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Savasana is sacred space.
As your Yin Yoga practice journey comes to a close, Savasana becomes a sanctuary, a time of rest and restoration where your physical tissues can soften and settle from head to toe. It’s a moment to integrate all aspects of ourselves…mind, body, energy, and heart, blending the benefits of our practice into a harmonious whole.
In Yin Yoga, we cultivate physical relaxation through long-held, nourishing postures. Rest at the end is essential, not just for the recovery of our Yin tissues, but for our whole being. Absolute rest is where deepest healing takes root, insights settle, and we reconnect with our truest selves.
Yet, even after Yin, the mind may still feel restless, lingering in thought or holding subtle tensions. Sometimes, fully surrendering in Savasana can feel challenging. This is where Yoga Nidra gently guides us beyond habitual patterns, inviting a deeper state of rest where healing and integration unfold on a profound level.
As we slow down and soften in Yin, our brainwaves gradually shift from the fast-paced beta waves associated with active thinking to the smoother alpha waves that mirror a contemplative, easeful meditative state. This slowing of brain activity places us at the threshold of theta waves, where the subconscious mind opens and insightful, dreamlike states emerge. Yoga Nidra carries us to this theta state, guiding the mind into effortless relaxation, inviting a complete release of tensions and resistance.
Yin and Nidra come together like a quiet tide, softening the edges of your being and inviting effortless rest and pure bliss.
Combining the physical release of Yin with the subconscious ease of Nidra creates a sense of wholeness and balance that goes beyond either practice alone. More than just rest, it’s a ritual of restoration and a sanctuary of presence that lingers long after the practice has ended.
Our practice becomes a homecoming to surrender and integrate, to rest in the boundless bliss of our radiant being and help our students do the same.
There are so many ways to infuse elements of Yoga Nidra into Savasana - whether through body scans, breath sensing, or inspiring visualizations. Each approach offers a unique experience, allowing you to create a sacred space of deep rest and renewal.
🌿 If you’d like to weave Yoga Nidra into your Savasana, I’m sharing this complimentary Yoga Nidra Mini Script as a simple way to create a Yin Savasana sanctuary.
This script is a variation from my Yin Yoga & Meditation book, which features a wide range of guided meditation scripts for presence, relaxation, and insight.
Yoga Nidra Mini Practice - For Your Savasana Sanctuary
Let this script inspire you to guide your students into a profound state of ease and integration at the end of their class journey. As always, trust your intuition. Use the script as a foundation, allowing it to reflect your unique voice and gently fold into the love and presence you already bring to your teaching. 💛
Preparations
For your Savasana experience, the position you choose depends on what feels most nurturing for your body and spirit in this moment.
Whatever posture you pick, what matters most is that you feel snug, relaxed, and able to breathe with ease.
You might try the back-lying position of Savasana.
Lie on your back with your legs extended down the mat. (pause)
Let your feet rest a little wider than hip-width apart, giving space for your hips and low back to release completely onto the earth. (pause)
Adjust your legs until they feel supported and balanced, letting your toes naturally fall in or out, whatever feels most at ease. (pause)
For extra support, try placing a low block or rolled-up blanket under your knees to help your low back and hips relax more fully. (pause)
You might also enjoy a folded blanket resting gently on your belly or chest, just light enough to feel grounding without restricting your breath. (pause)
If your legs feel heavy or strained, placing under your knees, draping your lower legs over it. (pause)
Your arms can rest at your sides or reach overhead, letting your fingers gently spread out. (pause)
As your body cools with relaxation, covering yourself with a blanket can help keep you comfortably warm. (pause)
Take your time to adjust your body, position, and props to find your most comfortable and supported Savasana. (long pause)
If lying flat on your back doesn’t feel right, explore alternate positions that offer the most ease and support for your body. (pause)
Rest in Savasana with your eyes open or closed, whatever feels most soothing and supports a natural, inward-turning awareness.
If your eyes are closed, perhaps you’d like to cover them with a light eye pillow or kerchief.
If any form of discomfort arises during Savasana, try to watch it, offering it a little space. If it persists, you’re always welcome to open your eyes, shift your position, call to mind someone or something that is safe and reassuring, or exit the post. This is your practice.
If you fall asleep, that’s perfectly okay!
Yoga Nidra is an adaptogenic practice. It collaborates with your body and spirit to offer exactly what you need in the moment.
Trust that as your body receives deep rest and renewal, your need for sleep will naturally diminish.
Find the familiar internal breeze of your effortless breath as you let your physical body sink more completely onto the earth beneath you. (pause)
Take a deep breath in, then sigh it completely out. (pause)
Here you are, right here, just where you are meant to be.
Now is your time to let everything go and fully relax into this time and place…stillness more satisfying than movement, all of you calm and relaxed.
Inhabit effortlessness in this moment and enjoy the grace of this space where the body and spirit are one.
Here you are with your heart open and settled for this spacious encounter with the universe around and inside you, held safe and close to the earth.
Allow your whole body to lean into the support beneath you, earth holding your whole body, breath flowing with ease, no effort required.
Watch with warmth and welcome for this time, your naturally loving heart a curious and compassionate observer.
Connecting with Sankalpa, The Heart’s Intention
If you’d like, take these moments to set an intention for your rest.
A Sankalpa is a heart-empowered intention.
It’s a deep, soulful resolve that aligns with your truest desires. (pause)
It may be something you've cultiivated in your practice today.
It may represent a gift you’d like to be in the world, a positive change you wish to make, or a statement of your deepest longings. (pause)
It is brief, distilled into a few words, and spoken in the present tense.
Some examples of Sankalpa are: I live in harmony, I offer love to all, I am healed, I live in joy.
See what your heart whispers to you. (long pause)
Say your Sankalpa to yourself three times, and as you repeat it, let your whole being be filled with trust that it will come to pass. (long pause)
Envision how it looks and feels, how it inspires you, and how it serves as a gift to those around you. (long pause)
Rotation of Awareness/Awareness of the Breath
As a way to enter into the deep rest of Savasana, you’re invited to use your breath and your awareness to help you experience complete relaxation and peace. (pause)
Let the breath and attention go to each part as you breathe quietly and easefully through the nose.
There’s no need to move the body itself.
Simply move your breath through the body by focusing your attention on each part.
Inhale and exhale effortlessly as though directly into and out of the parts of the body, letting any stress or tension pour slowly out with exhalation. (pause)
To begin, bring your attention to the crown of your head.
Let your attention rest at the crown of the head. (pause)
Breathe gently in, letting your your breath move itself into and through the crown of the head. (pause)
As you exhale, notice how tension in the top of the head dissolves. (pause)
Bring your awareness now to the forehead, the eyes, the mouth, the chin. (pause)
Inhale, becoming aware of any tension. (pause)
As you exhale, let softness flow through the forehead, eyes, mouth, and jaw. (pause)
Feel softness flow, too, through the mind, allowing any thoughts or mental tensions to flow effortlessly through you and away from you, out of your body, out of your mind. (pause)
Go slowly with your attention and send your breath down the neck into the shoulders, the chest, the back. (pause)
Quietly breathe in and out from the upper torso. Feel any tightness vanishing away with each exhale. (pause)
Let your awareness slide down the arms, feel the breath move into each part of both arms, at once. (pause)
Breathe in and out, letting the breath go through the upper arm, elbow, lower arm, hands, and the tips of the fingers. (pause)
Allow the breath to be natural. Feel it carrying away all tension. (pause)
Mentally move your attention now into the abdomen. (pause)
Inhale and exhale from within the lower torso. (pause)
Allow any tensions to flow away from this place. (pause)
Again inhale, and as you slowly exhale, feel the belly softening even more. (pause)
With your mind, go now to the hips and legs. (pause)
Inhale and exhale from the hips, thighs, and lower legs. (pause)
Inhale fully, then exhale fully, breath flowing through the entire length of the legs. (pause)
One more time, gently inhale, then easefully exhale. (pause)
Feel the breath relaxing, releasing, and clearing the lower half of the body. (pause)
Next, move your attention to the feet. (pause)
Breathe in and out of the feet and toes, inhaling and exhaling, tensions releasing. (pause)
Now glide your awareness upward to the chest space and begin to breathe into the heart center. (pause)
As you exhale, allow the feeling of relaxation to flow through this place, sense all concerns drifting away on the breeze of the breath. (pause)
Soothing and easeful, each movement of the breath fills the chest and then empties from the chest. (pause)
Continue to breathe effortlessly, the natural breath coming in and going out from the center of the heart. (pause)
Feel the heart calm…completely relaxed…at ease.
Now the whole body.
Bring your awareness to the whole body...aware of your whole body, all at once. (pause)
Inhale into the whole body...effortless and slow...into the whole body, all at once.
Exhale now from the whole body...easeful and slow...from the whole body, all at once.
Feel the whole body relaxed…the whole body calm…the whole body free of any tensions or cares.
Your whole being completely calm…completely relaxed...and at ease. (pause)
Resting in Joy
Bring your awareness deep into the center of the chest, into the heartspace.
Sense your awareness residing deep within the heartspace. (pause)
Allow your awareness to utterly empty of words, thoughts, pictures, and memories. (pause)
With your awareness deep in silence and stillness, rest fully in the boundless space of your heart.
All of your awareness is relaxing into this place completely, everything else falling away…only deep stillness, deep silence, there in the middle of the heart, the boundless space of your radiant spirit. (long pause 1-3min)
Reaffirming the Heart’s Intention
Recall now your Sankalpa from the beginning. (pause)
Say it with your mind, repeating it three times with full faith and sincerity. (long pause)
Feel the echo of your intention resonate through your entire being. (long pause)
Returning & Reflection
Gently begin to bring your awareness back to your body. (pause)
Sense the weight of your physical form resting on the earth, noticing the points of contact where you feel most supported. (pause)
Invite your breath to become a bit deeper and fuller, letting it flow through you like a soft wave.
Feel the rise and fall of your belly and chest, anchoring you back into the present. (pause)
As your awareness continues to awaken, begin to envision your surroundings.
In your mind’s eye, see the space that holds you, the quiet sanctuary you’ve created. (pause)
Let the sounds, textures, and subtle energies of the room gently return to your awareness. (pause)
When you’re ready, start to move slowly and mindfully, maybe wiggling your fingers and toes, circling your wrists and ankles, or stretching long and spacious. (pause)
Take your time, honoring the stillness and peace that remain within you. (pause)
Before rising, pause for a moment to absorb the gifts of your practice journey.
Allow a feeling of gratitude and grace to settle into your heart, knowing that the peace you’ve cultivated here remains with you. (long pause)
When you feel ready, slowly open your eyes, letting the light and colors of the world gently come back into focus.
Carry the calm and clarity of your practice with you as you move forward into your day. (pause)
🌸 Looking for more inspiration?
If you’ve enjoyed this Yoga Nidra Mini Script, you might love exploring my Yoga Nidra book, a beautiful resource that contains 30 unique scripts, filled with visualizations, along with mudras, mantras, and creative activities that can be seamlessly integrated into Yin classes. Let your teaching and personal practice blossom with fresh ideas and nourishing practices. 💜 Discover the book HERE.
🌿 Looking to deepen your Yin Yoga practice?
Explore my Yin Yoga and Meditation book, a rich resource filled with a variety of Yoga meditation scripts designed to support your teaching and personal practice, including mindfulness meditations, Yoga Nidra for deep relaxation, Taoist energy work, and breathwork techniques. Discover guided practices that cultivate stillness, compassionate awareness, and inner peace, perfect for creating a deeply restorative experience on and off the mat. Find out more here HERE.
💜 Want to experience this Yoga Nidra Mini practice firsthand?
You can try it out on my YouTube channel whenever you’re ready to unwind and recharge. Just press play and let yourself be guided into deep rest and renewal. Find it here: HERE.
