Welcome to this practice of yoga nidra.
Please get ready for this practice by coming into a comfortable,
Supported position in which you will not be disturbed for the next few minutes.
Just doing everything that you need to do to get your set up just so if necessary you can pause this recording.
And as you arrive and settle,
Welcoming the possibility of stillness so that any moving isn't fed by restlessness,
More that if you move it's because it really serves the process of feeling at ease.
And as part of your arriving,
And you may wish to close your eyes now if you haven't already,
And as part of your arriving,
Just taking some moments to reflect,
To consider,
To appreciate the fact that you've made the effort to be here for these few minutes and to enquire why that is.
What brings you here?
And really with this kind of enquiry you can probe quite deeply and get into some of the heart of the matter.
What really,
Really matters?
And I invite you as part of this practice to have that as a question,
As an orientation during this practice.
All of the practices that we do can be oriented this way and indeed the practices themselves will help us to rediscover,
To refine and refresh what it is,
So to speak,
That matters the most.
Why do we practice?
What is it that we really,
Really want?
And having some sense of being supported by this guidance from me,
By this framework of practice,
By the community of practitioners in our little community and the broader communities of practitioners,
Supported by countless wisdom,
Traditions and teachings,
May our practice be in support of one another,
May the practice you deeply and be of service to all.
Welcoming you in as you are,
As you find yourself to be,
Here with the sound support of the moondrum and the seat of inner knowing,
The seat of inner guidance,
Has different places depending upon the view and the tradition.
But somewhere along the central axis of the body,
It might be a heart-centred sense that you most easily connect with.
See what it's like to dwell there now in the centre of your chest.
It might be a little lower down in your belly,
Your gut.
And it might be a little further up by of insight,
The eye of fire,
Around between and above the eyebrows.
Along there,
Just seeing if any of those areas feel like a good dwelling place for now,
As you rest with this question of what really,
Really matters?
What do you really,
Really want?
And the practices we engage with really help to attune our bodies,
Hearts,
Minds,
Our whole being.
So let that be the orientation now that this practice may help you to attune and perhaps with this connection to your deepest desires.
You might call holy desire.
As you begin now to come with me on a little journey,
A rotation of awareness around your body,
Beginning at the top of your head,
Space between your eyebrows,
Your throat,
Left shoulder,
Down your arm to your elbow,
Wrist and palm.
And the tips of each,
Your thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger and little finger.
And again your palm,
Your wrist,
Elbow and shoulder.
To your throat once again and over now to your right shoulder,
To your elbow and wrist,
Palm and the tip of your thumb and index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Little finger,
Right palm,
Wrist,
Elbow and shoulder.
Your throat and down now to the centre of your chest,
Left side of your chest,
Centre of your chest,
Right side of your chest,
Centre of your chest,
Navel,
Sacrum,
Base of your spine.
To your left hip and knee,
Ankle and the sole of your left foot.
To the tips of all of your toes,
One,
Two.
And the sole of your left foot to your ankle,
Knee and hip and to the base of your spine.
To your right hip,
Knee,
Ankle,
Sole of your foot and the tips of your toes,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
And the sole of your right foot,
Ankle,
Knee,
Hip,
To the base of your spine,
Your sacrum,
Your navel,
Centre of your chest,
Your throat,
The space between your eyebrows and the top of your head.
And with an invitation to let your awareness settle somewhere along the central axis of your body,
Maybe in the heart space,
The belly,
The eyebrows centre,
Where feels most welcome to be with the question of what matters most.
What do you really,
Really want?
And letting your attention now fill out to the sense of your whole body.
Sensing and feeling your whole body together and feeling your body's contact with whatever you're lying upon.
And having a sense how you know the space of where you are.
And knowing that this practice of yoga nidra is coming to its end,
If you would like to rest,
Perhaps to go into sleep or just rest a while longer,
Then please feel welcome to do that.
So this practice of yoga nidra is complete.
If you would like to return with me now,
Then begin to gently move and stretch perhaps in a way that feels like waking up,
A transition from nidra into a more everyday state of awareness.
And yet,
Of course,
The benefit of the practice is carried with you into whatever's next.
As you return to a seat,
Feeling now the uprightness through the central axis of your body,
The earth below and sky above and the sense of the space all around you.
And you might like to open your eyes now if they're still closed and look around your space,
Reorient with the visual.
And I thank you for practicing.
This practice is now complete.
