Samhain Yoga Nidra - Enter The Cave Of Wisdom

Welcome to this Yoga Nidra,

Brought to you by Soul Matters Ireland,

To honour the energies of Samhain,

The first Celtic festival of the year,

The Celtic New Year on the Celtic calendar.

During Samhain,

The veil between worlds is thin.

This is a time to honour our ancestors,

A time of remembrance,

Retreat and deep rest,

As we enter the feminine energies of this time.

Nature is resting,

The earth is resting,

We are invited to rest and enter into the cave of wisdom in our hearts.

As you gather everything you need to rest in your Nidra nest,

Every prop that will ensure deep nurturing rest,

As you lie your body down on the earth.

Pillows placed where feels right for you,

Blankets to cocoon you in comfort and warmth,

An eye mask to cover your eyes to ensure a deep inward experience.

Snuggle down into your nest as you allow the gravitational pull of your earth mama to hold you in her arms.

Breathing deep into your body as you feel it enveloped in warmth,

Feeling the rise and fall of your belly,

The cauldron of your belly,

Imagining a flame here.

The ancient yogis believed a flame resided in the centre of the abdomen and was responsible for vitality.

Breathing into this flame as you imagine it igniting and breathing out as you imagine it burning with life,

Rising and falling,

Expanding and contracting,

The energy entering into the fire of your belly and lighting up the cauldron.

Moving from your belly to your heart,

Feeling the cave of your heart rising and falling with each breath you take.

Imagining a candle in the cave of your heart that has been ignited by the flame of your belly,

Receiving the breath as you breathe in and releasing the breath as you breathe out.

As the energy of the in and out breath keeps the candle lighting,

As it ignites the cave of your heart,

Expanding and contracting,

Ebbing and flowing,

Fire,

Flame,

Candle,

Cauldron,

Cave.

This is where we begin the practice of yoga nidra as you set your sankalpa for your practice today,

Your intention.

As this is the beginning of a new year in the Celtic wheel,

You may like to set a new sankalpa or continue working with the one you have,

Whatever feels right for you.

If you would like to use a new one for this practice,

You could use,

I am ready for a new beginning,

Or I release the past and embrace the future,

Or I am free to start over.

You will know when you have found your sankalpa as it will land in the cave of your heart with a deep sense of knowing.

Breathe your sankalpa into your heart centre as you repeat it three times now.

Then allow the cave of your heart to hold it safe until the end of your practice.

Keeping your breath in your heart space as you breathe in and moving your breath to your belly as you breathe out.

A loop of breath from the cave of your heart to the cauldron of your belly,

Looping back and forth,

Rising and falling,

Expanding,

Contracting,

Ebbing and flowing.

Allowing the breath to centre you for your practice today.

As you imagine your body on the earth,

Surrounded by light,

Candle lights,

Fairy lights,

Star lights,

The light of a fire.

Whatever light ignites into your awareness,

This light is the light of your being,

Your soul light,

Unique to you.

From this light,

Another layer of light ignites to surround your light.

This light is a layer of community light,

The light of your sisters practising with you tonight.

Two layers of light connecting you to your soul and to your sisters.

And from the second layer,

A third layer ignites.

This layer is the light of your ancestors,

Keeping the other two layers of light ignited to keep you safe and guide you on your journey tonight.

Keeping the rings of fire in your awareness and the light and using it to guide your body through a journey of consciousness.

Igniting each body part dimension and lighting it up so that you can relax deeply in the cocoon and circle of light,

Soul,

Sister,

Ancestor.

Your awareness lands on your brow centre and lights up the centre of your brow,

Then moves to the centre of your throat,

To your heart centre,

To your right shoulder joint,

Your right elbow joint,

Your right wrist joint,

The tip of your right thumb,

The tip of your right index finger,

The tip of your right middle finger,

The tip of your right ring finger,

The tip of your right little finger,

The centre of your right wrist,

The centre of your right elbow,

The centre of your right shoulder,

The centre of your throat,

Your left shoulder joint,

Your left elbow joint,

Your left wrist joint,

The tip of your left thumb,

The tip of your left index finger,

The tip of your left middle finger,

The tip of your left ring finger,

The tip of your left little finger,

The centre of your left wrist,

The centre of your left elbow,

The centre of your left shoulder,

The centre of your throat,

The centre of your chest,

Your right nipple,

The centre of your chest,

Your left nipple,

Your heart centre,

Your solar plexus,

Your navel centre,

Your right hip joint,

Your right knee joint,

Your right ankle joint,

Your right big toe,

The tip of your second toe,

The tip of your third toe,

The tip of your fourth toe,

The tip of your fifth toe,

The centre of your right ankle,

The centre of your right knee,

The centre of your right hip,

Your navel centre,

Your left hip joint,

Your left knee joint,

Your left ankle joint,

Your left big toe,

The tip of your second toe,

The tip of your third toe,

The tip of your fourth toe,

The tip of your fifth toe,

The centre of your left ankle,

The centre of your left knee,

The centre of your left hip,

Your navel centre,

Your solar plexus,

The centre of your throat,

Your heart centre,

Your brow centre.

The light in your brow centre ignited and lighting up your third eye.

Your whole body alight,

Ignited and surrounded in healing light from your ancestors,

Your sisters and yourself,

Your whole body.

Feeling your whole body lying in your nidranas,

Cocooned in the light surrounding it.

The warmth enveloping your body and protecting it in circle.

The warmth emanating through your whole body as you feel a slight breeze,

A whisper in the wind,

An energy of cool blowing over you.

The breath of your ancestors breathing with you,

The breath of your sisters breathing with you.

Parts of your body feeling numb until you remember them,

Connecting together to each part of your body as the energy begins to flow into the numbness,

A tingling of cool,

A tingling of warm.

As the energy starts to move through once more,

Your whole body in balance,

Warm,

Cool,

Numb,

Tingling.

Witnessing your body as a whole,

Witnessing your presence as a whole,

Lying on the earth,

Being cradled by Mother Earth and enveloped in a circle of love and fire of remembrance.

The divinity of your body in balanced alignment,

You,

A divine being of light held in loving remembrance of your ancestors.

The fire of remembrance finds you in a field of long grass on a cold winter's day.

The sun shining gently behind the clouds,

Low in the sky.

A serene field far away from any noise,

Quiet and rural,

With long overgrown grass.

You find a path that has been wandered before.

As you start to wander down the path,

A robin guides you,

Landing on blades of grass beside you.

There are crows and ravens flying overhead.

You can hear the sound of them cawing.

It is comforting to your ear amidst the silence.

At the end of the path,

The robin lands on what looks like an entrance,

Which is overgrown with grass and weeds.

There is a small hollow,

Barely visible,

For you to enter.

As you peep through,

You see a light within,

And curious to find out what it is,

You enter slowly and find yourself in a cave.

The cave is alight with crystals,

And a fire is burning gently in the corner,

With a large cauldron bubbling on top.

In the centre of a cave,

There is a circle of people,

And in front of each of them,

There is a candle.

You notice there is a free space,

As one of them beckons you to sit down.

You take your place in the circle.

The one who beckoned you sits opposite you,

And you recognise her as the Kalyak.

She smiles gently and warmly at you,

And welcomes you to the circle.

As you settle,

You start to recognise the others in the circle.

To your right is your paternal grandmother.

To her right is your paternal grandfather.

To your left is your maternal grandmother,

And to her left is your maternal grandfather.

A circle of ancestors.

They each smile warmly at you,

And welcome you to the circle.

Your grandmothers take your hands,

As each of your ancestors hold hands.

You feel the energy flowing from their bodies into yours.

The energy filled with messages for you to receive.

You sit in silence,

Like this,

For a few minutes,

As you watch the flame of the candles.

After a few minutes,

Your ancestors blow out their candles,

And invite you to do the same.

As you do so,

You notice in the centre of the circle,

There is a notepad and a pen.

You are invited to take it,

As your ancestors take their leave,

And you are left with the Kalyak.

She beckons you to write in the notepad,

The messages you received from your ancestors,

So that you can hold them close in the cave of your heart.

She then invites you to write everything that you want to let go of on a page.

You instantly know what that is,

And write it boldly.

You tear out the page,

As the Kalyak takes your hand,

And guides you to the fire,

And invites you to put the piece of paper in the cauldron,

So that it can burn,

And you can release the old,

And invite in the new,

With ashes of transformation.

You are changed.

You are transformed.

You are the dream of your ancestors,

And the one you have been waiting for.

The Kalyak takes your hand,

As you hold the notepad to your chest,

Holding it close to the cave of your heart,

Breathing deeply,

As you feel the breath of your ancestors,

As you breathe together in unison.

Tired now,

You lie down in the cave,

Beside the warmth of the fire,

And enter into a deep sleep,

Where you rest for a while,

The heartbeats of your ancestors beating in unison with yours.

My voice will drift away,

As I leave you in the silence and tranquility,

Of this ancestral cave of wisdom.

As my voice drifts back into your awareness,

And you come back from your deep rest,

Your Sankalpa emerges from the cave of your heart,

Where you repeat it three times now.

You then offer your Sankalpa to your ancestors,

So they may hold it safe,

Until the next time you practice Yoga Nidra.

This practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.

Welcome yourself back,

As you slowly bring some gentle movement to your body,

Being as gentle as possible with your tender body.

Gently stretching your hands,

Gently stretching your feet,

Gently stretching your body,

In whatever way feels right for you.

Then when you're ready,

Slowly moving to one side of your body,

And curling your legs up,

And wrapping your arms around your legs,

As you hold yourself in a loving embrace,

For a couple of minutes.

Connecting to your breath here,

Back to your body,

Breathing,

The loop of breath,

From the cauldron of your belly,

To the cave of your heart,

Looping back and forth.

And then very gently,

As you keep your eyes closed,

Bring yourself up to a seated position,

Once you are seated,

You can gently open your eyes,

And come back into your sacred space,

Keeping the fire in your belly burning,

And the candle in your heart lighting,

As you go through these days of the liminal,

And nurture your beautiful self,

With tenderness.

We are so grateful for your presence here today,

And choosing to practice with us,

As we honor these Samhain energies.

Remember the divine being you are,

The divinity of your ancestors,

And the divinity of your sisters.

Hari Om Tat Sat Namaste