WHOOP Podcast - Experience a Non-Sleep Deep Rest Journey with Kristen Holmes

Episode Date: March 13, 2024

On this week’s episode, with World Sleep Day right around the corner, WHOOP Global Head of Human Performance, Principal Scientist, Kristen Holmes is here to guide you through a Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) session. This session will help you prepare for sleep and enter a state of relaxation to promote a higher quality night’s sleep. If you are a WHOOP member, you can track this activity in the WHOOP app. So be sure to have that activity started as you listen to this episode. Kristen will explain what NSDR is (1:30), the numerous benefits of NSDR (2:26), and lead listeners on a guided NSDR session (3:54).Support the showFollow WHOOP: www.whoop.com Trial WHOOP for Free Instagram TikTok YouTube X Facebook LinkedIn Follow Will Ahmed: Instagram X LinkedIn Follow Kristen Holmes: Instagram LinkedIn Follow Emily Capodilupo: LinkedIn

Hello, folks, welcome back to the WOOP podcast. I'm your host, Will Ahmed, founder and CEO of Woop. We're on a mission to unlock human performance. We got a great episode for you today ahead of World Sleep Day. That's March 15th. So if you're listening to this episode in the morning or during the day, hit pause and come back to it before you go to bed tonight. Well, I'm just kidding.

You can listen to it whenever you want, but this is a good one for sleep. All right, on this week's episode, Whoop Global Head of Human Performance, our principal scientist, the brilliant Kristen Holmes, is here to guide you through a non-sleep, deep rest session, NSDR session. This session will help you prepare for sleep

and enter a state of relaxation to promote a higher quality nights sleep. If you're a WOOP member, you can track this activity in the WOOP app, so be sure to have an activity started as you listen to this episode. Christian discusses what is non-sleep deep rest, NSDR, the benefits of NSDR, and does a guided NSDR session.

This is pretty terrific. All right, if you have a question, rest answered on the podcast, email us, podcast, whoop.com. Call us 508, 443, 4952. You can try whoop for free. That's whoop.com. Without further ado, here is Kristen Holmes

and our NSDR session. Hello everyone. Kristen Holmes here. I am excited for today's session. I'm going to take you through a guided non-sleep deep rest practice. Non-sleep deep rest or NSDR is also known as Yoga NEDRA and it is a powerful way to replace sleep you have lost or simply to enter a state of deep relaxation. You can imagine using yoga nidra when you've experienced a short sleep. or perhaps didn't have as restful a night of sleep as you wanted, or if you struggle napping, NSDR is an awesome alternative. I think what's really exciting about this modality is it's been shown to help facilitate the quality of your recovery by quickly resetting your nervous system through a release of stress and tension that is often held in the body. The benefits from NSDR come from what happens to the mind and body while you're practicing.

The brain slows down, entering into slower brainwave length states, which move you deeper into the subconscious mind. While the body rests, it starts to restore just as your body does when you sleep at night. The benefits of a single session of NSDR include, but are not limited to, decrease, stress and anxiety, increase in dopamine, serotonin, and melatonin, improvements in your relaxation response, better nighttime sleep, reductions in time to sleep. It can help you recover from illness, increase resilience and self-awareness of the mind and body, improved capacity to handle emotions, and improving your thoughts and help you create through habits that support a life of joy. As with anything you embark on, it's important to get permission from your medical

doctor before you start any of these types of exercises. The script that I'm about to share is 15 minutes in length, and it's designed to offer you a quick practice of deep relaxation. I will guide you through a mind-body scan, through a rotation of consciousness, and awareness of breath. You will also have the opportunity to rest in silence for a brief moment. To start, get yourself a seat or lay down really any position that feels comfortable to you. You can cover your eyes, close them, or simply take on a soft gaze. Consider covering yourself with a blanket so you stay cozy and warm as you move deeper into relaxation. All right, here we go. To start, we're going to take three nice deep breaths in through the nose where you will hold for a count of three

and then you'll exhale out of the mouth or the nose for a count of six. Let's begin. Inhale through the nose for three. Exhale out of the mouth for six. Inhale. Inhale. And exhale. Inhale

and exhale. And exhale. begin to relax the body even deeper letting the head become really heavy so heavy that the neck feels like it can completely relax relaxing your shoulders mentally relax any tension you feel in your face allow your forehead to soften gently calming down the movements of your eyes relax your jaw and let the tongue move away from the roof of the mouth relax the neck and collar bones relax your torso and release any tension you feel in your hips make any final adjustments to your legs feeling the upper legs and lower legs completely relax all the way down to the toes

the whole body should now feel supported and able to rest call forth your attention for the practice invite your highest intention or commitment for the session and silently repeat your commitment three times. If you do not have an intention you are working with, maybe borrow the following. I commit to finding healing in this practice. Now take your intention and repeat three times. Moving deeper into the practice, beginning with a rotation of consciousness. As you follow along, the body scan will allow your awareness to drift from one place to the next. Bring all of your awareness to the top of your head.

Center that awareness on your forehead. Then move to the tip of the nose. Feel the air moving in and out of your nose. Now move your awareness to your right eye, your right eyebrow, your right temple, and your right cheek. Now move your awareness to the left eye, to your left eyebrow, and then to the temple and the cheek.

Go back to the tip of the nose. Feel the air moving in and out of the nose. Bring your awareness to your right nostrils. your left nostril, your right cheek, your left cheek, and now to your lips, your upper, and your lower. Now move your awareness to the tip of your tongue. the root of the tongue, the center of the throat, the hollow pit of the throat. Now move your awareness to the center of the chest. Focus your attention to the right side of the chest. Your right shoulder, right elbow, your wrist, palm of the hand, back of the hand, the tip of the right hand thumb, your index finger, your middle finger, your ring finger,

and your little finger. Bring your awareness to your right waist, your right hip, your knee, your ankle, and now to the bottom of your foot. Move to the top of your foot. your right big toe, your second toe, third toe, fourth toe, and fifth toe.

Feel and sense the base of your spine, the low back, the midback, your right shoulder blade, your left shoulder blade, your upper back. Now bring your attention back to your head. Now bring your awareness to the entire back of the body all at once. and now move to the front of the body. Feel and sense the whole body, the whole body at once. Awareness of the whole body. Feeling and noticing all of the body,

bring your awareness to your breath. notice your breath feeling and sensing the natural breath moving in and out the natural breath without changing or altering the way you breathe can you imagine now inhaling a golden light through the soles of your feet all the way you breathe all the way to the mind's eye and then exhaling from the mind's eye to the soles of the feet. Inhale, souls of the feet to the crown of the head. Exhale, natural breath from the crown of the head to the souls of the feet. Let's try that one more time. Inhale, souls of the feet. feet to the crown of the head and exhale natural breath from the crown of the head to the souls of the feet continuing this awareness of the natural breath observing the energy

and the golden light moving from the soles of the feet to the top of the head all the way back down from the top of the head to the soles of the feet feel the light moving through your body now let that light go let it exit your body rest here in silence be a witness to the full expansion

of your heart and of your true self. Rest in silence for a couple minutes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now welcome back your intention. Silently repeat three times your heart's intention.

Become aware of your thoughts, emotions and feelings you have in your body right now. Tuning into the breath, take a nice, deep inhale through the nose, and exhale deep. feel your body support you take notice of the sounds in the room or outside begin to sense your surroundings and the things close to you. Take a few small movements of the body that feel right to you. And when you're ready, you may open your eyes slowly. Thank you for joining us today. Big thank you to Kristen for this amazing non-sleep deep rest session.

be sure to use it at night before bed and track NSDR in the WOOP app to see how it can impact your sleep in your cover. If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, please subscribe to the WOOP podcast. Leave a rating or review. Check us out on social at Woop, at Will Ahmed,

at Kristen underscore Homes 2126. Have a question. What's the answer on the podcast? Email us, podcast at Woop.com. Call us 508-443-9552. If you want to join WOOP, You can check it out for free 30 days, free trial membership. That's just whoop.com.

New members can use the code will, W-I-L, to get a $60 credit on WOOP accessories. All right, folks, that's a wrap. Thank you for listening. We'll catch you next week on the WOOP podcast. As always, stay healthy and stay in the green.