Yoga nidra for women- Cyclical wisdom unfolding

Welcome to this yoga nidra practice.

Whether you are lying down,

Sitting or standing,

Make sure you are comfortable and you're warm and now simply get ready and use any additional props such as pillows,

Blankets,

Eye masks and tuck yourself so comfortable that you don't have to worry about anything and you don't have to move.

Remember in this practice there is nothing to do.

There is no one to please,

Nowhere to be,

No deadline and nothing to strive for.

All you have to do is listen to my voice and drift over my guidance and if you fall asleep don't worry about it.

It just means that your body needs that rest.

Now start to feel the ground beneath you that is supporting the body.

Notice the points of contacts of the body with the floor or the mattress.

Notice that you are being held or supported and make any final adjustments to make you feel comfortable and warm.

Now take a deep breath and as you exhale start to let go of everything,

The tension in the body and the thoughts in the mind.

Start to welcome yourself to arrive.

Let there be a sense of welcome from all the different directions.

Feel your body being welcomed by the earth from below and welcomed by the sky from above and welcome home to yourself.

Start to bring awareness to the breath.

Simply observe the coming and going of the flow of the air in and out of the nostrils knowing that you don't have to make any effort.

You don't have to control how you're breathing.

Invite for an easy breath in and out.

Notice how the body feels as you're breathing and whether you could let go a little bit more,

A little bit more so there is no tension at all as you're breathing.

You don't have to make any conscious effort to deepen the breath or to stay in a space between in and out.

Simply invite for the spontaneous breath and use this as an opportunity to learn how the body is breathing,

How slow or fast you're breathing now,

How long is the inhale and the exhale.

Notice how deep the breath is,

Whether you can feel it flowing into the chest or you could feel the breath flowing all the way to the end of the torso,

All the way to the pelvic floor and if you notice the breath only stops in the chest,

You could see if you could soften the belly a little bit more.

Thus inviting the breath flowing a little deeper.

Notice the rising and falling in the navel,

Expanding and contracting in the side of the waist,

Expanding and contracting in the ribcage and as the breath rises to the top you can feel it in the chest,

In the collarbones,

Rising and falling so that the whole body is moving like a balloon as you breathe,

Expanding and contracting to all the different directions so gently,

So effortlessly as if the body is being breathed.

My invitation for you next is to bring the awareness to the heart space,

To awake a sense of gladness,

A sense of gratitude and listen to the sound of the heartbeat,

The sound of your breath flowing in and out through the heart space which is the sound of your heart,

The words of the wisdom of your heart and now there are two ways to listen to this.

You can simply just listen to the heartbeat,

Listen to the breath flowing in and out of the heart space or perhaps you could listen a little more attentively and see whether there is a heartfelt desire coming from the heart space,

A sankalpa,

A little affirmation,

A resolution,

Something you want to be,

You want to have but turn that phrase into a present tense.

I am,

I have,

I do and repeat that phrase three times in your heart and know that these words are like little seeds and they have now been planted in your heart space knowing that your breath and your sense of gladness and gratitude will surely nourish the seeds and they will grow in your heart space and manifest in your life.

And next we're going on a little journey around the body.

We're going to take your awareness to nourish different parts of your inner landscape starting from the right hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Feel the right hand palm,

Back of the hand and the right hand wrist,

The whole of the right hand nourished by your awareness planted with the seed of gladness and wakefulness and gratitude.

Moving awareness into the elbow,

Forearm,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Down into the armpit,

The right side of the body,

The waist,

Right hip,

Thigh,

Kneecap,

Back of the knee,

The shinbone,

The calf,

The right ankle,

Top of the foot and five toes in turn.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

So of the foot and the right heel and become aware of the whole of the right side of the body,

The whole side right side of the body being nourished by your awareness with loving kindness and gladness and gratitude.

Moving awareness to the left side now to the left hand thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Little finger,

Left hand palm,

Back of the hand and the wrist,

The whole left hand holding your awareness full of gladness and gratitude.

Moving into the forearm,

The elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Left side of the body and the waist,

Down into the hip,

Thigh,

Kneecap,

Back of the knee,

Shinbone,

Calf,

Ankle,

Top of the foot,

Five big toes.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

So of the foot and the left heel,

Become aware of the whole left side of the body being visited by your awareness,

Planting with gladness and gratitude,

Nourished.

And now turn the awareness to your low back,

Middle of the back,

Upper back,

The right shoulder blade,

Left shoulder blade and feel the spine in the center,

The back of the neck,

Back of the head and top of the head.

Awareness to the right ear,

The left ear and plant a sense of gladness and gratitude inside of the ear canals.

Feel it spreading across the ears from the inside to the outside,

Across the shell of the ears and moving up to the temples,

The forehead,

Down to the eyebrows,

The right eye,

The left eye and the nose,

Upper lip,

Lower lip and the chin,

The right side of the cheek,

The left side of the cheek,

The whole of the head,

Illuminating with gladness and gratitude.

And become aware of the whole of the body from top to toe,

Illuminating with gladness and gratitude all the way through.

Your inner landscape has been nourished by gladness and gratitude.

I invite you now to look into the space in front of the closed eyes.

Exhale and bring the focus of your attention down to the space of the womb.

Breathe your inner gaze down inside the womb and find yourself at the heart of a warm red space.

See yourself lying there inside your womb,

Comfortable and perfectly at home.

As you lay there in your womb,

Feel her to be the entire world in herself.

Feel a soft breeze blowing across your skin and look up to see the branches of a beautiful tree above you.

You're lying beneath a great womb tree and her roots reaching deep down into the earth.

She is growing in the very center of the womb world.

You can see the blue sky bright behind her branches and it is spring.

Tiny baby leaves are curled up tight on the branches as the sun shines they begin to unfurl.

The quality of feeling is fresh and expectant,

As if the air itself is full of possibilities of new beginnings.

You feel excitement and wonder at all the newness around you.

A sudden little shower of raindrop falls and the water kisses your face with a gentle sweet tenderness.

More tiny droplets of rain now falls to the ground as the leaves open out in the warm air.

It is high summer in the womb world.

The tree is decked in the finery of full green leaves and the beginning to be heavy with fruit.

Beneath the tree,

The heat of the season warms you deep inside and you feel full of life,

Overflowing with love and ready to give.

You stand to stretch and move with a conscious delight,

Suffused by the power of simply being so vibrantly alive,

Strong and full of abundant energy.

You watch the branches of the tree bending under the weight of the ripening fruit.

Everything feels abundant and all is possible.

It is autumn and the fruits on the trees are ready to harvest.

In the magical womb world,

The fruits harvest themselves,

Rolling softly to the ground and the leaves in the tree begin to change colour,

Curling into fiery twists of orange and red to change colour.

The wind grows cooler and leaves begin to fall to the ground.

You begin to feel the need to tidy and sweep.

After the growing seasons,

It feels as though garden needs tending and you begin clearing the fruits and fallen leaves that have accumulated,

Sorting and reflecting,

Preparing for the resting time of the coming cold.

It is winter in your womb world and you are sheltered warm inside by roaring fire.

There is nothing to be done.

You respond to the need to rest deeply.

In this state of stillness,

You experience a state of gracious peace,

As if you have been washed out to float on a river of blood.

With a visionary clarity,

You enter deep inside your own awareness and experience a powerful energy of descent.

The blood tide inside is pulling you home to yourself.

The womb world is cleansed by the red river flow as if it were washing through you.

When the last wave passes,

You feel quietly renewed and revisioned.

In your hand,

You hold a golden chalice that contains blood,

Your flow.

You walk to the great tree in the heart of the womb world,

Kneeling revelantly.

You pour the blood down her roots to nourish future growth.

The blood is received back into the earth and you sense the beginning of a slight shift in your energies and interests.

As the seasons in the womb world begin to turn,

You greet the coming cycle with a deep wisdom of a woman who respects the special qualities of each season and responds to the change each brings as it turns in the womb world of your inner life.

Now begin to bring the awareness to the sense of hearing.

Notice the sound around you,

The sound furthest away and the sound near you.

Perhaps your breathing that is in the center and bring your awareness to the sense of touch.

Now start to feel how the body is being supported by the floor below.

Feel the temperature in the air,

The feeling of the clothes or the blankets wrapping around you.

Look to the space behind the eyelids and notice what you can see there,

Whether it's some moving images or just random colors or shapes.

And now run the tongue inside the mouth to feel the texture and moisture of your gum,

Of the teeth.

Notice what you can taste and now place awareness to the tip of the nose and see what you can smell around you.

Whether there is anything that you haven't noticed before.

Gently start to deepen the breath,

Start to invite for more energy inside the body and send that energy down to the tips of your fingers and toes.

Slowly waking up from the fingers and toes,

Slowly wake up the wrists and ankles.

Invite yourself back to wakefulness.

See if there is a desire to stretch or do anything that wakes up the body.

Do it slowly and lazily.

Be in no rush to open the eyes.

If it's cold where you are,

You can rub your hands together to create some heat and then bring the hands in front of the eyes to warm the eyes and slowly blink your eyes open inside the hands.

Welcome back and the yoga nidra practice is complete.

Thank you for listening.