What mental image do you associate with the word “yoga”? Possibly an individual clad in spandex in downward dog pose or balancing on one leg in tree pose. Or are they in an intricate full body knot that requires five times more flexibility than ever before? Does this seem like labor?
This is actually one version of yoga, the one which dominates the fashionable understanding of yoga within the West, but that is not what we’re talking about today.
What if I told you that there is one other sort of yoga where you do not move in any respect? You do not even sit or stand; you lie down on a regular basis. This is yoga nidra. “Yoga nidra” literally means “yoga sleep”, sometimes translated as “lucid dream”. The goal of yoga nidra is to achieve an altered state of consciousness where you might be neither awake nor asleep, but within the liminal space between – and maybe transcending each. (Technically, the term refers to a state of consciousness beyond waking or sleeping. Which means “yoga nidra” is the destination, not the journey one must take to get there. But in on a regular basis language, people use to indicate the entire practice.)
Yoga nidra gives you the chance to transcend the body, thoughts and emotions. It is a state of deep rest and, as proponents say, of deep healing where your subconscious becomes more open to learning and creating latest patterns of thought and behavior, stress dissipates and you progress towards physical health and homeostasis. “The equivalent of 4 hours of deep sleep!” is a standard selling point.
The latter may or is probably not true, but it surely is clear that yoga nidra has so much to supply when it comes to promoting rest, higher sleep, and even recovery from lots of stress and trauma. In the fashionable world, there is no one that wouldn’t profit from slowing down and consciously reaching for relaxing, regenerating practices. Is yoga nidra for you?
A Transient History of Yoga Nidra
Modern yoga nidra practices have roots in lots of ancient yoga and meditation traditions. In ancient texts, yoga nidra or yoganidra sometimes referred to this level of sleepless and waking consciousness, or to the yoga goddess Nidra Shakti. Yoga nidra has often been described as the next state of being where normal mental and bodily activities stop and the yogi attains a state of bliss.
The sort of yoga nidra practice you are prone to encounter today was likely inspired by nineteenth and twentieth century “relaxationists” and hypnotists who were inquisitive about harnessing the healing power of rest, in line with researchers, but actually began with the teachings of Swami Satyananda Saraswati. Starting within the Sixties and Seventies, Satyananda developed a technique of using respiratory techniques and body scans to attain progressive rest and utilize yoga nidra. When you take a yoga nidra class today, there’s an excellent probability you may be following his method or something similar.
Since then, yoga nidra has enjoyed growing popularity in addition to academic interest. In 2000, clinical psychologist and yoga researcher Dr. Richard Miller developed his iRest protocol – a version of yoga nidra – and the institute of the identical name to assist people cope with quite a lot of issues starting from “normal” stress to severe post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep and chronic health problems. Recently, the term was coined by Stanford neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman “deep sleep-free rest” (NSDR) includes practices that may promote stress relief, neuroplasticity, more efficient learning, and higher sleep, amongst other things. Huberman lists yoga nidra, hypnosis or self-hypnosis, and naps as kinds of NSDR.
What happens through the practice of Yoga Nidra?
Yoga nidra involves a guided, meditative practice designed to attain a deep state of rest where you progress beyond the waking, sleeping, and sleeping states to achieve a deeper level of awareness. You remain aware of the skin world (unlike sleep), but you might be completely detached from it. You’re aware, but not likely awake. There, but not there. Within the true state of yoga nidra, you might be said to experience not only deep rest, but in addition a way of interconnectedness with the universe.
This is where yoga nidra differs significantly from traditional meditation. Once you meditate, you often sit and cultivate intense focus, sometimes in your breath, chanting, or mental image. You’re very awake and your conscious attention is very “on”. In yoga nidra, conscious thought is “turned off”, replaced by an awareness that is neither focused nor intentional. As yoga scholars Dr. Stephen Parker and Swami Veda Bharati describe it, “Neither thoughts nor images are present, and the practitioner experiences lucid, deep, dreamless sleep, being aware of, but not fascinated by or interacting with, their surroundings. “.
As with all types of yoga or meditation, the small print of your practice will rely on who is guiding you. Depending on how the guide or teacher has been trained, they might follow the script or use a more intuitive flow through the session. Either way, it would probably involve an analogous series of steps, something like this:
- You begin by lying in your back savasanaor outside the body.
- Set an intent or sankalpa, for practice. It could actually be something easy like “I’ll loosen up” or something larger you are trying to attain like “I’ll sleep well at night” or “I’ll stop drinking alcohol.”
- This is followed by a series of visualizations and respiratory exercises. The goal is to undergo the several layers of the self towards the state of yoga nidra. Typically, you’ll start with a body scan, moving your awareness to numerous points across the body, followed by instructions on concentrate to your respiratory, senses and thoughts, often with specific visual cues. Eventually you reach the specified state of deep rest.
- Finally, you confirm your intention or sankalpa before returning to standby.
Advantages of Yoga Nidra
In response to traditional wisdom, yoga nidra is a state of deep healing. Yoga nidra is especially touted as an efficient method to relieve stress, sleep higher, and improve overall well-being. There are a lot of studies supporting these claims, for instance:
- Yoga nidra has reduced stress and anxiety amongst college students, nursing students, and professors.
- Adults with chronic insomnia were randomly assigned to either cognitive behavioral therapy or yoga nidra exercises at home (using a tape) for five weeks. Total sleep time and sleep efficiency improved in each groups, but yoga nidra surpassed CBT in changes in slow-wave sleep time and overall severity of insomnia.
- 4 weeks of yoga nidra were simpler than progressive muscle rest in improving sleep quality in male athletes (although each were helpful).
- Two studies showed that depression and anxiety decreased and psychological well-being improved in women with menstrual problems after six months of yoga nidra. (Interestingly, yoga nidra also seems to affect reproductive hormone levels.)
- Yoga nidra could be an efficient tool to assist veterans (and potentially others) address PTSD symptoms. The Surgeon General of the U.S. Army has endorsed yoga nidra as an efficient pain management strategy.
Scientific studies (although small) provide some evidence of the physiological effects underlying the mental and physical health advantages observed by practitioners.
- In response to one study, for instance, yoga nidra can activate the parasympathetic nervous system chargeable for rest and digestion, which is higher heart rate variability (HRW).
- One other set of researchers placed eight experienced yoga teachers on a PET scan and had them perform a yoga nidra practice during which they demonstrated 65 percent increase in dopamine release within the brain.
- Other research suggests that regular practice of yoga nidra can lower blood pressure, inflammation as measured by CRP, and blood glucose levels.
Getting began
There is little question that every one types of yoga and meditation can bring tremendous physical, mental and even spiritual advantages to those that exercise usually. Nevertheless, other types of yoga have barriers to entry – similar to fears that you simply won’t be strong or flexible enough – that may put people off. And lots of people surrender meditation since it’s too hard for them to quiet their monkey minds and achieve the specified focus (even though it gets easier with time).
The fantastic thing about yoga nidra is that anyone can practice it anywhere. No special equipment or physical fitness is required. There are a lot of free online yoga nidra exercises, and lots of yoga studios offer in-person classes. Some are as short as 10 minutes which is great if you need a brief break. Nevertheless, to actually benefit from the advantages, most yoga nidra practices will last between 30 and 45 minutes.
If the thought of disconnecting from the conscious mind while maintaining awareness, “browsing the interface between dream and waking consciousness” (a standard catchphrase of yoga nidra) seems a bit too abstract to you, but I encourage you to try it anyway. All you could have to do is lie still and take heed to the teacher’s voice. Consider it as a deep rest practice to begin with. Who couldn’t benefit from it?
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