Yoga Nidra for Sleep

Namaste, I'm Roselene, this is a yoga nidra designed to help you sleep. It will help you drift into deeper and deeper states of rest. You may also find you're able to remember your dreams better when you next wake up. Begin by nestling in and making any adjustments to really land into the mattress beneath you. Take the time to make any adjustments here, snuggling down under your blanket, perhaps fluffing up the pillow underneath your head, or you might like to cover your eyes, taking the time to adjust the legs, the hips, the arms, the neck and your head. What could you do to be even a tiny bit more? Closing down the eyes and let yourself be cocooned in this warm and cozy space you've created for yourself, sheltered from any outside disturbances, feeling warm and protected. Take a deep inhale through the nose, long exhale through the mouth, and again, let it all go. Settling down, letting any remnants of your day fall away. The day is done, the time for rest is now, and begin by sensing the whole forehead, all the muscles of the forehead, relaxing, letting go, and could you imagine a wave of relaxation spreading from the forehead down into the eyes? Allow the eyes down into their sockets, all the little muscles around the eyes, softening, releasing, letting go. The eyelids becoming heavy and allow this feeling of relaxation to spread down into the cheeks, the jaw, the whole jaw, releasing, letting go. The tongue, whole face and head, completely letting go and allowing this feeling of relaxation to float downward with a hold in every exhale, allowing any tension to drain from the body, sinking deeper and deeper into the mattress beneath you. And might you imagine softening the muscle of your mind, softening any gripping in the mind, just letting go. The time to rest, let your bones heavy, each bone in your body resting, becoming heavier and heavier, feeling the full weight of the bones as the body gets heavier and heavier. Could you relax back into a sense of spacious awareness as the body gets heavier and heavier, sensing the entire physical body lying here, completely still, winding down, hold and notice the breath in the body, the sense of expansion as you inhale and softening and release as you exhale. Begin to lengthen the exhales, making each exhale a little longer than the inhale, perhaps inhaling on a four, exhaling to a count of six or seven. Continuing like this, the exhales longer than the inhale. As you welcome the exhale to be longer than the inhale, could you make this breath continuous, so there's no pause between the inhales and the exhales. The inhales merging into the exhales, the exhales merging into the inhales, in and out with this continuous breath, breath flowing in and out, expanding, releasing like a wave, rolling in, rolling out, now welcoming a heartfelt intention, a sankalpa for your practice of deep, restorative rest. Might you whisper to yourself, I fall asleep quickly and my body fully recharges itself and when I wake up I can recall all my dreams. Could you whisper this to yourself three times and feel it through your whole being as you say it, fall asleep quickly and my body fully recharges itself and when I wake up I can recall all my dreams. We will begin now to rotate our attention through the whole body. As your awareness moves through the body, could you welcome the energy of deep sleep as if each part of your body was being wrapped in the energy of deep sleep. Beginning inside the mouth, noticing all the sensations inside the mouth, the tip of your tongue all the way back to the root of your tongue, sensing the teeth and the gums, upper jaw and the teeth and the gums of the lower jaw, the roof of your mouth, inside the right cheek and inside the left cheek, now the right ear, sensing the whole right ear and inside the ear, all the way out towards the outer ear, the earlobe, noticing the right ear, now the left ear, sensing the whole left ear, inside the ear, all the way out towards the outer ear, the earlobe, noticing the left ear, both ears, noticing sounds, noticing the ears, receptive to each sound, the center of the head and from the center of the forehead, awareness spreading down towards the temples, relaxing each, the right, the left, sensing the right eyebrow and the left, the right eye sinking deeper and deeper, the left eye sinking deeper and deeper, the cheeks, right and left, onto the tip of your nose, noticing the sensation of air at the tip of the nose, a flow of air inside the nose, the upper lip, the bottom lip, the chin, the whole breath, the energy, allowing this sense of deep breath to flow downwards, through, down to the center of the heart, sensing your heart space, the right shoulder, upper arm, elbow, forearm, wrist, center of the palm, the back of the hands, the thumb, first finger, second, third, little finger, sensing all five fingertips of the right hand, all the fingertips, and the space between the fingers, noticing the space between the fingers, could you notice where the space of each fingertip ends, or the space beyond the fingertips, bringing attention back to the palm, the wrist, forearm, elbow, upper arm, and the shoulder, the whole right hand and arm, sensing the whole right hand and arm, wrapped in the energy, sleep, the right side of the chest, back to your heart center, the center of your chest, to the left side of the chest, the left shoulder, upper arm, wrist, center of the palm, the back of the hands, thumb, first finger, second, third, little finger, sensing all five fingertips, all the fingertips of the left hand, and sensing the space between the fingers, could you notice where the fingertips end, and the space beyond, bringing awareness back to the palm, wrist, forearm, elbow, upper arm, shoulder, the whole left hand and arm, enveloped in the energy of deep, now both hands and arms together, sensing the right, back to the heart center, flowing down through the solar plexus, to the navel center, the lower belly, and both hips, sensing only the right side hip, the right side hip, flowing down through the thigh, front, back, the knee, the lower leg, the ankle, the heel of the foot, the sole of your foot, the top of the foot, the right big toe, second, third, fourth, and little toe, sensing all five toes, and the space between the toes, sensing or imagining the space between the toes, could you sense where the toes end, and the space around the toes, attention back to the top of the foot, the sole, the heel, the ankle, thigh, sensing the whole right foot and leg, as one, the whole right foot and leg, wrapped in the energy, sleep, to the left hip, bringing all your awareness to the left, down through the whole thigh, front and back, the knee, the ankle, heel of the foot, the sole of the foot, the top of your foot, and your left big toe, second, third, fourth, toe, sensing all five toes of the left foot, and the space that exists between the toes, can you sense where the toes end, and the space around the toes, begin, attention back to the top of the foot, sole, heel, ankle, the lower leg, and back, sensing the whole left foot and leg, wrapped in the energy, sleep, now both feet and legs, both feet and legs, enveloped in the energy of deep sleep, now sensing the whole back body, front body, sensing the whole front body, now the whole body, as one, the whole as one, wrapped in dreamy embrace, the natural rhythm of your breath, sensing the gentle expansion as you inhale, the release as you exhale, and welcoming this breath to be continuous, so there's no pause between the inhales and the exhales, continuous breath, and as you notice this natural continuous breath, might you count the breath down from 10 with every count, feeling your body relaxing deeper and deeper, almost as though you were at the top of a stairwell, could you picture yourself taking a step down with each count, and as you step down, shifting down into a deeper state of rest, even deeper than before, from the top of the stairs, the breath rises 10, it falls 10, it rises 9, it falls 9, continue down to 1 on your own count, easy breath, let the counting go, now welcoming, inviting the feeling of heaviness through the whole body, feeling and imagining your whole body becoming heavier, the whole body sinking down into your mattress, body sinking deeper and deeper, so heavy now, imagine your body, your mind, sleepy and drifting off, allowing any thoughts to flow, a natural flow of sleepy dreamlike thoughts, without taking any interest in what the thoughts might be about, just let them flow with your attention towards the back of your eyelids, you might notice bursts or images arising here, or you might welcome the following images to rotate through your consciousness, just imagine, visualize your bare feet in the sand, your bare feet in the sand, waves rolling in and out on the shore, waves rolling in and out, palm trees swaying in the wind, palm trees swaying in the wind, a dolphin swimming in the sea, dolphin swimming in the sea, a beautiful sunset, beautiful sunset, a dark night sky, a dark night sky, a blanket of stars, stars, the full moon and stars against the dark night sky, and stars against the dark night sky, and now welcoming any dreamlike images to arise, allowing thoughts to flow freely, and not paying too much attention to the thoughts or images that might arise, just allowing them to flow, remembering your intention, your sankalpa, and welcoming it back in, I fall asleep quickly, my body fully recharges itself, and when I wake up, I can recall all my dreams, I fall asleep quickly, and my body fully recharges itself, and when I wake up, I can recall all, repeat this once again to yourself, and feel it for your whole being, I fall asleep quickly, and my body fully recharges itself, and when I wake up, I can recall, rest back to the support of your mattress, sleeping the energy of deep sleep all around you and within you, remember your intention to recall your dreams as you drift off, how would it feel if you were already asleep, sweet dreams, remember your intention to recall your dreams as you drift off, I will leave you here, sweet dreams