Root To Rise: Yoga Nidra To Cultivate The Wood Element

In Chinese Medicine, the Wood element helps us to cultivate strength and also flexibility, like bamboo. This allows us to feel rooted but to be able to be strong, when the winds of change blow.

Yoga nidra is a guided relaxation practice done lying down. It is a great way to cultivate this rootedness, so that we may arise relaxed, renewed and malleable for whatever life throws our way.

Transcript

Hello,

This is a yoga nidra practice to call in the qualities of the wood element.

And you might choose to use this practice whenever you're in need of some grounding.

So just gathering anything you might need to be truly comfortable.

You might like to lie on the floor or on your bed or maybe even outdoors.

Making sure that the body is covered,

That the head is supported so that you can truly rest.

And you might lie on the back or on the side,

But just choosing the most comfortable position.

And then inviting stillness to settle in over the body.

Knowing that there's no further movements required for the duration of this practice.

And the invitation is to close down the eyes if that feels comfortable.

Or if not,

Then just softening the gaze.

Just taking a few moments to become aware of the shape and the arrangement of the physical body.

Becoming aware of the orientation of the body in the room.

Feeling all the places where the back or the side of the body meet the surface beneath.

And feeling the touch of air upon the skin.

Just tuning in to the texture and the temperature of the air upon the skin.

And becoming aware of the breath now.

Just noticing the gentle rhythm of the natural easy breath as it comes and goes.

Noticing the breath coming in and the breath going out again.

And then drawing your awareness to slight pauses in between the in-breath and the out-breath.

And then holding all of these four parts of the breath in our awareness at the same time.

So the in-breath,

Natural pause at the top of the in-breath.

The out-breath and the little pause at the end of the exhale.

Having a sense of the four seasons of the year being reflected in every cycle of the breath.

So the inhale like the springtime of the breath.

Drawing energy and life into the body.

And the pause at the top of the inhale like the summertime of the breath.

Full of life and vitality.

And the body releases the breath like the autumntime as the trees release their leaves.

And the pause at the end of the out-breath like the wintertime of the breath.

Quiet and resting.

So having a sense of the four seasons of the breath just for another few rounds of the breath.

And then you might like to bring to mind an intention for this practice.

Perhaps an intention that connects to the qualities of wood.

It might be something like I am strong and flexible.

Or I am rooted.

Just spending a moment now,

Cultivating your intention.

And seeing if you can phrase it in the first person and in the present tense as if it's already happening.

And then just repeating it a few times in the mind.

And then gently letting that intention go.

Next we'll invite our awareness to go on a little journey around the landscape of the body.

I will name different body parts and you can just allow your awareness to rest there.

And you might just focus on the place that's being named.

Or you might like to imagine the green light of renewal and growth at each place.

Starting with the crown of the head.

The eyebrow centre.

The point between the collarbones.

The right shoulder.

Right elbow.

Right wrist.

Tip of the right hand thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Right wrist.

Elbow.

Right shoulder.

The point between the collarbones.

Left shoulder.

Left elbow.

Wrist.

Tip of the left hand thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Left wrist.

Elbow.

Left shoulder.

The point between the collarbones.

The heart centre.

The navel.

The centre of the pelvis.

The right hip.

Right knee.

Right ankle.

Tip of the right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

And little toe.

Right ankle.

Knee.

Right hip.

Centre of the pelvis.

Left hip.

Knee.

Ankle.

Tip of the left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Little toe.

Left ankle.

Knee.

Left hip.

Centre of the pelvis.

The navel.

The heart centre.

The point between the collarbones.

The eyebrow centre.

And the crown of the head.

The whole of the right arm.

The whole of the left arm.

Both arms together.

The whole of the right leg.

The whole of the left leg.

Both legs together.

The whole of the right side of the body.

The whole of the left side.

Both sides together.

The whole body.

The whole body.

The whole physical body.

Inviting the awareness to rest upon the breath now.

Just noticing the sensation of breath in the nostrils.

And with each inhale now imagine the breath travelling up from the nostrils up to the eyebrow centre.

And back down again with the exhale.

Imagining a triangle of energy at this point.

Breathing up from the base of the triangle at the two nostrils.

Up to the apex of the triangle at the eyebrow centre.

And then exhaling back down the sides of the triangle.

And keeping the awareness of this small triangle between the nostrils and the eyebrow centre.

Now we can mentally alternate the nostrils as we breathe in and out.

So with the next inhale breathing up through the left nostril up to the eyebrow centre.

And exhaling through the right just in the imagination.

And the next inhale back up through the right to the eyebrow centre.

And exhaling left.

And just keeping this going at your own pace for a few more rounds of breath.

Yep.

After the next exhale out of the left nostril we can imagine a larger triangle.

With the base between the tips of the fingers on both hands.

And the top of the triangle at the eyebrow centre.

So with the next inhale imagine moving up the left arm all the way up to the eyebrow centre.

And exhaling down the right arm to the right fingertips.

Inhale coming back up the right arm all the way to the eyebrow centre.

And exhaling down the left arm to the fingertips.

And moving at your own pace for another few rounds of breath.

With this medium triangle between the tips of the fingers and the eyebrow centre.

And after the next exhale down the left side.

Imagining an even larger triangle now.

With the base of the triangle is at the tips of the toes.

And the top of the triangle remains at the eyebrow centre.

So with the next inhale imagining drawing the breath up from the left foot all the way up to the eyebrow centre.

And exhaling down the right side all the way to the right foot.

Inhaling back up the right side to the eyebrow centre.

And exhaling down the left side to the left foot.

And just going at your own pace for a few more rounds of breath.

With this larger triangle between the two feet and the eyebrow centre.

And then after the next exhale down the left side.

Coming back to the medium triangle between the fingertips and the eyebrow centre.

Again inhaling up the left arm all the way to the eyebrow centre.

Exhaling to the right fingertips.

Inhaling up the right side to the eyebrow centre.

And exhaling down to the left fingertips.

Moving through a few more rounds at your own pace.

And after the next exhale through the left side to the left fingertips.

Coming back to that first smaller triangle with the base at the nostrils and the top at the eyebrow centre.

And on the next inhale drawing the breath up from the left nostril to the eyebrow centre.

Exhaling down the right nostril.

Inhaling back up the right side up to the eyebrow centre.

And exhaling down the left side.

And again just moving through a few rounds at your own pace.

And after the next exhale through the left nostril.

Keeping that image of the small triangle between the nostrils and the eyebrow centre.

But breathing up from the base of the triangle at both sides to the eyebrow centre.

And exhaling down through both sides at the same time.

And after the next exhale just letting go of any images and just returning to the natural breath.

And keeping the awareness on the breath with the next exhale.

Having a sense of the physical body as extremely heavy.

As if it could sink a little more into the surface beneath,

So heavy.

And with each inhale experiencing the body as very light.

Almost as if it could float a little way up into the air,

So light.

And then alternating between these two states with every breath.

So exhaling heavy,

Inhaling light.

And then seeing if it's possible to hold both of these two states in our awareness at the same time.

Experiencing sensations of extreme heaviness and extreme lightness at the same time.

And then gently letting that go.

Inviting the awareness now to rest at the eyebrow centre.

I will name some objects and as I name each one see if you can just visualise it.

It might be something real or it might be from your imagination.

But keeping the awareness at the eyebrow centre.

So imagining darkness.

A large oak tree.

A blue sky.

A forest with tall dense trees.

A full moon.

A small cabin in the woods.

A stormy sky.

A path through the forest.

A crescent moon.

A mountain stream.

The sound of a bell ringing.

A bamboo grove.

A snow-capped mountain.

Wild horses.

Sunrise.

A peaceful forest.

The setting sun.

The trunk of a tree.

And just letting any images go now and resting the awareness in the space in front of the closed eyelids.

And just staying with whatever you might experience there in that space.

It might be darkness,

Maybe colours,

Images or shapes.

Just letting it come and go.

Letting it come and go.

Letting it go.

Letting it go.

And then just gently letting that go.

Coming back to the intention that we set at the beginning of the practice.

And just repeating it over three times in the mind as if it's already happening.

And then gently letting that intention go.

Bringing the awareness onto the breath.

Perhaps starting to take a deeper breath,

A deeper in-breath perhaps.

As we inch towards the end of the practice.

And feeling the touch of the air upon the skin.

Tuning into the temperature and the texture of the air upon the skin.

And the texture of the air upon the skin.

Having a sense of the shape and the arrangement of the physical body.

And the orientation of the body in the room.

Feeling all of the places where the body meets the surface beneath.

Deepening the breath now,

Consciously taking some deeper in-breaths.

And perhaps bringing some movement to the fingers and the toes.

Taking any movement or stretch that feels needed by the body right now.

Taking whatever time you need to transition out of this practice into whatever's coming next.

This practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.

Thank you so much for listening.

Reviews

Triangles from brow point to nostrils, then to fingers, then to toes. Best to be on back for this one. (Because I’m usually on my side) Nice quiet background but a little hard to hear over the sound of ac. 8/9/25