A Winter Guided Relaxation (Yoga Nidra)

A beautiful yoga nidra-guided relaxation for the winter. Take yourself off somewhere warm and cozy, let your body rest deeply, and have some time to really rest your mind and enjoy some time for yourself.
Perfect for the hecticness of the festive season, to give you a pocket of time for yourself to reset and replenish

Transcript

So welcome,

This is Susan and this is a wintery yoga nidra.

So just taking some time just to get yourself settled,

Just to be comfortable,

Lying down wherever you are and making sure that you feel cozy and warm,

Getting as many cushions,

Blankets that you need to,

Just to make sure that your body feels completely supported.

So letting yourself settle,

Making any adjustments,

Any wriggling to your body,

To really let yourself rest and have this time and making sure your body feels at ease,

Has that zero desire to move,

Settling and just allowing for your eyes to close.

You might like to put a covering softly over your eyes,

Maybe an eye pillow or a folded towel or flannel,

Something soft,

Just to really allow you to embrace the darkness,

This soothing,

Healing,

Nourishing darkness at this time of year and as you let yourself settle,

Just noting,

Being aware,

Is there anything you could do to get even more comfortable,

Even more at ease,

Relaxed and knowing that it's worth that investment in effort to make any big or small adjustments that you need to now.

And so once you feel settled and ready,

Relaxed,

At ease,

Just allowing yourself just to be guided and all you need to do is listen to my voice and thinking of that embracing of the natural rhythm cycle season of the year and this wintery time of year,

This winter season,

We think about looking to the guidance of nature.

This is a time of hibernation,

Of deep rest as the plants go into their dormancy,

As animals cozy up their deep,

Long winter sleep,

A deep,

Nourishing slumber and allowing yourself to be cozy and cocooned,

To embrace this state of deep,

Deep,

Nourishing rest and yourself feeling supported by the ground that's beneath you,

Sensing down into the earth,

Letting your body rest and be nourished here,

The feeling of the gentleness of that holding of you by Mother Earth,

Allowing yourself to tap in to that rhythm of nature,

The slowing down.

As the plants send their energy deep into their root system,

Deep into the darkness and nourishment of the earth,

As the animals rest,

Conserve their energy in their winter hibernation,

Allowing yourself and your body to also embrace this stillness,

This beautiful,

Deep rest,

This healing darkness and quietness that the winter season brings us and allowing your mind to soften from the world of effort,

The busyness of doing and planning,

The busyness of doing and just giving yourself this time to relax,

To pause,

To come back into a state of listening,

Receptive listening and just hearing my voice guiding you,

Letting other sounds you might hear just help to drop you into a further and deeper sense of rest and relaxation but being here and feeling and sensing and resting deeply,

Allowing for your whole self,

All of the layers of you to arrive here now and embracing,

Inviting this sense of beautifully restorative,

Nourishing restfulness,

Feeling your whole being,

Embracing this sense and state of nourishing rest and allowing for your jaw and your tongue just to soften and letting go of all efforts through your jaw,

Your face,

Letting the muscles around your eyes be soft,

Feeling into the weight of your head,

Of your skull heavy as it rests into softness and releasing all holding,

All expression from the muscles in your face,

Allowing each exhale,

Each breath out that you take to more and more effortlessly release your body,

Release any efforts,

Tension,

Release from your body just letting it go and letting your nervous system as you do this come into that state of rest as you become more and more effortless,

More and more at ease as an easy wave of relaxation softly cascades down through the whole of your body,

Letting all of yourselves have this time to rest and replenish and be nourished here.

You might want to welcome in an intention,

A sankalpa for this practice,

Whatever you would like to get from this quiet,

Nourishing time resting now.

Maybe it's a sense of rest or calmness,

Peacefulness,

Whatever it is.

Just repeating that intention,

I am in your own mind three times over.

So it might be I am calm,

I'm living my life with greater ease,

I am rested,

Whatever it is for you.

Just repeating that in your own head three times over,

I am.

And as you welcome your awareness to come to scan through your body now,

As you listen to my words as I guide your attention,

Your awareness around your body,

Maybe welcoming in a feeling of support of being held,

Cradled,

Supported by the earth beneath you and welcoming in to each part of your body in turn,

Maybe a sense of calmness,

Rest,

Of slumber,

As each part of your body could be fully embraced and supported by the energy of deep rest.

So first of all bringing your awareness,

Your attention to your mouth and the inside of your mouth,

The whole of the jaw and the tongue and sensing the teeth and the gums of the upper jaw and of the lower jaw,

Welcoming in that energy and deep rest,

Letting your attention come to the roof of your mouth and to the floor of your mouth.

And now to the inside of your right cheek inside the mouth and the inside of the left cheek and noticing from the tip of your tongue all the way down to the root of the tongue and then over to the innermost of your right ear and letting your attention wander out all the way to the folds of the shell of your right ear,

To the earlobe and the whole of the architecture of your right ear,

Maybe noticing the ear,

Listening,

Having that awareness and then taking your awareness over to the left ear,

To the inner ear,

Through to the folds of the shell of the left ear and the lobe and the whole of the outer architecture of your left ear,

Maybe noticing sounds,

The ear being receptive to each sound as it comes and it goes.

And then the space that exists between the two ears,

A sense of noticing the distance of the space that exists there.

Could you perhaps imagine that space as effortless,

As deeply resting,

Inviting the energy of deep rest into that space now and allowing both of your ears to be perceptively,

Gently listening and then letting your awareness come to the centre of your forehead and from the centre of your forehead,

Letting your presence spread in all directions,

Down softly towards your temples and your hairline,

Relaxing the right temple,

Relaxing the left temple and then sensing,

Taking your awareness to the right eyebrow now and to the left eyebrow,

To the right eye and the left eye,

To the cheekbones,

The right cheekbone and the skin of the cheek and the left cheekbone and the skin of the left cheek,

Letting your awareness wander to the bridge of the nose,

Down to the tip of your nose,

To the right nostril,

To the left nostril,

The sense of the sensation of the air at the tip of your nostrils and awareness of the flow of the air inside the nose and then letting your awareness travel to the upper lip,

To your lower lip and then down to your chin and down to the throat and then moving down from the throat to the centre of your chest to the heart space,

Bringing in a sense of the energy of deep rest,

Embracing your heart as you rest here now,

Taking your awareness over to your right shoulder,

To your right upper arm,

To the right elbow,

The right forearm,

The right wrist,

Into the palm of the right hand,

To the back of the right hand,

Taking your awareness to the tip of the right thumb,

The first finger,

The second finger,

The ring finger and the little finger on the right hand,

Having an awareness of all five fingertips of the right hand,

The spaces between the fingers,

Soft and restful and noticing the space where the fingertips end and the space beyond the fingertips begins,

Simply noticing the space between each of the fingers of the right hand and around the fingers,

Letting those fields of awareness softly merge and now bringing your awareness back to the palm of the right hand,

Softness,

A restfulness there and then back to the right wrist,

Up to the right forearm,

The right elbow,

The upper arm,

The shoulder,

The right side of the chest,

Deep into your heart centre,

Across to the left side of your chest,

To the left shoulder,

The upper arm,

The left elbow,

The left lower arm,

Your left wrist,

Into the palm of your left hand,

Your awareness on the back of your left hand,

To the tip of the thumb,

The first finger,

The second finger,

The right ring finger and the little finger,

All of the five fingertips on your left hand,

An awareness of the space in between the fingertips,

The space around the fingers,

The thumb,

Noticing and sensing where the fingers end and the space around and between them begins,

Maybe it dissolves into a feeling like a quality of space or energy or radiance,

Noticing that softness,

That restful energy there and now bringing your attention back to the palm of the left hand,

Into the wrist,

The forearm,

Into the elbow,

The upper arm,

The shoulder,

Into the left side of the chest,

Back into the heart centre space and moving your awareness down to your ribcage and your diaphragm at the base of your ribs,

The subtle rise and fall as you breathe of the ribs and the diaphragm,

The sensations of the rise and the fall of your breath dropping into that awareness and then letting your awareness travel down to the navel and to your tummy and noticing and feeling the movement of the breath as your tummy moves too as you breathe the rise and the fall,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Breathing in and breathing out and letting your awareness travel down now to your pelvis and to your right hip,

Taking the awareness down your right thigh,

The whole front of the right thigh,

The whole back of the right thigh,

Down to your kneecap and the crease behind your right knee,

Down to the shin,

The calf,

The ankle,

Down to your heel and the sole of your right foot,

The top of the right foot,

Into the big toe,

To the second toe,

The third toe,

The fourth toe and the little toe,

An awareness of all five toes in the space that exists between all of the toes,

Sensing the tips of the toes,

Sensing or imagining that softness and relaxation and deep rest that exists between the space around the toes,

Sensing where the toes end and the space around them begins,

The boundary of the ends of the toes,

Maybe a sense the toes beginning to dissolve into space,

Your awareness within and around them,

Just noticing with relaxed ease and taking your attention back to the top of your foot,

To the sole of your foot and the right heel now,

To your right ankle,

Lower leg,

The crease behind the right knee,

The whole of the right thigh,

Your right hip,

Into the whole of your pelvis and the pelvic bowl,

An awareness,

An energy of deep rest and nourishment and then letting your awareness travel over to your left hip and slowly down the whole of the left thigh,

Front and the back of the thigh,

To the left knee,

The left kneecap and the crease behind the left knee,

Into the left shin,

To the calf,

To the ankle,

The heel,

The whole sole of your left foot,

To the top of the big foot,

The tip of the big toe,

The second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and the little toe,

All of the five toes of the left foot,

Awareness there now simultaneously,

All of the five toes,

Feeling into the space that exists between the toes,

At the tip of the toes,

Sensing or imagining the space around them,

Noticing where the toes end and where the space around the toes begins,

Sensing that boundary,

Noticing if it feels like the toes and the space around them merge,

Maybe there's a sensation of restful energy,

Just noticing what you notice there and then letting your attention come back to the top of your left foot,

To the sole of the left foot,

The heel,

The ankle,

The left lower leg,

The crease behind the left knee,

The left thigh and the left hip,

Taking your awareness back to the whole of the pelvic bowl,

The soft relaxing energy there,

All the way back up,

Across the tummy,

The chest as the breath moves in and out,

Breathing softly in and softly out and just allowing the whole of the body now from head to toe,

The whole of the body supported,

Resting deeply,

Held beautifully by the earth in this deep slumber,

This mini hibernation,

Feeling the effortless rhythm of the breath as your whole body rests,

Nourished and supported,

The body resting in this deep,

Soothing,

Nourishing winter energy,

Feeling the rhythm of the body resting as you inhale and you exhale,

Maybe a sense of that beautifully quiet moment,

Like the smallest hibernation at the end of the exhale that happens naturally before the inhale starts,

Breathing in and breathing out,

Feeling on the inhale this restful presence,

Feeling on the exhale your whole body resting so deeply,

This beautiful state of deep rest,

Feeling and sensing spacious awareness on your inhalation and as you exhale,

Deeper and deeper relaxed you go,

Really welcoming that emptiness,

That beautiful fertile void,

That little bit of space and pause at the end of the exhalation and exhaling and resting,

Letting go,

A sense of ease and nourishment,

Resting here in this beautiful nourishing energy,

Feeling and sensing that sacred pause at the end of the exhalation as you rest further and further down each time,

Welcoming this effortless,

Supportive state of deep rest on these deep and dark,

Wintry nights.

And perhaps now you could feel or imagine yourself completely enveloped,

Completely cocooned in a pure awareness of your presence as your body is resting so deeply,

Your mind dissolving into this beautiful,

Effortless awareness of rest,

Of nourishments,

Of calmness,

Of ease.

Maybe you call back in the words of your intention,

Your sankalpa here and allowing it to infuse through your body,

Through every cell,

Allowing it to have that spaciousness everywhere,

Infusing and imbibing your body as you rest here now,

Letting it flow through your body from head to toe.

And you can spend as long here resting,

Nourishing yourself,

Resting in this beautiful energy of this winter rest,

The beautiful energy of your own intention and needs as long as you want to stay here resting longer.

And if you want to do that and you don't need to come to the end of your practice right now,

Then please just ignore these words,

Continue to rest in your own space,

In your winter hibernation and letting these words just drift over you and by you and continue as you are.

But if you need to or want to transition from the practice,

Then now is the time just to sense back in to the support of the earth beneath you,

Feeling that support of the dormancy of the energy of the earth,

That the earth holds through the winter,

Feeling it beneath you,

Underneath the whole of your body,

Sensing and feeling into the edges of your body,

Sensing and feeling into the rhythm of your breath,

The inhale,

The exhale.

And as you welcome and connect with your breath,

The cycle of your breathing,

Could you just gently start to deepen the inhale,

Make it a little bit fuller and more spacious,

Welcoming in the energy of the inhale,

The lightness and the brightness and slowly allowing there to be this reawakening of your body,

Coming gently out of this mini winter hibernation,

Taking some little small movements,

Maybe that movement is a little wriggle of your right toes and of your left toes,

Feeling into your feet.

Maybe the movements come into a movement of the fingers of a wriggling or moving at the tip of the thumbs over the fingertips of the right hand of the left hand.

Any movements that feel good to you,

Maybe a yawn or a sigh,

Moving,

Wriggling and giving yourself as much space and time as you need to let yourself transition back to a state of easy wakefulness and awareness,

But basking for a moment in the state you've created here in your body,

In your nervous system,

In your mind.

And just right at the end of the practice,

Maybe notice if anything has shifted from the beginning,

Maybe reflecting again back on that intention for the practice that you wanted to invite in and pausing to check in with yourself.

When you're ready to gently and kindly,

You can,

If you want to,

Make that transition from lying to seated.

Again,

It's your choice,

You're in your own space,

You're just as you're drawn to.

You can let your eyes open when you're ready,

Gently taking the benefits of this practice,

This winter nidra,

This mini hibernation,

Taking it with you into your day,

Your evening,

Your weeks,

Months ahead.

And thank you so much for joining me.

Reviews

I always fall askeep so fast with this ine! I love it. Thank you :)