Bealtaine Yoga Nidra

A Yoga Nidra practice to connect with the energies of Bealtaine in the Celtic Wheel of the Year. Bealtaine is the start of Summer in the Celtic Calendar and is celebrated on the first of May. We celebrate the return of the Sun and the power of Gamos, the Masculine half of the Year. Background Music Dreamscape en Silencio by Silencio Music.

Transcript

Welcome to this yoga nidra to honour the energies of Yeltana.

As you settle your body into your nurturing nidra nest ensure you have everything you need for optimum comfort.

Yoga nidra is a practice of self-love.

So this is your time to give yourself everything you need to nurture yourself.

A blanket to cover your body,

A pillow beneath your knees to support your lower back,

A pillow under your head,

An eye mask to cover your eyes so you can go completely inwards.

It is recommended to practice yoga nidra in the pose of Shavasana.

Lying down on your back,

Arms resting by your side,

Palms facing upwards or slightly inwards,

Legs laying out to the sides,

Your feet flopping down.

However if that position is not comfortable for you,

You may like to lie on your side or you may even like to lie on your tummy,

Connecting your front body with the earth beneath you.

Or if neither of these positions are comfortable you may like to even sit down.

Whatever feels the most comfortable for you today.

All of you is welcome here and we are honoured to share this practice to celebrate Bheltena,

The return of the Sun and the midway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.

Once you are settled and comfortable,

Close your eyes and take a few nurturing breaths,

Breathing deep into your belly through your nose and then out through your mouth with a long sigh.

With each in-breath you connect deeper with your body and with each out-breath you sink deeper into the ground beneath you,

Into the embrace of Mother Earth and her warm tender heart enveloping you as you release,

Relax and rest completely in her bosom of warmth.

This is where we begin the practice of yoga nidra and where you set your sankalpa for your practice today,

Your intention.

If you have a sankalpa you may continue using that one or if you would like to set a new one for your practice today you may like to use something like I am connected,

I am supported,

I am welcoming the energy of the Sun or I am blossoming into my best self.

Your sankalpa is an I am statement to help you let go of any limiting beliefs or to help you plant an intentional seed into your heart and Mother Earth.

You will know when you have found your sankalpa as it will land in your heart with a deep sense of knowing.

You may plant your sankalpa three times now then release it and trust that Mother Earth will nurture it until the time is right for it to germinate and sprout into reality.

Gently guiding your awareness to your heart centre,

The centre of your chest,

Also known as the heart chakra.

Imagining your heart chakra is connected to the beating pulse of the heart of Mother Earth.

The vibration of your heart and Mother Earth's heart beating in unison and connecting deep within her bosom.

We will now practice a few rounds of chakra breathing.

This is a three-part breathing practice connecting you to your root,

Heart and crown,

The trifecta of chakras associated with the maiden,

Mother and crown.

The triple goddess to help ground you deeper into your practice and to your beautiful body.

As we practice this way of breathing,

Allow yourself to feel the reiki healing energy being infused into the chakras I mention.

Breathing in through your nose and all the way down to your root.

Then up to your heart and finally up to your crown.

Hold your breath and then release out through your nose,

From your crown to your heart to your root and hold.

Creating a loop of breath.

Then breathing in again from your root to your heart to your crown,

Holding.

Then releasing out from your crown to your heart to your root and holding.

Then one more loop of breathing into your root,

Your heart,

Your crown,

Holding.

Releasing out from your crown to your heart to your root and holding.

Then bringing your breath back to its natural rhythm and witnessing how you feel after that breath practice.

Sensing the loop and the reiki light infusing your chakras.

Just being here,

Breathing,

Witnessing your body breathing naturally without any effort.

Your life force energy and the life force connecting you to Mother Earth and to all your sisters in circle here tonight.

And whenever you return to this practice of yoga nidra.

Feeling the reiki energy swirling and looping through your chakras and bringing them back into balance.

From your root to your heart to your crown and all the chakras in between.

Aligning your body and electromagnetic field.

Pulsing with the energy and grounding you deeper and pulling you further into the embrace of the Great Mother.

Guiding your awareness back to your heart chakra,

The center of your being,

Connecting you to your Earth Mother.

Imagining a healing green light emanating from your heart and pulsing through every body part I mention in the rotation of consciousness body scan.

Your brow center,

The center of your throat,

Your right shoulder joint,

Your right elbow joint,

Your right wrist joint,

The tip of your right thumb,

The tip of your right index finger,

The tip of your middle finger,

The tip of your ring finger,

The tip of your right little finger,

The center of your right wrist,

The center of your right elbow,

The center of your right shoulder.

Green light energy flowing through your whole right arm.

Then back to the center of your throat,

Your left shoulder joint,

Your left elbow joint,

Your left wrist joint,

The tip of your left thumb,

The tip of your left index finger.

The tip of your left middle finger,

The tip of your left ring finger,

The tip of your left little finger,

The center of your left wrist,

The center of your left elbow,

The center of your left shoulder.

Green light energy flowing through your whole left arm.

Then back to the center of your throat,

The center of your chest,

Your right nipple,

The center of your chest,

Your left nipple,

Your heart center,

Your solar plexus,

Your navel center,

Two inches below your belly button.

Your right hip joint,

Your right knee joint,

Your right ankle joint,

Your right big toe,

The tip of your second toe,

The tip of your third toe,

The tip of your fourth toe,

The tip of your fifth toe,

The center of your right ankle,

The center of your right knee,

The center of your right hip.

Green light energy flowing through your whole right leg.

And back to your navel center,

Two inches below your belly button.

Your left hip joint,

Your left knee joint,

Your left ankle joint,

Your left big toe,

The tip of your second toe,

The tip of your third toe,

The tip of your fourth toe,

The tip of your fifth toe,

The center of your left ankle,

The center of your left knee,

The center of your left hip.

Green light energy flowing through your whole left leg.

And back to your navel center,

Two inches below your belly button.

Your solar plexus,

Your heart center,

The center of your throat,

Your brow center.

Green light energy flowing through your whole body.

Your whole body vibrating in green light.

Your whole body.

As you guide your attention back down to your heart center,

Illuminated with green light energy,

Breathing nurturing breath into your heart,

Your earth.

Both the same word when the letters are changed,

Heart or earth.

Your heart is the earth.

The earth is your heart.

Interconnected,

Entwined,

In a deep sense of love and belonging to this place we call home.

We are visitors passing through,

Walking together on this journey and circling through the spiral of life.

As we move now from spring into summer in the northern hemisphere and from autumn to winter in the southern hemisphere.

Visiting briefly this beautiful planet full of abundance and possibility.

As you breathe in,

Imagine you are breathing in the energy of the summer and breathing out any debris left over from the winter that is no longer serving you.

Breathing in the light of summer and breathing out the dark of winter so that you can embrace this new felt energy of the earth awakening.

The plants that are already blossoming,

The bluebells,

The dandelions,

The buttercups,

The primroses,

The cherry blossoms,

The lilacs.

Breathing in the scent of summer and breathing out the remainder of winter.

All the life that started in the darkness of winter in Samhain is now ready to be birthed so you can breathe it into your root,

Up to your heart and to your crown where you can hold it for a second and visualize the new beginning.

Before breathing out from your crown to your heart and down to your root where you hold for a moment as you release the old.

We will now play with pairs of opposites as you embrace the uniqueness of your humanness and all the complexities you embody in the memories of yourselves,

In the renewal of your organs and in your very DNA,

Connecting you with your ancestors and the wisdom keepers of your own bodies.

Can you bring to your awareness now a time where you felt a deep sense of alienation,

Not belonging,

Feeling estranged,

Not fitting in.

Can you sense this feeling in your body without any narrative attached to it,

Just the feeling,

No story,

Just sensing.

And then let it go and bring a sense of belonging into your body,

Feeling connected,

Feeling in community and how that shows up in your body without any story,

Just the feeling.

Then let that go and see if you can bring both together now,

The both and,

Both alienated and belonging,

Estranged and connected.

Seeing if you can bring a balance to both without any story,

Just the feeling.

Now remember a time when you were critical of yourself,

Where you criticised some action you took or how you behaved without getting caught up in the story,

Just the feeling of the critical self and how it shows up in your body.

Then let it go and bring a sense of compassion to your body,

The compassionate friend to yourself.

How does that show up in your body and how does that make you feel?

Then let that go and bring both together for a moment,

The criticism and the compassion,

Balancing both and sensing both before letting them both go.

Now bring a time to mind where you were on a continuous loop of doing,

Doing,

One thing,

Then the next,

Then the next,

Again without the narrative,

Just the feeling of doing,

Doing,

Doing with no down time.

Then let that go and bring a time to mind where you were in a state of being,

Just in the moment,

Being with yourself and what was arising without the story,

Just the sense.

Then let that go and bring both together,

Doing and being,

Balancing both.

Dancing with the opposites,

Playing with them and see how you can bring the awareness to your heart centre,

The alienation,

The belonging,

The criticism,

The compassion,

The doing,

The being.

How can you balance these opposites to bring yourself into a flow state,

Allowing your humanness on this planet we call Earth to emerge as a spiritual being,

Having a human experience and all that embodies through your connection with Mother Earth.

How your uniqueness shows up and is all part of our interconnectedness,

Our non-duality,

Our oneness.

Each of us experiencing these states,

Yet each one connecting differently to them.

We are dancing and playing and allowing our flows to show up so that we can embrace ourselves and each other in the warm bosom of Mother Earth.

This felt human experience of polarity allows us to understand the full spectrum of existence on Mother Earth.

Sensing your body connected to the Earth,

Being held in the embrace of Mother Earth in your nourishing nidra nest and imagining that the ground beneath you turns into grass and you find yourself walking barefoot on a grassy path.

The grass is covered in drops of dew from the night as the sun is just beginning to rise.

It is dusk and the air is full of the expectation of a new day,

Connecting your bare feet on the sacred fluid of the dewy grass as the sun rises.

You lift your face to the sun and feel the heat return and the energy of Samas,

The masculine half of the year,

Yet Gamas is still lingering in the air,

The feminine half of the year,

With the feel of the dew on your bare feet.

You rest for a while in a sunny spot and place your hands on the dewy grass.

You soak up the sacred fluid as you wash your face in the dew,

Lingering energy of the full moon,

Grandmother moon,

The light of divine truth,

Her luminescence gently caressing your skin with the dew.

Once your face is cleansed and bathed in the dewy drops,

You lift to the sun,

Which has risen in the east,

And allow it to dry in the heat.

You continue on walking on the path until you come to a wooden bridge over a stream.

As you cross the bridge and feel the change of surface,

The damp wood now on your feet.

In the centre of the bridge,

You look down on the stream,

Which is flowing gently.

It is crystal clear and you can see rocks at the bottom,

Moss at the side,

Some water lilies,

Dragonflies landing on the lilies for a while,

As do some butterflies and other insects waking up from the night to the morning sun.

The sun is getting higher in the sky as you continue over the bridge to the other side,

Where you enter a garden full of flowers,

Bluebells,

Buttercups,

Dandelions,

Crims roses and daisies,

Along with trees of cherry and apple blossom,

Hawthorn and rowan.

There are bees,

Butterflies,

Ladybirds,

Insects and invisible fairies flying around in the morning sun.

The fairy is whispering on the wings of the wind.

It is a wild garden,

And the smell of the flowers is like nectar to your senses.

Each breath you take,

You are aware of a different scent,

Until they all alchemise as one.

There is a path along the middle of the garden,

Where you wander,

Until you find a spot to sit so you may pick some flowers.

You sit under a hawthorn tree,

And soon realise you are not alone.

Behind the tree is a young girl.

She comes out and sits to your left.

There is also an older woman,

An ancestor,

As she comes out and sits to your right.

There are also fairies fluttering in the wind.

You all pick the flowers,

As you weave a magic crown with the help of the fairies,

And a garland of wild flowers.

The young girl places a crown on your head,

And a garland around your neck.

Then you place yours on your ancestor's head,

And a garland around her neck.

And then she places them on the young girl's head,

And a garland around her neck.

Crowns adorning your heads,

Garlands around your necks,

And the scents tickling your nostrils and intoxicating your senses.

You continue picking flowers,

Until you each have an armful,

Before taking your leave from under the hawthorn tree and the fairies.

And you meander together further along the path,

Where you come upon a gate.

As you open the gate,

You find that you are in a small town.

It is quiet and empty,

As it is still early.

The sun has just risen,

And the people are still sleeping.

As you pass through the town,

You place flowers on every doorstep you pass together.

At the end of the town,

You come upon another gate,

Which brings you into another garden.

As you walk through the path of this garden,

You find yourself again at the wooden bridge.

And this is where you take your leave from the young girl and your ancestor,

Before stepping onto the bridge once more.

As you get to the centre,

You take off your crown,

And you throw it into the stream,

As you make a wish and gift the crown to the water and the earth.

You keep your garland as a reminder of your journey,

Back to remembering who you are.

You find yourself back on your original path where you came from.

And you come back into your body,

As you find yourself lying in your nurturing nidra nest,

Where you will remain now,

For a few minutes of silence.

As you awaken from your rest,

Your sankalpa emerges for you to repeat,

Three times now.

Allow your sankalpa drift away into the air,

Knowing in your heart,

It is on its way to fruition.

The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

As you gently bring some movement back into your body,

Very very gently.

Wriggling your hands,

Your fingers,

Your toes,

Your feet.

Stretching your body in whatever way feels comfortable to you.

And then when you're ready,

Moving to one side of your body,

And curling up in the fetal position,

For a few nurturing breaths.

And then very slowly and gently,

Keeping your eyes closed,

Bring yourself up to seating.

And then once you're sitting,

You can open your eyes slowly,

And come back to the room.

Welcoming yourself back into the room you find yourself in.

We thank you so much for practicing with us this evening.

And whenever you come back to this practice,

It has been an honour to guide you today.

Keep your light shining brightly,

As you are needed in this world,

Just as you are.

Your beautiful beam of light,

A beam of sunlight,

For all of us to witness.

Hari Om Tat Sat Namaste