Yoga Nidra For Better Sleep (No Background Music)

Take a moment to get comfortable lying on your back with your knees slightly bent and supported.

Make sure your neck and head feel supported.

Make any adjustments that your body needs right now from you to settle a little bit more here.

Make sure you're warm enough.

Make sure your clothes are not distracting to you in any way.

Allowing your body to settle here.

If you become uncomfortable at any time,

Please feel free to change positions.

Otherwise I invite you to try to remain still so that your body and your mind have a chance to fully relax.

The practice of yoga nidra is a practice of yogic sleep that will guide you to the hypnotic state,

The state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleeping.

If you find yourself drifting in and out of sleep,

Just go with it,

Allowing your body to rest.

Trust that your unconscious will gather what it needs from this meditation.

Your mind and body are wired for healing.

Through the meditation,

You will be asked to move your awareness to various bodily sensations,

Emotions and images.

Try to not concentrate too intensely.

If nothing comes to your awareness when prompted,

Just take a breath,

Listening for the next prompt.

If the mind becomes overactive with thoughts and worries,

Just come back to the sound of my voice.

I invite you to become aware of any sounds that you can hear in this moment.

Nothing else but what you can hear without any strain at all.

Begin to focus on the most distant sounds that you can hear,

Allowing your sense of hearing to radiate outward,

Searching out these distant sounds.

Bringing your awareness to closer sounds,

Sounds you hear just within the space that you're in.

If you haven't already,

Please close your eyes down,

Allowing the eyelids to become heavy.

I invite you to visualize the walls of the room,

The ceiling,

The floor and the position where your body is,

The location of your body in the space that you're in.

As you visualize the position of your body,

Notice your clothes,

Your hair and your face,

Becoming acutely aware of the existence of your physical body taking rest.

Notice the textures you feel against your skin.

Notice if you can name one or two textures that you find soothing to you.

Notice temperature surrounding your body.

And notice if different parts of the body are experiencing different temperatures.

Being aware of the existence of your physical body taking rest.

I invite you to bring awareness to your breath.

Notice the natural and spontaneous breath that moves in and out of your body without any effort.

Notice this natural breath flow in through your nose or your mouth.

Breathing as it's released from the mouth through the nose.

Notice where in your body the breath in this moment is most evident to you.

See if you can begin to bring length to both your inhale and your exhale.

Making your breath to become a little bit longer and slower than its natural state.

If that feels okay to you,

I invite you to start to bring even more length to your exhale.

Inviting it to become a little bit longer and slower than your inhale.

Slow inhale.

Even slower exhale.

With your next inhale,

I invite you to scan your body.

Notice if there's any part of it that feels grounded,

Neutral,

Or calm.

Bring your awareness to the grounded,

Neutral,

Calm part of you.

And take a few full breaths there.

Intentionally breathing the breath into the sensation.

Bring the breath to expand the sensation inside of you.

Now,

Moving back to the natural effortless breath,

Release any control over your inhale and your exhale.

Our practice of yoga nidra begins now.

I invite you in this moment to set an intention or a resolve for your practice.

Let it be short,

Positive statement in simple language.

Restate your intention or your resolve to yourself three times.

So saying to yourself,

I am practicing yoga nidra,

I am relaxed.

We will now begin a systematic journey of sensory awareness throughout our bodies.

We will move our awareness to different parts of the body as soon as we hear them named.

Please say the name of the part to yourself and try to feel that part of your body.

Track any movement your body's asking from you,

Either honoring it by physically moving the body or imagining yourself moving in the way your body desires.

We'll begin on our right side.

Bring awareness to your right hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger.

Thumb of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm.

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Waist,

Thigh,

Knee.

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel.

Whole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Right big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe.

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

I invite you to spend the next few breaths observing whatever rises into your awareness.

Giving curiosity and compassion to any judgments that you notice.

Moving to the left side of the body.

I invite you to bring awareness to your left hand thumb,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

Fifth finger,

Palm of the hand,

Back of the hand,

Wrist.

Thumb,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit.

Shoulder,

Elbow,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Calf.

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Right leg.

Top of the foot,

Left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

In the next few breaths observing whatever rises into your awareness.

Moving our awareness to the backs of the body.

Notice your right heel,

Left heel,

Right calf,

Left calf,

Right thigh,

Right thigh,

Right thigh,

Left thigh,

Right sit bone,

Left sit bone,

Lower back,

Middle back,

Left hip,

Right back,

Upper back,

The entire length of your spine,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Back of the neck,

Back of the head.

Moving awareness to the crown of the head,

Forehead,

Right temple,

Left temple,

Right ear,

Left ear,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Middle of the eyebrows,

Right eye,

Left eye,

Right nostril,

Left nostril,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Both lips together,

Chin,

Jaw.

Throat,

Right collarbone,

Left collarbone,

Right side of the chest,

Left side of the chest,

Upper abdomen,

Navel center,

Lower abdomen,

Right hip,

Left hip,

Right hip,

Left hip,

Pelvic floor.

Moving awareness to your whole right leg,

Whole left leg,

Whole right arm,

Whole left arm,

Your whole face,

Whole head,

Whole torso,

The whole body.

Feel your whole body resting in this moment.

With an inhale,

I invite you to scan the body.

Notice if there's any part of it that feels grounded,

Neutral,

Or calm.

Notice the location of this grounded,

Neutral,

Or calm sensation.

And allow your awareness to gently rest here for a few full breaths.

Moving into opposite sensations,

I invite you to imagine your whole body becoming light as though you're floating in cool,

Clear water.

Your head is light and weightless,

Arms are light and weightless,

Torso is light and weightless,

Legs are light and weightless.

Whole body is light and weightless as if floating in cool,

Clear water.

Now,

Imagine your body becoming heavy,

A deep,

Relaxed,

Heavy feeling.

Feel the heaviness in all parts of your body.

Each part is becoming heavier and heavier,

More relaxed.

Your head is heavy and relaxed,

Arms are heavy and relaxed,

Torso is heavy and relaxed,

Legs are heavy and relaxed.

Whole body is heavy and relaxed as if you could create a subtle imprint right beneath you.

Whole body heavy and relaxed.

Now,

I invite you to awaken an experience of coolness in your body,

Refreshed coolness.

Imagine being outside with a cool breeze or in that cool,

Clear water.

Feel this coolness permeating your entire body.

Whole body is cool and refreshed.

Now,

Allow a sensation of warmth to spread throughout your entire body.

Imagine being outside in the summer with sun shining overhead onto your skin or in a warm bed under a cozy blanket.

Feel this warmth radiating onto your skin,

Warmth all around your body.

Now,

I invite you to float down memory lane to a time when you felt calm or supported.

Try to get as detailed as you can in this memory,

Getting a sense of how old you are in this memory,

The environment that provided this calm or supported space.

If people were involved,

Who were they and how were they involved in making this a calm or supported space?

Notice the sounds associated with this memory,

Smells,

Tastes,

Temperature,

Any safe touch.

Imagine this experience of calm or support in your entire mind through this memory and inviting it into your body and your emotions.

Feel yourself becoming relaxed and aware.

You are completely calm.

Moving into inner space visualizations.

I invite you to concentrate on the space in front of your closed eyelids.

Imagine before you a transparent screen as though you were at the movies.

The screen is as high and as wide as your eyes can see.

Bring your awareness to the screen and notice any phenomena that manifests within it,

Colors,

Patterns,

Light,

Perhaps images,

Voices or memories.

Continue your awareness of this space without becoming involved,

Practicing detached awareness only.

If any subtle images make themselves known,

Simply notice them without directing the image in any way.

If thoughts occur,

Let them come and go out with the exhale and continue watching the space beneath your closed eyelids.

Continue watching with detached awareness.

Moving into rapid image visualization.

A number of things will be named and I invite you to envision them on a level of emotion,

Memory and imagination as best you can.

Jump from image to image as soon as I name it and if nothing arises,

Try not to force it to simply move on to the next image.

Full moon.

Foggy morning.

Tall tree.

Cool clear water.

Giving help from someone you trust.

Sun shining overhead.

Living with friends.

Offering help to a friend.

A relaxing afternoon.

A vibrant sunset.

A warm embrace.

A good night's rest.

Listening to your favorite song.

It is time to repeat your intention or your resolve.

Making the same statement that you made at the beginning of your practice three times to yourself now.

Bringing awareness to the natural effortless breath.

Tracking your inhales that enters through way of the nose or the mouth.

And tracking the exhales it's released from the mouth or the nose.

Maintaining this awareness of your breath,

Start to notice your physical body.

This feeling relaxed and settled.

Perhaps check back in with that grounded neutral calm part of you for a few breaths.

Bringing awareness to that sensation.

Note opening up your eyes,

Visualize the walls of the room,

The ceiling and the floor.

The location of your body in the space.

And with an in-breath scan your body,

Notice all the parts of you being physically supported in this moment.

Notice textures you feel against your skin.

Temperature you feel surrounding your body.

Notice if different parts of the body are experiencing different temperatures.

And notice sounds you're aware of without any strain at all.

Allow your awareness to move from sound to sound for a few breaths.

Bringing your awareness back to your breath.

And start to track any movement your body's asking from you.

If you'd like you can flutter your eyes open and just slowly scan the space,

Perhaps naming a few neutral objects to yourself.

Take your time moving out of this meditation.

Feel free to stay here for as long as it serves you.