10 Minute Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) to Restore Mental & Physical Energy | Dr. Andrew Huberman
00:00:00.000 | Welcome to this 10-minute non-sleep deep rest protocol.
00:00:10.120 | Non-sleep deep rest is a powerful tool that can allow you to control the relaxation state
00:00:14.720 | of your nervous system and your overall state of mind.
00:00:19.920 | It can restore mental and physical vigor, and it can be done any time of day or night.
00:00:27.600 | It's very simple to do.
00:00:30.360 | You'll want to do this protocol seated or lying down.
00:00:35.080 | So if you're not already seated or lying down, please do so now.
00:00:41.440 | You'll also want to close your eyes.
00:00:44.300 | So if your eyes aren't already closed, please close them now.
00:00:50.400 | Throughout this protocol, you'll want to breathe normally, unless instructed to do otherwise.
00:01:00.200 | One pattern of breathing you'll be asked to do is to inhale deeply, ideally through your
00:01:04.660 | nose.
00:01:06.080 | But if you can't do it through your nose, inhale through your mouth.
00:01:10.560 | Try that now.
00:01:13.200 | Inhale deeply through your nose, and then exhale all of your air through your mouth.
00:01:24.920 | Let's do that again.
00:01:27.160 | Inhale deeply through your nose, and then exhale completely through your mouth.
00:01:33.960 | And as you exhale, exhale through thinly pursed lips, as if through a small straw.
00:01:43.360 | Let's repeat that two more times.
00:01:46.640 | Inhale deeply through your nose, and then exhale completely through thinly pursed lips.
00:02:00.300 | One more time.
00:02:03.320 | Inhale deeply through your nose, and then exhale completely through your mouth through
00:02:12.280 | thinly pursed lips.
00:02:20.760 | Breathing in that way, that is, inhaling deeply through your nose, and then exhaling completely
00:02:27.400 | through the mouth through thinly pursed lips, is known to slow your heart rate down and
00:02:33.920 | relax your nervous system.
00:02:39.520 | Feel free now to simply breathe normally.
00:02:46.760 | Now in your mind's eye, imagine yourself standing over yourself, looking at your body, which
00:02:54.080 | is seated or lying down, and imagine holding a flashlight or a spotlight and directing
00:03:01.360 | it at your feet.
00:03:05.200 | Focus your attention on whatever it is that your feet happen to be in contact with.
00:03:11.000 | It could be socks, sandals, shoes, or merely the air.
00:03:17.520 | It doesn't matter.
00:03:20.440 | Focus your attention specifically on the bottoms of your feet and try to perceive whatever
00:03:25.600 | it is they are sensing.
00:03:29.480 | They could be tingling, they could even be numb.
00:03:33.280 | It doesn't matter.
00:03:37.960 | Now imagine expanding that spotlight to include the tops of your feet, your shins, your calves.
00:03:49.560 | Expanding that spotlight further to include your thighs, your hamstrings, and up to your
00:03:56.280 | waist.
00:03:58.880 | Now, with your entire lower body illuminated inside the beam of light from that spotlight,
00:04:07.240 | inhale deeply through your nose or through your mouth, and then exhale completely through
00:04:17.460 | thinly pursed lips until your lungs are empty.
00:04:28.600 | Repeat that twice more, and each time as you exhale, imagine your lower body sinking down
00:04:36.560 | about a centimeter into whatever surface you happen to be in contact with now.
00:04:58.900 | Now move the spotlight to your abdomen and focus your attention on whatever it is your
00:05:04.380 | abdomen is sensing.
00:05:10.300 | As you inhale, your stomach should move out slightly, and as you exhale, it should sink
00:05:16.660 | down.
00:05:22.300 | Expand the spotlight to include your upper abdomen, your chest, your neck.
00:05:31.620 | And now in your mind's eye, imagine that spotlight is expanding to include your arms as well.
00:05:41.660 | Continue to breathe normally.
00:05:45.580 | Now focus your perception on whatever surface your back happens to be in contact with.
00:05:50.660 | A shirt, a chair, a sofa, whatever surface it happens to be contacting.
00:05:58.420 | Focus on that contact now.
00:06:05.180 | Simply bring your attention and your perception to those points of contact.
00:06:11.460 | And as you do so, inhale deeply again through your nose or through your mouth.
00:06:20.780 | And then as you exhale, imagine your back and your upper body sinking about a centimeter
00:06:26.860 | into whatever surface they happen to be in contact with.
00:06:33.260 | Now move the spotlight to include your face, the top of your head, and the back of your
00:06:38.540 | head.
00:06:40.420 | And as you continue to breathe normally, focus your perception on relaxing the muscles of
00:06:46.660 | your face.
00:06:53.300 | And as you continue to breathe normally, see if you can extend the duration of your exhales
00:06:59.620 | ever so slightly.
00:07:03.700 | And now in your mind's eye, expand the spotlight downward to include your neck, your chest,
00:07:12.600 | your arms, your abdomen, your waist, your legs, and down to your feet.
00:07:29.420 | Imagine yourself looking down at your own body illuminated inside of the spotlight.
00:07:35.360 | And in your mind's eye, deliberately dim that spotlight.
00:07:40.000 | Make the illumination less intense.
00:07:47.480 | Inhale deeply again through your nose or through your mouth.
00:07:52.640 | And then exhale completely through thinly pursed lips.
00:07:58.760 | And as you do so, imagine your entire body sinking into the surface it's in contact with.
00:08:11.620 | Now while continuing to breathe normally, move your toes ever so slightly.
00:08:21.400 | In doing so, you'll notice that you are in control of your nervous system, meaning you
00:08:27.380 | direct your perceptions and your actions.
00:08:33.120 | Move your ankles and bend your knees just the slightest bit.
00:08:41.160 | You can move your upper body from side to side, your head from side to side, or even
00:08:47.360 | nod just slightly.
00:08:53.160 | Now move your hands, lift your arms just a tiny bit, then set them down again.
00:09:03.800 | And now, whenever you are ready, slowly open your eyes.
00:09:10.720 | And as you do so, you'll notice that normally your nervous system is bombarded with sensory
00:09:16.640 | information, mostly visual information, which you have eliminated during this non-sleep
00:09:24.680 | deep rest protocol.
00:09:27.300 | As you have now experienced, you are in control of your perceptions.
00:09:32.640 | Controlling your perceptions is simply directing your attention to specific sensations, and
00:09:39.880 | you control which sensations you perceive by directing your attentional spotlight to
00:09:46.280 | whatever part or parts of your body that you choose.
00:09:51.920 | Non-sleep deep rest protocols, such as this one, can help you restore your sense of mental
00:09:59.400 | and physical vigor, can partially offset the effects of not getting enough sleep, and can
00:10:06.840 | also help you get better at falling and staying asleep.
00:10:12.400 | It can be done any time of day or night, when you feel you need a mental and/or physical
00:10:21.160 | reset.
00:10:24.280 | Thank you for joining me for this non-sleep deep rest protocol, brought to you by Huberman
00:10:29.600 | Lab and AG1.
00:10:31.640 | [silence]
00:10:38.640 | [BLANK_AUDIO]