So welcome everyone,
I'm going to guide you through a gentle movement practice that was taught to me.
As a way to prepare for yoga nidra.
It's simple,
Sweet and efficient.
And it's just a lovely way of bringing together our hearts and our minds.
Creating a sense of space where there may be tension,
And moving the energy more freely.
So I invite you to come into Mountain Pose,
Your feet hip distance apart,
Your joints stacking on top of one another.
Feel your fate.
Rooted to the earth.
You might want to bend your knees slightly and just tuck your tailbone under,
Feeling a gentle release through your lower back.
Lengthening the spine and softening the shoulders.
And just pausing for a moment.
Before we begin,
You might want to soften your gaze.
Close your eyes.
And just turn your attention inward for a moment.
Check in on where you're at,
How you're feeling.
Not trying to change it in any way.
Just noticing.
Your body.
And where your mind is at.
Tune into the breath without needing to change it.
And notice the body breathe as you begin to pay more attention.
And as you pay more attention,
Awareness starts to switch on and the moment begins to feel more vivid.
So let's begin by swaying gentle movement back and forth.
Swinging your arms out in front of you.
Creating a bit of momentum.
But eventually,
It kind of takes on a life of its own.
And as your arms swing,
You just let the breath do its own thing.
Couple of rounds like this.
Now I invite you to bend your elbows every second time you swing your arms back.
Feeling it in the back of the shoulders.
Circulating more blood.
Creating.
More circulation in your lymphatic system as well.
Just starting to turn your attention inward.
These movement practices.
Just a wonderful way to start.
Also.
Turning our mind inward and preparing ourselves for yoga nidra.
And the sweet rest.
That comes with that.
One or two more rounds here.
And then.
I just invite you again to close your eyes or soften your gaze.
And just come to a still point.
Feel a sense of perhaps a sense of warmth.
Or energy beginning to circulate more freely.
And maybe there's a greater sense of arriving here.
Now this simple shift of orientation slightly,
Arms out in front and then back to the side.
Alternating each arm.
On top.
Feeling it again through the back of your shoulders.
In your arms.
And as they come out in front of you.
There is a different arm on top each time.
Couple more rounds.
And then just pause.
Now we're going to move the lower part of our body and we begin by shifting on the balls of our feet.
So we protect our knees.
And bring a bit of rotation through the spine.
Again,
Swinging our arms from side to side.
This is a beautiful movement that just.
.
.
Involves our whole body.
Helps us just.
.
.
Release any tension.
Bring us into the present moment.
And if like me,
You've been rotating your head along with the body,
You might want to now just stare at me.
Front.
As you continue the movement.
And you'll notice that.
.
.
It rotates the upper part of the spine a little more as your head stays forward.
Just a couple more rounds.
All right.
Last one and then now stand in mountain pose again.
Feel your feet really rooted to the earth.
Maybe like a tree who's.
.
.
Roots are spreading deep into nourishing soil.
Feeling that real groundedness and sense of arriving here in this present moment.
Bending your knees slightly.
Picking your tailbone under.
Feeling a sense of stability and length through the spine.
And maybe as this energy is circulating more freely,
Your mind is starting to become a little calmer.
And if your eyes are closed,
Then I invite you just to gently open them and just find a soft gaze point and let it land.
Before we now move into the next practice.
So this one is a really good way to ground.
Through the end.
Through the feet and the body,
So the hands are just above the knees.
And it's.
As you exhale,
You're going to breathe.
Feel a sense of contraction moving up from the feet up to the calves,
The upper legs,
The pelvic floor softly engages.
And then the abdomen,
Right up to the solar plexus,
And then you release it.
As you inhale on the way down.
So as you exhale,
I'm mindful of the wave of engagement coming up through the soles of my feet,
Calves,
Legs,
Tailbone drawing in,
Pelvic floor engages.
Lower,
Middle,
Upper abdomen.
And then as I inhale,
I progressively release from the upper to the middle to the lower abdomen.
Down the legs,
All the way back to the feet.
If you need an extra breath,
That's no problem.
There's no retention of the breath.
So let's do six rounds of that.
Exhale.
Bringing that wave of engagement,
Tightening those muscles up into the belly and then the solar plexus.
And then as you inhale,
Gently releasing the tailbone,
Letting that wave just roll right down to your feet.
As you exhale,
Imagine just bringing that grounding energy of the earth.
Right up your legs.
Pelvic floor engages,
Tightening the belly,
Up into the solar plexus,
And as you inhale,
Releasing the tailbone and letting that wave of contraction gently flow down again to the earth,
Releasing any tension.
Exhale,
Tightening that wave up the legs,
Tucking the tailbone under,
Up into the belly.
And then inhale.
Gently flows down again.
Three more rounds on your own.
Do this practice before Yoga Nidra.
You can really notice the benefits of it.
During The.
.
.
Practice.
And now a simple.
Just raising the knees.
So your arms out in front of you,
Bent at the elbows.
And then just bringing your knees up to meet your hands.
Just creating a little movement.
In the hips and knees.
It's all preparing you for the sweets.
Experience of yoga nidra.
A deep sleep while you are also aware.
And awake.
It's a complete yogic practice within itself and really quite an amazing way to remember.
That part of us that is timeless.
That is connected to.
Everything.
That's beyond our usual day-to-day.
Reclaim mountain pose now.
Close your eyes or soften your gaze.
And just aware of the body.
Noticing any tingling,
Sense of aliveness.
And just tuning into what's real for you.
Not trying to impose any particular sensation or experience on yourself.
But just being present to what's here right now.
How your body is coming alive.
Perhaps there's more energy.
Maybe a little more nourishment.
Let's just take.
One breath in together.
Feel up,
And then exhale,
Release.
And empty out.
Breathe in together.
Fill up and breathe out,
Releasing any tension.
Me too.
Finding that soft gaze point.
Letting it land.
Alright,
Now we're just going to do a couple of gentle movements.
Um On your hands and knees.
So this one's a really safe way of doing a neck roll.
It,
Um.
.
.
It's one of the safest ways,
Actually,
Of doing a neck roll.
So just tuck your chin in,
And then you're going to gently rotate,
Bringing the right ear to the right shoulder.
On the in-breath and then at the top.
Gently rolling to the other side,
Bringing your left ear to your left shoulder and exhaling.
Let's do five rounds.
Inhale,
Up on your right side.
Exhale down your left side,
Releasing any tension.
At your own pace.
Gently rolling the neck.
Yeah.
Okay,
Now we're gonna go in the other direction.
Up the left side,
Left ear to left shoulder,
Up to the top,
Exhaling down to the right ear to the right shoulder.
Five rounds on this side.
My neck feels really ropey today.
Intense,
But that's okay.
Bye.
Okay,
Final move is a way to release and bring some rotation to our hips.
So you bring the knees together and the right knee,
Take it out and then back.
And then under.
Let's do this five rounds,
Out and back and then under.
Out and then back.
And then under.
Ooh.
Bye.
And then let's change sides.
Left leg out and then back and then under.
Bring this beautiful rotation to the hips on this side.
Five rounds.
And now we're going to reverse the action on the right side.
So bring your knee back and then out and then down.
Reversing the same action out.
And then back.
And then down five rounds.
Okay,
Now we're going to go over to the left side.
And then out and then down.
Such a good way to release the hips,
Especially if it's been a.
.
.
Week of standing and sitting like we're so often doing these days.
Just a really good way to release tension in this area of the body.
And that is The complete.
.
.
Movement for yoga nidra.
I'm so happy that you joined me.
Enjoy the rest of your practice.
Sending you lots of love.
Thank you.
Great.
Oh my god,
You did it.
Okay,
That's great.
