Midsummer Yoga Nidra

This is a recording of a live Yoga Nidra session on Insight Timer on the 22nd of June 2025. The practice includes a long body scan, breath awareness with visualisation of the sun at the end of each inhalation, exploration of opposites hot/cold and connected/disconnected, visualisation of images and a guided journey to watch the Midsummer sunrise and make positive intentions for yourself and your life.

Before the practice, participants were invited to contribute words and themes they wished to be included in the nidra, and asked for 'peace,' 'connect' and 'rivers, the sea, fluidity.'

Photo by John Nail

Transcript

So once you've found yourself in a comfortable position just feel into the feeling of your body resting into that comfortable surface and feel into all of the places where your body connects with the surface beneath you As you breathe notice how with each exhalation your body becomes heavier at each of those points With every exhalation the whole of the body becomes more relaxed With each exhalation tension is naturally carried out of the body by the breath And then move the awareness to your nose and follow the flow of the air as it comes in and out of your nostrils Feel the gentle movement of the air flowing in and out of the nose And move to the ears.

Can you feel the feeling of the air on the insides of the ears?

And keeping the awareness inside the ears just notice any sounds that are present in your environment right now Let the awareness jump from sound to sound so without getting too involved in any one sound just acknowledge that those sounds are there And know that none of the sounds are going to disturb you.

They can only help you to relax even more deeply.

They can only guide you more deeply into your practice Just take a moment now to acknowledge that this is your time for your rest,

For your meditation.

There is no way that you can get this practice wrong.

So you can continue to follow my voice for as long as that's useful to you.

You're also free to drift away And if you fall asleep it just means that your body needs to sleep,

That it's taking advantage of this opportunity to rest So knowing that you can't get it wrong Just take a moment to acknowledge the intention to welcome whatever comes for you today.

Knowing that the practice is going to bring you exactly what you need And now picture yourself in a beautiful,

Safe,

Peaceful place in nature on a beautiful summer's day.

You're surrounded by an abundance of plants and trees and all of the natural things that help you to feel safe,

Well and secure.

The summer sun shines in the blue sky above you This is a place where you can feel completely at peace,

Completely safe Where it's safe for you to just be as you are And if there's anything that you can bring into this environment to make you feel even more safe,

Even more at peace,

Invite anything that you need into those surrounding And feel how that feeling of safety arises inside your body Notice all of the sensations that come up with that feeling of safety And intensify those feelings Feel it vividly This feeling is yours that you have created for yourself You can always come back to it at any time if you need to during the practice Absolute safety and well-being A feeling of deep inner peace And if you have an intention for your practice today,

Just bring that intention into your awareness now.

So whatever inspired you to show up Perhaps for deep rest and rejuvenation,

For healing,

For meditation or self-exploration Whatever your reason for showing up to practice today,

Just bring that into your awareness and take a moment to acknowledge it And if you have a sankalpa,

Now is the time to recall your sankalpa The sankalpa is a deep vow or prayer from the heart for something that you wish to attain or experience in your life There's no need to force the sankalpa,

It's going to come very naturally if it wants to come So just invite your sankalpa to arise for you now And if you don't have one,

Rest the awareness at the heart center And just observe what's happening at the heart We're going to take a journey around the body As I name each body part,

Bring the awareness to rest at that place As each body part is named,

It becomes illuminated by the light of your awareness We'll start with the right hand thumb Bring the awareness to rest at the right hand thumb And the right index finger The right middle finger The right ring finger The right little finger The palm of the right hand The back of the right hand The right wrist The right forearm The right elbow The upper arm The right shoulder The right armpit The right side of the chest The right side of the abdomen The right hip The right thigh The right knee The lower leg The right ankle The right heel The sole of the right foot The top of the right foot Each of the right toes One Two Three Four Five The whole of the right foot Rest the awareness on the whole of the right foot The whole of the right leg The whole of the right arm The whole of the right side of the body Moving to the left side,

Rest the awareness at the left hand thumb The left index finger The left middle finger The ring finger The little finger The palm of the left hand The back of the hand The left wrist The left forearm The left elbow The upper arm The left shoulder The left armpit The left side of the chest The left side of the abdomen The left waist The left hip The left thigh The knee The lower leg The left ankle The left heel The sole of the left foot The top of the left foot Each of the left toes One Two Three Four Five Rest the awareness on the whole of the left foot The whole of the left leg The whole of the left arm The whole of the left side of the body Moving up the back of the body,

Bring the awareness to the right heel The left heel The back of the right knee The back of the left knee The right buttock The left buttock The whole of the spine Send the awareness up every vertebrae of the spine The right shoulder blade The left shoulder blade The back of the head The top of the head Moving down the front of the body,

Move to the forehead The right eyebrow The left eyebrow The eyebrow centre The right eye The left eye The right ear The left ear The right cheek The left cheek The inside of the right nostril The inside of the left nostril The inside of the left nostril The whole of the nose The upper lip The lower lip The chin The jaw The right collarbone The left collarbone The space between the collarbones The right side of the chest The left side of the chest The centre of the chest The navel The lower abdomen The right hip The left hip The right knee The left knee The right ankle The left ankle The right toes The left toes The whole of the body together Awareness on the whole of the body together The whole of the body together Bring the awareness to the breath Follow the flow of the breath As it comes into the body,

Into the chest And as it flows back out again Observe the gentle rising and falling of the chest As the breath flows in and out And then bring the awareness to the pause after the inhalation At the end of every exhalation there is a quiet pause before the exhalation begins Bring the awareness to rest at that pause So the breath happens naturally And the awareness remains with the space at the end of the inhalation And keeping the awareness at the pause after the inhalation See a tiny flickering flame within that pause And watch that flame beginning to grow Becoming a fire Expanding to the size of the sun So the awareness rests with the ever-growing sun At the end of the inhalation And now move the awareness into the body And invite the feeling of heat to arise inside the body Invite the body to become very hot And feel the body becoming hotter and hotter As if you're outside under the hot summer sun Welcome the feeling of heat into every part of the body Feel it vividly The feeling of heat inside the body Welcome the feeling of heat inside the body And the feeling of cold Invite the feeling of cold to arise Feel the body becoming very cold Welcome the feeling of cold As if out in the frost on a cold winter's morning Feel that cold throughout the whole of the body Intensify the feeling The feeling of cold Welcome the feeling of cold Heat and cold together Now invite the feelings of heat and cold to arise inside the body together Welcome them as they come at the same time The feeling of being hot as if under the hot summer sun And cold as if in the cold winter frost Heat and cold together Intensify the feelings Heat and cold together And now feel into your body and notice all of the places that connect together inside your body The connections between the bones The connections between the muscles The skin connecting over the whole of the outside of the body The fascia connecting things together on the inside of the body The blood circulating connecting the whole of the body together Watch the connectedness of all the different parts of the body Observe the connectedness within the body And now notice all of the individual parts of the body The disconnected Notice each individual bone It's a whole bone by itself Observe the individual organs The separation between the different body fluids The different body parts Observe the disconnection within the body The disconnection between all of the individual body parts Now are you able to experience connection and disconnection inside the body at the same time?

Can you observe the body and everything connecting together And all of the disconnected individual parts at the same time?

Are you able to observe connection and disconnection inside the body together?

Connection and disconnection together And now move the awareness to the eyebrow center Observe the eyebrow center Notice any shapes,

Colors or patterns that are happening at the eyebrow center Without getting too involved in any one thing Just observe whatever is happening there Just watch Keeping the awareness at the eyebrow center I'm going to name some different things Just allow an impression of each one to arise as I name it Without forcing anything to happen Allow each one to come by its own However it wants to come We'll start with a moonlit forest A flickering candle A flower garden The sun shining in a clear blue sky A flowing river A cascading waterfall A circle of fairies The midsummer sun shining through a stone circle Fluffy white clouds A burning fire A deer Waves crashing on the sand The full moon And now see yourself walking up the hill in the early morning It's the middle of the summertime,

The sun hasn't yet risen But there is enough light for you to see the environment around you And to see the abundance of life in the plants and the trees And you can hear the morning bird song And you make your way to the top of the hill And you can see the first rays of morning sunlight just beginning to peep up at the horizon And you bring your awareness into your heart And from your heart arises a wish,

A prayer,

A desire for yourself For your life And as the sun rises over the horizon You send that wish,

That prayer into the sun And you welcome the morning sunlight onto your body Feeling the light illuminating and purifying And resting with the midsummer sunlight You enter into a deep,

Peaceful meditation And before you complete the practice Take a moment now to create a vision of yourself living your most abundant Most fulfilling and most peaceful life See yourself flowing through your days with fluidity With joy With a deep feeling of inner peace See yourself gracefully navigating through life's obstacles Overcoming any challenges with ease And see yourself doing all of the things that you most want to do Living harmoniously with peace and joy And if you have a sankalpa,

Take a moment now to recall your sankalpa Allow your heart's prayer to arise very naturally And take this time to acknowledge it And if you don't have one,

Just rest the awareness at the heart center And observe what's happening at the heart And now slowly begin to turn your awareness back outwards Notice any sounds that are happening in your environment And just let the awareness jump from sound to sound Just acknowledging that they're there And feel into the feeling of your body resting into the surface beneath you And feel the feeling of your clothing or your blankets against your skin And the feeling of the air flowing in and out of your body And begin to make some small movements to reawaken your body Moving the fingers and the toes and the wrists and the ankles And when you feel ready,

Give yourself a stretch in any way that feels good for you You're taking your time and there's no rush to get back up When you're sure that you're feeling wide awake again Slowly blink the eyes back open to complete the practice