Yoga Nidra: Autumn Swirling On The Threshold

Welcome to this Yoga Nidra.

It's an invitation to come home to yourself and also to come home to the earth.

So we are connecting with the seasons of the earth and the language of the seasons to bring us into more connection,

Not just with the earth but also with the language and the rhythms of your body and yourself and your cycles and your energy.

And it's a practice of awareness but you can't do it wrong because really all there is to do is be here and allow me to guide you.

Sometimes you'll be concentrating on my voice,

Sometimes you'll probably drift away and that's completely fine.

You may be still,

You may feel the need to move and that's fine too.

You really can't do this wrong so all expressions of you,

All parts of you are completely welcome.

So settle into your nest and see if you need to move in any way to find a little bit more comfort.

So your comfort is a priority.

And then notice all the places that are touching your supports and just feel into that a little bit,

Inviting the body to be receiving that touch,

Resting into that support.

Now that you're here there really is nothing to do,

Just listen and drift and listen.

We're going to begin by just coming to the senses.

So take your attention to the mouth and the tongue and just noticing the tongue,

The tip of the tongue,

The sides of the tongue,

The back of the tongue,

Any sense of wetness or taste,

The upper roof of the mouth,

The lower mouth,

Being with the mouth,

Just noticing.

And then coming to your nose,

Noticing the breath in the nostrils,

Feeling the in-breath and the out-breath in the nostrils,

Sensing the air,

There may be a scent or just the sensation of breathing.

And then coming to your eyes,

Invite the eyes to soften and widen and rest,

Acknowledging all the muscles around the back of the eye,

The sides of the eyes.

Your eyes may be closed,

But just noticing any sense of vision,

Being with the eyes and then moving on to your ears.

What's the most distant sound that you can hear right now?

Not seeking and reaching for it,

But just noticing the most distant sound and then what sounds are closer,

Noticing the sounds in your environment.

Perhaps you can hear your own breath,

Maybe a sense of your heartbeat and then letting that go and we're going to move to the feeling of touch.

So noticing the parts of the body that are covered with clothes or covers and see if you can sense the touch on the skin.

Perhaps there's a feeling of weight or texture,

Just noticing that in whatever way suits and then maybe you can feel the touch of the air on your face or your hands and just noticing that.

We're landing into the senses,

Arriving here in this practice of yoga nidra and now come to the breath.

Perhaps open the mouth and take a breath out through the mouth really gently,

Soft in-breath through the nose,

Perhaps a sigh out through the mouth,

In-breath through the nose,

Maybe another sigh,

Inviting the out-breath to be a little longer but no pushing,

Inviting the jaw to soften and perhaps if you like you could open the mouth and open the jaw gently quite wide and do a slow wriggle from side to side with the jaw.

If that feels good,

Maybe you can open the back of the throat and there might be a yawn to find,

Opening the back of the throat,

Wiggling the jaw and a yawn might surprise you and then coming back to natural breaths,

Just let the breath be however it is,

Offering your breath complete freedom.

You can't do this wrong so the breath can choose exactly how to be,

Noticing the breath moving the body,

Noticing the rhythm of the breath,

Moving the body in rhythm and particularly noticing the out-breath and the moment towards the end of the out-breath.

Just before the out-breath finishes,

This exhalation mirrors the exhalation of autumn,

The out-breath of the year,

So right now we're in this moment just before the out-breath completes,

Just before we enter winter and we reach winter by exhaling,

By surrendering,

Letting go and shedding what we don't need.

So right now there's an exhalation outside,

As we rest in the cusp of winter,

The nights are becoming more starry,

The mushrooms are pushing up through the leaves,

The hawthorn trees have deep red berries but no leaves,

The trees have been ablaze with colour but they're dropping their leaves now,

In fact it's just the oaks that are holding on,

Holding on a little longer to their crowns,

Most of the trees have dropped their leaves and it's only a matter of time before the oaks join in and let go,

Sending these bright colours back down into the earth,

There's a surrendering and the forest floor is covered in leaves,

Some of them are still really bright,

Golds and oranges,

Some of them are turning into mud and there's a lovely scent as things start to rot,

The energy is going back down and actually within the tree it's no longer reaching up for the light,

The energy is travelling back down to the centre,

Down into the ground,

So we can mirror this process by coming into more quietness and stillness,

By letting go of anything we don't need,

Simplifying,

And what's on offer is a stabilisation,

A stable winter,

Time to rest,

And this journey of autumn is nearly over,

Down on the seashore,

The birds have come in close,

The waders,

The turnstones,

The plovers,

They're all in close for the winter now,

Grouping together,

Not going very far,

And if you were to go for a paddle on Loch Lomond,

The water is like black silk,

It looks thick and the paddle creates swirls of black and silver,

And the swirls seem to offer a little magic,

The bumblebees are already asleep,

Everything is becoming more ready for quiet and dark,

And in this practice today we're inviting the seasonal mirroring to bring you into more rejuvenation,

More rest,

So coming back to the breath again,

And let the breath swirl a little,

Swirling like the leaves that are still waiting to get blown off,

Swirling like the water around the paddle,

It's a very gentle swirl that invites a letting go,

And we're going to journey around the body now,

Around the different parts,

And there is nothing to do apart from follow my voice,

Bringing your awareness to each place,

And perhaps a sense of the swirl,

A little nudge for each place to shed what's not needed,

So beginning by bringing your attention to your head,

Feeling your head,

Sensing coming across the forehead to the eyebrows,

The eyes,

The nose,

The cheeks,

Dropping inside the head,

Behind the sinuses,

Around the tongue,

The jaw,

The lips,

The chin,

Becoming aware of the sides of the head and the ears,

The back of the head,

And then dropping into the neck,

Just a gentle awareness of the neck,

From the neck,

Swirl your awareness down to the collarbones,

The place where the collarbones meet at the base of the throat,

Being aware of this swirling place,

And then let's take your attention along the right collarbone to the right shoulder,

Right upper arm,

Right elbow,

Right lower arm,

Right wrist,

So you've come down all the way down the arm into the wrist,

And dropping into the hand,

Just bringing your attention to the hand,

The palm,

The back of the hand,

The base of the thumb,

The whole thumb,

The index finger,

The middle finger,

The ring finger,

The little finger,

All the fingers,

The spaces between the fingers,

The fingers and the hand,

The hand and the wrist,

And then softly flowing back up the arm,

All the way to the base of the throat,

Back in this resting place,

And then along the left collarbone,

Left shoulder,

Left upper arm,

Left elbow,

Left lower arm,

Left wrist,

Dropping into the hand,

The left hand,

Your awareness filling up the hand,

The palm,

The back of the hand,

The base of the thumb,

The whole thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

The spaces between the fingers,

All the fingers,

And the hand,

The hand and the wrist,

Your awareness is simply enough,

Just noticing the hand and the wrist,

And then flowing back up the arm to the shoulder,

Collarbone,

Throat,

From here,

The invitation is to drop into the chest,

Being in the chest space,

The lungs,

The heart,

The ribs,

It's allowing your awareness to be here,

The back of the chest,

The sides,

The front,

And each place we visit is invited to shed whatever is no longer needed,

But there's nothing to do,

The intention is enough,

Trusting as you drop down into the abdomen,

Solar plexus,

Back of the waist,

Noticing and sensing,

Moving into the belly,

The lower belly,

Lower belly,

The right side,

The left side,

The back,

The front,

The pubic bone,

The genitals,

The hips,

The swirling invitation to rest comes into the right hip,

Down the leg to the knee,

Ankle,

And then into the foot,

The right foot,

Just noticing this place,

The heel,

The sole,

The top of the foot,

The big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

The spaces between the toes,

The toes and the foot,

The foot and the ankle,

And then moving back up the leg to arrive back in the belly,

Swirling in the belly,

And then bringing your noticing to the left hip,

Down the left leg,

Knee,

Ankle,

Pausing and coming into the foot,

The left foot,

Sensing this place,

The heel,

The sole of the foot,

The top of the foot,

The big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

The spaces between the toes,

The toes and the foot,

The foot and the ankle,

Flowing back up the leg to the belly,

Resting for a moment,

Inviting your noticing to be in and around the pelvic floor,

An invitation to let go and rest,

Bring your noticing to the tip of the spine,

The coccyx,

And then slowly we're going to travel up the spine,

Journeying up the spine,

Flowing place by place,

You're a simple noticing all the way up between the shoulder blades to the neck and all the way up to the head,

Holding the whole spine in your attention,

Imagining a flow up and down,

An invitation to sense the spine and then letting that go,

And right now where in the body would like your attention,

Is there somewhere that's calling you in and follow that invitation and offer that place,

Your care,

Your noticing,

And now I invite you to move,

To imagine a sense of the dark,

Bringing the quality of dark into your awareness,

Inviting a little more darkness,

Noticing the parts of the body that feel darker and allowing these parts to come close and be welcome,

Inviting a little more dark,

Experiencing dark a little more right now and then letting that go and bringing in light,

Inviting a sense of light to arrive,

Noticing where in the body feels more light and welcoming that,

Inviting it close,

More and more light and then letting that go and moving back to dark,

Your sense of dark and then your sense of light and resting back into dark,

Resting into light,

Dark and light and perhaps inviting both to be present,

Dark and light together,

Noticing that and then whatever is there right now inviting it into your heart,

The dark of the heart and the light of the heart,

This tender heart as we are in a place of grief and ending a loss,

Taking a rest to acknowledge this moment of dark and light in the year,

This threshold,

This invitation to let go of what's not needed as we move more fully towards the dark and coming back now to the breath,

Noticing your breath as it is right now,

Now noticing the breath around the sinuses,

Imagining a swirling,

A gentleness and imagine the breath reaches the centre of the forehead,

Between the eyebrows,

From here,

Let the breath travel down through the nose to the area of skin just below the nostrils,

So as you breathe in,

Breathe in from this place above the top lip,

Imagine the breath travels to the centre of the forehead,

As you breathe out,

Imagine it travels back to the area above the top lip,

So this journey up and down with the inhalation and the exhalation and give the journey of the breath lots of space and in autumn it's the year's exhale and particularly be aware of the very end of the exhale,

Notice if you cut it short and just give it more space to complete more fully,

So staying in your own rhythm,

The next time you breathe out,

Imagine the breath travels from the centre of the forehead down to the actual lips,

Back up from the lips to the centre of the forehead,

Back down again to the lips,

Up to the centre of the forehead and this time down to the chin,

Breathing out as far as the chin,

Imagining this journey of the breath back to the centre of the forehead,

Imagine these two streams of air come down the nostrils and arrive at the chin,

Breathing back in to the forehead,

Next out breath all the way down to the collarbones,

Two streams of air on a long slow journey,

Breathing back in to the centre of the forehead,

Breathing back out to the collarbones,

Giving this journey lots of space,

Next exhalation to the chest,

Just imagining this breath moving up and down the body,

Your awareness follows,

Down to the chest again,

Back up to the centre of the forehead and this time the out breath comes down in this two streams all the way to the abdomen,

Imagining the journey is getting longer and more spacious,

Back to the forehead,

Back down to the abdomen,

Back to the forehead,

Taking your time with this journey,

This time reaching the belly,

Left and right side,

You're breathing back up this journey,

Breathing back down to the belly,

Enjoying the exhale,

Not pushing the exhale,

Just allowing space,

Allowing space for emptying,

For letting go,

Next out breath,

Allow it to travel all the way to the hips,

Left hip,

Right hip,

Gentle in breath back to the centre of the forehead,

Gentle out breath to the hips again,

Finding your own rhythm,

Relaxing with a natural breath,

This time to the knees,

Left knee,

Right knee,

Breathing back in to the centre of the forehead,

This long journey again to the knees,

To the knees,

Back to the centre of the forehead,

When you're ready the next out breath will arrive in the soles of the feet,

Left foot,

Right foot,

Arrive in the soles of the feet and then let go of the breathing and stay with the soles of the feet and imagine a swirl in each sole,

A swirl of breath,

A swirl of energy,

A flame,

The left foot and the right foot,

Fully in your awareness,

Imagining the changes of autumn,

The tenderness,

The letting go of the leaves,

The swirling of the black water,

The red berries,

The roots of the trees,

The leaves on the ground,

Swirling in the sole of each foot,

This energy returning to you and then become aware of the palm of the left hand and the palm of the right hand,

Imagine a swirl in each palm,

The soles of the feet,

The colours of the leaves,

The journey back to the earth and now bringing your attention to the navel,

The area around the navel,

The solar plexus and imagine another swirl,

Being with the navel area,

Welcoming,

Surrendering,

There's nothing to do but notice and this swirl connects you back to your ancestors,

It connects you forward to your future and what does this place know that you need to let go of?

Once the trees let go of their leaves,

They reveal that the buds are already present for next year,

Is there anything else your system needs you to know right now?

Making more space just for a few breaths and whatever is there,

You can take it to the heart or the belly or the navel or wherever feels right,

We're going to come up the centre of the body now,

So starting around the pelvic floor,

A gentle journey back up the central column of the body,

Through the centre of the belly,

Through the centre of the upper abdomen,

Into the chest,

Through the centre of the heart,

Coming back to the base of the throat,

Taking your time and just acknowledging now this journey that you've been on,

This practice of yoga nidra,

This container for all that you are,

This invitation to surrender,

To rest,

To be nourished and trust that everything that arose and was felt was exactly as it should be,

It was truly enough and everything that's here now is exactly as it should be,

Trust that you received what you needed and we're going to gently come back to the senses,

So noticing what you can hear again,

Can you hear your heartbeat,

This rhythmic pulse,

Can you hear your breath and perhaps further away sounds,

Just acknowledging them and then moving to your eyes,

Noticing your eyes and any sense of the light through the eyelids,

Noticing your nose,

The nostrils,

The feeling of breathing in and out and any scent on the air coming to the tongue,

How is the tongue now,

The tip,

The sides,

The back,

Any wetness in the mouth or taste,

How is the throat and then feeling your clothes touching your skin,

Becoming aware again of the skin sensing what's touching it and then the air perhaps on your face or the parts that are uncovered and then the sense of touch with your supports,

The feeling of weight,

Noticing that,

Beginning to acknowledge the objects around you,

Just with your mind's eye,

The shape of your room,

The objects in the room,

The textures and colours,

Perhaps acknowledge the building that you're in,

Imagining yourself within that space,

We're arriving back in the body,

In your surroundings and it might be that you're ready for some small movements,

Maybe a finger or a toe or the jaw might want to move,

The breath might want to change,

Maybe it's time for a yawn or perhaps you feel totally motionless and you want to stay that way and that's absolutely fine,

We've been on this journey of awareness,

It was an invitation to all parts of you to shed what wasn't needed for the ongoing journey,

The journey ahead into the dark and as we begin to shift back to the everyday energy,

Just go gently,

Maybe you're ready for a stretch now,

Maybe opening your eyes,

Maybe some deeper breaths or a yawn and right now your Nidra practice is complete.