Yoga Nidra Script for Deep Sleep with video and podcast
This Yoga Nidra Script is to instantly rest, relax and restore. Denzil’s Guided Sleep Meditation induces deep sleep. I am posting this Script as a result of many-a-request from Denzil O’Connell’s followers on the App Insight Timer.
Why do I consider this Yoga Nidra Script the best?
The answer is simple with over 150 live Yoga Nidra meditation sessions for large audiences under his belt Denzil Oconnell mentors the Best Yoga Nidra or Yoga for sleep Meditation.
I have personally sampled over ten different Yoga Nidra Meditations and I can safely say that nobody includes detailed gratitude for each organ and muscle group in your body element as part of a Yoga for Sleep meditation.
Today I would like to share with you a Yoga Nidra script free. This script is inspired by the Denzil’s Yoga Nidra Full Body Relaxation Meditation with Gratitude.
Origin of Denzil Yoga Nidra Script
This Yoga Nidra script was originally part of Denzil’s yoga teacher training at Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre.
It is part of their training that students at Sivananda learn in their Yoga Nidra module. Denzil later modified it into a Yoga For sleep Full body Relaxation Meditation.
Duration of Yoga Nidra Script
This meditation comes in two formats. One without the gratitude for each body part element, this is the Yoga Nidra 10-minute Meditation. The pattern for this practice is followed in the Non-Deep Sleep Rest meditation script as well.
The Yoga Nidra script where we also give gratitude for each body and muscle group will take 20-25 minutes and its format is inspired by extensive notes from one-on-one sessions in Yoga Nidra conducted by Denzil following his own version of the Yoga Nidra Script
There is a YouTube Video you may access if you wish to watch while you become familiar with this Yoga Nidra Script.
Denzil Yoga Nidra Meditation Video
YOGA NIDRA FAQ to Rest Relax Restore
Yoga Nidra Benefits During Sleep
Many of you ask me Do we receive the Benefits of Yoga Nidra Meditation for sleep if you drop off to sleep during the Meditation
During the practice of this meditation, you will find that your consciousness can fluctuate. So, even if you fall asleep during the practice of Yoga Nidra, you will still receive its benefits. Yoga Nidra relieves tension and stress, brings calm and a sense of peace . It is therefore one of the best sleep meditations to practice
This has been confirmed in a study at the University, Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil as is stated in an article published in the National Library of Medicine
Study on Effectiveness of Yoga Nidra Meditation
Regular daily adoption of this meditation technique will also increase your awareness, both in mind and body.
1 hour Yoga Nidra = 4 hours of sleep
Does 1 hour of Yoga Nidra Equal 4 hours of sleep
A paper on this subject was presented by Dr. Kamakhya Kumar, Head of Department Yoga at Uttarakhand Sanskrit University, Haridwar at the National Conference on Yoga Therapy 2013 At Mangalore University, in Karnataka, India.
He stated therein that in research carried out at the University it was found that it is stated that one good hour of Yoga Nidra practice equals about four hours of regular sleep.
WHAT IS A SANKALPA?
Sankalpa is an intention. It is a vow or statement of intent or affirmation with which you enter a Yoga Nidra session. A Sankalpa must be a statement in the present tense.
It can be a simple statement but must be a positive one. For example, “I am open to witnessing my inner self,” or, it can be a gratitude statement such as. “I am grateful for my life or family or health,” or it could be I am love, my love is overflowing, and I share this love with my family and all those I’m in contact with and I am loved
Attaining relaxation is very much in the cards for you. Just follow the spoken voice of Denzil who will lead you through the session in podcast form.
Yoga Rules for the Body for Healthy Sleep to Rest Relax Restore
The idea of this sleep meditation is for REST RELAXATION AND RESTORATION.
Meditation using this Yoga Nidra script can help to relax your body, to relax your mind to relax your soul,
Sleep is a vital part of daily functioning. It is not something we need to learn. It is natural and in-built.
Eat well about three hours prior to sleep for a healthier life. However, in order to sleep well, we are also required to eat well, that is, have a good diet.
Before you sleep drink half to three-fourths of a glass of water to keep your body hydrated while you sleep
If you suffer from Insomnia bath in skin temperature water. Remember not too hot or too cold it will shock you out of sleep
Open Windows to increase OXYGEN levels in the room. Keep the room fresh as you need oxygen to breathe not stale air
Create an ambience, nice soothing music, aromatic incense, camphor, whatever works for you as a soothing calming agent
Check your nostrils to see if they are clear and if not clear nostrils for a better oxygen intake
If you are aware of pranayama Breathing Practices, you may choose the Anulom Vilom and practice five rounds of the Pranayama before you sleep to clear nasal passages and lung areas of mucus
Massage feet, calves nape of the neck and shoulders. With a soft flower-based oil
If you are someone who suffers from Hay Fever, or you have a sneezing bout when you get up it is a good idea to rub a dab of oil in your belly button
When you lie down to rest for the first time Lie on your back but before you sleep turn on your left side
Yoga to Calm the Mind Before Sleep
Close down all your distractions. It can be social media, movies, the internet, or your phone. Shut down all of these before you go to sleep.
Shut down your TV as well. Late-night TV binge watching is not such a great idea after all
Tell yourself that this is your time for rest. Tell yourself that you are not going to think about your tensions or worries.
In case you are not able to find rest after about ten minutes in bed, do not worry about it. IN a notebook or notepad, you keep by your bedside write down all the thoughts that are preventing you from sleep
Take a notebook and keep it by your side.
Write down all the thoughts that you are having that prevent you from sleeping.
Below you write down your intention to take care of all of this in the morning or at a specific time that is feasible for you.
Now close the book and keep it away and say,’ now I am going to sleep.’
You are resting your thoughts. When your brain understands this, it will work in your Favour. This is an effective way to deal with your thoughts as well.
Give Gratitude before this Sleep Meditation
Before you go to sleep be grateful, practice gratitude. Think of any three things that you want to give gratitude for. If there are any intentions, you want to set for the next day now is a suitable time to do that as well.
This is a nice and effortless way to help you and bring yourself to sleep. This is an effective way of laying everything to rest before you go to sleep.
These are little principles or protocols that you can put into place. It is also your body and mind’s way of telling yourself that you are concluding this now and are going to put yourself to rest or to sleep.
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Benefits of Yoga Nidra
YOGA NIDRA STEP BY STEP
1. BREATH AWARENESS
Doing breathwork prior to sleep is especially important. Check your nostrils. Both should be unblocked to allow for unhindered breathing.
How to Unblock Your Nostrils with Pranayama
Suppose one of your nostrils is blocked, say your right nostril. Then place your thumb on the lobe of the right nostril and block it. Next, breathe slowly and deeply through the left nostril about ten or fifteen times
You will see that the right one will become clear. If the left nostril is not clear, then block it and breathe in deeply through the right nostril. This will clear the left nostril.
Breathing Exercises Before sleep
The first part of the meditation will be the breath work. Here we will practice the Anulom Vilom pranayama. If you had covid in the past or currently suffering from covid it is good to practice Bhramari pranayama as well.
We begin the meditation in a sitting position, back straight pulling our chest up a little stretching the spinal cord.
Take a couple of deep breaths to puff up your chest and expand your diaphragm.
Exhale gently pulling the abdomen in towards the spine.
Repeat with deep inhales and follow this with slow, gentle, happy, and complete exhales.
After 4 or 5 deep breaths get ready for the Pranayama Breathwork before Sleep.
Anulom Vilom or Alternate Nostril breath Best Before Sleep
- Fold your index and middle finger allowing it to touch your palm.
- This leaves your thumb, ring, and little finger open.
- As you move on to your fourth or fifth breath cycle, use your right thumb to block the right nostril, while breathing deeply with your left nostril.
- Then use your left thumb to block your left nostril and exhale from the right nostril completely.
- Alternate the nostrils.
- Now block your left nostril with your left thumb, utilizing the right nostril to take in a deep breath.
- Block the right nostril with your right thumb, exhaling completely from your left nostril.
- Do about four or five rounds of Pranayama for both nostrils
2. SANKALPA BEFORE YOGA NIDRA
After Anulom Vilom we form our intention or think about three things we feel grateful for. Do this before you lie down for this sleep meditation.
I Thank you universe for the gift of life.
I Thank you universe for my family.
I Thank you universe for the gift of my health.
Breathe in nice and deep and give gratitude, and once you have done that, we are ready to rest, relax and restore.
After this, we lie flat on our back with our feet in front of us and our hands by our side.
Yoga Nidra can be practised on a mat or a rug on the floor and a nice wide big sofa or your bed for that matter.
Stretch out, be sure to lie on your back. Lying on your back is a way of saying, ‘I am commending myself to mother nature.’
IMPORTANT
Remember before you fall asleep, turn to your left side. This helps the lungs breathe better and aids digestion.
The instructor for this Yoga Nidra meditation session, may not close the meditation but instead let the session fade out, rather than concluding it.
This approach is so that you achieve rest, relaxation and even sleep by the end of this Yoga Nidra Script and meditation. It is the instructor’s wish not to disrupt the blissful state that the participants achieve
PRACTICE THIS YOGA NIDRA MEDITATION SCRIPT FOR DEEP SLEEP
3. ROTATION OF AWARENESS FOR MUSCLE RELAXATION BY DENZIL OCONNELL
- You lie down flat on your back with your hands by your side and your feet outstretched in front of you.
- You are listening to Denzil O’Connell’s Yoga Nidra Meditation, focus on his voice as he helps you to rest, relax and restore.
- You can be on your sofa, or your bed or on a mat.
- On whatever you choose to lay down, just make sure your body fits on it and you feel comfortable.
- Continue to breathe nice and deep with gentle exhales.
Yoga Nidra Meditation Script Relaxing the Feet
- As you take a deep breath, I want you to push your feet out and away from yourself.
- As you exhale, I want you to bring your feet back to a relaxed position.
- As you breathe in push your feet away from yourself and as you breathe out bring your feet back to a relaxed position.
- You will see that tension is ebbing out of your feet.
- Repeat this step four times.
- I rest I relax, and I restore.
- I thank you, God.
- I thank you, Universe for the gift of my feet.
- My feet that help me to stand straight and tall.
- My feet that keep me balanced.
- My feet which is the connection to Mother Nature and Mother Earth.
- I thank you for my feet today.
- Thank you for my bones, the muscles, the cartilage, the blood vessels, the nerve endings, and all the mechanics in my feet.
- I Thank you today (Breathe in nice and deep)
(Pause for 3 to 5 seconds – a brief moment of quiet as we rest our body, rest our mind, rest our soul prior to the Yoga Nidra Sleep meditation)
Yoga Nidra Meditation Script Relaxing the Claves
- Breathing in nice and deep, we are lying flat on our backs. Hands by your side with your feet stretched out in front of you.
- Listening to Denzil O’Connell as you relax one muscle group at a time.
- I rest, I relax, and I restore.
- Now we direct our attention a little higher to the calf muscles.
- These muscles also allow us to walk and stand straight.
- As you breathe in deep, I want you to pull your feet in towards your face, tensing your calf muscles.
- As you exhale, I want you to allow your feet to relax easing the calf muscles.
- Repeat this step four times.
- I Thank you universe for the gift of my calves.
- I thank you for my bones, my muscles, the cartilages, the blood vessels, the nerves, and everything that makes up my calf muscles.
- This perfection allows me to stand straight, that gives me flexibility.
- They allow me to walk and see the world and all of its beauty.
- They give me movement so that I can travel.
- I thank you for my calves today.
(Pause – Breathe in nice and deep as you rest, relax, and restore)
Yoga Nidra Meditation Script Relaxing the Knees
- You are lying flat on your back.
- You are as comfortable as it can get.
- It is a lovely day, and you just bring in that loving relaxation for yourself.
- You are happy in the moment, and you are comfortable.
- You are in your own space of comfort, and you are breathing in deep as you relax one muscle group at a time (I rest, I relax, and I restore).
- Now we bring our attention to our knees.
- Relax, breathe in deep and exhale gently.
- There is energy flowing to the area of your knees.
- Just continue relaxing your knees and the areas that surround it.
- Envision energy going to your knees.
- You can massage your knees gently as you relax, breathing in nice and deep. (I rest, I relax, and I restore)
- Thank you, universe, for the gift of my knees.
- My knees allow me to believe because they hold me up.
- They allow me to bend.
- They allow me flexibility in my mind and in body.
- As you breathe in nice and deep, you are sending energy to your knees to rest, relax and restore
(Pause – Slowly you begin to realize that your body is relaxing, and you are in a nice secure place)
Yoga Nidra Meditation Script Relaxing the Thighs
- You are lying flat on your back.
- You are comfortable with your hands at your side and your feet stretched out as you rest, you relax, and you restore.
- Your eyes are closed, and you are comfortable with your body stretched out.
- You are relaxing your body, relax your mind, relax your soul.
- There is a lovely calm that is slowly and gently rolling into you right now (I rest, I relax, I restore).
- Breathing in nice and deep, I want to take your attention higher to your thighs.
- Keep breathing in nicely and deeply and tighten your thigh muscles, make them tight.
- As you release your breath, I want you to relax your thigh muscles, relax and relax. Repeat this step four times. (I rest, I relax, and I restore)
(Pause for a brief moment in before proceeding with the next step of this sleep meditation )
Yoga Nidra Meditation Script Relaxing the Lower Abdomen
- Breathe in nice and deep with slow, gentle, happy, and complete exhales.
- Let go of all the tension, all the stress.
- Let it go nice and easy to rest your mind, to rest your body, to rest your soul.
- (I rest my body to rest my mind, to rest my soul) Breathe this in nice and deep for yourself.
- You are in a state of comfort.
- You are nice and easy; you are smiling, and you are relaxing in your safe space.
- Just listening to me helps you to relax your body, one muscle group at a time.
- A lovely ocean of calm is floating in right now as we take our attention a little higher to the area of the lower abdomen.
- This region houses some of the most important organs of our body.
- Now as you are breathing in, I want you to tense the muscles of your butt.
- As you exhale, I want you to relax those muscles. (Do this three times)
- I Thank you universe for all of the organs in my lower abdomen.
- Thank you for my backbone.
- I thank you for my hip girdles.
- Thank you for all the muscles, ligaments, and cartilage, blood vessels, nerve endings, and everything else that makes up the environment of my lower abdomen.
- I thank you for my organs of excretion that allows me to let go of what is not needed in my body.
- I thank you for my organs of sexuality. (I rest, I relax, and I restore)
- Thank you, Universe, for giving me this lovely moment of calm.
- I thank you universe for giving me this night to rest.
(Pause – Just breathe this in, as a loving calm floats into you)
Yoga Nidra Meditation Script Relaxing the Abdomen
- Move your attention to the area of your abdomen.
- I want you to breathe in puffing up your stomach as much as you can and slowly breathe out allowing your abdomen to move in words towards your spine. Repeat this four times.
- Thank you, the Universe, for the gift of my abdomen and all the organs that are in it.
- Thank you for all these lovely organs that work 24/7 for my wellbeing.
- They bring me nutrition.
- They help me digest my food.
- Thank you, Universe, for my stomach, for my intestines, for my gallbladder, and for my liver.
- I thank you for my colon and pancreas.
- Thank you for my solar plexus.
- I thank you today.
(Pause – take a deep breath and let yourself breathe out gently – I rest, I relax, and I restore )
Yoga Nidra Meditation Script Relaxing the Chest region
- Breathing in nice and deep fresh oxygen that invigorates your body as you slowly bring your body to rest, to relax and to restore.
- Now move your attention to your chest.
- Allow yourself to take a deep breath and puff up your chest, and then slowly release your breath gently. Repeat X4
- This area of our body is so important – it houses two of the most vital functions – Your lungs and your heart.
- Let us thank our universe for our lungs and heart.
- My lungs and my heart tirelessly serve me.
- Every breath I take is brought into my body by my lungs.
- Thank you, Universe, today, I thank you God today for my lungs.
- They give me the breath of life.
- I thank you for my heart that tirelessly pumps oxygen and nutrition into my body and pulls out everything that I do not need.
- Thank you, Universe, today for my heart.
- I thank you for my Rib cage.
- They give me protection for my body and protection for my lungs and heart.
- I Thank you for my bones, my ligaments, for my cartilage and everything else that makes up my rib cage that allows it to expand and contract and expand again.
(Pause – Breathe this in nice and slow as you rest, you relax, and you restore in the midst of this sleep meditation)
Yoga Nidra Meditation Script Relaxing the Shoulders
- Breathing in nice and deep, you find this beautiful calm, it is like clouds rolling in and taking over your body. Taking over your mind and taking over your soul. (I rest I relax I restore)
- Now move your attention to your Shoulders.
- Breathe in nice and slow and as you do this, I want you to pull your shoulders up towards your face.
- When you breathe out, drop your shoulders, relax them, and relax. (Repeat x4)
- Thank you, Universe, for the gift of my shoulders, these shoulders on which my body hangs.
- My shoulders of responsibility, my shoulders of strength.
- I thank you for it today.
- I thank you for the form and the shape it gives my body.
- Breathing this in relaxes your body to relax your mind to relax your soul)
(Pause – let us breathe that in spending a moment in silence – I rest my body to rest my mind to rest my soul)
Yoga Nidra Meditation Script Relaxing the Arms Forearms and Hands
- You are lying down flat on your back.
- You have your legs stretched out in front of you and you have your hands by your side.
- You are in a safe space, your safe space.
- And I am getting you through relaxing your body one muscle group at a time, one body part at a time.
- Breathe this in nice and deep – I rest my body to rest my mind, to rest my soul.
- Now let us bring our attention to our hands and arms.
- As you breathe in, I want you to clench your fist completely and then as you exhale, I want you to open them up and relax. (Repeat x4)
- You see this tension going out of your muscles, from your arms, your forearms, your hands, and your fingers. Relaxation is happening now.
- Thank you, Universe, for my arms which allow me to carry the weight.
- Thank you for my forearms, muscles, ligaments, cartilage, and bones.
- I thank you for my hands.
- Thank you for my fingers which give me a sense of touch.
- Thank you for my arms that allow me to hold people close, whom I want to hold close.
- I thank you for them today.
(Pause – As I rest, I relax, and I restore. Thank you, Universe, that you have given me the ability to rest my mind, to rest my body and to rest my soul.)
Yoga Nidra Meditation Script Relaxing your Face
- Breathing in nice and deep, you are lying flat on your back, nice and easy at this moment and this lovely calm is just floating into you, giving you this lovely rest and relaxation after an exhausting day.
- You’re just bringing your body down to rest. Bringing your body to ease, to comfort yourself. (I rest, I relax, and I restore.)
- Now we take our attention to our face, a beautiful face, and yes, we are smiling.
- Taking a deep breath, I want to squeeze your eyes, squeeze them tight.
- As you exhale, I want you to relax them, and you relax, relax. (Repeat x4)
- You are relaxing your facial muscles – your eyes, your nose, and your jaws.
- You are relaxing your mouth and your ears.
- You are also relaxing all the senses located in this area.
- I thank you universe for all these senses.
- I thank you for my face – it is beautiful.
- Thank you for my skull and all the organs within it.
- I thank you for all of it as I rest, I relax, and I restore.
- Thank you, Universe, for life – it is beautiful.
- Thank you for this moment, it brought me relaxation.
As you breathe in, I want you to take a good, strong breath right up to the top of your head and slowly and gently you exhale, and you relax. (Repeat X4)
(Pause – I relax my body to relax my mind, to relax my soul. As you breathe in nice and deep you have relaxed your body one muscle group at a time.)
- As I breathe in this beautiful fresh air into my body, I bring my body down to rest, to relax and to restore.
- I rest, I relax, and I restore – Breathing that in you let your body go now as you rest, you relax, and you restore.
FADE OUT THE Yoga Nidra Meditation Script
