So welcome home to yourself and welcome to this wild yoga nidra which is recorded in summer.
Summer is the time of the fire element in Chinese medicine which is said to be the height of yang energy.
At this time of abundance and fullness of energy it's especially important to rest.
In Chinese medicine the colour associated with summer is red and the associated emotion is joy.
You can listen to this yoga nidra in summer or anytime you're feeling surrounded by strong active energy and need to take rest.
So the first part of the practice is to get really comfortable.
So arrange the body so that it feels well supported and you can just let go into stillness.
Make sure you are warm enough even if it's summer as the body temperature can drop when we're lying still for a while.
If you become uncomfortable and need to move then please go ahead and move but try to do so with awareness and without too much disturbance.
If anything in the nidra makes you feel uncomfortable in any way and you want to stop all you have to do is to wiggle your fingers and toes and open your eyes and you'll come out of the nidra state.
There'll be some short periods of silence for you to have your own experience and to fully let go into the practice.
Know that there's no way to do this practice wrong.
There isn't anything to be done.
Just to be here is more than enough.
And you'll find that thoughts will come and go and just allow that to happen but seeing if you can just step back from them and guide your awareness back to the practice,
Back to the sound of my voice.
There might be times when you're very aware of the words that I'm saying and other times when my voice is just in the background.
And if there are any movements or adjustments that you could make to allow you to be even one percent more comfortable,
I invite you to make them now and then invite that stillness to settle over the body.
And the invitation is to close the eyes but if that's not comfortable then just softening and lowering the gaze.
So letting the be your welcome now for any sounds that can be heard.
Sounds from far away outside the space where you are right now.
Any sounds from inside the room.
Sounds from within the body.
The sound of your own breath.
Welcoming all of the sounds without any labelling or judging.
Just observing.
Now feeling the touch of air upon the skin.
Realising the texture and the temperature of the air upon the skin.
And feeling all of the places where the body is held and supported by the earth beneath.
And we exhale now,
Breathe down through all those places where the body touches the surface below.
As if you could give away the whole weight of the body.
And coming now to focus the attention on the space at the heart.
Perhaps allowing gratitude to arise from the heart centre.
Gratitude for this body in this moment.
And we'll use an intention in this practice,
What we call the Sam Kalpa.
An intention in Yoga Nidra is a wish for something positive in your life or perhaps a statement of your values or how you want to be living your life.
If this doesn't resonate with you then you can just spend the time relaxing,
Focusing on the breath.
And if you want a Sam Kalpa but don't feel that you have one at the moment,
You can just spend the time listening inwards for your intention to arise.
Or perhaps you might repeat something like,
I feel at home in my body.
Or I let go of what no longer serves me.
This intention is best phrased in the present tense as if it's already happening.
And repeating your intention in the mind three times.
And then gently letting that intention go.
Next we'll allow our awareness to travel around different parts of the body.
We don't need to move that part or do anything other than to allow our awareness to rest there.
You might like to imagine a warm red glow at each of the places named so that we fill the body with a warm red light.
Starting at the right hand thumb glowing with a warm red light.
The index finger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger and the little finger.
The fingers and the thumb together glowing with the red light.
The back of the hand,
The wrist,
The forearm,
The elbow,
The upper arm,
The right shoulder,
The armpit,
The side,
The waist.
The red light at the right hip,
The top of the thigh,
Back of the thigh,
Front of the knee,
Back of the knee,
The shin,
Calf,
Ankle,
The heel,
Red light at the right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the little toe.
All of the toes together.
The whole of the right side of the body glowing with that warm red light.
I'm inviting the awareness to travel over to the left side,
The left hand thumb,
The index finger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger and the little finger.
The fingers and thumb together.
The back of the hand,
The wrist,
Forearm,
Elbow,
Upper arm,
The shoulder,
The left armpit,
The side,
The waist,
The left hip,
The top of the left thigh,
Back of the thigh,
The front of the knee,
The back of the knee,
The shin,
Calf,
Ankle,
The heel,
The red light at the left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe and the little toe.
All of the toes together.
The whole of the left side of the body glowing with that warm red light.
The whole of the right arm,
The whole of the left arm,
Both arms together,
The whole of the right leg and the whole of the left leg,
Both legs together.
The right hip,
The left hip,
The right shoulder blade,
The left shoulder blade,
The red light in the whole of the spine,
The back of the neck,
The back of the head,
The very crown of the head and the warmth of that red light moving down through the forehead,
The right temple,
The left temple,
The right eyebrow,
The left eyebrow,
The right eye,
The left eye and the tip of the nose.
The red light at the right cheek,
The left cheek,
The right ear,
The left ear,
The upper lip,
Lower lip,
Both lips together,
The chin,
The throat,
The right collarbone,
The left collarbone,
The right side of the chest,
The left side of the chest,
That warm red light filling the centre of the chest,
Filling the rib cage,
The diaphragm,
The navel,
The abdomen,
The groin and the whole body,
The whole body,
The whole body filled with this warm glowing red light.
Now allow that awareness to rest upon the breath.
Just observe the natural rhythm of the breath as it moves in and out of the body,
Within the inhale and the exhale.
Now noticing the turning points of the breath,
The top of the inhale and the pause at the end of the exhale.
And now noticing all four points of the breath,
The inhale,
The pause at the very top of the inhale,
The exhale from that turning point at the end of the exhale.
And now counting the breath,
At the end of the next exhale,
Counting down from 21,
After the next exhale 20,
Exhaling 19 and so on.
If you reach zero or the counting goes astray and just beginning again at 20.
Remember if you get lost with the counting or if you reach zero just begin again at 21.
And then gently letting the counting go.
So as we come to notice opposites in the body now,
Inviting a feeling of joy into the body,
Noticing how that might feel,
Where you might feel it.
Now inviting a feeling of sadness into the body,
Perhaps noticing the location of that sadness and its qualities.
Now coming back to that feeling of joy.
Now seeing if it's possible to hold both joy and sadness in our awareness at the same time.
And then gently letting that go.
So imagining now that you are in a special place in nature.
It might be on the beach,
In a forest or somewhere else that feels special and sacred for you.
Notice the colours,
The smells,
How it feels beneath your feet.
Now imagine that you turn around and there's a small campfire in front of you with some pieces of paper and a pencil beside it.
And you begin to write down one or more things that you'd like to let go of in your life.
It could be big things or small things.
Just one thing or perhaps many.
Then writing each one on a separate piece of paper.
And when you've written them down,
See yourself putting those pieces of paper slowly,
One by one,
Into the fire.
Letting go of those things in your life which are no longer important to you.
Watching the paper curl and burn to ash in the fire.
Seeing the sparks flying high into the air.
As you watch the flames you feel a sense of ease in your body and in your mind.
And then gently letting that image just dissolve away.
Knowing that you can return to that special place to let go of anything you no longer need whenever you want to.
And for a few moments now just allowing your awareness to rest on the space behind the closed eyelids.
Maybe you see darkness or maybe colours or light.
Just allowing what's there to be present.
Letting it come and letting it go.
Just allowing any images to dissolve.
Feeling that you're fully present in the space.
Now inviting the awareness to rest upon the heart centre once again.
Feeling your sankalpa,
Your intention,
Three times in the mind as if it's already happening.
If you're waiting for an intention to arise then just tuning in to your heart.
And gently letting that go.
Now as we begin our slow and gentle return feeling all those points of contact between the back or the side of the body and the surface beneath.
Noticing the touch of air upon the skin.
Noticing the texture and the temperature of the air upon the skin.
Noticing any sounds just to come to the ears now without any labelling or judgement.
Noticing all of the sounds.
Noticing any light that can be detected behind the closed eyelids.
Noticing any taste in the mouth.
And starting to take a deeper breath now,
Perhaps a deeper in-breath.
Feeling some gentle movement to the fingers and the toes.
Perhaps circling the wrists and the ankles.
Perhaps stretching the arms over the head and extending out through the toes.
Noticing any stretch or movement that feels really delicious right now.
And then hugging the knees into the chest,
Maybe rocking gently from side to side.
And rolling over onto one side,
Just pausing there for a moment.
And whenever you're ready,
Looking your way up to a sitting position.
Bringing the hands together at the heart centre.
Perhaps you might like to dedicate any benefits or merits that you've gained from this practice out into the world or to anyone who needs them.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
This practice of yoga nidra is now complete.
