Yoga Nidra Q&A: Tips, Techniques & Guidance

I'm so delighted to share this recording of a live Yoga Nidra Q&A I recently did here on Insight Timer. In this session, I answer your questions about Yoga Nidra, including techniques, tips for deep relaxation, and ways to integrate this practice into your daily life.

Whether you're new to Yoga Nidra or a regular practitioner, this Q&A is designed to help you relax, reset, and connect more deeply with your practice. Be sure to follow my teacher profile, and check my live events to join for weekly yoga nidra and more Q&A sessions!

Transcript

Welcome,

Welcome to Yoga Nidra questions and answers with the teacher,

Me,

Kumari Sky.

And one of my passions is leading Yoga Nidra.

I'm a Yoga Nidra teacher as well.

And I have training courses where I treat,

I treat other people to the experience.

I train other people to understand what Yoga Nidra is and how to lead it,

How to write scripts for it.

But I also love coming on here and just answering any questions people might have.

I think Yoga Nidra is one of those misunderstood practices because it,

Honestly,

It kind of has a confusing name,

Right?

Yoga Nidra,

Everyone thinks of the movements,

Like triangle pose,

Child's pose in yoga,

Right?

But as you may already know,

This isn't a movement practice at all.

Because yoga doesn't only just mean the poses we do,

It's a whole philosophical genre.

So it's not Hinduism,

But many Hindus do study yoga philosophy.

I've started doing Yoga Nidra on this app recently by Amanda.

I'm using it to help me with my chronic fatigue.

What is your experience working with chronic fatigue?

Great question.

Thanks so much.

I personally don't have any direct,

That I know of,

Experience working with Yoga Nidra and chronic fatigue.

But what I will tell you is that I do know it's been beneficial for people through my teacher,

Allie Boothroyd.

And the reason Yoga Nidra can be so beneficial for someone with chronic fatigue is that we are moving through the brainwave states in Yoga Nidra.

So I'm talking about like right now,

You're in beta brainwave states,

You're alert,

You're learning something,

You're engaging,

You're active.

But then as we move through the systematic set of techniques that is Yoga Nidra,

We slow the brainwaves.

So even the next brainwave state is called alpha,

And that is very,

Very relaxed brainwaves and the gateway into deeper meditation or higher states of consciousness,

Which just means that you're,

You're more finding union with the true essence of who you are.

And within that,

There's a whole cascade of chemical reactions in your body that are aligned with the feel good hormones like serotonin,

Even like melatonin,

Tryptophan,

GABA,

Your brain making these hormones,

And these are all like calming,

Relaxing hormones.

And of course,

As a result of that,

Your nervous system becomes regulated.

So it's not that Yoga Nidra specifically works in a certain aspect that helps chronic fatigue.

It's more of you're putting yourself in this deep state of rest.

And then you're it's kind of like you're getting out of the way for your body to do its thing.

Your body innately is programmed to homeostasis,

Right?

Sometimes things get a little off kilter,

I.

E.

When we have issues.

And so just by virtue of that,

Yoga Nidra is super beneficial for chronic fatigue,

Because you're getting that deep rest in a short amount of time,

You're helping to reset your circadian rhythm,

The rotation of consciousness,

Relaxes your body on a way deeper level than let's say you were just like in Shavasana or doing yin yoga or something where you're,

You're definitely relaxed.

But Yoga Nidra takes you even into a deeper state that the rotation of consciousness when you visual or sense your body parts.

So that can really contribute to less pain or less anxiety about the pain happening again.

And then when we get to the second layer of Yoga Nidra,

Which is when we work with the breath,

That enhances your pranic flow.

So you're the energy throughout your body can and will end up flowing easier,

There,

There could be less energetic blockages.

And I'm not saying this is happening in one Yoga Nidra practice.

And then we get to the more subtle layers of your consciousness as we work through the stages of Yoga Nidra.

And when we get to these really subtle layers,

You might be familiar with sensing the opposites,

Going on a journey,

This is this is where you're dis identified from your everyday thinking mind,

All your everyday normal cognitions,

Your habits,

Your beliefs,

Your stories,

Your,

Your just thoughts that might not serve you,

You get separation from those.

And when that's happening,

It's like you're making new neural pathways that favor rest and balance and relaxation.

So that was a lot.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity.

She says,

Thank you for answering my question.

You're welcome.

It's interesting that those neurotransmitters are what treatment focuses on for chronic fatigue.

I'm finding it very good because I struggle to relax by myself despite being so tired.

Yes.

Oh my gosh.

You know,

I experienced that same sort of thing.

Sometimes I don't have a diagnosis of chronic fatigue or anything.

But sometimes I get like really wrapped up in whatever I'm creating or doing in life.

And I get a little wound up and I have a hard time relaxing.

And that is when I have to do Yoga Nidra maybe a little extra like I always do a practice in the evening.

Sometimes I need one in the afternoon to help me come find more balance.

So yeah,

I would say just keep doing Yoga Nidra as regularly as possible.

And things will shift and change.

And I think even just like hearing about the benefits of Yoga Nidra and like how it works.

I think that actually creates more power in the practice.

I know it did for me.

So I did a hundred hour course with my teacher Allie Boothroyd.

And she's definitely got Yoga Nidras on here.

You might really like her voice as well and her guidance.

I'm very inspired by her.

I know that when I was learning about Yoga Nidra,

It just solidified it so deeply in my consciousness that yeah,

Something shifted.

I can't really put my finger on exactly what it was.

It for sure was inspiration to do this.

And you know,

Yoga Nidra can sound really magical and kind of woo woo out there.

But I do believe it's truly a healing balm for our times.

It literally helps with everything because when we take our bodies and our brains into those really slow brainwaves consciously,

Magic happens.

Magic happens because that's we have to sleep every night,

Right?

And it causes problems when we don't sleep well and we don't sleep a lot.

And it's been said that 45 minutes of Yoga Nidra is comparable to four hours of sleep.

Now,

We don't necessarily want to promote using Yoga Nidra instead of sleep,

But just just kind of keep that in the back of your mind.

One of the most well known Yoga Nidra teachers,

Her name is Kamini Desai.

Her dad is Amrit Desai.

And she has a book.

It's called Yoga Nidra,

The art of transformational sleep.

And in that book,

She relates different studies that her dad received while going into Yoga Nidra.

While in Yoga Nidra,

He was hooked up to EEG.

I think it's the EEG is the brain,

Right?

The EKG is the heart.

Anyway,

Something like,

I can't remember the exact medical term for it.

But the thing where they put the nodes on,

So they followed the brainwaves while he was going into Yoga Nidra while he was in Yoga Nidra.

And that's how they ended up equating the brainwave activity with how you're probably making up like four hours of sleep by doing a Yoga Nidra.

I wonder if you're familiar with Sankalpa.

Do you have a Sankalpa?

Do you understand what that is?

So Sankalpa is an integral part of Yoga Nidra.

And it has a lot to do with karma in this life you're living.

And it also has a lot to do with what are called samskaras.

So samskaras are like the little grooves or are the grooves that make impressions on your brain.

And this comes from past life karmas.

According to Yogic philosophy,

It comes from this life karmas.

And when we think of karma,

We usually think of it in like a negative connotation,

Right?

Like what comes around goes around.

So someone pulls out in front of you in traffic,

Like you can pretty much count that someone's gonna pull out in front of them.

But there's so much more to karma.

And we have a lot of really good samskaras.

So samskaras are a result of karma.

And we have a lot of really positive ones that we need,

Like taking care of ourselves.

It's a really,

Really good groove in the brain to make sure that you have personal hygiene,

That you take care of your teeth,

Your body.

It's a really good samskara that we were taught and we teach our young ones that you have to look across the street before you walk,

Those kinds of things.

But we also have samskaras that don't serve us.

And these can be picked up from our young,

Young childhood.

I'm going to give you a little story.

In that book that I mentioned,

Kamini Desai's book,

She told this story.

And it was about a woman that came to her yoga nidra training.

And they were talking about samskaras and creating sankalpas.

And this woman had heard her parents having a little bit of an argument when she was really young,

Like maybe four years old.

And she had a good life.

It's not that her parents were abusive or weren't good parents.

But they were having that heated,

Passionate argument.

And one of them said,

Well,

Maybe we should never had so-and-so,

The little girl.

Well,

This little girl took that and she went to bed and whatever.

She just lived the rest of her life.

But she always had this feeling of unworthiness or she didn't belong.

She was a burden.

So she went through her whole life.

And every time she had this feeling,

It was creating that groove to be deeper,

That let's just say,

She's not useful in this world.

And she identified that in her training and she made her sankalpa around feeling more worthy or feeling like she belonged.

And then time went by several years.

And then Kamini decided the teacher saw this woman again.

And the woman said,

Oh,

Remember me from my training a couple years ago?

And Kamini was like,

Whoa,

This woman,

It was completely different,

Like brighter and happier.

And she had made a sankalpa about letting go of feeling like a burden or that nobody loved her or respected her and she was unworthy of what she wanted.

She had a sankalpa like,

I innately deserve all that is mine in this life or something positive,

Right?

So a sankalpa is when we take something that maybe doesn't serve us and we change it into a positive present tense statement.

And that's what we repeat in yoga nidra.

And as we repeat it from practice to practice to practice,

When we're in this realm of the subconscious mind,

It's always listening and it's making an impression in our brain.

It's like laying down new neural pathways.

So this young this woman was doing that for years.

And she evolved and expanded into a more complete version,

A whole version of herself.

She wasn't carrying around that baggage anymore.

I hope I'm telling this story in a way that it's making you understand more like what a sankalpa is.

And the thing about the sankalpa is that it's about one issue or thing you would like to change in your life.

But the magic is,

It starts to cover up,

Not cover up,

Replace the the the grooves or the neural pathways from the past.

It covers them or not,

I keep saying covers,

It rewrites these neural pathways.

And it's like your life as a whole can be uplifted by using this sankalpa.

And I've experienced it in my own life.

And a lot of people that I work with have told me that it's really expanded their,

Their experience of life as well.

So to say it really succinctly and simply,

A sankalpa is a positive intention that you're planting the seed of every time you do yoga nidra.

And eventually,

What is wanted,

Your positive statement will become a part of your everyday experience effortlessly.

How long does it take for it to happen?

It's going to be different with everyone.

And I'm still working with my same sankalpa that I created about five years ago,

But I do feel more and more that I'm embodying that.

My teacher taught me that you'll know,

You'll know when you're ready for another one.

Now that just all sounds like whoa,

It's a big deal.

And it is it is a big deal.

But we can also if we don't know about creating a sankalpa and the power of it,

You can create an intention for your yoga nidra practice.

And I have to teach it like that because not everyone has taken my course or worked with me personally,

Creating their own sankalpa.

And I have like a whole thing that I do with people to help them understand and make the most potent one.

You can for sure make an intention.

Let's say someone came to my live yoga nidra.

And they're like,

Wait,

What's a sankalpa?

I always explain,

You can make an intention and it could be one word or a positive statement.

So it's,

It's kind of the same but different.

And then there's also the realm of a secondary sankalpa.

So like,

Let's say I have my overarching sankalpa.

If I'm going through something,

Or I'm feeling out of alignment on a different subject,

I can make a sankalpa for that.

So let's,

Let's say that while I did make one last year,

I was moving and I was just kind of frazzled and a lot was going on.

And I made a sankalpa that just felt really soothing to me.

Like I,

I trust in the perfect unfolding of my life,

I trust in the perfect unfolding of my life,

And it carried me through.

Okay,

So we got a few more chats in here I want to check in on.

Yeah,

Yeah,

I would say it's similar to an affirmation and EFT.

Yeah,

Okay.

So I'm not extremely familiar with how EFT works.

I know it's like tapping and you say an affirmation.

So sankalpas are like that,

But we don't call them affirmations.

And so how you create one,

The best way to do it is moving into a meditative state.

Yes,

It is really about looking at your life,

Looking at your habits,

Your patterns,

Your beliefs,

And projecting like,

Okay,

So what would it feel like if that wasn't a thing?

Like how,

How do I switch that into what I do want?

Let's use,

Um,

Maybe someone has been struggling with their body image for their whole life,

And they're,

They're just ready to love themselves more.

You create something that feels like believable to you.

And that's also,

Of course,

Really important with affirmations,

Because if you're just repeating an affirmation,

And you don't really believe it,

It's not that powerful.

It's helpful,

But it's not going to be powerful in the way of an affirmation or sankalpa that that you truly like,

Yes,

I believe that.

So we're talking about someone that has had issues with body images,

They've gone through a lot in their life around feeling comfortable in their body.

Their sankalpa could be like,

I trust in my body's wholeness,

I,

I am at peace with my being.

I am comfortable in my skin to get what I'm saying,

Like it will be different for everyone.

And when you do a meditation,

And then are asked the right questions,

It can really help bring out and,

And it might not be something that clicks with you like the first time you do it,

It might be something that you kind of have to ponder and meditate on and try out when you're in yoga ninjas to see like,

I had this other one come to me.

And I don't know if it's it's not really a secondary one.

I think it's like another sankalpa.

So I've been playing with it like auditioning and seeing how I feel when I'm practicing it.

Yes,

Be I am loved.

I am lovable.

So B says,

I don't know how to spell what you're saying.

But would I am loved?

I am lovable be an example.

Yes,

Absolutely.

How do you pick one?

Is it?

Yeah,

Okay.

So we talked about that.

Yeah,

Sankalpas are really powerful.

And think of it as planting a seed in your subconscious.

Maybe you've heard that before,

Like your subconscious is always listening.

And so when we talk negatively to ourselves,

When we're just under our breath,

Like,

Ah,

Dummy,

And why did I do that?

Like,

That's imprinting in your consciousness.

And the sankalpa,

Like I was saying before,

Makes those new grooves towards what is wanted.

And the sankalpa is always about a specific thing.

But again,

As I mentioned before,

The sankalpa is like a sheet,

A buffer,

Making all sorts of new grooves,

Like,

What you do want is becoming more dominant.

And that's becoming more of your default.

So your default isn't talking bad about yourself,

Your default isn't negative or harming after time goes by.

So that's a little bit about sankalpa.

Sankalpa is always in traditional yoga nidra mentioned twice.

So we're we're repeating the sankalpa after the initial relaxation,

But before that rotation of consciousness when when you're,

You have moved into that alpha brainwave state,

Because I've taken the time to relax you and help you connect with your body and your breath and calm the mind.

That is a potent place to whisper this sankalpa to your subconscious.

Excuse me.

And then the next place we do the sankalpa is after we've gone through several of the yoga nidra techniques.

Now it depends on how long the yoga nidra is.

And if the guide is taking you through the every kosha,

Which is another thing we can talk about.

So there's several stages of yoga nidra.

And then you would repeat the sankalpa at the very end three more times when most likely you're in a theta brainwave state.

So you're very,

Very relaxed,

Your brainwaves are very,

Very slow.

And this is when you have the greatest connection to the clarity of all that you are your subconscious because yoga's aim is to still the fluctuations of the mind and bring you to the the cleanest version of yourself.

I don't know if cleanness is really the right way to say it,

But the version of yourself that is the highest level,

The most evolved,

Like the energetic being the being of love and light,

Who we all are.

Think of think of a newborn baby.

It doesn't have any beliefs or stories created in this life.

Now it might have brought some karmas in with it.

But you know,

Like little babies and kids,

They're so pure.

This is this is where we're going in yoga nidra.

We're finding union with that space again.

And every time we do that,

We get more in touch with the essence of who we are.

As I mentioned,

That was the goal of yoga to,

To still the fluctuations of the mind,

The whole,

The whole philosophy.

That's what it's about.

And yoga nidra helps us over and over go to that place.

Yes,

It helps us with sleep,

It can help with anxiety,

Trauma,

Blood pressure,

Heart,

Things,

Chronic fatigue,

All the things it helps with.

And the reason it helps with it is that we're we're going back to and connecting with our pure essence,

Which is peace.

And so the goal of yoga as a whole is letting go of all of those samskaras and becoming enlightened.

And enlightenment isn't just for gurus on the the shelf,

Everyone can experience enlightenment.

And so then that is the prize.

So you do that.

That's the goal of yoga.

And the prize or the result is this clarity of union with all that you are,

We're just so much more than this flesh and body.

And I think more and more people are starting to realize the the energetic significance of being in peace or being in alignment,

It,

It just has a ripple effect into your whole life.

Yeah,

It's pretty amazing.

Yoga.

And the cool thing is,

You know,

It's 1000s 1000s of years old.

And it's not a doctrine.

It's not something that anyone's asking you to follow.

It's more of like a study of consciousness,

Just like Buddhism,

Just like non dualism,

Like Taoism,

Like all of these,

These ancient practices and philosophies,

All they all guide to the same place.

And the same place is finding more freedom and peace living in these human bodies here on earth for however long we stay.

And who who doesn't want to feel better,

Really?

Another way we could think about,

Like coming back to the essence of all that we are is thinking of like a pure quartz crystal and all it's glinting and shimmering and the little rainbows you might see in it,

Like,

Think of that as like,

The truth of who you are.

This crystal could get thrown into a pond.

And on a clear,

Clear day,

We can see that crystal through the water,

And it's still shining and shimmering.

But there could be a disturbance under the water and some dirt and debris gets caught up.

And we can still see the crystal like we're still innately shining.

And then there could be a storm and so that the surface of the water also gets wavy,

And it's really obstructing the view,

But we can still see the crystal,

It's still there.

And then we can think of our yoga practices as a way to still the fluctuations on the water to make everything inside the pond,

Come back to equanimity and stillness and peace,

And then that crystal shines bright again.

But there's always fluctuations,

Right?

More a motorboat could come by and disturb the water.

So the motorboat,

The debris,

The waves,

The wind,

That's all our mind stuff,

Taking away the view of that perfect crystalline nugget of crystal that represents like the fullness of who we are.

And it's practices like Yoga Nidra that help us find union with that again,

Or meditation in general.

The whole point of that is to bring you to that quiet mind where you're finding union again with all that is.

And the great gurus and yogis,

They're living in that space where there's just clarity,

There's hardly ever or never waves anymore that mar up that brilliance of all that they are or you are.

Anything that puts you in the flow state.

So when you feel like completely immersed in the present moment,

That could be running a marathon,

That could be cycling,

That could be coloring,

That could be basketball,

Like,

Whatever puts you in that state is,

Is revealing your true essence.

And you can really only have that revealed when you're like in the present moment.

And that's why why being in the moment is also so so talked about and taught,

Because it all is guiding us to that state of bliss.

Okay,

That was a lot.

Prana Nidra.

I'm not familiar with Prana Nidra.

So,

So okay,

Let me tell you about this.

Yoga Nidra was only very recently codified as the practice.

The first person who put it all together and wrote a book on it was Swami Satyananda Saraswati.

And that was in the early 70s.

Now,

The aspects of the state of Yoga Nidra.

So when you get into that very,

Very slow brainwave place,

And you're connected to your divine true essence,

That's always been a thing.

And there were techniques that brought the aesthetics or the ancient yogis,

I'll just say,

To that place.

But it wasn't until not very long ago that a enlightened master put it into context as a way to systematically bring yogis to that state.

And so that was the first school or way it was taught.

Then more and more yogis started to bring it to the forefront.

And it always follows the same guidelines.

So the koshas,

You have five energetic,

Or four energetic bodies in your physical body.

And the what Yoga Nidra is,

Is the journey from the most gross physical,

So your anamaya kosha,

To your most subtle body.

So think of it like,

Like those nesting dolls.

Okay.

It's all one.

But we can talk to them separately.

And that is what Yoga Nidra is.

It's a journey through those five koshas to bring you to the most subtle layer where you can find union with your true nature.

And that has a powerful,

Powerful effect on all the other ones.

And you bring that back into your physical consciousness.

So it's all one.

But they are separate ideas or separate layers of your being.

And what was this?

Okay,

So I was talking about koshas.

Oh,

The difference.

Sorry,

The different styles of Yoga Nidra.

So any Yoga Nidra is going to be based on that.

As it goes.

Think about all the different styles of yoga asana.

You have power yoga,

You have yin yoga,

Restorative yoga,

Hot yoga,

Vinyasa yoga,

Right,

All of these different styles.

So Yoga Nidra also has some different styles and ways of going about it.

But the thing about the koshas that never changes,

That's always part of Yoga Nidra.

You can do Yoga Nidra by maybe only doing these.

So the first,

The second and the fifth kosha.

So that's how like some Yoga Nidras are shorter.

They're still really valuable.

But the longer ones are going to be like more complete going and touching every kosha.

But we find even if we do a couple of them,

It's still super beneficial for people.

Maybe you don't have 50 minutes to lay down and do a Yoga Nidra.

Maybe you only have 15-20 minutes.

Still very,

Very effective.

So I hope that answers your question.

So Prana Nidra might just be a name of a style.

My,

What is the name of,

I think mine is like transformational sleep.

And you'll notice like in some Yoga Nidras,

It's the same script every single time.

And that's great.

Some people thrive on that.

They want that.

In the lineage I'm working in,

We differ our guidance every time.

But it's always the same guidelines.

It just might be different verbiage.

I'll use that body scanner rotation of consciousness.

So for instance,

The Satyananda,

The originator one,

They do the same every single time.

And that's,

It has a purpose.

That's a whole nother like trail I could go down.

But I also cover all those bases,

But I'm just doing it in a different order.

Yeah,

Exactly.

It's a,

It's a live,

It's a live thing,

Just like yoga asana,

Just like meditation.

It's,

It's always developing,

It's always changing and evolving.

But the core essence stays the same.

Something that my great yoga guru would say is truth is one,

Paths are many.

Truth is one,

Paths are many.

There's a more modern,

So you might have heard of Dr.

Andrew Huberman.

He learned about the profound benefits of yoga nidra.

And he wanted to study it in a more in like a medical center setting.

He has a lab at Stanford University.

And they studied the brainwaves.

They studied what happened to the human body when it went in to this state of consciousness and a really short amount of time,

It got really,

Really relaxed to a profound level.

And he wanted to know more about that.

He took away the,

The,

Like the yogic language,

And still achieved the same results of this practice.

Now,

He didn't take away the essence of what it is,

Right?

There's still the body scan,

There's still working with the breath,

The energy,

There's still the rotation,

Or the sensing of opposites.

And he found that he was able to get those same results without making it yogic,

So to speak.

I mean,

The essence of it,

It's inspired by the teachings and philosophy of yoga.

And he coined the term NSDR,

Non sleep,

Deep rest.

Because when you go into the state of yoga nidra,

You're not sleeping.

You are your subconscious is awake and aware your body is asleep.

But your mind,

Whether your your brain,

You know,

Your Of course,

Your brain literally is in here.

But where where's your mind?

Where is the subconscious right?

And he he was able to take people into that deep state of rest,

Without making it woo woo.

This is the way I'm just gonna say it.

Yeah,

So I I have a few I don't really do it anymore.

When I was first starting to create content,

I did put NSDR.

And for me,

It was just a way to,

Like,

Bring people to yoga nidra.

I was still doing it like as a as a yoga nidra.

But it was more of like a way to bring people to my offerings,

Because essentially,

It's the same thing where we're in a state of deep rest,

Where we're not identified with the body.

So non sleep,

Even though it feels like you might be sleeping.

You're more in a state of consciousness that is that dreamy liminal space between total wakefulness,

Right beta brainwave states versus I'm out like a light delta brainwaves.

You're in this space in the middle.

And this is really where all that magic happens.

And that's also why sometimes you'll hear yoga nidra called yogic sleep or the yogi's sleep.

I'll talk about the the practice before yoga nidra.

So just like if you're a meditator,

You want to have all the things that help you sit comfortably,

Whether you're just sitting cross legged on the floor,

Whether you have a meditation stool or cushion or a quiet spot and beautiful things or incense.

For yoga nidra,

You also want to create a special setup for it.

It can be laying in your bed.

It could be laying on your couch,

It could be laying on the floor.

However is going to be most supportive for you.

Also,

Just really quick,

I wanted to say that you can use any yoga nidra to support sleep.

It doesn't have to be doesn't have to say sleep yoga nidra.

When people usually when creators put the word sleep yoga nidra for sleep,

What they're saying is that they're not going to bring you back out of the yoga nidra.

Right?

This is a stage of yoga nidra is taking the people out and away and back to waking consciousness.

I have many sleep yoga nidras on my channel.

And those are the ones that you can literally just drift off to sleep.

Afterwards,

I won't be talking you back.

I use sleep or non sleep yoga nidras all the time.

I always just wake up,

Turn it off,

And then I fall right back asleep.

Okay,

So Shaylin asked the best time and duration of yoga nidra.

The best time for yoga nidra is when you have time for it.

Yoga nidra is great any time of day.

And even if you're looking to to get help with sleep,

Doing yoga nidra mid morning is still going to help with your sleep at night.

Because yoga nidra in essence,

Is helping to reset your circadian rhythm.

Because of moving through the brainwaves stages.

So really,

Anytime you can do yoga nidra is a good time to do yoga nidra.

Just try to do it as often as possible to really start to experience the benefits of the practice.

So the duration,

I don't know if you were on here when I was talking about the different stages of yoga nidra.

So if you can see if you can do a that is at least 30 minutes,

Because most likely that's going to go through all five koshas that I was talking about.

So a complete yoga nidra is moving through all five koshas.

But I was saying like,

Sometimes you're moving through four,

Or three for those shorter yoga nidras.

The shorter ones could also be that there's not as much spaciousness,

But really any yoga nidra is going to be beneficial.

I think it really takes listening to different ones,

Different teachers,

Different styles,

Different lengths.

And then there's going to be yoga nidras with topics,

Yoga nidra for grounding.

The reason it would be a yoga nidra for grounding is that there could be a pre-designed sankalpa on there that you can use,

You can always use your own if you're working with a sankalpa.

But it would be a sankalpa that would have more to do with,

You know,

Being present,

Being grounded on the earth,

Feeling solid and stable in your life.

And then some of the other phases of yoga nidra might,

Like the journey here in the fourth kosha could be one of like,

Feeling the earth,

Sensing the soil and the plants,

The rocks,

Like,

So they can have a theme,

But it's always going to work in that framework of the five koshas of yoga nidra.

I hope that makes sense.

So my advice for you to answer your question would be to just try a bunch of different ones,

See which ones you like the best.

Okay,

She says,

Sometimes when the yoga nidra is really long,

I fall asleep.

So is it still working?

Yes,

Absolutely.

In the beginning of this talk,

I was talking about how yoga nidra,

The techniques of it bring you to be resting more dominantly in your subconscious state.

So we're disidentifying from the conscious mind in yoga nidra.

So that's just taking the backseat as is your physical body.

You're hanging out in this realm of your sub conscious.

And so even if you feel like you fall asleep,

So you've you've gone beyond the theta brainwaves down into the delta and you're staying there.

Your subconscious is still listening.

And you notice you think you're falling asleep.

But how then do you hear your guide calling you back?

Like,

For me,

And for so I teach yoga nidra twice,

Publicly at a studio.

I can't tell you how many times people are like,

Yeah,

I thought I felt this fell asleep.

But then I heard you call us back.

Was I really asleep?

Nope,

You were in the yogic sleep.

It's only when you just are out like a light and you don't come back.

That's when you really,

Really fell asleep.

I hope that answers your question and soothes you that your yoga nidra was not lost.

The benefits were still had.

And then if that does happen and you you miss saying your sankalpa again,

You can say it again when you first realize that maybe you've fallen asleep.

Okay,

That makes me feel better.

Because sometimes I'm just listening to a track alone late night and I can fall asleep.

Yeah,

I mean,

And so yoga nidra can be used for that as well.

When you do wake up in the night and your intention is to fall asleep or at bedtime,

Like I use it every night.

Because a I want to do a yoga nidra and be I do want it to soothe me and help me fall asleep.

It just depends yoga nidra.

Yoga nidra as a meditative practice wasn't created for people to fall asleep.

But it does bring you to that state where you could fall asleep.

Because the practice is all about moving through the brainwaves.

And yoga nidra cycles you through the brainwaves,

Just like at night,

You're not just in the delta brainwaves,

You're cycling through the four stages of or really you're cycling through three stages of sleep.

And what's interesting is the stages of sleep correlated correlate with the yogic states of consciousness,

Which I'm not going to get into because I've already been talking an hour.

Yeah,

I mean,

If you are able to add yoga nidra into your daily life and practice at other times besides bedtime,

Great.

I mentioned earlier that my favorite time or maybe I didn't say this,

But I like doing yoga nidra like mid morning,

And then early afternoon,

Like after lunch,

Two o'clock kind of thing as a power nap.

Or a like if I'm having a hectic day,

If I feel frustrated,

If I'm just kind of out of whack,

Yoga nidra,

It's like cleaning the slate,

Cleaning the slate.

So anytimes a good time for yoga nidra.

Well,

Thank you all so much for joining.

This has been really fun.

I love answering your questions about yoga nidra.

So until another time,

I'm wishing you peace and ease and whatever is next for you today or tonight,

Depending on the time.

Alright,

Sending so much love.

Namaste.