So welcome yourself into your space of rest.
Take your time to make yourself as comfortable as you possibly can be.
You can do this practice lying down or sitting,
Making any adjustments that you might need to,
To allow the body to settle into the space.
Giving yourself the gift of rest.
When you're ready you can allow the eyes to close or you can allow the eyes to be softly open and let them close in their own time.
Becoming aware of the contact between the body and the surface that you are on.
Sensing each point of contact between your body and that support.
Noticing the feeling of simply being held.
Held by the ground or held by the chair.
Feeling the body slowing down,
Settling,
Softening,
Stilling and begin to pay attention to the breath.
Breathing in and as you breathe out maybe pausing and holding that pause a little bit longer than you might otherwise do.
And play with that for a few moments.
Merging a little bit more into silence on the exhale.
And now dropping more consciously into the body.
On three relaxing the shoulders,
Two softening the limbs,
One deeper into the body.
And I'll read a quote from the psychologist James Hollis.
Allow the words to enter your awareness,
Let them just land.
We are not here to fit in,
To be well balanced or provide examples for others.
We are here to be eccentric,
Different,
Perhaps strange,
Perhaps merely to add our small piece,
Our little clunky,
Chunky selves to the great mosaic of being.
As the gods intended,
We are here to become more and more ourselves.
As the gods intended,
We are here to become more and more ourselves.
It's time now to awaken to yourself,
To go inside.
Giving yourself permission to rest,
There's nothing you need to do.
Nowhere you need to be.
Just allowing yourself to follow my voice and follow my instructions only if that's right for you.
If you prefer not to listen to my instructions,
You can just feel your breath.
Trusting this practice to go deep without having to force a thing.
Just a space of allowing.
And now it's time to state your intention.
To listen to the longings of your heart.
You might want to breathe into the space of the heart and feel that sacred place.
And as you feel the heart,
Just listening to any yearnings of the heart.
And let a statement emerge that is positive and in the present tense.
And if you find that intention,
You can repeat it to yourself three times.
And if you're struggling to find an intention,
Just trusting that it will emerge in its own time.
You might use the intention,
I am more and more myself.
And now we will rotate our awareness through the body to the different parts of the body.
Allow your attention to move to each point.
And you might like to send kindness or light to each point as we move through the body.
Bringing your attention now to the right thumb.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
Fifth finger.
Palm of the right hand.
Wrist.
Elbow.
Shoulder.
Armpit.
Right waist.
Right hip.
Batik.
Thigh.
Knee.
Shoulder.
Shin.
Ankle.
Top of the foot.
Heel.
Sole of the foot.
Right big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth toe.
Now bring attention to the left thumb.
Left thumb.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
Fifth finger.
Palm of the left hand.
Wrist.
Elbow.
Left shoulder.
Armpit.
Waist.
Left hip.
Batik.
Thigh.
Knee.
Shin.
Ankle.
Top of the left foot.
Heel.
Sole of the foot.
Left big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth toe.
Now bring your attention to both heels.
Calves.
Batiks.
Lower back.
Center of the back.
Upper back.
Attention now to the backs of the hands.
Elbows.
Upper arms.
Both shoulders.
Hips.
Back of the neck.
Back of the head.
Top of the head.
Right temple.
Left temple.
Forehead.
Head.
Right eyebrow.
Left eyebrow.
Space between the eyebrows.
Right eye.
Left eye.
Right nostril.
Right nostril.
Left nostril.
Right cheek.
Left cheek.
Right ear.
Left ear.
Upper lip.
Lower lip.
Chin.
Jaw.
Throat.
Chest.
Belly.
Pelvis.
Pelvis.
Aware now of the whole of the right leg.
Whole of the left leg.
Both legs.
Whole of the right arm.
Whole of the left arm.
Lower body.
Lower body.
Upper body.
Head.
Aware now of the whole body.
The whole body.
Sensing the whole body.
And now bringing your attention to the breath.
The breath.
As you breathe in,
You can start to feel healing light moving from the base of the spine to the top of the head.
And as you breathe out,
Feeling that light move from the head down to the base of the spine.
As you breathe in,
Light moving from the base of the spine to the top of the head.
And then from the head to the base of the spine as you breathe out.
Feeling this healing light moving through the spine.
And now feeling the whole body lying here breathing.
Now bringing to your awareness a time of joy and happiness.
Take time just to feel it in the body.
No need to get caught up in the memory.
Rather experiencing the feeling of contentment,
Joy in the body.
Body light and joyful.
Light and joyful.
Light and joyful.
And now allow a memory of sadness or heaviness.
Taking time to feel it in the body.
Giving space to the sadness or heaviness.
Allowing heaviness.
And now allowing both the joy and the lightness.
And the opposite heaviness.
Letting the space of awareness hold both experiences.
There is room for all of it.
Now bring your attention to the space between the eyebrows.
Seeing yourself now walking in nature along a lake.
You follow the edges of the lake.
Noticing the sky above you,
The ground beneath you.
And you walk towards a spot where you feel safe to sit in contemplation.
Letting yourself sit by the side of the lake under the shade of a great tree whose roots go right the way down into the earth.
As you sit you look up into the branches and you notice so many new buds emerging from every single branch.
You observe and marvel each new leaf.
Feeling the peace of this place and the rest of being in this space.
Feeling your essence.
And now looking into the water crystal clear.
You see your reflection shining back at you.
And you begin to see your future self.
A you that is more and more.
Yourself.
See the love that has grown for yourself.
The confidence and the risks you are able to take.
See your commitment and your patience with you.
Taking time to see this future self.
What is bringing you joy?
Who are you spending your time with?
And so you smile at your future self with all the gratitude in the world.
See yourself and feel yourself in that state of pride and gratitude.
Seeing this future you that is completely yourself.
In this open receptive space feel into your heart now.
Take time to listen and to receive an intention.
See what comes perhaps it's a word or a phrase or an image.
Taking time just to listen to that deep heart yearning.
And once you've found that intention just saying it to yourself three times.
And now sense a council or a circle of wise beings around you.
Seeing the circle of support that is holding you gently with this intention.
Surrounding you with love and with care.
Rest here now.
And now really really gently when you feel ready to begin to feel the body.
Perhaps a sensation of clothing.
Feeling beginning to wake up.
You can stretch or move your body however you feel you need to.
Allowing the eyes to open and feeling and noticing what is here now from this place of having deeply rested.
You might like to deepen your breath.
And you might like to thank yourself for taking this time.
This completes your yoga nidra.
Take care.
