Yoga nidra: Spleen and pancreas meridian

Session text to read

Lie down on your back. Let your legs fall open naturally. Rest your arms a little away from your body, palms facing upward. Close your eyes.

Allow the floor to hold you completely. You do not need to hold yourself up. The earth is beneath you, solid and patient. Let your weight sink downward.

Take a breath in, and as you breathe out, let go of everything you were carrying before you arrived here.

Bring your awareness to your intention. Allow this thought to drop into you quietly, like a stone into still water.

I am grounded, nourished, and enough.

Say it once more inside yourself, without effort.

Now begin to move your awareness gently around your body. Simply notice each place as it is named. You do not need to change anything.

Your right thumb. Index finger. Middle finger. Ring finger. Little finger. The palm of your right hand. The back of your hand. Your right wrist. The inside of your forearm. Your elbow. Your upper arm. Your right shoulder.

Your left thumb. Index finger. Middle finger. Ring finger. Little finger. The palm of your left hand. The back of your hand. Your left wrist. The inside of your forearm. Your elbow. Your upper arm. Your left shoulder.

The crown of your head. Your forehead. Your right eyebrow, your left eyebrow. The space between them. Your right eye, your left eye. Your right ear, your left ear. Your nose. Your lips. Your jaw. Let your jaw be soft.

Your throat. Your chest. The space around your heart.

Now bring your awareness to the inside of your left foot. The arch of the foot. The big toe. This is where the spleen and pancreas meridian begins. It rises slowly along the inner edge of the foot, up along the inner ankle, and travels up the inside of the leg.

Feel the inner ankle now. The soft skin there. Move upward along the inner calf. Your knee. The inner thigh. Notice the quality of this line — it is gentle. It belongs to the earth. It asks nothing of you. It simply offers.

The meridian continues into the abdomen. Your lower belly. Your navel. Feel the warmth there. The centre of nourishment. Let it soften.

Move upward along the midline of your torso. Your stomach. Your spleen, resting quietly beneath your left ribs. Your chest. Your heart. The meridian reaches up here, into the territory of care.

Rest here for a moment in the warmth of your own body.

Now let your breath become your anchor. Breathe in slowly through your nose. Feel your belly rise. Breathe out slowly. Feel your belly fall.

In. And out.

Let your breath become like the turning of the seasons — unhurried, inevitable, kind.

Now allow an image to form behind your closed eyes. You are sitting in a late summer garden. The light is golden and low. The air is warm and carries a faint sweetness.

The earth beneath you is soft. You can feel it. Rich, dark, steady. Roots moving downward. Everything held.

There is a tree nearby, heavy with ripe fruit. You do not need to reach for it. It is simply there, offering. There is abundance here. There is enough. There has always been enough.

You sit quietly. You receive without asking. You rest without guilt. You are tended to, the way all growing things are tended to by the earth — completely, without condition.

Stay here for a moment.

Gently now, return to your intention. Let the words arise again from somewhere deep and still inside you.

I am grounded, nourished, and enough.

Feel the truth of it in your body. In your belly. In your bones.

Begin to bring your awareness back to the room. Notice the floor beneath you. Notice the temperature of the air. Notice any sounds around you.

Gently begin to deepen your breath. Allow a small movement into your fingers and toes. Roll slowly onto one side, and rest there for a moment with your knees drawn in.

When you are ready, press yourself up to sitting. Move slowly. Take your time. There is no hurry.

Bring your hands to rest on your thighs, palms facing upward. Sit quietly for one more breath.

Take it in.

And let it go.