Wild Yoga Nidra: Moonbathing In The Evening Woods

Hello I am Keri Mackay and this is a wild yoga nidra from the woods.

Thank you for joining me here.

I invite you to begin by settling down into comfort.

So you're probably lying maybe on your back and just make sure that you've got everything you need to be warm and comfortable.

As I guide you through this process of relaxation and conscious awareness.

So begin by settling.

Notice all the parts of the body that touch the supports or the ground underneath and invite those places to rest a little more.

And I invite you to imagine that you are lying on the forest floor.

It's dry,

It's warm and it's soft.

Lying in the woods with trees all around.

The sounds of the forest,

The movement of the air,

The green of the leaves,

The scent,

The taste of the woods and the moss.

And as you lie here with the sensory experience I invite you to rest down.

So begin to invite the weight of the body to surrender just a little more.

Whatever the body is ready for.

Inviting the places that touch to let go of their weight downwards as we lie here together practicing yoga nidra.

And then bring your attention gently to your breath.

Invite the to be in its natural rhythm.

Noticing the flow in and out.

Gently being with the breath.

Breathing as you lie on the ground.

And each out breath could perhaps take the body into more rest,

More into the earth.

Being with the rhythm of the breath for another moment.

And then begin to take your attention to the trunks and the height of the trees around.

Gliding your awareness upwards now towards the canopy,

The leaves,

The trees reaching up for the sky.

Taking your attention upwards and upwards to the pale evening sky above.

And in the sky there is a full moon.

A silvery cool presence sending her soothing light down onto the woods,

Onto the trees,

Down to the forest floor and onto you.

And I'm going to invite you to take this moonlight around the body with my guidance to each place.

And simply follow with your mind's attention to all the places that I name one by one.

Let the moonlight arrive in the center of the forehead.

This silvery soothing cool light dropping behind the forehead,

Through the head,

Behind the eyes,

Down into the sinuses.

Your attention flows taking this moonlight to each place.

The moonlight invites the light of awareness to arrive around the body.

So down through the sinuses,

Into the mouth,

The tongue,

The lips,

The jaw,

Through the back of the head,

Down the neck and arriving in the base of the throat.

A pool of moonlight in the soft place between the collarbones.

Moving along the right collarbone now,

Inviting the moonlight to come to the right shoulder.

The light of awareness comes down the arm to the elbow,

The crook of the right elbow,

The wrist arriving in the hand.

Invite the thumb to fill up from the inside with this cooling light.

With the light of your awareness now traveling to the index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger.

The light of awareness pooling in the palm of the hand and then going back up the arm now,

Traveling all the way along the right collarbone,

Arriving in the pit of the throat.

Collecting some more moonlight here and going along the left collarbone to the left shoulder,

Into the crook of the left elbow,

Wrist,

Hand,

Left thumb.

Light of awareness filling up the index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger.

Moonlight pooling in the palm of the left hand,

Traveling back up the arm now,

Arriving in the pit of the throat.

And gently invite this light to drop down.

Bring your attention down into the space of the heart,

Arriving in and around the heart,

Bringing your attention and your kindness to this place.

Going further down the body now to the upper abdomen,

The waist,

Around the back of the waist,

The sides.

Moving down into the belly now,

The center,

The left,

The right.

Bringing your awareness down to the right hip,

From the right hip down the leg to the right knee,

Calf,

Ankle.

Moonlight coming into the foot now,

Filling up the foot,

Big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

The whole foot bathing in moonlight.

From the right foot bring your attention back up the leg,

Back to the belly and arriving in the left hip.

Softly inviting the soothing light of the moon down the left leg to the knee,

Ankle,

Foot.

Filling up the foot with this cool gentle light,

Awakening the big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe.

Coming back up the leg to the belly,

Arriving in the very tip of the spine,

The tailbone.

Traveling up the spine now,

The whole spine filling up with this silvery light of the moon.

This moon energy moving up and down the whole length of the spine now.

The whole length of the spine,

The whole trunk,

The left leg and the right leg,

The left arm and the right arm,

The arms,

Legs and the trunk.

Bathing in moonlight,

The neck and the head,

The whole body soothed,

Illumined by this gentle moon.

So coming back now to the sense of your body lying on the earth,

Lying in the woods and I invite you to grow deeper roots now.

Imagine you're rooting down and as you do you get heavier.

Your roots lengthen and deepen and grow out to the sides.

You're sinking heavier now.

Imagine the quality of heaviness,

Rootedness,

Grow stronger.

Invite a feeling of heaviness now as you drop down into the earth,

Into the web that connects all the trees around you and bring your attention back to the heart now and I invite you to travel upwards.

Perhaps imagine going up through the heart of the tree,

The heartwood taking you up and as you go you're getting lighter.

A feeling of lightness coming through you as you reach upwards.

Like the leaves of the tree reaching for the sky,

Every cell in the body is lightening upwards.

Invite a sense of lightness coming through all of you,

Lighter and lighter still,

Reaching for the evening sky and then let that go and come back down.

Coming back down to the roots again,

Inviting the heaviness to return.

Heaviness through the whole body as you root down and wide.

Inviting a stronger feeling of heaviness as you soften into the earth.

Let the earth receive you downwards,

Getting heavier still.

Then let that go,

Coming back to the heart,

From the heart,

Lightening again.

Imagine you're reaching up with every cell to the sky above.

A feeling of lightness coming through all of you and a little lighter still.

And then dropping back down to heavy and coming back to light and perhaps your breath could guide you.

The out-breath dropping you into heaviness,

The in-breath bringing you back to lightness.

The out-breath dropping you into heaviness,

The in-breath returning you to lightness.

Switching between heavy and light with every breath.

And how would it be to have both heavy and light experienced at the same time?

Being heavy and rooted and light and expansive together.

Heavy and light together.

And beginning to let that go and take your attention gently back to the heart.

Resting with the heart a little more deeply.

What does the heart want to connect with more?

Is there something the heart would like to protect?

And letting the answers to these questions be held with compassion and awareness.

Whatever arises let that be held in the the roots and the expansiveness of this practice and they can grow from here.

And right now it's enough just to acknowledge and let them go.

Returning to your sense of lying on the earth and the weight of the body.

Noticing all the places that touch the supports that you're lying on.

Noticing the movement of the breath in the body.

And we're returning to the senses now.

Noticing what sounds are reaching your ears.

Notice any sense of taste or moisture in the mouth.

Notice any sensations in the nostrils.

Notice any light coming into the eyes.

And begin to imagine the place where you are lying.

Coming back to the body now.

Ready to close the eyes.

And let the breath flow.

Coming back to the body now.

Ready to close this practice.

So letting go of the woods.

Knowing that whatever experience you had is held safe and there's no way you could do this wrong.

Being with the senses now as we transition ready to close the practice.

I invite you to pause and thank yourself for making the time and the space for you.

For tapping in to the energy of the woods.

The presence of the trees.

The support of the earth.

The expansion of the sky.

And the illumination from the moon.

Your Yoga Nidra practice is now complete.