rocking it side to side.
Feeling into the eyes and eyelids.
And as you are ready,
Blinking the eyes open and heading back into your day,
Trusting that you have control over your mind through focusing your awareness and you have control over your nervous system through that focus and that breath.
Now as you are ready,
You may rise and head back into your day with a new sense of control and inner mastery.
