So just taking some time to get cozy and comfy.
Making sure that all of your needs are met in terms of cosiness and comfiness.
And just taking those blankets.
Making sure that now you've been down there for a wee while,
If there's any adjustments that you do need to make,
You just make those now.
The practice of Nidra,
Especially in winter time,
Is inspired by stillness,
Inviting stillness in.
And so making any adjustments that you need that can help you find that stillness in the body and in the mind.
Making sure that we won't be disturbed and that for the next while you're safe and supported.
So just taking the awareness around the whole body,
Checking in,
Tuning in,
Listening.
And if all of the myriad of sensations of touch and pressure in the body were indeed sounds,
What beautiful changing melodies and sounds would your body be making?
So just imagining that.
Imagining all of that sense of heaviness and softness,
The touch of your clothes against the skin,
The pressure of your body down on the cushions,
On the mat,
All of that.
If that were sound,
What would it be like?
You might like to spend a bit of time taking awareness around the different parts of your body,
Around the different parts and aspects of your current experience,
To play those sounds,
To tune in and to listen.
Inviting in a sense of gathering harmony,
Into the whole body.
So that bit by bit the body feels more and more relaxed.
And taking the awareness to the soft ebb and flow of the breath,
As the orchestrator of that harmony.
As the breath flows in and out,
You become more and more soothed.
As if all of the jumble of different sounds start to play and sing together,
More aligned,
More in tune,
Harmonious.
Inviting that sense of harmony to flow up and down the body with the breath.
I'm going to take the awareness around the body.
You might like to imagine that with each place that I identify a gentle sound or note or bell.
So taking the awareness to the eyebrow centre,
Imagining a sound,
Beautiful sound,
And placing it just there.
Coming down in between the two collar bones,
A soft space in the pit of the throat.
What sound is there there?
And then spreading outwards into the shoulders,
The left and the right shoulders,
Placing sounds in each.
Down the arms into the elbows.
What chime is ringing there?
And then down to the wrists.
And in the tip of each thumb,
Each index finger,
Each middle finger,
The ring fingers and the little fingers.
Sounding in unison,
The chorus,
Each of the fingers and thumbs.
Coming back up to the wrists,
The elbows,
The shoulders,
The centre of the collar bones,
And then down to the centre of the chest,
To the heart.
What sound is struck in the heart?
Coming out to the tip of the left breast and the tip of the right breast.
Then coming back into the heart,
Travelling down the body now to the navel.
What sound is struck there?
Following the awareness down again into the pelvis,
The centre of the pelvis,
Into the hips.
You might like to imagine all of the three sounding a beautiful harmony or chord.
And then the awareness flowing down into the knees,
The left knee and the right knee,
Down into the ankles,
Left ankle and right ankle.
And into the toes,
The tips of the big toes,
The second toes,
The third toes,
The fourth toes,
The fifth toes.
All of the different sounds in the toes and the whole of the legs.
What quality or timbre do they share?
Then bring the awareness back up into the ankles,
The knees,
The hips,
The centre of the pelvis,
Up the body now to the navel and into the heart.
And the heart up into the pit of the throat in between the collar bones and back up into the eyebrow centre,
The first sound placed,
Heard,
Invited.
And imagining that the whole body could gently resonate with all of these different sounds,
Creating the most beautiful music.
And you might like to imagine that or even tune in to the physical sensations and be assured that in some level they are sound for other ears in other places and other times.
Inviting in a sense of togetherness,
Beauty in the stillness.
And then taking the awareness down to the pit of the throat,
To the sound there and coming to rest in the heart.
The name of the heart,
Anahata,
Means unstruck sound.
So bringing into heart,
Into mind,
A beautiful loving sound and allowing that to resonate out throughout the chest,
Into the body,
Just as love can spread its warmth and glow throughout the body.
And then being aware of all of the different sounds placed,
Struck,
Tuned into,
Heard,
Throughout the whole body.
Playing simultaneously or in a sequence that flows playfully around the body.
And then focusing in on that beautiful sound of the heart with the truth and clarity that can be heard even in the noisiest and most clamorous of times.
And then all of the myriad of sounds throughout the whole body.
Fluidity and fluency and grace,
The whole body singing,
Playing,
Sounding,
Ringing.
And then focusing on both,
Both the clear clarion call of the heart sound and the harmonious chorus of the whole body,
Almost shimmering.
And then inviting that sound simply to resonate into stillness,
Into a sense of space and spaciousness,
A nourishing space of tuning in,
Of listening,
Of potential.
And in this space of the heart and listening,
We can invite a sense of real connection into this moment,
Connecting with our real selves,
That aspect of ourselves that connects with the divine in whatever way really suits our own sense of harmony.
So that each and every one of us has our own melody,
Our own song.
What is your song?
And then slowly becoming aware of the sound of the body,
There's that changing pattern of sensations and touch,
The soft ebb and flow of the breath through the body.
So the body feels very relaxed and soothed.
Becoming aware of all of those different sensations of the clothes,
Of the cushions,
Of the mat and blankets.
Noticing the different patterns of sensations throughout the whole body.
So starting to slowly deepen each breath to welcome in a little bit more breath.
And maybe explore what sensations of touch you can,
Maybe touching the fingers and thumbs together in turn.
Maybe starting to move into the fingers and toes.
Maybe starting to move through the face.
And then slowly inviting a little bit more movement into the body.
So that we become more aware of that physical pattern of sensations and touch.
And so as we start to invite ourselves into this moment,
Deepening the breath,
Bringing movement,
Finding space in the physical body.
If it feels like a delicious thing to do,
You might want to stretch the whole body out.
All the way into fingertips,
All the way into toes,
Into heels.
Spreading out the fingers,
Finding space in the palms,
Spreading out the toes,
Finding space in the soles of each foot.
Making the body deliciously long.
And then walking the legs up and hugging the knees.
Just curling the body,
Making the body deliciously small.
And you might like to do that a couple of times or just one of each is plenty and more than enough.
So starting to hug the knees and rock from side to side and eventually,
Eventually arriving back,
Curled up,
Resting on a comfortable side.
Just allowing yourself to lay there and bring yourself slowly back into this very moment.
Awake and aware.
This practice of nidra for winter is now complete.
Thank you for listening.
