Spanish Retreat 2025 Nidra

Let this gentle Yoga Nidra carry you into the soft golden hills of Spain. Recorded live at Sammati Wellness Finca during our peaceful September retreat, this practice offers deep rest and a sense of being cradled by the earth itself. A soothing companion for bedtime, or anytime you long to slow down, soften, and return to your centre.

Transcript

Let us begin this practice of yoga nidra here in the beautiful hills overlooking the sea in Spain.

Just immersed in the wide open sky and the fistfuls of star-like pine needles strewn over the branches,

Rustling,

This lovely whirring,

Roaring of the breeze.

And if we can just arrive,

As it were,

Held in the space just like that,

There's nothing really that you need to do.

And for the next few while,

You can listen to my voice.

And equally,

Sometimes the mind just likes to fall asleep or drift off,

And that's also fine.

So this is a space in which we can just rest as we need,

And there's nothing that we need to do.

And meantime,

I'm the eyes and ears and I'm on things like lizard and ant watch,

So rest easy and assured that you can simply relax,

Restore,

Reconnect.

So what could be really lovely is just to notice,

Just notice the position that you're in,

As if you are like a bird high up in the sky looking down on the land that is yourself,

And just mapping where's held by the earth,

And just noticing how that is.

And perhaps parts of you are feeling quite relaxed already.

Maybe parts of you are feeling a little bit achy,

A little bit stiff.

So just arriving in this moment.

And Yoga Nidra is a lovely practice.

It's a way that we open a door for ourselves.

And we just meet ourselves.

And so if you like,

You can do a little bit of tense and release through the body.

Sometimes that can feel quite nice.

So let's just begin with maybe the toes,

Maybe scrunching the toes or the feet,

And then really taking that energizing into the legs,

Maybe even lift one leg slightly off,

Or just tense it and then let it release.

And then do the same with the other leg,

Or just tensing and release the legs,

The feet in a way that feels helpful.

Maybe squeezing the buttocks and then releasing.

Making fists with the hands,

Fist,

Fist,

Fist,

Fist,

Hands tight,

Tight,

Tight,

All the way up to the shoulders,

And then releasing.

Maybe screwing up the face,

Maybe scrunching up the nose,

Something like that.

And then just letting it really soften.

And just spend the next few breaths just allowing that softening to flow.

And then just letting the body fully unfold.

And so noticing how the body is,

Where supported by the earth,

And know that this practice is devoted to a sense of coming home.

And so inviting yourself as if you've been on a long,

Tiring journey,

And as if you've opened the door,

The warmth and the glow of home from the doorway.

And together we step inside.

So connecting with the rhythm of the breath.

Just noticing where in the body expands with the inhale.

And that wonderful invitation on the exhale to just relax that little bit more.

And for this first part,

We could just breathe and notice the cadence of the breath in the body.

Maybe you can just take stock over the day.

Just casting your awareness back to the dawn to practice outside.

And the wonderful,

And sometimes slightly unnerving quality of retreat where time seems to simulate and continually expand and contract so that perhaps morning seemed more than a day away.

And yet here we are.

And perhaps gleaning fragments,

Moments of connection,

Beauty from the day.

As if you could gather up the jewels and just pop them into a pocket.

And so you may recall us tracing the meridians for the earth element.

And so let's just take our busy mind on a gentle stroll around the land of each of us.

Up the hills and down into the vales and valleys,

Through the ditches,

Over hedges.

And so just beginning with the awareness under the eye,

Let's say on that left side.

And coming down to the corner of the mouth and then up into that left temple,

Down the face through the jaw,

Down the side of the throat to the collarbones,

Down the front of the body straight through the nipple all the way down to the qua,

The hip crease,

Down the outside of the thigh,

Outer edge of the knee,

Down the side of the shin to the middle of the ankle,

Top of the foot to the second toe.

And then coming up the spleen energy line on that left side,

The outer edge of the big toe,

Up the instep,

Up the inside of the shinbone,

Inside of the kneecap,

Up the inside of the thigh muscle to the groin crease,

Stepping out a little bit,

Coming up the trunk,

Around the breast to the chest,

And then finishing at the side of the ribs under the armpit,

A hand breath down.

Let's do the same now on the other side.

Just becoming aware of the right side,

Beginning under the eye,

Coming down to the side of the mouth,

Up into the temple,

And then down through the jaw,

The side of the throat to the collarbone,

Down through the nipple on that side all the way down through the trunk to the groin crease,

Stepping out to the outside of the thigh,

Outer knee,

Outside of the shin,

Down to the middle of the ankle,

Top of the foot,

Second toe.

And then coming up the spleen energy line,

Outer edge of the big toe,

Up the instep,

Up the inside of the shinbone,

All the way up to the inside of the kneecap,

The inside of the big thigh muscle to the groin crease,

Stepping out a little bit,

Up the trunk,

Around the breast to the middle of the chest,

And then just finishing a hand breath down at the side of the ribs under the armpit.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Just imagine on that exhale a soft flow from the eye all the way down the body to that second toe.

And on the inhale,

Just that gentle journey up the rising energy up from the outer edge of the big toe,

The insides of the thighs,

All the way up the trunk and finishing at the side of the ribs.

Just do a few mindful,

Energetic flows with the breath.

All the way down,

Second toe,

Big toe all the way up,

Finishing at the side of the ribs under the armpit.

And then breathing into the whole body as if the breath could just easily flow in from the navel.

And the breath is radiating all the way in.

And on the exhale,

The whole body can soften and deepen,

Deeper into the embrace of Mother Earth.

So as we breathe in,

It's as if the whole body gently is breathing.

And as we breathe out,

The whole body held by Mother Earth.

That sense of late summer,

The harvest of all that grows,

The figs scattered on the ground,

Dried in the sun.

And yet,

Knowing the green fig tree by the pool has yet to ripen.

A couple of weeks back in Glasgow,

The blackberries were complete and sweet and full.

And then the rains came.

And it was harder to find those that hadn't gone over,

Soft,

With just mush in the hands when you tried to pick them.

The breath flowing in and the breath flowing out,

The dark wine red color of the hawthorn berries on the hill up to the glass house in Queen's Park.

The crunching of the leaves underfoot,

Walking from the challah through to where we sit and eat our breakfast,

Overnight oats with chia seeds,

All of the incredible food.

The breath flows in and the breath flows out.

So we'll take our awareness around the body,

Breathing as we go,

Becoming aware of the left palm and the warmth in your palm,

Taking that awareness,

Radiating into fingers and thumb,

Into the wrist,

Into the forearm and elbow,

Into the upper arm and shoulder,

From the shoulder to the armpit,

The side of the ribs,

To the waist and hip,

To the hip crease,

The qua,

Down into the top of the thigh,

Into the back of the thigh,

The back of the knee,

The kneecap,

The shin,

Calf muscle,

The ankle,

The top of the foot and the heel and instep,

The sole of the foot and all of the toes.

Becoming aware of the whole of the left side,

And then taking that awareness into the right hand,

Awareness of the whole hand,

The warmth in the palm,

The thumb and all the fingers,

The back of the hand,

The wrist,

The forearm,

The elbow,

The upper arm,

The shoulder,

The armpit,

The side of the ribs,

The waist,

The hip,

The qua,

The top of the thigh,

The back of the thigh,

The back of the knee,

The kneecap,

The shin,

Calf muscle,

The ankle,

The top of the foot,

And the heel,

And the instep,

And the sole of the foot,

And all of the toes.

Just awareness of the whole of the right side of the body.

Drawing awareness to the length of your spine,

From the tailbone all the way back up,

Through the back of the waist,

The mid-back,

And just taking the awareness,

Almost in a lateral figure of eight,

Around your shoulder blades,

And just noticing if the muscles wrap,

Under,

Around,

Over,

And soften,

And almost open,

Just a little bit more space between those wing-like blades.

And then coming up into the upper back,

Into the back of the neck.

And then noticing how your head is,

If you're lying on your back,

The back of the head,

And if you're lying on your side,

The side,

Just where is being held by the earth.

The soft flow of the breath,

Just aware of your body,

Lying held by Mother Earth,

Aware of the position,

Aware of lying in this room.

Taking your awareness now into your face,

Softening the face,

Relaxing the eyebrows,

And just inviting the eyes behind the lids to really relax.

Almost a sense that they could be softly melting,

Deeper,

So all the muscles don't need to keep looking.

Let the apples of the cheeks grow soft,

The hinges of the jaw,

The whole face relaxed.

And just bringing the awareness down into the chest,

And down into the belly.

And so,

The image of the earth spinning endlessly on her axis,

The earth element of late summertime.

Each of us,

Our own planets,

Within our constellations or systems,

All the relationships that we nurture and sustain.

And then within each of us,

The constellations of different ages,

Each on their own axis.

When we were very little,

All the way to now.

And in late summer,

We celebrate harvest.

So just as the peach is as round as Mother Earth,

Something that you can hold in a hand,

Feel the soft suede of peach skin in the hand.

And late summer is very much about our energy turning inwards.

And so,

Just giving space to settle.

And here in the hills in Spain,

If you get the chance to look out over the land,

You can see the green of the trees,

Orange groves.

And in the distance,

The blue haze of the sea.

And the whole of Mother Earth covered in green.

And as the trees breathe,

It's almost as if Mother Earth gently expands.

And as the trees give out oxygen,

So then we breathe and inhale.

So this ebb and flow of life between Mother Earth and ourselves,

This gifting,

This exchange.

And so as we breathe in,

We take in the gifts.

And as we breathe out,

We give them back.

So just noticing the breath in the body.

And perhaps there's a sense that as we breathe in,

The whole body expands very gently.

As if we are,

Each of us,

Our own Mother Earth.

And as the breath flows in,

We gently grow radiant.

And as the breath flows out,

We settle,

Calm.

Outside in the dark of the night sky,

A crescent moon glows.

And it's so bright that when you look at it,

You can see parts of the moon in the dark.

A slight amber tinge to those parts still visible.

And then dotted around the sky,

Suns from billions,

Potentially,

Of years ago.

Light shining to us like echoes from history.

And here we are in this moment,

Our own atoms like tiny planets whirring within the cells that make up the fabric of our very being.

And all the tiny particles within the atoms orbiting the center of each one.

Perhaps just like the Earth orbiting the sun in our own solar system.

Just on that trajectory,

Can't even say it,

That lovely elliptical cycle.

Around and around,

Rotating,

Spinning around.

On a cellular level,

The tiny macrocosm of the universe.

And outside on the gravel by the pool,

The pine cones round,

Falling to the ground like tiny planets.

And weaving around all of the atoms and cells within us.

Love,

Life.

And so just being aware of the shape of your body.

And just as the vast and infinite is contained on a cellular level within each and every one of us,

Just coming home to yourself.

And just delighting in the warmth from of what it is to be in this moment.

As if we could just rest in this restful,

Relaxing space as long as we need.

So just resting and allowing a cascade of blessings like a blanket of care to clothe every part of you.

Know you are blessed,

Know you are loved.

And so we'll just spend a few moments of quietness at the end of our practice.

Just resting and basking in that glow.

We're going to begin to ease ourselves into a more alert and waking state.

And a lovely way to do that can be to bring a little bit of movement into the body.

Start to deepen the breath.

Sometimes it can be really nice to run the tongue around the teeth.

And bring little movements into bigger movements.

So perhaps the toes are now moving into the feet and ankles.

And then if you're lying on your back and you like to stretch yourself nice and long,

That can often be a lovely thing.

If you're lying on your side,

You might want to do something else.

But generally,

And if you're seated,

Again,

Just finding a way to slowly bring yourself into a more alert and awake and aware state.

And as you're doing that,

Know that this is always available.

This state of steady calm and connection and quiet.

But for now,

Just starting to bring a depth and perhaps a little bit more energy into your breathing.

Maybe even sigh the breath out.

And in your own time,

When you're so ready,

You can hug the knees,

Rock from side to side,

Come to a rest on a comfy side,

Whatever it is.

That is a lovely way to come to a more alert state.

And if you have an eye mask on,

Now's the time to take it off and reacquaint your eyes with a little bit of light.

The practice of yoga nidra inspired by the earth element is now over,

It's now finished.

Thank you very much for listening.