You may need six to nine hours of good sleep nightly, but are you getting it? Clearing away the chaos of the day isn’t always easy. Sometimes just getting to sleep proves difficult. But sleep is how the body and brain heal and cells renew. Yoga nidra (“yogic sleep”) involves deep conscious relaxation to release muscle tension and emotions trapped in your subconscious after a hectic day. Do yoga nidra as your body hits those cool cotton sheets. Deep, restorative sleep will soon engulf you.
1. Lie in the Corpse Pose (Savasana).
2. Focus your attention on the right foot and ankle.
3. Move your attention slowly up the whole limb. Relax it.
4. Repeat the process for the left lower limb.
5. Mentally check in with your pelvis, tummy, and torso.
6. Shift your attention to your right shoulder and guide your attention along the arm down to your hand and fingers. Feel the whole limb relax.
7. Repeat step 6 for the left shoulder, arm, and hand.
8. Breathe in, breathe out with an awareness of all the sensations in your body.
9. Turn onto your right side, where left-nostril breathing cools your body (lying on your right side means the left nostril is higher than the right and air flows easily and without restriction through the left). Relax.
10. Roll onto your back. Deepen the relaxation until you cross the threshold into restorative sleep.