So,
Just settling yourselves down into comfort,
Into cosiness.
As if,
Tiny,
Warm droplets of the most soothing nectar and licksir,
The most nourishing water,
Became sound and soothed your very senses.
Each sound,
A tiny droplet of the most soothing licksir,
Just evaporating into sound and entering your body in the most nourishing and relaxing way through listening.
And as you tune into the sounds,
Tuning into all sounds that you can hear in the room,
If there are any,
The tiny sounds and the big sounds,
Sounds in the rest of your home or in the rest of your building,
Sounds outside in the street,
Outside in the fields,
Expanding your listening to encompass all,
All sounds.
And then from that huge and vast soundscape,
Coming closer and closer back home.
Sides inside the building,
Sounds inside your home,
Your flat,
Your house,
The room in which you are.
Very tiny sounds in the room,
Shrinking and condensing that soundscape back to a single drop of licksir.
The sound of your own breath.
And the name for the heart chakra,
Anahata.
The sound with no sound,
No beginning,
Unstruct sound.
The whole body,
A series of harmonies,
All the different energies condensing into matter,
Into cells,
Into connective tissue,
Into bone,
Into skin,
Into your beautiful smile,
Into the love and joy in your very heart.
All of that sound,
All of that vibration.
So let's invite an awareness of this incredible miracle that we are manifest.
All the yogis talk about manifestation.
What is our potential?
What is the potential in the creative force of the universe?
And then what's actually here?
What is manifest?
And you are actually here.
So I invite us all to awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
And taking your awareness around the body in a beautifully organic way.
And I'm going to guide us through that,
But if at any time your awareness goes somewhere else,
Somewhere more inviting in your body,
Elsewhere entirely,
That's completely fine.
Winter is all about deep knowing,
Deep wisdom.
Like the marrow in our very bones.
And so I trust you,
Your experience,
Your body to trust your own experience,
Your own needs.
I'm here as a guide and wow,
What an honor that is.
And so let's take our awareness into the fingertips,
The tips of your fingers.
Use a hand,
Which hand?
And can you become aware of where the most energy,
Sensation,
Awareness is in that hand?
The back of the hand or is it the palm or is it in the fingers,
Is it in the thumb?
Tune into that and then invite the awareness just to spread so that you're aware of the whole of that hand.
And then change,
Become aware of the other hand,
Where draws you near first.
As if our awareness is listening and taking notice and marveling in what it finds.
As if that marvel and that incredulity could spread now with love and kindness through the whole of that hand.
Both hands,
Aware of both hands.
Hands for holding,
For hugging.
Taking your awareness from the hands up the arms,
Could be both arms together.
You might choose one arm in particular and then bring the other one along.
But flowing up through the wrist,
The forearm,
The elbow,
The upper arm into the shoulders,
Both shoulders or one shoulder and then the other.
And then becoming aware of both armpits,
One after the other or at the same time.
And then wrapping around the body,
Coming down the body as if those beautiful hands for holding,
For hugging,
Are hugging your own rib cage.
Wrapping around from the back,
From the spine,
Right round to the front,
To the breastbone and to the heart.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.
The gentle unceasing rhythm of the heart.
The origin of sound.
The origin of the universe.
Of consciousness.
Of togetherness.
And that wonderful awareness flowing down through the chest all the way down,
Around the waist as if someone's just wrapped their arm around your waist.
Come down to the hips,
Choosing which hip first or both together.
Coming down through the belly,
The navel,
Into the pelvis,
The front of the pelvis,
The back of the pelvis,
Both sides.
Choosing a leg or both legs and just inviting that awareness,
That vibration,
That tuning in to the pitch and the harmony of your own body as if it can now flow down each leg,
Maybe one after the other or both at the same time.
The matter of your thighs,
Becoming aware of the heaviness of the legs,
The bones,
The knees,
The shins,
The calf muscles,
All of that.
From the top all the way down to the ankles.
The ankles into the heels,
Into the insteps,
Into the tops of each feet,
Into the soles of the feet,
The balls of the feet,
Into the toes.
The whole body aware of the whole body.
The vibration and the manifestation that is the body.
Gently,
Joyfully here in this very moment.
Bringing the awareness back up the body in whichever way feels the most comforting,
Natural,
Spontaneous,
Enjoyable,
Excitable,
Just simply back up.
As if the whole body has been anointed with that elixir of awareness.
As if the very sounds that I utter have become dew-like and we are all drenched in this nourishing dew.
In the wintertime we come home and take refuge.
In the body we can take refuge in the heart,
The home fires of the heart hearth.
The glowing embers of love and kindness and energy and warmth made it encircle us all.
And so in the closing moments of this relaxation,
I'm just going to read us a beautiful poem that's inspired this practice.
For Presence by John O'Donoghue.
Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path.
Let the flame of anger free you of all falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame.
May anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.
And so starting to deepen and lengthen the breath.
Bring movement into fingers,
Into toes,
Starting to bring yourself very gently and steadily back.
Deepening the breath so you can hear your breath.
Lengthening the breath so you can welcome in nourishing fresh air.
And then if you're lying on your back stretching the whole body out so you make the body incredibly long.
Lovely delight in the length of your body.
And then hugging the knees and delight in the smallness.
How small can you make yourself?
Rocking from side to side and coming to rest on a comfy side and if you're already on your side just staying there or if you're on your front gently coming back into a lovely child's pose.
Knees wide,
Toes touching,
Bringing the hips to the heels and the forehead down into the hands onto the mat whatever feels good.
This practice of yoga nidra is now over.
This practice is now complete,
Done and dusted.
It is now finished.
Thank you very very much for listening.
