Welcome,
I'm Kerry Mackay.
Notice how you are at this point in the year.
You may be still curled up tight like a winter bud or a hibernating creature.
Or perhaps your eyes are opening and parts of you are unfurling.
However you are,
Take a moment to bring in some kindness and just allow yourself to be.
This practice is for in bulk,
When the days lengthen and the first signs of spring call us to open up.
It's an ending and a beginning and for many of us it's a tender time.
The intention with this yoga nidra is to become so deeply rested that you can receive the returning light and be with the invitation to unfurl at your own pace.
It's time to get properly comfy now.
You may be lying down but you can choose any position.
Get what you need to be properly supported.
Maybe something under the head or a raise under the knees.
And then have a wriggle to check what needs to be adjusted.
Take a couple of soft long breaths now.
Allow the belly to fill and sigh out through the mouth if you can.
Another one into the belly.
Softening out through the mouth.
And let's do the next one even more slowly.
Begin to feel the ground underneath you.
Notice the slight pressure of the touch.
Feeling the support coming up to meet you from below.
Notice which parts of you are ready to let go downwards.
Resting on the earth,
Nestling down into this cradle of support.
And then moving to be with your breath again.
Noticing the inhale and noticing the exhale.
Perhaps the exhale can drop you deeper now.
Noticing the pause at the end.
Imagine you're going deeper and darker.
Resting to your wintering self.
The blanket of winter wrapping up the sides of the body.
Settling over the front.
Counting down from five now with the exhale.
So on your next exhale counting five.
Gently breathing in and then four.
Continuing your count.
Dropping deeper into yourself.
Picture now the quality of light as winter ends and the days lengthen.
It may be soft,
Diffuse,
Perhaps pastel colors.
This light gently yet clearly asks the dark places what they want to become.
This is the light that lands on the woodland floor and the first tiny green shoots push up to greet it.
There's no rushing.
It's still early.
We're only just returning to expansion after the great exhale of the year.
Now we're bringing the newness of this light to all the different parts of the body.
So the task is simply to experience each place.
Begin to sense the forehead now.
Imagine the light arriving in the point between the eyebrows.
This new light moving across the eyes over the surfaces of the face.
And then dropping down to the place between the collarbones.
Inviting the light to arrive on the right shoulder,
Elbow,
Wrist,
Hand,
The right thumb and the fingers of the right hand.
Moving back to the place between the collarbones and then inviting the light to come to the left shoulder,
Elbow,
Wrist,
Hand,
The left thumb and the fingers of the left hand.
Traveling back to the place between the collarbones and then bring your awareness to the center of the chest.
The light of awareness arriving at the navel now and then the right hip,
Right knee,
Ankle,
Foot,
Right big toe,
And then the toes on the right foot.
Coming back up to the belly,
Left hip,
Left knee,
Left ankle,
Left foot.
The light of awareness arriving in the big toe and all the other toes on the left foot.
Now moving to the tip of the tailbone and then the right buttock and the left buttock,
The right shoulder blade and the left shoulder blade.
The newness of this light through the length of the spine and then moving your awareness to sense the back of the head,
The top of the head,
The sides of the head,
The forehead and then the point between the eyebrows.
The whole body resting in this light,
The whole body resting in your awareness.
And now the invitation is to be with the heart.
Begin to sense if you can the space around the heart.
As the light arrives around the heart you might like to go deeper and invite this light to reach in softly,
To travel in through the folds and the chambers into the center of the heart.
Perhaps imagine a bud or a seed curled up deep inside the heart.
Be with your kindness as you observe what changes as the newness of this light lands on and around the bud.
How does it respond to the invitation of the light?
Just like the winter buds waiting on the trees,
They unfurl in their own way,
In their own time.
There's no rush for change.
Allow some space for what's here now.
Returning to the cycle of the breath now.
Focus on the in-breath,
Sensing this new air entering the nostrils.
Then invite the breath to expand the chest more and imagine freshness spreading through the body,
Awakening,
Expanding.
Gently returning to the contact points of the body with the ground or with your supports.
Beginning to feel the touch again and then notice the sensations on the tongue.
Now becoming aware of your eyes and then moving to the ears and noticing the sounds around you.
Arriving back now,
Arriving back in the place where you are.
Returning to the here and now,
The everyday energy.
Have a stretch if you like,
Maybe a yawn or a sigh.
Slowly and in your own way,
Returning to your day.
