Deep Sleep Yoga Nidra

Welcome to this Yoga Nidra for Sleep.

Yoga Nidra means yogic sleep and it's a guided relaxation practice that might help you to fall asleep.

In tonight's practice we'll use a couple of special breath techniques that can help us to feel more relaxed.

So finding a comfortable position to lie in,

Perhaps the position you usually sleep in,

Making sure that you're super comfortable.

If you need to move at any point during the practice then do go ahead and move.

The Nidra session will be about half an hour and there'll be short periods of silence for you to have your own experience and really let go into the practice.

Although this is a sleep Nidra,

It really doesn't matter if you fall asleep or not.

It will still be beneficial.

You can still get huge benefits from practicing Yoga Nidra even if you don't fall asleep.

Benefits like creativity and stress relief.

So you might like to set the intention that you're open to any possibilities.

Falling asleep,

Not falling asleep,

Just taking the pressure off and know that there's nothing to do in this practice.

There's no way you can do it wrong and know that thoughts will come and go and that's perfectly all right.

If you notice that this has happened,

Just gently guiding your awareness back to the practice,

Back to the sound of my voice.

And there might be times during the practice when you're very aware of the words that I'm saying.

I know the times when my voice is just a murmur in the background and that is perfectly all right.

If for any reason you feel uncomfortable and you want to stop,

All you have to do is move your fingers and toes and open your eyes and you'll come out of the Nidra state.

So just to explain what we'll be doing in tonight's practice,

We'll be using a few tricks to help us get to sleep.

One is to make a shhh sound.

We'll do that in the breath section after the body scan and we'll start with taking a slightly deeper breath in,

Making that shhh sound as we breathe out.

In the breath section we'll have a longer exhalation.

When we're breathing out the heart beats slower and we go towards the parasympathetic nervous system which helps us feel more relaxed.

So you can either count in for four and out for six or you can just feel a long exhale without counting,

Whatever works best for you.

The other trick we'll use is to move the eyes around as we do when we're asleep in the REM state and we'll do this as part of the body scan.

So I'll name different parts that cross the body and our eyes naturally follow our awareness and we'll move from side to side.

This isn't something that you have to consciously do,

It will just happen naturally.

But we'll also start with moving the eyes from side to side and up and down,

Just gently with the breath,

With the eyes closed.

Towards the end of the practice we'll bring to mind some images around night time.

So as we begin this practice just feeling the weight of the body sinking down into the surface beneath,

Feeling that the body is well supported and held by the bed and letting there be a welcome for all the sensations you feel in the tongue,

The jaw,

The arms,

The hips,

The legs,

Just feeling all of the sensations throughout the whole body.

Now letting there be a welcome for all the sounds that can be heard and if there are no sounds and just tuning into the quality of the silence,

Just allowing any sounds if they're present to come into the ears without any labelling or judgment.

Now having a sense of the shape and arrangement of the body and the position of the body in the room,

Having a sense of the body in the room and gradually widening out to a sense of the body in the whole building you're in,

In the street outside and having a sense of the body in the city or the wider environment in which you live and a sense of the whole world beyond and coming back to the body in the space where you are right now,

Inviting the awareness to rest upon the breath now,

Just feel it coming and going by itself,

Perhaps having a sense that the inhale is like the dawn of the breath,

The exhale like the dusk,

The top of the inhale like midday full of bright sunshine and the end of the exhale the midnight time of the breath,

Dark and resting and having a sense of all of these parts of the day in each cycle of the breath,

Inhaling the daylight into the breath,

Top of the inhale like the fullness of midday,

The exhale the drawing in of the darkness and as we come to the natural pause at the end of the exhale like the midnight time of the breath and now making a few longer exhalations and with each exhalation feel that you're letting go a little bit more.

Now as we breathe in this way let's also move the eyes,

Keeping the eyes closed but allowing them to move beneath the closed eyelids,

Moving gently to the left on the inhale and to the right on the exhale,

Just doing that a few more times and now let's move the eyes up on the inhale and down on the exhale,

Just very gently and softly with the eyes closed,

Ending that by looking downwards.

So next we'll invite our awareness on a journey around the body as I name a body part,

Just letting there be a welcome for that body part exactly as it is right now,

No need to change anything,

Starting with the top of the head,

The left ear,

The right ear,

Both ears together,

The left eye,

The right eye,

Both eyes together,

The throat,

The lips,

The nose,

Forehead,

The back of the head,

The left shoulder,

Left elbow,

Left wrist,

Arm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

The little finger,

Fourth finger,

Middle finger,

Index finger and the thumb,

The whole left hand,

The whole left arm,

The right shoulder,

Right elbow,

Right wrist,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

The little finger,

Fourth finger,

Middle finger,

Index finger and the thumb,

The whole of the right hand and the whole right arm,

The throat,

The heart space,

The upper abdomen,

The navel,

The lower abdomen,

The left hip,

Left knee,

Left ankle,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

The toes,

The whole left foot,

The whole left leg,

The right hip,

Right knee,

Right ankle,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

The toes,

The whole right foot,

The whole right leg,

The base of the spine,

Moving up to the sacrum,

The lower spine,

The mid spine,

The upper spine,

The back of the neck,

Back of the head,

Top of the head,

Right shoulder,

Left shoulder,

Left elbow,

Right elbow,

Right wrist,

Left wrist,

Left hip,

Right hip,

Right knee,

Left knee,

Left ankle,

Right ankle,

Right foot,

Left foot,

The whole of the head,

The whole left,

The whole right arm,

The whole left leg,

The whole right leg,

Feeling the whole body,

The whole body,

The whole body resting,

The whole body breathing,

And just watching the breath flow in and out now,

Watching the exhale just flowing away.

If you like,

We can breathe with a longer exhale,

And if you'd like to,

You can add a shhh sound on the exhale,

Maybe for five breaths,

Just at your own pace,

And when you've done five breaths,

Just letting the sound go,

And then you might like to count,

Perhaps counting four on the inhale,

And six or eight on the exhale,

And if a different number of count works best,

Then go with what feels most comfortable,

Or if you'd prefer not to count,

And just watch the flow of the breath,

And just letting yourself expand with the exhale,

Continuing to observe the body,

Expanding on the inhale,

And softening on the exhale,

Just continuing to breathe in this way,

Feeling the breath pulsing in and out,

Expansion,

And letting go,

Feeling a sense of lightness on the inhale,

And grounding on the exhale,

Feeling a sense of floating on the inhale,

And grounding on the exhale.

Now we'll bring to mind some images.

I will say something,

And you can imagine it.

It might be a real object,

Or just something from your imagination.

I'll run through the objects quite quickly,

So just do your best to imagine that image,

As soon as you hear it.

Bringing to mind a night sky,

The sun,

The full moon,

Saturn,

The moon reflected on the water,

A crescent moon,

A galaxy,

A moonless night sky,

A candle in the dark,

Northern lights,

A starry night,

And as you breathe,

And expand and drift towards sleep,

Maybe sleeping lightly,

Maybe sleeping deeply,

Maybe aware of the midriff,

Maybe not,

Just allowing yourself to flow with your experience,

As you welcome a deep,

Restful sleep.

Sleep well,

Sleep well,

Sleep well.