Yoga Nidra: Bathe In Nature

When you feel the call to rest, do you drink a cup of coffee, reach for a sugary snack, or look for yet another job to do? These are common evasions to rest. It is remarkable how taking the time to rest properly can renew our energy and allow us to be more effective throughout the week. In this practice, we will enter a state of deep rest within the body, revitalising you for the rest of your day or, if it's that time, preparing you for deep sleep.

Transcript

Welcome to Yoga Nidra.

Once you're lying down with the eyes closed,

We'll just prepare to relax.

So we'll do this by taking a few breaths together and we'll really focus on the very end point of the exhalation.

So that moment when you've reached the end of the exhalation and before the next inhalation comes in.

Not needing to force it but just allowing yourself to kind of settle into that slight pause.

Allowing the next inhalation to just flow in through your nose naturally.

And allowing the exhalation to flow out to reach its natural end point and you might notice that tiny gap between the end of the exhalation before the next inhalation flows in.

Not forcing,

Not straining,

Just allowing those breaths to come and go.

And each time you reach that point between the end of the exhalation before the next inhale,

See if you can imagine yourself releasing the weight of your body a little more.

Giving the weight of your body to the earth a little more.

One more time on this next exhalation at the very end.

Feel your bones sinking to the earth.

Now as we go through the process of yoga nidra,

I invite you to just be open to anything and everything that comes into your awareness.

No need to judge anything,

Nothing needs to be different.

Our intention here as much as possible is to find a deep state of rest in the body while maintaining active awareness consciousness in the mind.

To start with,

I invite you to consider an intention or a self blessing for practicing your yoga nidra.

So this might bring up lots of thoughts.

If possible,

Just allow those thoughts to kind of come up like bubbles rising to the surface and see what feeling remains under the thoughts.

It might be a sense of looking for a little more compassion or kindness to yourself,

A little more patience,

A little more clarity,

Maybe some more connection with others or with nature.

There's no right or wrong answer here,

It can be absolutely anything.

Notice the feeling behind what you would wish for yourself in this moment.

And then in your own mind,

I'll invite you to repeat three times my intention for practicing yoga nidra is and fill in whatever you wish for yourself,

Whatever that self blessing is three times in your own mind.

We'll come back to this intention again later.

For now,

I invite you to bring your awareness to your face.

And to start with at the lips.

And just noticing the tingling the aliveness of the sensations around the lips into the mouth.

And see if you can allow this to move across your face as you relax your face.

Relax your entire head.

Relax your arms.

And we're now going to move the awareness around the body.

So from your right arm,

Awareness moving clearly and decisively to your right hand.

Feel your right thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Five fingers together.

Palm,

Back of the hand,

The whole hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Crease of the elbow,

Tip of the elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Right side of the chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe,

Five toes together,

The whole right side,

The whole right side moving into deep rest,

Stillness,

Awareness still flowing through your body,

Awareness moving decisively now to the left hand,

Thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Five fingers together,

Palm,

Back of the hand,

The whole hand,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Crease of the elbow,

Tip of the elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Left side of the chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of the foot,

Top of the foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe,

Five toes together,

The whole left side,

The whole left side moving into deep rest,

Stillness,

The mind at rest,

Consciously,

Actively engaged.

Move your awareness now to the back body,

Back of the head,

Neck,

Upper back,

Right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade,

Mid back,

Upper back,

Lower back,

Sacrum,

Tail,

Right buttock,

Back of the right thigh,

Hollow behind the knee,

The calf,

Heel,

Foot,

Left buttock,

Back of the left thigh,

Hollow behind the knee,

The calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

And foot,

The whole back body sinking into rest,

Stillness,

Surface consciousness is maintained,

Awareness now to the front body,

Scalp,

Forehead,

Right side,

Left side,

Centre of the forehead,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Right eyelid,

Eyeball and eye socket,

Left eyelid,

Eyeball and eye socket,

Right temple,

Left temple,

Whole of the nose,

Right nostril,

Left nostril,

Right cheekbone,

Left cheekbone,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Right cheek,

Left cheek,

Chin,

Jaw,

Throat,

Notch at the base of the throat,

The whole of the chest,

Right breast,

Rib cage,

And lung,

Left breast,

Rib cage,

And lung,

Diaphragm,

Upper abdomen,

Lower abdomen,

Pubic bone,

Genitals,

Right hip bone,

Top of the thigh,

Kneecap,

Shin,

Ankle,

And foot,

Left hip bone,

Top of the thigh,

Kneecap,

Shin,

Ankle,

And foot,

The whole front body sinking into stillness,

The whole back body,

The left side,

The right side,

The inside,

The whole of the body at physical rest,

The whole body,

Stillness,

The mind completely at ease with active awareness.

Now,

Become aware of the subtle movement of breath into the body as it circulates through the body and moves out again,

As though you are watching waves arriving at the ocean shore.

No need to change the waves or control them.

Seeing them arrive in their own time and leave in their own time.

Effortlessly the waves lap onto the shore,

Become part of the beach,

And then move back into the ocean.

In the same way,

The breath enters and becomes part of your body and then moves back into the world,

An easy flow.

Feel into the ebb and flow,

The rhythm of that movement,

The breath simply breathing you.

Now imagine the whole body becoming light,

As though your body could float away from the floor and towards the ceiling,

Towards the sky.

The head is light and weightless,

The limbs light and weightless,

The torso is light and weightless,

The whole body light and weightless.

You are floating higher and higher away from the floor,

Like a balloon or a feather.

Now imagine your body becoming heavy,

Feel the heaviness in all parts of your body as you sink deeper and deeper into the earth.

The head is heavy,

The limbs are heavy,

The torso is heavy,

The whole body is heavy,

So heavy,

As you sink into the floor.

Now letting both those sensations go,

Imagine now that you are standing outside in nature,

You feel your bare feet on the earth,

You are standing by a stream surrounded by a lush forest.

You feel across your face the warmth of the sun and a gentle breeze across your skin.

You smell the air freshened by the stream.

You see a path along the stream leading you downstream.

You walk toward the path,

The path continues in front of you and winds easily downstream.

The sunlight filters through the trees and birdsong fills the air.

You continue on the path as it steadily moves with the stream,

The trickling sound of the water accompanying you with each step.

Near the bottom of the stream to the side,

You see a small opening in the side of a hill.

This opening is a cave and you feel drawn to the cave and walk toward it.

Within the cave you see a single lit candle.

You realize you've stumbled into a sacred space.

You sit down upon the earth which feels cool.

A sense of calm washes over you and you feel at peace in this space.

And you know that in this moment you need nothing from the outside world,

There is nowhere else to be.

You gaze into the candle flame and as you do so you feel in yourself arriving that self-blessing or that self-wish,

The intention that we carried with us into this practice.

You might repeat now three times to yourself this intention with meaning,

Wishing it to yourself.

And gently now guide your awareness back to your physical body.

Feel yourself lying on the earth in this space in the room that you're in.

Start to become aware of your breath moving through your body once more.

And without opening your eyes become aware of your surroundings.

Noticing sounds maybe in the space that you're in.

Maybe noticing sounds further away.

When you feel ready you might start to receive your inhalations a little deeper down in your body.

You might like to invite some gentle movement to the fingers,

The toes,

Wrists,

Ankles.

You might like to reach your arms up overhead and stretch yourself out.

Feeling the body with a deep inhalation.

And then as and when you feel ready you might hug your knees into your chest as you exhale and roll to one side in a fetal position.

Spending a moment there just feeling held by the ground.

When you're ready no rush.

Simply making your way to a seated position ideally with the eyes still closed.

And taking a moment as you said to acknowledge how you feel in this moment inhabiting the body.

The practice of yoga nidra is now complete.

You can keep your hands on your lap or if you prefer you might like to bring your hands in front of your chest.

And again you might like to take a moment to just thank yourself for allowing yourself this time.

And in any case I'd very much like to thank you all for coming together to practice.

Namaste.

Thanks so much Isabel.

Thanks everyone.

Thank you.

Thanks Lou,

Thanks Rachel,

Thanks Louise and Simon.

Thanks Ross,

Thanks Pamela.

So nice to have you all and enjoy the rest of your day.

Bye thank you.

Yeah have a good weekend.

Thank you same to you.

Bye everyone.

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Namaste🙏