Ten minutes, four segments. The rotation is abbreviated rather than rushed: fewer parts, same unbroken pace.
Settling and sankalpa
2 min[brisker than a full nidra — they have chosen the short one because time is short]
Ten minutes of yoga nidra. Lie on your back if you can, arms a little away from your sides, palms up. A chair is fine too. Cover yourself if you're likely to cool down. [pause for 20 seconds]
Stay physically still from here. Stillness is what holds you on the edge between waking and sleeping, which is where the practice happens.
Your sankalpa — a short sentence in the present tense, as though it were already true. I am at ease. I meet things as they are. Choose one now. [pause for 20 seconds]
Repeat it silently three times, with everything you have. [pause for 15 seconds]
Rotation of consciousness
4 min[one part per second, no gaps — the speed is the technique and shortening the list must not slow it down]
Now the rotation. Don't move the part and don't think about it — hear the word, let awareness land, move on.
Right hand. Thumb. Fingers. Palm. Wrist. Forearm. Elbow. Upper arm. Shoulder. Right side of the chest. Right hip. Thigh. Knee. Calf. Ankle. Heel. Sole. Toes.
Left hand. Thumb. Fingers. Palm. Wrist. Forearm. Elbow. Upper arm. Shoulder. Left side of the chest. Left hip. Thigh. Knee. Calf. Ankle. Heel. Sole. Toes.
The back. Both shoulder blades. The spine. The whole back against the floor.
The front. Crown of the head. Forehead. The space between the eyebrows. Both eyelids. Cheeks. Nose. Lips. Chin. Throat. Chest. Navel. Abdomen.
And the whole body at once. [pause for 30 seconds — the first silence since the rotation started]
Pairs of opposites
2 min[one pair only in the short version — heaviness and lightness; adding more turns ten minutes into fifteen]
Now feel heaviness. The whole body heavy, sinking, too heavy to lift. [pause for 30 seconds]
And now lightness. Weightless, barely touching the floor, as though you could float up from it. [pause for 30 seconds]
And let both go.
Sankalpa and returning
2 min[bring the voice up gradually across the last three lines]
Repeat your sankalpa. The same sentence, three times, with the same conviction as at the start. [pause for 20 seconds]
Become aware of the room. The floor beneath you. Sounds in the building and outside it. [pause for 15 seconds, then lift the voice]
Move your fingers and toes. Take a deeper breath. Stretch if you'd like to.
Roll onto your right side before you sit up. Yoga nidra is complete.