12 Steps to Bliss on your Blanket
With the promise of temperatures launching us into summer this week, combine some relaxing sun-bathing or simply lying in the garden and feeling the sun on your body...with a little relaxation practice.
Some lovely yoga practices are perfect on a blanket, lying on the soft surface and gazing up into the sky.
Here's a quote to give you head space for reflection and connection -
"Even so large as the universe outside is the universe within the lotus of the heart. Within it are heaven and earth, the sun, moon, the lightening and all the stars. Whatever is in the macrocosm is in the microcosm also" Chandogya Upanishad (approx 2000BCE)
Here are 12 steps towards bliss on your blanket
So we don't need any grip for this practice in fact start by finding a totally comfortable position to release your spine and let go of as much grip as possible, and make sure 
there are no bumpy bits underneath.
- Feel your body in contact with Mother Earth and how she gently holds you in place and cradles your body.
- Take a long sigh out and feel the earth's embrace
- Receive the ground, soften points of contact – would’t we all like to be a little softer around the edges?
- Imagine yourself softening like butter into the ground, the form of your body starting to melt away
- Look up at the sky – notice how this experience is different to looking at the ceiling
- Allow the image of the sky to fall into the backs of your eyes (instead of looking up to grab what you see)
- Connect with the infinite sky above can help to re-ignite a feeling of ‘its all OK just as it is’
- Notice if there is a feeling like that or another feeling that is your own experience
- If you’ve got some good cloud formations above you, imagine your thoughts are like clouds, changing dissolving with a deep sky beyond
- feel yourself becoming like the sky - expansive and spacious
- Play around with eyes open wide, eyes open soft, closed tight, closed softly, with an eye pillow to block out the light
- Keep all sensations alert – esp sights, sounds, smells, touch, taste…sixth sense – SPACE
- Stay for some time. If you tend to get fidgety or your mind is super busy these days, set your timer for 10-20 minutes depending on your preference.
Let me know how you get on!