20-Minute Yoga Nidra Script (Full Text, with Timings)
Written and reviewed by The Kriya Yogi · Updated 19 September 2026
Twenty minutes is the length most people settle on: long enough for the full classic structure — settling, intention, body rotation, breath, opposite sensations, return — and short enough to do after work without negotiating with yourself. This script is written out completely, with timings, so you can read it aloud or record it once and use it for months.
The short answers
- A complete twenty-minute script with the full classic structure and marked timings.
- Structure: settle (3 min), sankalpa (1 min), body rotation (7 min), breath (3 min), opposites (3 min), return (3 min).
- The sankalpa — a short, present-tense intention — is optional; skip it if it feels contrived.
- Pairs of opposites are included here because at this length there is room for them.
- Read at roughly 100 words per minute and keep the bracketed pauses as full silences.
- Set up warmth and knee support before you begin; comfort decides whether twenty minutes feels long.
Before you begin
On your back, blanket under the head, a bolster or rolled blanket under the knees, and a blanket over the body. Twenty minutes of stillness cools the body more than people expect. Chair or side-lying versions are fine.
Decide before you start whether you will use a sankalpa. It is a single short resolve, phrased in the present tense — something like I am at ease or I practise every day. If that feels artificial to you, leave the section out; the practice works without it. There is more on this in the sankalpa guide.
The script
[Begin. Ten seconds of silence.]
Settle into the position you have made. Let the body be heavy. Let the floor take the weight of the shoulders, the pelvis, the legs.
Feel the contact points, one at a time. The back of the head. The shoulder blades. The arms. The hips. The backs of the thighs. The calves. The heels.
[Pause, 20 seconds.]
Let the face soften — forehead, the small muscles around the eyes, the jaw, the tongue. Let the shoulders drop back and down.
Listen to the most distant sound you can hear. Then the nearest sound. Then all the sound in the room at once, without choosing between them.
[Pause, 30 seconds.]
Make the resolve to stay awake. Not tense, not effortful — simply awake and listening for the next twenty minutes.
[Pause, 20 seconds.]
If you have a sankalpa, repeat it now silently, three times, clearly, as though it were already true.
[Pause, 40 seconds.]
Now the rotation of consciousness. Awareness moves through the body as each part is named. Nothing to feel, nothing to change. Simply hear, and let attention pass.
Right hand thumb. Second finger. Third finger. Fourth finger. Fifth finger. Palm. Back of the hand. Wrist. Lower arm. Elbow. Upper arm. Shoulder. Armpit. Right side of the ribs. Right waist. Right hip. Right thigh. Knee. Shin. Calf. Ankle. Heel. Sole. Top of the foot. Big toe. Second toe. Third toe. Fourth toe. Fifth toe.
[Pause, 15 seconds.]
Left hand thumb. Second finger. Third finger. Fourth finger. Fifth finger. Palm. Back of the hand. Wrist. Lower arm. Elbow. Upper arm. Shoulder. Armpit. Left side of the ribs. Left waist. Left hip. Left thigh. Knee. Shin. Calf. Ankle. Heel. Sole. Top of the foot. Big toe. Second toe. Third toe. Fourth toe. Fifth toe.
[Pause, 15 seconds.]
Now the back of the body. Back of the head. Right shoulder blade. Left shoulder blade. The space between them. Right side of the back. Left side of the back. The whole upper back. The whole lower back. The back of the pelvis. Both buttocks. The whole back body, resting.
[Pause, 15 seconds.]
Now the front. Crown of the head. Forehead. Right temple. Left temple. Right eyebrow. Left eyebrow. The space between the eyebrows. Right eyelid. Left eyelid. Right eye. Left eye. Right ear. Left ear. Right cheek. Left cheek. Nose. Tip of the nose. Upper lip. Lower lip. Both lips together. Chin. Jaw. Throat. Right collarbone. Left collarbone. Right chest. Left chest. Centre of the chest. Upper abdomen. Navel. Lower abdomen. Right groin. Left groin.
[Pause, 20 seconds.]
The whole right side of the body. The whole left side. The whole back. The whole front. The whole body together, lying still on the floor.
[Pause, 40 seconds.]
Now let awareness rest at the abdomen, where the breath moves. Do not change the breath. Simply notice it arriving, and leaving.
[Pause, 30 seconds.]
Count the breath backwards from twenty-one. Silently: twenty-one, breathing in; twenty-one, breathing out. Twenty, breathing in; twenty, breathing out. Continue at your own pace towards one. If the count is lost, return to twenty-one without irritation.
[Pause, 2 minutes.]
Let the counting dissolve. Let the breath simply happen.
[Pause, 20 seconds.]
Now pairs of opposite sensations. Recall the feeling of heaviness. The body heavy, sinking, dense. Let heaviness spread through the whole body.
[Pause, 30 seconds.]
Now lightness. The body light, weightless, as if floating a little above the floor.
[Pause, 30 seconds.]
Now heaviness and lightness together, held in the same awareness.
[Pause, 20 seconds.]
Let both go. Rest with the body as it is.
[Pause, 30 seconds.]
Begin to return. Notice the room. The sound of the room. The air on the skin. The surface beneath the body.
Let the breath deepen a little. Let the fingers move, then the toes. Small movements, slowly. Stretch if the body asks for it.
Roll onto one side, and stay there for a few breaths.
[Pause, 30 seconds.]
Come up to sitting when you are ready, eyes closed at first, then opening slowly.
The practice is complete.
Notes for teachers
Twenty minutes read aloud is roughly 1,800–2,000 words including silences; this script deliberately contains fewer words than that, because the silences do the work. Resist filling them. If you are teaching a room, the rotation should be almost monotone — variation in your voice pulls attention back to you.
The 10-minute script is the same structure compressed; the 30-minute script adds a longer rotation and imagery. To write your own, see how to write a Yoga Nidra script.
How to use it
Prepare warmth and support
Blanket under the head, support under the knees, blanket on top. Twenty minutes of stillness cools the body noticeably.
Decide about the sankalpa
One short present-tense resolve, or none at all. A forced intention distracts more than it helps.
Settle before rotating
Three minutes of contact points, face softening and sound listening. Rushing this makes the rotation feel like a list.
Keep the rotation monotone
Even pace, no emphasis, no invitation to feel anything. Roughly seven minutes for the full sequence.
Count down from twenty-one
Silently, at the listener's own pace, returning to twenty-one whenever the count is lost.
Return in stages
Sound, air, surface, breath, fingers and toes, side-lying, sitting. Three unhurried minutes.
Cautions worth reading
- Yoga Nidra is guided rest, not treatment. If you live with trauma, dissociation, psychosis or severe insomnia, keep sessions short, stay with body and breath rather than imagery, and work alongside a clinician rather than self-prescribing long practices. Never listen while driving or operating anything.
- Never listen to a recording while driving or operating machinery.
- In pregnancy, practise side-lying with support rather than flat on the back, particularly after the first trimester.
- If imagery or the pairs of opposites feel unsettling, stay with the body rotation and the breath count.
- Yoga Nidra is not a treatment for insomnia, anxiety or depression; see a clinician for those.
Where the evidence stands
Studies of Yoga Nidra tend to use sessions in roughly this range, typically eleven to thirty minutes, and report improvements in self-reported stress, sleep quality and wellbeing in small samples over a few weeks. The research is early: samples are modest, blinding is difficult, control conditions vary, and follow-up is usually short. That is enough to say the practice is plausibly useful for how rested and settled people feel, and not enough to say it treats any condition.
Questions people ask
+ How long should a Yoga Nidra session be?
+ What is the structure of a 20-minute Yoga Nidra?
+ Do I need a sankalpa?
+ How many words is a 20-minute script?
+ Can I use this script in my own class?
+ Is Yoga Nidra better than a nap?
Sources
- Satyananda Saraswati, *Yoga Nidra*, Bihar School of Yoga — the source of the modern method and of the rotation of consciousness.
- James Mallinson & Mark Singleton, *Roots of Yoga* (Penguin Classics, 2017) — on nyasa, the older tantric practice of placing awareness at named points.
- Richard Miller, *iRest Meditation* — on the clinical adaptation of the practice.
- Datta, Tripathi & Mallick, 'Yoga Nidra: An innovative approach for management of chronic insomnia', *Sleep Science Practice*, 2017 — small, early work.
- Moszeik, von Oertzen & Renner, 'Effectiveness of a short audio-based Yoga Nidra meditation on stress, sleep and wellbeing', *Current Psychology*, 2020.
Educational content, not medical advice. Check with a doctor before starting new practices if you have a health condition or are pregnant.