Welcome to your yoga nidra.
So tonight we're going to rest.
Properly.
For a whole hour.
And as we start to settle in.
I'll give a few.
Little pieces of information that will help us to structure our practice tonight.
Ahem.
So most of us are very good at giving.
Won.
To other people.
We are kind.
We are patient.
And we notice when somebody else needs our care.
We offer it,
Often without even thinking.
But then quite often when we turn to ourselves.
We become something quite different.
Sometimes we can be a little critical or a little harsh on ourselves.
And the kindness that we give away so freely to others.
Sometimes we find it hard to turn it back on ourselves.
And so this Nidra practice.
Isn't about doing anything.
And it's not about fixing anything.
Or becoming anything different than we already are.
This Nidra practice is simpler than that.
It's about letting ourselves receive.
A little of the warmth.
That we give to everybody out there.
And in line with the summertime and all of the warmth around us at the moment.
We'll borrow a little bit from here.
These warmer sunny days don't ask anything from us.
We don't have to earn it.
We just step outside and it lands on us.
And this is what we're practicing tonight.
Receiving the warmth.
Letting it in.
Now you don't have to mate.
Any effort to listen.
Everything that I say.
It's actually quite good if I'm a little bit boring and if your mind drifts.
That's the point.
Sometimes when we finally give ourselves a chance to slow down.
And the mind.
Might want to do the opposite.
Sometimes it speeds up.
And if that's the case for you,
Then you can use my voice as a way to anchor.
To rest your attention.
Not forcing the thoughts to stop,
But giving the mind something different to hold on to.
Please flow with your own experience.
Whatever happens is just as it's meant to be.
And your body settles into the surface.
Benefier.
Begin to notice the weight of your body.
On the floor.
Or on the bed.
The weight of the body.
Releasing down.
Feel your head.
Your shoulders,
Your back.
And the backs of the legs and the backs of the arms.
Releasing down.
The surface is holding you.
The earth is holding you.
And if you like,
You can place your hands on your body.
On your heart or your belly or your ribs.
Or just leave them where they are.
Start to take a couple of slightly longer,
Slower exhalations.
Letting go of day.
Letting go of your list.
Things to do.
And then let your breath return to normal.
Notice any tension you might be holding in your body.
In your face,
Your eyes.
Tension in your tongue or your lips.
Maybe you can just soften there a little.
Notice if any part of your body is.
Holding on.
Any part of your body is feeling tense.
Any part of the body feels engaged and ready to move.
And give that part of the body permission to soften.
Permission to relax.
Maybe you start to notice the sounds around you.
Imagine that you had the beam of a lighthouse.
And as that beam searches from the left to the right.
Up and down.
Searching for sound.
Searching for sounds far,
Far away.
Searching for sounds much closer to you.
Allow the sounds to become part of your landscape.
And maybe you notice the temperature of the air on your skin.
Against your face.
Maybe you can feel the breath of your breath.
Nose gently on your upper lip.
Allow your lips to soften.
And your Chi.
Allow your forehead.
And the skin around your eyes and your eyelids.
To relax.
Allow your eyes behind your eyelids to your jaw,
Let it drop slightly.
Your tongue.
Resting.
Allow your throat and your neck to be free.
Your shoulders.
Let them drop.
Notice your chest.
Notice your belly.
Gently rising.
Gently falling.
And your head.
And your life.
In your feet.
There is nothing you need to do.
And know where you need to be.
Let your whole self rest.
Your whole self.
Breath.
And allow your awareness to drift.
Down towards your heart space.
Perhaps you sense the area of your chest.
And can you guide your awareness?
A little deeper inside.
Deep inside your chest.
Maybe noticing the gentle flutter of your heartbeats.
And ask yourself.
What do I need?
Right now.
What do I need?
Right now.
And if this doesn't resonate with you,
You can use the time to simply breathe.
And relax.
But if something comes to you.
From your heart space,
From your mind,
From your body.
What do I need right now?
You can repeat it to yourself two or three times.
This repetition of your sankalpa or your heartfelt desire.
Is like you were planting a seed.
And the practice of Nidra.
Believes that the seed of intention and live deep in unknowing.
Will be nourished and nurtured.
As you rest.
In this practice.
What do I need?
Right now.
As you gently allow.
Any focus on your sankalpa.
To begin to dissolve.
We turn our attention towards the phase of rotating awareness around the body.
And if you like,
As I mentioned,
Each body part.
You can maybe sense a soft,
Warm,
Golden.
Summer-like.
Bathing this part of your body.
Offering warmth.
Offering nourishment.
To this part of your body.
If you would rather,
You can just let this body part soften.
And relax.
Starting with your right hand thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
Ha.
Back of the hand.
With.
Spora Elbow Aparam.
Shoulder.
Armpit.
Right side of the chest.
Right side of the way.
Right hip.
Right thigh.
Me.
Soon.
Car ankle.
Heal.
Soul of the foot.
Right big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Or totes.
Beth,
Sorry.
And the whole right foot.
The whole right leg.
The whole right side of the body.
Bay.
In golden.
Summer.
Allow your awareness to shift.
To the left.
And yeah.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
Ha.
Back of the hand.
Wrist.
Aura I'll bite.
Upper arm.
Shoulder.
Armpit.
Left side of the chest.
Left.
Side of the way.
Left hip.
Left.
Bye.
Knee shame.
Car ankle.
Heal.
Soul of the fit.
Left big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Both types.
With hope.
The whole left.
The whole left.
The whole left side of the body.
Bay.
And a warm.
Golden.
Summer.
And letting your awareness drift to the back of your head.
Side of your body.
Auld and Summer Light bathing your spine.
Warming your lower back.
Warming your middle back.
Warming your upper back.
Warming the back of your neck.
Warming the back of your head.
Golden light bathing the top of your head.
And your forehead.
Your right eyebrow.
You're left.
Eyebrow both eyebrows together.
The space.
Between your eyebrows.
Your right eye.
Your left eye.
Bye.
I.
Your right ear.
Your left ear.
Ears.
Together.
Your right cheek.
Your left.
Together.
Your nose.
Your upper lip.
Your lower lip.
Your chin.
Your jaw.
Your throat.
And your neck.
Golden light bathing.
Your throat.
And your neck.
As your awareness shifts back towards your heart space.
And your chest.
Golden light bathing your heart space.
And your chest.
Your ribcage.
And you'll learn.
And your tummy.
And your pelvis.
Whole front of your body.
In this warm.
Olden life.
The whole of your back side of your body.
In this wool.
Golden light.
The whole of your body.
The whole of your body.
The whole of your body.
Be.
In this war.
Golden love.
And allow the awareness of the body.
To begin to dissolve.
As the attention lands now.
Solely with the breath.
And with a sense of very gentle curiosity.
Simply watch.
Watching as the inhalation Arrive.
Noticing the slight pause at the top of the breath.
And watching as the exhalation.
Release it.
And this slightly longer pause at the bottom of the breath.
And if your hands are on your body,
Maybe you can sense a gentle rise and fall.
Beneath them.
If your hands aren't on your body.
Maybe you can feel the breath.
And the movement.
Against your clothes or the blanket.
As you are fully aware.
Of your body breathing.
And in our practice.
We will do a short breathing.
Exercise to soothe the nervous system.
But if it doesn't feel right for you,
And you can breathe however you like.
And flow with your own experience.
We're going to breathe in stages.
First breathing into your belly.
And you can use your mind to guide the breath.
Down into the region of your tummy.
And once the breath has filled up the tummy,
You can use your mind to direct the breath towards the ribs.
And then once you've filled up the ribs you can use the mind to direct the breath.
Up towards the chest.
And take a long breath.
Slow exhalation.
And again,
We Guide the breath.
Into the belly.
Into the ribs.
Into the chest.
Followed by a long breath.
Below.
Exhalation and one more together.
Breathing into your belly.
Into your rib.
Into your chest.
And long.
Slide.
Exhalation.
And now do a few rounds in your own time.
And then if you like,
You can see how many rounds you can do.
Before I next speak.
I will be silent.
For a few moments.
But know that I'm still here.
Holding this space for you.
As you breathe.
Belly.
Rips.
And along.
Slow.
Exhalation.
Counting your breaths.
As my voice goes quiet now.
Slowly beginning to let go.
Of any concentration.
On your breath.
Allow your breath to return to its normal.
Gentle rhythm.
And allowing.
The body to soak.
The wall.
Of the breath.
Soak up the warmth.
Of the breath.
As you let go now of any focus on the breath.
Or breath.
Awareness.
Begins to dissolve.
And for this next phase of your practice.
I will simply name.
Few things.
You just listen.
And whatever experience comes up for you.
Whether you see an image.
We'll call a memory.
Where your mind goes off.
On its own adventure.
Let yourself simply flow.
So.
White cloud.
The sun.
On a summer beach.
Water.
With the sunlight glistening.
Off of it.
Your beautiful green mountain.
A bright blue sky.
A red oppy.
And late.
So still it looks like a mirror.
The desert.
And the rolling dunes.
The shade under a tree.
A bird lying overhead.
A summer garden in full bloom.
A white shell.
A warm breeze.
On a summer's evening.
The golden hour.
A yellow sunflower.
Long grass.
A nomad zone.
And now let any of those images still with you.
And begin to dissolve.
As you bring your awareness back to the space.
That you can see from behind your closed eyes.
Notice whatever is there.
Colors.
Patterns.
And the movement.
Or simply a sock.
Warm darkness.
And from deep within you.
Allow a place in nature.
Arrive in your mind.
Maybe this is something you can.
Imagine.
For others this may be something that you can sense.
Or perhaps something you can tell yourself.
A place in nature where you feel really at ease you feel really safe.
Really secure.
And really happy.
This place may be real.
Or from your imagination.
And if no place comes to you.
Just simply bathe in the warmth.
Around.
And imagine it's a warm summer evening.
One of those long and hurried days.
That we get at this time of year where It stays light.
And there feels no rush to end the day.
The sun has been shining all day and the warmth of it is still there.
You feel it on your face.
On your arm.
On your hair.
A soft warmth.
That's just right.
And you didn't have to do anything.
To receive it.
It's simply there.
And it asks nothing of you.
And we think of all of the warmth that you give to other people.
Your kindness.
Your love.
Your energy.
Your understanding.
And tonight.
Let little of that warm.
Turn back towards you.
And this is if this is hard to do.
And you can bring somebody to mind that you find it very easy.
To feel love towards.
Somebody you wish.
All of the happiness.
All of the safety.
All of the E's.
Feeling this love towards them.
And then feeling this love.
Towards yourself.
Realize that you too want to feel love.
Want to feel safe.
Want to feel happy and at ease.
And just like the warmth of the summer evening.
Let this love soak into your being.
Bathe in this love.
Hey.
In this world.
Bathe in this.
Golden light.
Just like when the ground gets the last of the evening sun.
Soak it up.
Drink it up.
Let it come all the way.
Bathe in this light.
A.
In this war.
A.
In this love.
With you gently.
Allow any images.
To begin to dissolve.
Is your awareness.
Returns to your heart space.
And perhaps deep inside your chest you once again and notice the flutter of your heartbeat.
I'm from in this space,
Deep.
Inside of you.
Ask yourself again.
Without any expectation.
What do I need?
Right.
What do I need?
Right.
Now.
And if something comes to you,
Maybe the same as before.
Maybe something different.
Repeat it to yourself.
Quietly three times.
And if this doesn't resonate.
Use this time to breathe.
And rent.
Do I need?
Right now.
And as you slowly relinquish any focus on your sound caliper,
Your heartfelt intention Allow it all to dissolve.
As we begin.
I was slow.
And very gentle.
Rich hair.
Allowing your attention to shift towards the bottom of your feet.
Notice where your feet are.
In contact with the ground.
Perhaps you can feel the weight of your heel.
Maybe you can notice sensations in your soul.
If you don't feel anything at all.
Notice that as well.
As you begin to feel.
The weight of your leg.
Perhaps where the backs of the legs are.
In contact with the ground.
You feel.
Your back.
And the backs of your arms and your shoulders.
In the back of the head.
And the places where all of these parts of you are in contact.
With the surface beneath you.
And then you notice the front side of the body.
Once again becoming aware of your tummy and your chest.
Or fade.
Allowing the breath to move back in deep inside.
And as the breath comes back in,
So do the sounds around you.
And as the sounds come back in,
Maybe you once again notice the air against your face.
And there's the breath.
And the sounds and the air come back in,
Maybe you notice the light on the backs of your eyes.
And in its own time the world comes back and your body comes back.
And perhaps you start to make some small movements.
Perhaps you make some small movements with your fingers and with your toes.
Perhaps you make some small movements with your wrists and with your ankles.
Perhaps you begin to stretch.
Maybe you begin to wriggle.
As you start to shift your weight around.
And eventually draw one knee and then the other knee towards the body.
Giving yourself a hug.
Giving yourself a moment to say thank you for taking this time.
And to say thank you for letting the warm in.
To let the kindness and the love flow.
And the compassion.
Soak back into you.
And when you're ready,
You're welcome to roll onto your side.
And you're welcome to push yourself.
So you sit.
You're welcome to bring your palms together.
As you take a big breath in.
And a long breath out.
The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
Thank you for joining me.
In this practice.
When you're ready,
You can.
.
.
Slowly open your eyes and if you feel a bit far away.
I invite you to bring some movement to the hands,
Rhythm.
All around the edges,
The fingers,
The thumbs.
You are washing your hands and then to your body,
Your shoulders,
Your neck.
And I wish you all a beautiful evening ahead.
