Yoga Nidra—The Art of Transformational Sleep
“Yoga Nidra is a gateway to unearthing your greatest potential. It is a powerful tool which will clear your mind and enable you to live a fulfilled life.” — Kamini Desai
When you think of meditation, what comes to mind? You may imagine yourself sitting upright in a seated position, eyes closed with hands resting on your lap. Well, Yoga Nidra differs slightly—a form of meditation practiced lying down in savasana. Read on to discover more about the history of Yoga Nidra and all of the beautiful benefits it has to offer.
What is Yoga Nidra?
The phrase Yoga Nidra means ‘yogic sleep’. It guides you into a transcendental state of deep relaxation and peace of mind. The purpose of this sleep-based meditation technique is to discover profound stillness with the body entirely motionless, yet in total awareness. This gives you an opportunity to become aware of your emotions and let go of that which no longer serves you to create space for bliss.
A sweet harmony of the breath and body with a touch of awareness takes you to a dream-like state that exists between sleep and awakeness. When we reach this altered consciousness, we can discover true peace. An ocean of tranquility takes over. Due to the nature of Yoga Nidra, this lying-down position invites mediation to come naturally rather than spending energy trying to draw in mindfulness while seated.
Practicing Yoga Nidra for just 45 minutes honors the same restorative qualities of that of 3 hours deep sleep. Pretty impressive, right?
When entering this space, you can grasp great shifts within the mind, body, and soul that can do wonders for you and your health.
The Origins of Yoga Nidra
Yogic practices venture way back to 2700 B.C with the majority stemming from one of the most spiritual places on earth, Mother India. But, this unique style of meditation is rooted in Sankhya — a philosophy initially written in 700 BC and still to this day an influential basis of yoga. Yoganidrā, nidrā meaning sleep, refers to the ‘mystic slumber’ of Goddess Satī, in Hindu mythology.
The Mahabharata – Book 1: Adi Parva/Section XXI, states:
“It becomes the bed of the lotus-naveled Vishnu when at the termination of every Yuga that deity of immeasurable power enjoys Yoga Nidra, the deep sleep under the spell of spiritual meditation.”
The beauty of Yoga Nidra is that it’s effortless. It looks at tapping within to get to the root of healing rather than trying to attend to each stem of your problems individually.
Benefits of Yoga Nidra
“Absorbed in the auspicious state of continuous practice the state of Yoga Nidra expands in the Yogi.” – Yoga Taravali 25.26
The true beauty of Yoga Nidra is that anyone can practice it and benefit from it. Whether you’re an advanced yogi or it’s your first time on the mat — Yoga Nidra has something for you. Let’s take a closer look at some of the life benefits that this ancient practice gifts to us:
Sleep improvement
It does what it says on the tin… No, but really, Yoga Nidra really does enhance sleep. It has even been proven to cure insomnia and balance sleep patterns.
How? When you enter this state of consciousness, you become more aware of yourself and your surroundings. When it comes to bedtime, you’ll have the spiritual tools to spend moments of reflection from your day and sprinkle ease into chaotic events. When we can let go of these distractions, it creates space for peace of mind that, in turn, can aid a great night's sleep.
Ease ongoing stress and anxiety
In times of chaos, discover peace. Yoga Nidra invites us to zone out of our busy days and zone into our inner worlds where true peace resides. As we move through body scans and explore breath awareness, we teach the body to calm down the nervous system, creating a ripple effect of reduced stress and increased wellness.
Emotional regulation
Emotion is energy in motion. When we take moments to slow down and listen to our body, we can see what arises, acknowledge it, and let go without any attachments. This method of mindfulness can be extremely healing. It teaches us to explore our emotions and move through them rather than avoid and suppress them, which can show up later in the body as disease.
Cultivate conscious relaxation
When you return to a waking state, you are taking with you all of the benefits that you grasped during deep relaxation. The body remembers everything and going through this wonderful experience scientifically alters wires in the brain that help you to make changes in your everyday life. Cultivating conscious relaxation allows us to mindfully choose our responses to situations that occur in our lives rather than automatically react from a place of mindless actions.
If you want your outside circumstances to blossom, you must first water your internal home… The soul. From reaping an extra few moments of shut-eye to creating a gentle awareness, Yoga Nidra aids deep relaxation that ultimately gives your body an abundance of rest and restoration.
Experience the wonderful benefits of Yoga Nidra for yourself. Join us for one of our transformational, healing & wellness retreats…explore our upcoming destinations.