Yoga Nidra For The Autumn Equinox With Breathwork

This yoga nidra practice celebrates the autumn equinox, and cultivates grounding and calm. It features two breathwork practices, a humming breath, which has all sorts of benefits such as drawing the attention inwards, lowering the heart rate and producing oxytocin. The other practice is a balancing breath, where we inhale and exhale to a count of 4.

Towards the end of the practice, there are some images for you to imagine, all centered around the theme of autumn.

Transcript

Today's practice celebrates the autumn equinox,

Where we cultivate feeling grounded and balanced.

We'll use two breathwork practices in this Nidra.

One is the humming breath,

Which helps to bring the mind inwards,

But has also been shown to reduce stress,

Lower the heart rate,

Enhance sleep and even produces chemicals in the brain like oxytocin,

Which makes us feel good.

The other breathwork practice we'll use is a balancing breath,

Where you'll breathe in and out to a count of four.

Towards the end of the practice,

I'll suggest some images for you to imagine,

Related to autumn.

So now is the time to gather everything you might need,

Warm socks,

A pillow,

A blanket or duvet,

Perhaps a bolster or some cushions beneath the knees.

You might like to lie on the floor,

A sofa or in your bed.

Yoga Nidra can be practiced at any time of the day.

It's a guided relaxation that might put you on the border between being awake and being asleep,

A place where you can rest deeply and get all kinds of benefits like creativity and stress relief.

It's called the short periods of silence for you to have your own experience and to let go into the practice.

Although it's called yogic sleep,

The intention isn't to actually go to sleep.

We're hoping to surf the interface between waking and sleeping.

If you do find that you've fallen asleep,

Then that's perfectly alright.

It might be just that that's what you really need more than anything else right now.

And we'll invite stillness to settle in over the body.

But if you find that you become uncomfortable and really have to move,

Then go ahead and move.

But try to do so with awareness and without too much disturbance.

If you do get the urge to move,

It might just be resistance to going deeper.

So try to just observe the urge to move first.

It will probably just pass away.

And if anything in the nidra makes you feel uncomfortable and you want to stop,

All you have to do is to move your fingers and toes and open your eyes and you'll come out of the nidra state.

And know that there's no way to do this practice wrong.

There isn't anything to be done.

Just to be here,

Resting the body and the mind as more than enough.

Just allowing thoughts to arise and pass away.

There might be times when you're aware of what I'm saying and times when my voice is just a gentle murmur in the background.

And there's no special posture that you need to adopt.

Just finding a position which feels super comfortable.

If there are any movements or adjustments that would allow you to be even 1% more comfortable,

I invite you to make them now.

And then inviting stillness to settle over the body.

The invitation is to close the eyes,

But if that's not comfortable,

Then just softening and lowering the gaze.

And letting there be a welcome now for any sounds that can be heard.

Or if there aren't any sounds,

Then welcoming in the silence.

Perhaps you hear sounds from far away,

Outside the space where you are right now.

Sounds from within the room.

Sounds from within the body.

The sound of the breath.

Welcoming all of the sounds without any labelling or judging,

Just simply observing.

And feeling the touch of air upon the skin.

Feeling 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 on the next exhale,

Breathing down through those points of contact as if you could give away the weight of the body into the earth below.

Feeling heavy and supported.

And now to help the body settle a little bit more.

The invitation is to let out three long hums along with me.

So breathing in.

Inhaling.

Inhaling once more.

And we will use an intention in this practice,

A sankalpa.

An intention in yoga nidra is a wish for something positive in your life or a statement of your values or how you want to live.

If you have a sankalpa you are currently working with,

You can use that.

Or perhaps you might choose something around feeling grounded or letting go.

And if this doesn't resonate with you then just simply spend this time relaxing and breathing.

If you would like an intention but you don't feel you have one at the moment,

You can just spend the time listening inwards for an intention to arise.

This intention is best phrased three times in the mind,

In the present tense as if it's already happening.

And then gently letting that go.

So next we'll invite our awareness to travel around different parts of the body.

We don't need to move that part or do anything other than allow our awareness to rest there.

You might just focus on the different body parts or you might imagine you're welcoming in warm,

Nurturing autumn light at each of the places.

Beginning at the point between the eyebrows.

Letting in a warm,

Nurturing light at the point between the eyebrows.

The base of the throat.

The right shoulder.

Right elbow.

The wrist.

Right hand thumb.

Index finger.

Little finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

The wrist.

Elbow shoulder.

Base of the throat.

The left shoulder.

The elbow.

The wrist.

Left hand thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

The wrist.

Elbow shoulder.

Base of the throat.

Warm light at the heart centre.

The left side of the chest.

The right side of the chest.

The navel.

The centre of the pelvis.

The right hip.

The knee.

Ankle.

The right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Little toe.

The ankle.

The knee.

The hip.

Centre of the pelvis.

Left hip.

Knee.

Ankle.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Middle toe.

Ankle.

Knee.

Hip.

Centre of the pelvis.

Navel.

Brisk bone.

Base of the throat.

Eyebrow centre.

This warm light infusing the whole body.

The whole body.

The whole body.

Now inviting the awareness to rest upon the breath.

You might like to simply observe the breath.

Or perhaps introduce a silent mental count.

So breathing in for a count of four.

And breathing out for a count of four.

So at your own pace with no straining.

Breathing in for four.

And out for four.

And once you feel that this rhythm of the breath is established,

Keeping that going,

But imagine that on the inhale you could draw energy up from the feet,

Through the legs,

The torso,

Right up to the crown of the head.

And with every exhale the energy moves back down the body and out through the feet.

Exhaling to a count of four,

Drawing the energy up from the feet all the way up to the head.

And exhaling to a count of four.

Exhaling the energy moving back down.

And now keeping that going,

You might like to imagine as you inhale that you could draw up calm,

Grounding energy from the earth.

Or perhaps some other qualities that you'd like to call in.

And on the exhale imagine that you could clear out whatever is no longer needed,

Sending it back to the earth.

Exhaling drawing that calming energy up from the earth for a count of four.

And exhaling letting go of what you no longer need for a count of four.

And after the next exhale,

Just gently letting that go.

And now exploring if any part of the body feels a little warmer than the rest.

And if you can't find anything then you might choose to focus on the heart and imagine a nurturing warmth there.

Now feeling if any part of the body feels a little cooler than the rest.

And if you can't find anything you might choose to focus on the sensation between the upper lip and the nose.

Perhaps the air is slightly cooler on the exhale.

And now bringing the awareness back to the place that felt warm.

And back to where it feels cool.

And then back to where it feels warm.

And imagine that this warmth is expanding in the body.

When the warmth meets the area that feels cooler,

These two states merge.

The warmth meets the coolness and body is the perfect temperature is brought into balance.

And then gently letting that go.

And now I will name some things and you might like to imagine them.

I might move quickly from one to the next but just try to imagine the things as best you can.

They might be rooted in your memory or just created in your imagination.

Jump from image to image as soon as you hear it said.

A warm fire.

Autumn leaves.

A still lake.

A fruitkin.

A toadstool.

A owl.

The full moon.

An autumn tree.

A fern.

The crunch of leaves beneath your feet.

A mushroom.

A sun on the horizon.

Moss on a log.

A walk in the woods.

A bonfire.

A steaming bowl of soup.

A flock of starlings.

A winding river.

A cozy jumper.

A bale of acorns.

And now invite the awareness to focus on the space in front of the closed eyelids.

Imagine a transparent screen as if you're at the cinema.

The screen is as high and as wide as your eyes can see.

Concentrate on this mental screen,

Becoming aware of any phenomena that manifest within it.

Perhaps you see colours or patterns or different beams of light.

Whatever you see,

Just let it arise and let it go.

Just continue this awareness,

Exploring this space.

And if thoughts come,

Just let them come and let them go.

Just observing what's there to be seen.

And now gently guiding the awareness back to the heart centre.

That space beneath the breastbone in the very centre of the chest.

Perhaps repeating the intention that you set at the beginning of the practice.

Or perhaps just tuning in,

Allowing for any inner guidance to arise.

And gently letting that go.

Bringing the awareness to rest upon the breath as it moves in and out of the body.

Perhaps focusing the awareness a little more on the in-breath.

And feeling the touch of air upon the skin.

Feeling the temperature of that air.

Perhaps feeling the coolness of the air as it enters the nostrils.

And now hearing all of the sounds that can be heard.

Sound of the breath.

Sounds from within the room.

And sounds from further away.

And starting to deepen the breath.

Perhaps bringing some gentle movement to the fingers and the toes.

As we gently wake the body back up now.

Wiggling the fingers and the toes.

Perhaps circling the wrists and the ankles.

And taking any movement or stretch that feels delightful and needed by the body right now.

And when you're ready you can blink the eyes open.

But perhaps just taking a few moments to pause here.

Before moving on to whatever's coming next in your day.

This practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.

Thank you for listening.