Welcome.
In today's practice of NSDR,
You're going to give your nervous system something it rarely gets,
Deep sleep.
Deliberate rest.
Fully awake.
Fully aware.
The goal here is not sleep.
If you drift off,
Then that's fine.
But the real reward comes from staying just on the edge of wakefulness.
Resting deeply.
While remaining present.
So settle in.
But keep a thread of attention awake.
I invite you to picture a quiet shoreline.
The tide is moving.
In and out.
Slow and unhurried.
Nothing forcing it.
It simply comes and goes.
And for this practice.
Imagine allowing your whole system to move at the pace of that time.
Find a position that you can hold comfortably,
Lying flat on your back.
Let your arms rest at your sides,
Your palms turned up and your legs stretched out in front of you,
Feet naturally falling to the sides.
And allow your eyes to now close.
Take one slow breath in through the nose.
And let it out through your mouth with a soft sigh.
Like a wave drawing back over sand.
Again,
Breathe in and slowly let go of the breath.
One more.
Breathing in.
And release everything on the way out.
And then let your breath return to its own natural rhythm.
Nothing to do.
Nowhere to go.
This time.
Is completely yours.
Before we go deeper,
Let your senses now begin to turn inward.
Drawing back from the outside world.
The way that the tide draws back from the shore.
Notice sounds around you.
Those far away first.
A sound in the distance.
And now the nearest sound your ears can find.
Let the sounds be there.
But stop reaching out for them.
Let them wash in and out.
Without holding on.
Now your sense of touch.
Feel the air on your skin.
The texture of your clothing.
The temperature of the room.
And then let all of that recede into the background.
Behind your closed eyes,
Notice whatever you see.
Darkness.
Faint colour,
Perhaps?
Maybe shifting light.
Just observe it without looking for a thing.
Notice any taste in your mouth.
Any scent in the air.
One by one,
The senses are quieting.
Like a shoreline emptying as the tide goes out.
The world outside grows distant.
Your attention.
Is turning inward now toward the quiet space within.
Now I'll move attention rapidly through the body.
I'll name each part and simply take your attention there the instant you hear it.
Then move on.
Don't try to relax anything,
Just touch each part with your awareness and let it go.
Quick and light,
Like the tide running across pebbles.
We begin on the right side.
Bring your awareness now to your right hand.
And your right hand thumb.
First finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
And little finger.
The palm of your right hand.
The back of your hand.
Your right wrist.
Lower arm.
Elbow.
Ataam.
And shoulder.
The right side of your chest.
To your hip.
Your thigh.
And your name.
Your shin.
And your ankle.
And the sole of your right foot.
Top of the foot.
You're right,
Big Toe.
Second Toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe and little toe.
Now move your awareness to your left hand.
And your left hand thumb.
First finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
And little finger.
Palm of your left hand.
The back of your hand.
Your left wrist.
Lower arm.
At the arm.
And shoulder.
The left side of your chest.
Your thigh.
Your knee.
Your shin.
And your ankle.
And the soul.
Of your left foot.
Top of the foot.
Big toe.
Second Toe.
Fur Toe.
Fourth Toe.
And little toe.
Now to the back of your body.
Your heels.
And your calves.
The little spaces behind your knees.
And the backs of your thighs.
Your glibs.
And your lower back.
Middleback.
Upper Back.
The whole of your back.
Your net.
And your head,
Your whole head.
Up to the crown of your head.
Over to the forest.
And widening.
Your right eyebrow.
And your left eyebrow.
To the space.
Between your eyebrows.
Your right eye.
And your left eye.
And all the little muscles.
Behind your eyes.
Your right temple.
And your left temple.
Right ear.
And left ear.
Right cheek.
Left cheek.
Your nose.
The bridge of your nose.
To your nostrils,
Right and left.
Your mouth.
Your whole mouth.
Top lip.
Bottom left.
Teeth and tongue.
Resting gently.
In the base of your mouth.
Your jawline.
Softening.
Your throat.
Down to your collarbones,
Right and left.
The right side of your chest the left side of your chest.
Your navel.
And your belly.
Let your belly be soft.
No more.
Holding on.
The whole of your right leg.
The whole of your left leg.
The whole of your right arm.
And the whole of your left arm.
Both your arms.
Both your legs.
Your chest.
And your head.
The whole body.
Resting on the ground.
The whole body.
Complete.
And still.
The whole body.
One single piece.
Heavy and supported.
Like a shoreline at low tide.
Bring your attention back to your breath.
Just be aware of it.
Notice it.
Moving in and out like the tide.
On it so.
No need to change it.
Just follow it,
The way you might watch waves writhe and withdraw without ever needing to do anything.
Feel the breath enter at the tip of the nose as you breathe it in.
And feel it leave.
As you breathe it out.
Now follow the breath deeper.
Feel the chest and then the belly rise and fall.
Rising like the water coming in,
Falling like it draws back out.
And notice the small still point at the very top of each breath.
And the still,
Small point at the very bottom of each breath out.
The pause when the tide turns.
Rest your attention there,
In those quiets.
Turning Points.
If thoughts arrive.
Let them pass like clouds over the water.
You don't have to follow them.
Just return to the breath.
Moving in and out.
By itself.
Notice how still you feel.
The deep stillness in your body.
Like the surface of water with no wind.
Perfect stillness.
Now begin to sense movement.
The subtle constant motion.
That's always there.
The faint rise and fall of your breath.
The pulse of your heartbeat.
Your body.
Humming with quiet movement.
Feel that aliveness.
And then return to stillness.
Into stillness.
Before returning to that subtle movement.
The Quiet Hum.
In your body.
And then bring them together.
Stillness and movement together.
Both true.
At the same time.
Now invite a sense of expansion in your body.
With your next breath in.
Feel a whole body grow wider.
Larger.
Spreading outward in every direction.
Like the tide spreading to the open beach,
Expanding.
Beyond your edges.
And then invite a sense of contraction,
A gathering inward.
Drawing back to one single small point.
At the center of the body.
Compact and concentrated.
Like water.
Pulling back into itself.
And again.
Hold these two opposites together.
Expansion.
And contraction.
Spreading wise.
And drawing in.
Together.
At the same.
And then release it all.
Let stillness and movement.
Expansion and contraction.
Dissolve.
And allow the body to simply be.
As it is.
Resting.
On the show.
Allow yourself to imagine the following images you hear.
Don't try to see them clearly.
Don't force anything.
Just allow each one to flicker up and fall away.
Like waves arriving one after another.
Let them come and go.
Simply listen.
And let each image rise and fall.
Imagine a single grain of sand.
A wide-open beach at dawn.
A shell spiralling.
A wave curling over.
Sunlight glistening on water.
A seabird gliding.
The horizon line far away.
A smooth grey pebble.
Foam sliding back over sand.
A lighthouse in the distance.
The whole ocean,
Vast and still.
Feel the edges of your body begin to soften.
The line where you end.
And the world begins.
Becoming faint.
Blurring.
Like the place where wet sand meets the water.
Let go.
And be part of the ocean.
Allow yourself.
To dissolve.
No edges.
No boundary.
Into pure.
Awareness.
We begin now to come back.
Slowly.
Gently.
The way the tide turns,
There's no rush.
Come back.
Tissue.
Bring a little more depth to your next breath in.
Begin to notice the sounds in the room around you.
The real shoreline of this space.
Feel the surface beneath you again,
Those points of contact where your body meets the ground.
Maybe start to bring a little small movement back.
Maybe wiggle your fingers and your toes.
As you come back to shore,
Back to your world.
And notice how different you feel now compared to the beginning of practice.
Clearer.
Calmer.
And restored.
Like the shore after the tide has turned,
Settled and new.
This is the state you can return to anytime you need.
And when you're ready,
Only when you're ready.
Allow your eyes to open and carry this calm with you into whatever comes next.
Welcome back.
Thank you for taking your time to practice with me today.
I wish you a wonderful rest of your day or evening ahead.
Shine bright.
Shine bold.
Shine in love.
Thank you.
