Please note, many of our events are open to all, but this series is open to members only.

Hello dear fellow Together Culture members, I’m Antoinette, one of the members here at Together Culture Cambridge.

I’m pleased and excited to be able to offer a series of guided ndsr meditations / yoga nidras, for you to relax into each month.

Because this practice immediately changes the biochemistry of the body by boosting hormone levels such as melatonin, serotonin, gaba, oxytocin, human growth hormone, dopamine, and DHEA; there are a number of immediate benefits. As well as wonderful long term benefits through cumulative practise.

Some of the immediate benefits include better sleep that night, a felt sense of ease within the body, being more focussed, re-energised, and calm afterwards, as it soothes the nervous system.
With consistent practice, over time it rewrites old neural pathways, quietens inner chatter, it enables better cognition, memory, clarity, focus, and learning, helps us to reconnect to self, establishes self compassion, and improves self-worth.
It resets the nervous system, alleviates stress, decreases anxiety and the experience of depression, maintains increased energy levels, and enhances creativity and a deep sense of wellbeing

While I have designed this as a step by step course for beginners, everyone is welcome to come and enjoy this series. There are 12 meditations, once a month on a Thursday at 10-11am; dates and details at the bottom of the page.

By the end of the series with consistent resting into your practices between live practices with me, you’ll notice a variety of beneficial and I daresay quite exciting and transformational changes to your wellbeing; as this happens subtly and gently over time in multi-layered ways.

NSDR (non sleep deep rest) is the scientific name for the ancient practice of yoga nidra guided meditation. You are guided into a state of relaxed consciousness through a sequential journey, which includes breathing techniques and a body scan that gently leads you to inward stillness via the alpha, theta, and delta brainwave states. Traditionally, this is practised lying down on your back, with the aim to be as physically comfortable as possible, and your body fully supported, cosy, and warm.

As I’m holding this online via Whereby.com, you’ll be in the privacy of your own home. And so reclining in comfort on your sofa, or in an armchair, on your bed, or on the floor are all great options.

I'm offering this series to fellow TC members only, as I'm hoping it'll be a two-way collaboration, in which you get to enjoy the subtle yet powerful transformational benefits through having had some of your old neural pathways rewritten and maybe a few new ones wired up too, as well as experiencing a greater or new quality of well being in body and mind, and being provided with resources and tools for effortlessly maintaining this. And for me, I get to practise my new scripts and the new skill of hosting an online room and learning how to navigate any technical issues that might arise, hopefully with relative ease, so that I may roll this out to the public with peace of mind for spring 2025.

While I’ve been practising online for nearly a year now in my training, the online rooms have always been hosted by the mentors.

If this is something you’d like to do or it piques your interest, I shall be holding space for 8 people once a month on a Thursday 10-11 am, starting on April 24th 2024, finishing on March 20th 2025.

I’m very much looking forward to meeting each of you and enjoying our year ahead together.

Directions for joining the sessions online

a) From 5 mins before the start, click on the link Ellie emailed you

b) Knock :)

c) Then for you to relax undisturbed, I’ll close the room just before you

begin your nsdr practice (about 10 -15 mins past the hour).

Series Schedule

April 2024: Thursday 25th at 10 - 11am:

★ Getting as comfortable as possible - how and why

★ Introduction to the breathwork you’re using this month

★ Relaxing into your 15 minute Grounding nsdr~yoga nidra guided

meditation practice

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

May: Thursday 16th at 10 - 11am:

★ An overview into rewriting and creating neural pathways with yoga

nidra guided meditation

★ Introduction to the breathwork you’re using this month

★ Relaxing into your 20 minute Sankalpa / Intention focused

nsdr~yoga nidra guided meditation

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

June: Thursday 20th at 10 - 11am

★ Journaling and a couple of its neuropsychological benefits for

establishing peace within yourself

★ Introduction to the breathwork you’re using this month.

★ And your 25 minute Peace & Beauty nsdr~ yoga nidra guided

meditation

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

July: Thursday 25th at 10 - 11am

★ Creating an Inner Resource for resilience

★ Introduction to the breathwork you’re using this month

★ Relaxing into your 30 minute Inner Resource nsdr/yoga nidra

guided meditation practice

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

Aug: Thursday 22nd at 10 - 11am:

★ Loving-kindness and the heart brain connection

★ Introduction to the breathwork you’re using this month.

★ Relaxing into your 30 minute Loving-kindness based nsdr~yoga

nidra guided meditation.

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

Sept: Thursday 19th at 10 - 11am

★ Gratitude for wellbeing

★ Introduction to the breathwork you’re using this month

★ And your 30 minute Gratitude nsdr~yoga nidra guided meditation

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

Oct: Thursday 17th at 10 - 11am:

★ The various moon phases and how they might influence us

★ Introduction to the breathwork you're using this month

★ Relaxing into your 25 minute Full Moon ndsr~yoga nidra guided

meditation

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

Nov: Thursday 21st at 10 - 11am:

★ The main energy centres in the body

★ Introduction to the breathwork we’re using this month

★ Relaxing into your 35 minute Connecting with Your Energy Centres

nsdr~yoga nidra guided meditation.

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

Dec: Thursday 19th at 10 - 11am

★ The 5 layers of self

★ Introduction to the breathwork we’re using this month.

★ Relaxing into your 35 minute Journey Through the Self ndsr~yoga

nidra guided meditation.

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

Jan 2025: Thursday 16th at 10 - 11am-

★ Cultivating equanimity

★ Introduction to the breathwork you’re using this month

★ Relaxing into your 35 minute Equanimity nsdr~yoga nidra guided

meditation

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

Feb: Thursday 20th at 10 - 11am

★ Radiance and Joy

★ Introduction to the breathwork we’re using this month

★ Relaxing into your 30 minute Embracing Joy ndsr~yoga nidra

guided meditation with

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

Mar: Thursday 20th at 10 - 11am-

★ The power of visualisation on the mind

★ Introduction to the breathwork we’re using this month.

★ Relaxing into your 25-30 minute Visualisation ndsr~yoga nidra

guided meditation.

★ Any feedback on what you enjoyed and/or any questions

N.B. Because consistency is key to cultivating and maintaining the transformational effects of nsdr/yoga nidra. Each month after each practice, I shall provide links to similar practices via a Padlet page created for you, so that you’re free to choose and include any of them into your daily wellbeing routine. Some of the practices will be from me. Others from my mentors &/or peers. And some in other languages too.

About Anoinette

Hello, a little bit about me. I’m Antoinette, one of the members here at Together Culture Cambridge. In a nutshell, I’m a gentle soul, who delights in nature, the arts, learning, and being with reciprocally and authentically good people who are also interested in looking after their wellbeing..

For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted a creative and heart based practice. But that path in life for me wasn’t so straight forward. And instead I ended up in jobs that paid the rent but were soul destroying. Eventually finding myself burning out and reaching a real crisis point.

Then a friend mentioned yoga nidra, which I’d never heard of. And just like that, there began the start of my journey from such debilitating stress with related illness that it had me unable to work for months, to peacefulness in myself, with a ripple out effect into my life and that of others too.

I’ve now trained as a yoga nidra guide, which has been a completely transformational experience, and in July I’m training to be a wedding celebrant. So, a wonderful balance of peacefulness and celebration that I now get to share with others.

And it all started with a 5 minute yoga nidra meditation.

About Together Culture

Together Culture is a community led, Community Interest Company.

We are gathering a membership community united in their desire to help create a more equitable and ecological creative economy.

We provide facilities, creative leadership and entrepreneurial skills development, momentum, structure, and resources for people to come together and make change happen.

You can become a member of Together Culture here.

Monthly Restorative Rest with Antoinette