Women Connecting Through Time Yoga Nidra

This Yoga Nidra is recorded to honour International Women's Day. Everyday is an opportunity to connect with women all over the world and the weave of sisterhood. This is an invitation to rest in remembrance of all the women you know and honour, your Grandmother, Mother, daughters, sisters, friends and all the women who have come before you, your ancestors as you rest in remembrance and connection. This is a beautiful nurturing practice to come back to yourself and embrace your feminine essence. Music by Silencio Music.

Transcript

We welcome each and every one of you to this special yoga nidra practice as we honour and celebrate all women in the world today. Our sisters, Our mothers, Our daughters, Our grandmothers, All who identify as women and ourselves, Along with all the women who have come before us, All the women who will come after us, All the women we were, We are and we will become. Yoga nidra is a practice of deep nurturing self-love, A cyclical process of restoration as you lie down to wake up. At Soul Matters Ireland, Our belief is that the quality of our being informs the quality of our doing. With this sentiment in your heart, We invite you to find a comfortable place to lie the sacred vessel of your body down. This can be your yoga mat, Your bed, Your couch, Or if the weather permits today, You may like to even practice on Mother Earth herself. Once you have found the place where you will practice, Ensure you have everything you need now to be in optimum comfort. A pillow beneath your knees to support your low back, Under your head to support your shoulders as you let them relax back and release any pressure. A light blanket to cover your body so you can stay warm and cosy for the practice. And then something to cover your eyes, A mask, A scarf, Whatever feels right so you may leave the outside world for the next few minutes. All of you is welcome here today. Every part of your divine being is welcome here. As you lie, Allow your legs to fall out to the side as you rest your arms with your hands facing upwards or out to the side. Or perhaps you would like to place them somewhere on your body, Whatever feels most comfortable for you today. As you let yourself melt into this moment and relax your jaw and settle into comfort. If you haven't closed your eyes already, I invite you now to close them. As you take a few deep breaths and surrender into the gravitational pull of Mother Earth. Allow your breath travel all the way down into your root chakra, Located at the base of your spine. As you feel the energy enter here with your breath. Then let your breath travel back up to your heart, All the way up and out through your crown chakra, At the top of your head. Then let your breath travel back down from your crown, As it lands at your heart and continues to travel down into your root. The infinite loop of your breath, From your root to your heart to your crown. Then back to your heart and into your root. Connecting your root chakra, Your connection to Mother Earth, To the centre of your being, Your heart, And to your connection with Father Sky, Source energy, Your crown. The infinite loop of above, So below, As within, So without. Continue this way of breathing for a few more rounds of breath. With each round, Feel the connection to the heart of Mother Earth, To your own heart and to the heart of Father Sky. Amalgamating each heart and the energetic loop, As it gets stronger and stronger. And your body sinks deeper into your nidra nest, Into your sacred space today. As you release this breath practice, Just allow your breath come back to its natural rhythm. Just being with your breath as it is, And not changing it in any way. The natural ebb and flow of your breath in your body, As we begin the practice of yoga nidra. And this is where you set your sankalpa for your practice. This is your truth vow, The vow you make to yourself, Your intention for your practice today. You plant a seed in the fertile soil of your heart, And begin to change a limiting belief. Your sankalpa is recited in the present tense, And starts with the words, I am. If you have a sankalpa, Repeat it three times now. If you are new to sankalpa, You may like to use, I am. Resting, Or I am connected. Whatever feels right for you, As you repeat it silently, Three times now. Then release your sankalpa, Let it land into the heart of Mother Earth, So she can nurture it until the end of your practice. As you bring your awareness back to your body breathing. As you sense yourself relaxing further with each out breath you take. Feel your body sink deeper, Into your nidra nest, Cocooning in comfort. As you imagine a circle of light surrounds your body, And protects your space for the duration of your practice. You may like to imagine the light travels with you, On the journey of Rotation of Consciousness Body Scan. As you bring the light and the relaxation, Into each body part I mention. Starting at your brow centre, Moving down to your right shoulder joint, Your right elbow joint, Your right wrist joint, The tip of your right thumb, The tip of your index finger, The tip of your middle finger, The tip of your ring finger, The tip of your little finger, The centre of your right wrist, The centre of your right elbow, The centre of your right shoulder, The centre 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 index finger, The tip of your middle finger, The tip of your ring finger, The tip of your little finger, The centre of your left wrist, The centre of your left elbow, The centre of your left shoulder, The centre of your throat, The centre of your chest, Your right nipple, The centre of your chest, Your left nipple, Your heart centre, Your solar plexus, Your sacral chakra, 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 centre of your right ankle, The centre of your right knee, The centre of your right hip, Your sacral chakra, 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 centre of your left ankle, The centre of your left knee, The centre of your left hip, Your sacral chakra, Your solar plexus, Your heart centre, Your heart chakra, The centre of your throat, Your throat chakra, Your brow centre, The chidakash, Bringing your awareness back to your body breathing, In the embrace of your nidra nest, The light encircling your space, The deep connection between your body and mother earth, As you sink deeper into her bosom and sense the pulse of her heartbeat, Beating in unison with your heartbeat, As we start to play with pairs of opposites and explore the paradox of being human, As you remember a time of action in your life, A time where you are taking action, Without any question, Just the action, How does that arise in your body, Can you sense it in your body, As you breathe into the space, Allow the energy of action, Emanate throughout your whole body, Breathing into action, Being with action, Then release the action and bring a time of stagnation in your life, Into your being, A time where you are a situation, Was stagnant, Without any question, Just the stagnation, How does that arise in your body, Can you sense it in your body, As you breathe into the space and allow the energy of stagnation, Emanate throughout your whole body, Being with it, Breathing into it, As you release the stagnation and breathe into the moment as it is now, Then bring a time of an expansion into your awareness, A time where there was expansion in your life, Without any narrative, Just the expansion, How does that arise in your body, Can you sense it in your body, As you breathe into the expansion and allow the energy to emanate throughout your whole body, That expansive energy, Being with it, Breathing into it, Then release it and bring a time of contraction into your awareness, A time where there was some contraction in your life, Or an area of your life, Without the narrative, Just the energy of the contraction, How does that arise in your body, How does that arise in your body, Can you sense it in your body, Breathe into the energy as it emanates throughout your whole body, Being with it as it is, Then release the contraction and breathe into this moment as it is now, Then bring all of it together, The action, The stagnation, The expansion, The contraction, The contraction, Breathing into all of them, Allowing them all, Being with them all, The both and of the opposites, As you allow them arise in the space of your awareness in this moment, Then let them all be released into the ether, As you bring your body back in balance, Your whole body in awareness, Encircled in light, From your crown chakra, Your connection to source, Father sky, To your root chakra, Connection to mother earth, As you rest briefly in your heart chakra, The centre of your being, And breathing deep into your heart, Connecting with the rhythm of your heartbeat, As you bring balance, Alignment and connection to your body, Your whole body embraced in your nidra nest, Encircled in light, Held by mother earth, As her heartbeat lulls you into deep rest, As she holds you close at her bosom, As you visualise yourself, A woman, Connected with all the women in the world, The weave of connection throughout the whole world, Like the stars in the night sky, A map that has been thatched into a roof of stars, That keeps all of you under divine protection, You float up into that sky, As you take your place amongst the stars, Along with all the women you know, All the women who came before you, And all the women yet to come, In this sacred roof of stars, The ceiling of light, Where all things are possible, As you the star being, Shines in luminescent light, And sprinkles stardust on the earth below, It lands in the heart of mother earth, And ignites her heart centre, To create a carpet of starlight on the earth, The connection between heaven and earth, The connection between maiden, Mother and groan, The maiden root, The mother heart, And the crone crown, In your divine body, Connecting you with all the divinity of the women, All over the world, This starlight, Is a power stronger, Than any force, As you embody it fully, With all your sisters, Daughters, Mothers, Grandmothers of wisdom, The five pointed star of your being, Your head, Two arms and two legs, A remembrance of your star being, Wherever you go, You sprinkle stardust, Over the paths you wander, Throughout your days, The deepest connection, Is felt, As the shining stars, Twinkle their magic, On the roof of luminosity, The shining stars below, Twinkle on the carpet of earth hearts, Stars merging, As they become an infinite circle of light, In the sisterhood of presence, With grandmother moon, Who shines gracefully, In the middle, My voice will disappear into the void, For a while, As you glisten with light, In restful remembrance, Of your divinity, As my voice, Drifts back into your awareness, You land back, Into your nidra nest, Your star being transported, From the sky above, Into the heart of mother earth, Where your sankalpa lands, For you to repeat three more times now, Then release your sankalpa, Back into the heart of mother earth, Where it will be nurtured, Until the next time you practice yoga nidra, The practice of yoga nidra, Is now complete, As you gently bring some movement into your body, Moving your head from side to side, Wriggling your fingers, Your toes, Stretching in whatever way feels right for your body, Moving really gently and slowly, And whenever feels right, Move over onto your left side, Bring your knees up to your chest, Wrap your arms around your knees, And hold yourself in this position, For a few rounds of breath, Breathing into your root, Your heart, Your crown, Down to your heart, To your root, Just being with your breath as it is, Igniting the light in your root, Your heart, And your crown, And whenever it feels right for you, With your eyes still closed, You may like to come back up to sitting, And open your eyes once you're sitting, And come back into your sacred space, The connection, Interconnectedness, Wholeness of women, The divine feminine, Sacred divine, Of women living all over the world, On this special day, We remember all of you, International Women's Day, As you each embody your light today, And every day, And remember to sprinkle the stardust, Wherever you wander, Thank you so much for practicing yoga nidra, With Soul Matters Ireland, We are so honoured for your presence, With your sisters around the world, We remember all the phenomenal women who have gone before us, All the phenomenal women who will come after us, As we walk amongst all the phenomenal women alive today, Each time you practice this yoga nidra, You can connect with the phenomenal woman you are, And remembering your twinkling starlight, Your divine being of the universe, As you shine your light for the world to witness, As it heals with each moment of connection to self, To each other, And to nature, Hari Om Tat Sat, Namaste.