The Story Behind Norrag

Both my parents are from the Scottish Highlands and were deeply immersed in Scottish Gaelic. The language, rhythm and culture were woven through daily life. Their parents’ first language was Gaelic and words like Norrag were part of the tapestry of our home when I was growing up. I was teasing Dad recently that I could probably create a whole line of companies inspired by Gaelic words most people haven’t heard of.

My Auntie Jeannie was saying that Nanny (my mother’s mother) loved a Norrag too. Dad’s taken a daily Norrag for as long as I can remember. When we were kids and couldn’t find him, we’d know exactly where he was - off for his afternoon nap. When he was a High Court judge, he took a futon to his chambers so that he could honour his ritual of rest every day.

I’ve always been drawn to practices that bring deep rest like meditation, yoga nidra, NSDR, breathwork, hypnosis - anything that takes me into that blissful stillness away from my otherwise busy ADHD style of brain. It only dawned on me recently while creating Norrag, that Dad’s daily naps and my love of deep rest are really the same thing. We just use different languages to describe it.

When the idea for the Norrag mat came to life, I reached out to Catriona who’s a lifelong family friend and founder of Studio Tolsta in India. Our parents have been close since they were young and they too are Gaelic speakers, so creating this together felt beautifully circular. Our shared heritage guiding us home…

We’ve brought Norrag into the world, blending Scottish soul with Indian craftsmanship, friendship with artistry and generations of shared values into something that honours the sacred act of slowing down.

Whether you call it a nap, forty winks or deep rest, this pause - the Norrag - is where we reconnect to ourselves, our ancestors and something higher. A norrag is not indulgence. It’s pure wisdom.