Nourishing Nap: Autumn Relaxation

So just coming into a really cosy and comfy,

Relaxed position.

Taking this time to settle down,

To invite the whole of you to feel really welcome,

As if all of the shenanigans of our practice were for this very moment of arrival,

This very moment of connection.

And so becoming aware of the shape of the body on the floor,

Where it meets the mat,

Cushions,

Blankets.

Noticing that wonderful,

Maybe a slightly deepening map of touch and pressure that's just growing a little bit.

And if that had a colour,

Just imagining the colour deepening where the body is most relaxed or heaviest,

Like watercolour on paper.

Bringing the awareness to the ebb and flow of the breath.

Noticing how it flows in and out,

And there's no wrong or right way,

Just the lovely,

Soft,

Spontaneous way of breathing.

And that rhythm of the breath in and out.

The breath is like a dear,

Dear friend,

There's no ceremony.

Just lets itself in and lets itself out.

And so just tuning in to the body,

Tuning in,

You've been there a little while now,

If there's any tension that you can let go of,

Any rigidity.

Are you allowing the full weight of the head into the mat,

For example?

Or are you holding on in the mat?

Can you relax the shoulders,

The spine,

The hips?

Allow the hips to be fully heavy.

Connecting with the earth element,

Taking time to deeply nourish,

Nourish ourselves.

So becoming aware of the eyebrow centre,

And just imagine you could distil the essence of autumn,

To land like a dewdrop,

Just there,

Between the eyebrows.

What is the essence of the season?

Is it the days when the sky is this clear blue,

Vast,

Open white cloud,

Scumming across,

The moorburn and rust and yellow ochre leaves raining down,

Crunching through dry leaves,

The sound,

The texture?

Is it the deep wine of hawthorn berries,

Are there branches of the hawthorn trees?

Is it the smell of the leaves as they're mulching down,

Rain,

Rain after rain after rain,

Softening them into earth?

So imagine that lovely essence of autumn is distilled right down,

Just like a dewdrop,

With something very soft and delicate,

Very precious,

Just anointing in between the eyebrows.

From there coming down to the soft space in between the collarbones and that little dewdrop,

That precious nectar,

Just there,

Becoming aware now of the shoulders,

The left shoulder and the right.

Just a little drop or touch of that essence right in the very centre of each shoulder,

And down each arm at the elbows,

Left and right,

At the wrists,

And at the tip of each thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger and little finger.

As if something so beautifully precious,

Something as delicate as the dewdrops hanging on a spider web,

Something like that,

Across the whole,

The whole of you,

And bringing the awareness back from the tips of the fingers and thumbs to the wrist,

And then to the elbow and the shoulders and back in between the collarbones.

From there coming down the body into the centre of the chest,

To the heart centre,

Another drop of that unique preciousness just there,

Spreading out to the tip of the left breast and the right breast,

Like a fan of leaves on a horse chestnut,

Rust at the edges,

Curling in,

Bringing the awareness back into the centre of the chest,

Coming down the body to the navel,

Seeing the shape,

Concha shells and the brown shine or sheen of a concha that's been hidden,

You stand on it by mistake,

It's just there.

Coming down into the centre of the pelvis,

And in the very centre of the pelvis behind the pubic bone,

Another drop of this beautiful autumn essence right there,

Spreading out into the hips,

The centre of each hip,

Left hip and right hip,

And then down each leg,

The knees,

The ankles,

The tips of the big toes,

The left foot and the right foot,

The second toes,

The third,

The fourth and the fifth.

Thinking of all the different colours,

All the different leaves,

Now on the ground,

Most of the colour is on the ground now,

Gathering energy of autumn drawing back into the earth,

Back into the roots.

So if your body was a colour or a host of colours,

What would it be?

Would it be the rust,

The acid yellow of the lime flower tree leaves,

The rust curling the edges of the chestnut trees,

And those leaves are as big as fish,

Lying,

Papery swathes,

Under the trunks,

Under the crowns now bare.

That beautiful orangey rust of the beech leaf,

The beech holds its leaf,

That rustling rattling as the breeze,

The wind blows through.

What colours would you be?

Mapping the whole body,

The fingertips,

The toe tips,

Each of the joints in the arm and the legs,

The body,

Soft space in between the collarbones,

Back up to the crown and then to the eyebrow centre,

As if the whole body is so adorned,

Garlanded,

And in autumn we focus on what's truly precious.

Often the falling leaves hide those hidden gems,

So inviting in a sense of being so arranged with gems,

Precious metals,

Something deeply wonderful.

And the beautiful thing about all of the falling leaves is that they create fresh nourishment,

And so we come into autumn,

Nourished,

Nourished by the ash of the fire,

Burnt to create the earth,

The leaves fall,

Create more nourishment earth,

And then here we are,

A little stronger,

All of our projects,

All of the incredible things that we've undertaken this year,

Strengthening us,

Helping us connect a little more closely with who we really are.

And with that letting go of doing too much,

Of refining our lives using sound judgement,

We gain clarity,

The clarity of the chill of the air on an autumn morning,

Clarity of the blue sky overhead.

What do you value?

What do you need to clear away so actually you can see that value?

What's got lost under the fallen leaves?

And so bringing the awareness into the body,

Into the breath as it flows in and out.

Let's just start to focus a little bit more on the breath,

Taking the awareness from the eyebrow centre down to the soft space in between the collarbones and down to the heart,

And we'll just stay in the heart.

So here we are in the very heart of autumn,

And if you like you can imagine that the breath is flowing in into the heart,

Right in there.

Gently the burning embers of the fire in the heart glow a little brighter with every in-breath.

Where does that energy go on the out-breath?

Is it all around the body?

You need to tune into part of the body that needs extra special care.

These are a part of the body that could do with more love,

More support,

So it can heal.

This wonderful sense of the breath coming into the heart,

Blowing the embers of the heart shining brightly,

Almost with a whiteness.

It's a wonderful sense of the heart,

The anointing of the heart,

So tiny,

It's as tiny as a sesame seed and yet so vast,

It can contain universes.

Taking that awareness into the heart,

So tiny,

That point of focus so tiny and yet so vast,

Just like the overturned bowl of the sky,

It can hold anything.

As you breathe in you may like to imagine or envisage that all of the little points,

All of the dew drops,

All of the essence of autumn in the joints,

In the tips of the fingers and toes,

Just expands out a little bit.

Really big beautiful hand of horse chestnut trees,

Massive leaves splaying out,

Something like that,

And on the exhale just falls softly into the earth,

The body itself,

Expanding out on the inhale and then falling softly back into the body on the exhale.

Just inviting in both,

At the same time that sense of both being expansive,

Hovering,

Beyond and deeply earth embedded.

Then just bringing the awareness to the soft ebb and flow of the breath,

That wonderful radiating breath out from the heart back in.

And as we start to head our ship for sure,

In this in-between space of not quite sleeping and yet not awake,

The earth is very ripe for any seeds that need so.

And so back to my question from our flow,

What can you do to support yourself so you feel nourished?

What do you need to put in place in the coming days,

Weeks,

Months to support you?

And for some of us,

A sankalpa,

An affirmation can be really helpful and for others we need a plan.

And for others we just need to listen,

Listen in that hallowed space of the heart,

That tiny spark so small,

As small as a sesame seed and yet there in the furnace of the heart,

Precious things are forged.

And then from here let's start to deepen the breath,

Perhaps so you can even hear the sound of your breath.

Just take a lovely long breath in and out and then a beautifully deep breath.

See if you can smooth your breath and breathe evenly in and out.

Just slowing it down,

Deepening,

Smoothing,

Evening,

Going through all of the five elements of the breath.

And then what can be really useful to help us feel a little bit more awake and alert is just small movements into fingers and toes and it can feel even more delightful to lengthen the whole body out,

Making the body as long as feels good,

Arms overhead and then hugging the knees,

Making the body as small as feels good,

Rocking from side to side and just coming to rest on one comfy side,

Does not matter which.

Just allow yourself to come to and do absolutely hew-haw.

This practice of yoga nidra inspired by the season of autumn and the mental element is now over,

This practice is now complete.

Thank you very much for listening.