Nidra: Walking to the Fabrick
For this post, I’m digging in the back of my yoga nidra vaults to unearth a recording from a festival in 2018. In this nidra I share a memory from my childhood, of walking up with my grandparents from the village of Ashover in Derbyshire to a rocky outcrop locally known as the Fabrick. This is an exclusive, by the way. It never quite fitted into any of the collections available on my website.
That’s a photo of the Fabrick above, and it’s pronounced fay-brick by the way. Although officially the etymology of the name comes from ‘fabric’ or a made thing, it is a natural outcrop, and at least when I was young, we we told that it was called that because it is the home of the Fae or fairies - the fairy brick if you like.
The path up to the Fabrick is what’s known as a ‘green lane’, that is an ancient path that has eroded and grown over at the sides until walking it is like walking through a tunnel of leaves. Green lanes can be very ancient, crossing and shaping the land for hundreds, if not thousands of years. In Ashover, and in many places like it, people have been walking out and walking up to local landmarks together for a very, very long time. Not all of them travel green lanes to do so, but often they happen at particular times of year, and from local churches. In Derbyshire, Whit Walks (on Whit Sunday) in particular are an old and beloved tradition that feels, if not quite ‘pagan’, then at least a holdover from the days before reformation, when Christianity had a lot more magic, superstition and folklore baked in to it.
For paid subscribers, then - this is a nidra offered in the heart of winter, but recorded on a long summer’s day, to bring you a sweet memory of sunlight and warmth, green leaves and fairies at the edge of sight. My mother’s whole family is from Derbyshire, so the names of places like Clay Cross and Ashover, Matlock and Chatsworth echo with so many memories for me. And for everyone, here’s three more things to brighten your day:
a photo of me (below) walking with my grandparents nearly 50 years ago
Arthur Slack's diary: the diary of a local philanthropist, who mentions the annual Whit Walk from Chesterfield
Britain's Green Lanes: the history of green lanes, with some beautiful photos
I’d love you to tell me in the comments about your own special family places, and let me know how you like the nidra, too.
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