So,
Settling yourselves.
.
.
Settling yourself into coziness.
Just finding a really comfortable position for you,
For your relaxation practice.
Taking the time to feel really comfy and cosy.
Blankets,
Covers,
Cushions.
Maybe a little friend to curl up with you,
A little doggy or a little cat.
Something like that.
And as we move into autumn time,
Let's spend the first moments settling our bodies and focusing on the gentle rhythm of the breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
It's almost that lovely dance of the breath.
And it's a dance that we do without noticing,
Day in,
Day out.
Breathing in,
Gift fresh air from all of the trees,
All of the green.
And in turn we gift them back what they need.
And so as we start to settle and become more relaxed,
Perhaps likening ourselves to the earth in some way.
Just inviting that wonderful dance between the earth of our bodies and that gift of fresh nourishing air from Mother Earth herself.
And when we when we lie down and when we get comfy,
The breath can be very light.
Very subtle.
And I haven't quite worked out if we tune in to the energetic quality of the air itself and just breathe that in.
Becomes more rarefied,
More precious.
And some of us like to imagine the air almost like water flowing through all of the valleys and the dips and the curves and the curls of the landscape.
That is us.
And some of us prefer instead to imagine it as the gentle breeze rustling the last of the leaves on the trees.
This beautiful dance that we have.
Through the breath.
Through being here.
So as you're relaxing,
The eyes could be closed or they may be more relaxed,
Open whatever suits you.
And I'd like to invite you to imagine that the breath is flowing all the way down,
All the way down the body and out through the toes on the exhale.
And on the inhale is flowing in from the nostrils and just spreading throughout the whole body.
Life giving.
Two directions.
On the inhale,
Expansive.
Into the very edges of the body.
And on the exhale,
Really,
Really connecting with that sense of coming home.
If we bring to mind the preciousness of the breath.
Something so subtle has the ability to clear the decks.
To create change in momentous ways.
So with a lightness of touch and awareness,
We quickly take our awareness around the body.
Marking out.
Places of awareness of light.
Preciousness.
So starting with the eyebrow centre.
Coming down to the space in between the collarbones.
Into the shoulders.
Into the palms of the hands.
Coming back to the shoulders and the space between the collarbones and down into the centre of the chest into the heart.
Into the tip of the left breast and the right breast.
Coming back to the heart.
Down to the navel.
The centre of the pelvis and into the left and right hips.
Into the soles of each of the feet.
Left and right.
Coming back to the hips.
The centre of the pelvis.
Navel.
Heart.
Soft space.
In between the collarbones.
Back to the eyebrow centre.
A simple checking in with our body.
A simple mapping of how we are today.
And as we begin to move towards the end of this practice.
Just bringing to mind and to heart something that you hold dear.
That is precious.
And on the inhale,
Breathe that in.
And on the exhale.
Become aware of your body in contact with the mat and that lovely sense of sinking a little further into it.
And you may wish to envisage or imagine the quality of something truly precious.
As if the breath and the awareness of that wonderful thing that is of immense value to you.
Could be glazed in something jewel-like.
Something incredibly beautiful and deeply meaningful.
And then imagining that almost becoming like a gift.
And you can offer it to yourself.
Just now.
In autumn time,
We connect with what is truly precious.
As the exuberance of summertime falls away,
All the leaves fall from the trees.
The essence of the tree is left and so too with us.
As the days shorten and our energy levels lower,
It's really important to tune in to what's of real value to let some of the extraneous fall away.
So we can continue to nourish ourselves and not drain ourselves.
So with that in mind and then heart starting to deepen the breath.
And again,
You might want to imagine you're breathing all the way into your fingertips,
All the way into your toe tips,
All the way to the crown of the head,
The tip of the nose,
Tips of the ears.
And if it feels a lovely thing to do,
It can be quite nice to give the body a good stretch and then hug the knees on the exhale.
And then rock gently from side to side and bring yourself to a more alert,
Awake,
Aware state.
This practice of Yoga Nidra inspired by autumn and all it brings is now complete.
This practice of Yoga Nidra is now over.
Thank you very much for listening.
