Join us for a monthly dose of yoga nidra to support, nourish and soothe.
Our entire world is cyclical and relies on a pause in order to continue the cycle and come back to fullness. The moon wanes to complete darkness, the trees shed their leaves in order to bloom again in Spring, the tide of the sea, like the breath, pauses before coming back to shore, and Winter brings us to darkness and stillness so that the earth can rest.
Humans are the only curious creatures on this planet who think that they are an exclusion to this rule of cyclicity. We attempt to live in a constant Summer of activity, doing and achieving, somehow believing that slowness, rest and intentional pauses are a failure. Not here!
As we now begin to emerge into Spring after a long dark Winter, we will come together once a month for an hour to tend to ourselves with gentleness and kindness in this time of delicate unfurling and awakening. To find rejuvenation in the quiet, and peace in the stillness of deep rest.
Expect inspiring poetry, seasonal reflections and a long yoga nidra to nourish every cell of your being.
Everyone is welcome. Nothing is required of you other than to carve out some time where you won't be disturbed, to gather an abundance of cosy materials to adorn your nidra nest and to log into zoom and keep your camera on so that the virtual space can be safely held.
These sessions will be recorded and sent out for you to revisit in your own time.
“Yoga Nidra is an adaptive, meditative state of being that anyone can access to find healing, nourishment and liberation.”
Uma Dinsmore-Tuli and Nirlipta Tuli
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Yoga nidra is suitable for everyone regardless of experience, age, illness, disability or any other variable. There is no movement required. Everyone is most welcome!
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Yoga Nidra is best practiced laying down. You will be invited to find a position that supports your body and how you are feeling on that particular day. Joining the call from your bed or sofa is recommended!
It will help if you can ensure that you wont be disturbed for the duration of the practice and perhaps for sometime after so that you can absorb the benefits of the nidra.
Our temperature drops slightly when we are still for a long time so gather blankets, cushions, pillows, socks and warm clothing. You might also like to wear an eye mask.
You will be asked to keep your camera on and microphone off. This is so that the space can be safely held and to minimise disturbances. If the session is recorded, only the audio recording will be used.
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April - Wednesday 26th 7 - 8pm
May - TBC
All via zoom.
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We believe that rest is a vital part of health and wellbeing and that everyone deserves access to conscious rest spaces.
We therefore run these circles on a donation basis and trust that you will contribute if you are able.
If funds are tight but you feel like you would benefit then you are welcome to join freely.
Otherwise we ask that you make a contribution, whether that be the price of a cup of coffee or something larger.
Between £3 - £12 is encouraged.
Your donations will support the running of these circles and mean that more people can have access to the magic of rest, so please give generously if you are able to.
Details
Booking
Payment details will be provided on booking.
Do you feel like you would like some extra care?
We offer one to one sessions online where together we can co-create a nidra or a series of nidra specific to you and your needs.
We will meet for an initial 20 minute consultation where we discuss your needs and intention, what sort of words you would like to hear and any images or visual aspects that are important to you.
A nidra lasting around 30-45 minutes will then be written and either delivered live to you on zoom at a later date and recorded, or recorded in a professional recording studio with an optional original soundscape added. You will be sent an mp3 file of the nidra to keep.
Some examples of what we can work with in one to one yoga nidra sessions:
Fear of disease recurrence
Fear of dying
Extra support when undergoing treatment
Extra support when a loved one is unwell
Reconnection to self after treatment
Trouble sleeping
Relaxation support
Support to face the dying process
Price: £30 - 50. For a series of 4: £100 -180. We are using a sliding scale to ensure accessibility, please pay what you can afford. Paying the top tier will allow for other people to receive this work on a subsidised basis.
If you would like to find out more, contact us here.
If you feel like you would benefit from one to one support but cost is a barrier, please get in touch.
One to One Yoga Nidra
What is Yoga Nidra?
Yoga nidra is a really beautiful, gentle and versatile practice. Yoga nidra can literally be translated as ‘yogic sleep’. It is a state of restful awareness and time spent in this state can have great benefits for our nervous systems and general wellbeing. It is a very permissive and relaxing practice that is suitable for everyone. There is no goal, aim or expectation when we practice yoga nidra and no movement involved. The only instructions are to get cosy and enjoy simply being!
During a yoga nidra practice, different techniques are used to induce a state of deep relaxation. Within the state of restful awareness that is yoga nidra, visualisations and healing imagery can be creatively used to soothe, to encourage rest and rejuvenation, and to support us in a myriad of ways.
Yoga nidra is adaptogenic, meaning that we will experience it differently each time we practice it depending on how we are at that time. You may experience a range of states from being completely alert and able to listen to each word, feeling as though your body is asleep but your mind is awake, drifting between dreaming and waking, or falling asleep completely.
Why is Yoga Nidra important?
We live in a busy, loud, fast paced world full of stimulation and information, and it is hard to ever truly switch off thanks to our little pocket instant access devices! So many of us are living disconnected lives; from ourselves and our bodies, from other people, and from nature. We have fallen out of sync with the cyclical world around us.
From our school years we are initiated into a culture of striving to constantly achieve and prove our worth, to ignore our body's subtle messages and in turn, our inner voice and wisdom. We work long hours, skip breaks and meals, juggle work, family and a social life. Not having enough time has become a badge of honour and being completely exhausted has become normalised.
Slowing down and doing nothing is the antidote, and in this fast paced world, choosing to rest is a radical act.
Practising yoga nidra, dropping your bundle and choosing to consciously rest is truly medicine for our times. Yoga nidra invites us to be still and to listen to our bodies quiet whispers, to let go of the endless stream of thoughts and relax back into ‘beingness’. Unlike meditation, there is nothing required of you. You don’t have to actually ‘do’ anything other than to find a snuggly place to receive the nidra. There are no expectations or goals of the practice and even listening is entirely optional!
How can Yoga Nidra help me?
If you have been going through a particularly stressful time, whether that be through illness, burn out, through supporting a loved one who is unwell or any other number of things, yoga nidra can be an incredible ally.
During a yoga nira it can look like nothing is really going on, like in deep winter when the trees are bare and the forest is silent and still, it can look like nothing is happening. But under the forest floor lie seeds being nurtured in the fertile soil waiting for their moment to emerge again. The same is true when we practice yoga nidra. In the peace and stillness we are in fact being nourished deeply by the healing power of rest.
We begin in the normal waking alpha brain wave state. Throughout the practice we may descend through the more restful and dreamy alpha and theta states. If we are lucky, we may enter the powerfully restorative delta wave state which we only usually achieve in deep, dreamless sleep and which so few of us actually experience on a regular basis. We can set intentions for our practice and use visualisation creatively to strengthen our intentions and encourage access to our own inner wisdom. We can emerge feeling soothed, invigorated, at peace, energised, focussed, content, or ready to sleep.
