Summer Solstice And Moments Of Change

In honor of the summer solstice, this yoga nidra meditation welcomes change and sensations of the summer season. Using warm sunlight as a guiding image, we practice body sensing to ground in the present moment during this seasonal moment of transition. Our breath sensing focuses on the turn of the breath between inhale and exhale, embracing breath as a cycle of change. We rest in gratitude for summer’s bounty and sense into our unchanging nature amidst the constant of seasonal transformation.

Transcript

Opening your senses to the room around you,

To the sounds.

Maybe there's a little breeze touching your skin.

Noticing any smells pervading in the room.

Making any final adjustments with your body so you can feel perfectly comfortable.

Recognizing that whatever happens here in your practice and in the room around you is perfect.

We're here in Yoganidra to observe without judgment and to welcome whatever comes,

Whatever arises for us during this time.

Seeing the breath flowing in and out.

And starting with an intention for your practice today.

What brought you here with us?

Maybe it's an intention for your practice today that can even be an intention for the season.

And as you mentally note that intention,

Give it a present tense so it feels alive and happening in this moment.

Like I am welcoming change or I am slowing down to notice the shadows.

Taking a moment to let that intention settle over your body.

Starting from a mental thought to be integrated through sensation into your body.

And now inviting in your inner oasis this place of sensation where you feel absolutely safe and secure.

Those of you that have been meditating with me might try to activate that sensation more quickly,

More immediately now that you've had a few practices together.

Or you can start again with that image.

Whatever evokes the sense of safety,

Of being absolutely comfortable in your skin.

Maybe it's a place or a person or a moment in your life that you can remember,

That you can see vividly in your mind's eye.

And which then allows you to access the sensations of what it's like to be in that moment with that person or loved animal or beautiful space.

What does it feel like on your skin?

Is it warm or cool?

Are there sounds?

Can you open the senses to being in your inner oasis,

Activating that sensation of safety?

And I invite you to consider,

Given the summer solstice,

If that sensation of safety has a context in the summer.

Are there images of summer that help you move to that sensation of safety?

Maybe a sense of being warm in the sunshine or getting outdoors for a good hike,

That tingle in your calves.

And as we're in this felt sense of safety,

Security,

Being absolutely yourself,

Let's bring attention to our jaw for some body sensing.

Bringing attention to your jaw,

To the inside of your mouth,

Left and right cheeks.

Noticing the surfaces of your face,

The eyes.

Bringing attention like warm sunlight spilling over you.

Noticing the back of your head.

Attention in your collarbones,

In the shoulders,

Maybe rotating your shoulders back.

Attention in the right shoulder,

The upper arm,

Forearm,

Palm,

Fingers.

Noticing that warm sunlight radiating through.

Bringing attention to your left shoulder,

Upper arm,

Through the forearm and palm to the fingers.

That warm sunlight dancing down your arm.

The left arm,

Attention again in the right arm,

That radiance and holding both arms simultaneously in your attention.

Noticing the natural rhythm of the breath,

Like a fresh breeze floating in and out,

Just acknowledging its presence.

Attention moving down the body into the abdomen,

The stomach,

Into the hips.

Attention in the right hip,

That warm sunlight moving into your thigh,

Front and back.

Through the knee into the calf,

Ankle,

Foot and toes,

That radiance of attention lighting up that hum of aliveness throughout the right leg.

Noticing any thoughts that come,

Registering them,

Welcoming them and setting them aside for the moment,

Noting that you'll come back to them later.

Attention in the left hip,

The thigh,

Front and back.

Attention warm sunlight through the knee into the calf,

Into the ankle,

The foot and toes.

What does attention feel like?

Noticing that left leg and foot.

Attention again,

Sensation in the right leg.

That minor shift in attention,

Just so slight and yet you can feel the opposite leg.

Holding both legs in attention,

That warm sunlight flooding through.

Feeling the legs and the arms now in attention.

Maybe like a glow radiating out of your limbs,

Filling inside and the outside.

That breath like a fresh breeze floating through.

Noticing the front body,

The whole front body from the toes up to the top of the head,

That warm sunlight flooding across you.

Noticing attention to the back body,

Warm sunlight cast across your back body.

Noticing thoughts,

Just observing them,

Welcoming them as they tug at your attention.

If you find yourself dancing with a thought,

Maybe excusing yourself gently,

Letting go of its hand while it continues to stay beside you.

Noticing to attention to the body,

To the whole surface,

Front and back,

That warm sunlight radiating across the front and the back of the body.

Sensation inside the body,

Noticing sensation running through you,

Filling you,

Spilling beyond your boundaries like a gurgling brook,

Energy radiating out so that you begin to forget to lose touch with that edge of your body.

Acknowledging the energy in the space around you.

So you feel yourself begin to merge with the spaciousness.

The light all around you,

The light of summer.

Knowing that you can always touch back to your inner oasis,

That you have that place,

That image,

That sensation of utter security and ease to evoke.

Feeling again the breath just naturally flowing with the inhale and the exhale.

Attention on it as it moves through the body.

Nothing you have to do.

The breath knows its way.

Now lingering with the breath,

Perhaps slowing it down a touch so you can watch it as it moves,

Bring attention to its flow as it shifts in and out through the nostrils and throat and the lungs.

As the breath moves through its cycle,

The inhale to the exhale and the exhale to the inhale,

It turns.

It turns at the bottom of the exhale and again at the top of the inhale.

It changes from an inhale to an exhale.

Let's take some time to notice this cycle.

To notice in particular where the breath turns,

Where it changes.

Bringing attention to that shift.

Can you sense when it turns from an inhale to become an exhale and an exhale to become an inhale?

Using a few minutes here to observe the breath.

Can you sense that?

Can you sense that space between the inhale and exhale?

That brief moment of change.

That brief moment when it's not an exhale and no longer an inhale.

Sense that space when it's no longer one or the other as it turns to change into something new.

The breath continuing on its own accord without you controlling it like a river shifting from side to side as it wanders down the mountain.

That slight pause between the inhale and the exhale like a solstice marking a change to summer.

Noticing that stillness in the cycle.

The stillness beneath the activity.

And as thoughts nag you to pay attention,

Just noting them,

Thank you for visiting.

Sitting beside them,

Promising that you'll turn your attention to them after.

The breath continuing to flow through the body like that fresh breeze.

Seeing the turns between the inhale and the exhale and that space in between.

Spacious.

Much like that boundless energy of the body,

That radiance,

Those rays of sunshine that know no boundary,

That transcend from inside the body to merge with the outside of the body.

And letting go of the breath,

Just letting it ride its natural course,

Letting your attention let go a little.

And just resting in the stillness,

In the sensation,

That residue like a sparkle.

Can you feel,

Can you hear that hum of aliveness underneath everything?

Like cicadas on a warm summer evening.

The hum rising around you,

Radiating through you.

In this vibrant,

Alive stillness,

Let's take a moment to evoke gratitude.

Gratitude for the summer's bounty,

The sweet fruits,

Fireflies,

For the fledglings that are growing strong,

Leaving their parents' nests.

Gratitude for long evenings to play and chat with friends,

For the immunity we now have that allows us to meet loved ones as we have our vaccinations.

All these gifts of summer and the ease that change brings.

That gratitude radiating out of the heart space.

Gratitude for giving ourselves the time to meet together and meditate this month,

To cultivate the sangha,

The sense of community.

And gratitude for the bravery to meet ourselves through sensation and stillness,

To inquire what life really feels like.

And gratitude for the connection to our earth,

For that joy we feel in the shared energy of our planet.

Gratitude for the knowing that the challenges that come with transformation and change do also offer us gifts,

That there can be joy in change.

This summer teaches us that.

Continuing to linger in this luxurious stillness.

Maybe inviting in that intention that you made at the beginning of our practice.

Maybe an intention for today,

Maybe for the summer,

For the season.

Observing any shifts that might have come during your practice.

Any adjustments to that intention.

And whether you'd like to frame that for yourself as we move and transition out of our practice today.

Giving yourself the gift of gratitude for showing up today,

For taking the time to build your resilience through meditation,

Like a muscle to be built.

And as we reintegrate today back into our waking state from this deep place of rest and stillness.

Today I invite you to play with your eyes a little bit as you open your senses.

And as you open your eyes,

Go slowly,

Slowly open just a crack and close them again.

All while sensing that stillness,

That radiance,

That warm sunshine of aliveness that we've been connecting with.

As you open your eyes slowly,

Can you continue to sense that warmth deep within you,

Connecting you beyond the boundaries of your body to the earth around you.

Slowly playing with light and visual sensation.

Closing and opening.

Continuing to sense that aliveness.

The breath flowing through you,

Maybe deepening a little in your body.

As you open to the room around you,

To the sounds,

The breeze,

Air on your skin.

All while keeping that connection to that aliveness inside.

And when you're ready,

If you're laying down,

You can turn to your side and just slowly allow your body to sit back up.

Take your time and rejoin us at the computer.

Take your time and in a minute we'll do a little bit of debrief.