Yoga Nidra Overview
A bit of background on the Yoga Nidra Practice. 15 minutes of an introduction to an ancient practice. See if this is something that may be of interest. The Yoga Nidra techniques can bring about relaxation in the body and mind.
Transcript
Welcome to Yoga Nidra.
Discrete sleep with trace awareness.
For Yoga Nidra,
The best way to approach it is to find a state of being totally comfortable.
Perhaps laying down on a blanket or two.
Maybe a bolster under your knees.
Please remove any glasses or contact lenses before the practice begins.
Allow yourself to be in a room closed off from sounds if possible.
Close any windows.
Make sure any pets are in an outside area away from you.
Make sure your body is totally comfortable.
Your clothes,
Your head,
Comfortableness under your head,
Perhaps a little pillow,
Perhaps an extra bit of padding under your tailbone,
Your sacrum area,
Giving yourself comfort.
Maybe a pillow or two for your hands.
Maybe something a little extra under your shoulders so that your heart is open,
But that you're laying in a relaxed position from head to toes,
From toes to head,
Finding comfort.
In Yoga Nidra,
The only two doors of perception that are open is the sense of hearing as well as the sense of feeling.
In Yoga Nidra,
A very powerful part of this session is sankalpa,
A heartfelt resolution.
At the beginning of Yoga Nidra,
We sow seeds of intention into our practice.
A short affirmation in present tense.
Something as simple as I am whole.
I am well.
I am enough.
Sankalpa is something that's generated from your heart,
Rather than something you feel from your intellectual mind.
So at the beginning of our session,
We sow seeds of intention.
And then at the end of our session.
We sow those same seeds.
And with the soil of our mind perfect.
Those seeds take root at a deeper layer.
And perhaps grow into our everyday life with a continued practice.
In Yoga Nidra,
You want to be very comfortable.
So make sure you use the restroom before practice.
If you find that laying down flat on your back causes you to cough,
Or perhaps have some kind of sinus concerns,
Feel free to modify the position of shavasana.
Perhaps even Queen's pose,
Maybe a bolster.
Lifting your torso up a bit.
Still finding comfort,
You may have to take a little more time with your setup.
But allowing yourself to find a position so that you're not coughing.
Because if you cough or make any loud noises,
It's going to bring you right back up to that surface.
Where you're fully aware.
In Yoga Nidra,
You drift between that beta and alpha state right before the dreaming state.
You float in between those areas.
An hour of Yoga Nidra is equivalent to two to three hours of natural sleep,
Because it's uninterrupted by dreams.
In Yoga Nidra,
You are the creator of your dreams.
So at the beginning of Yoga Nidra,
There is a rotation of consciousness,
Allowing your mind to jump freely from one body part to the next.
So after the voice says the body part in your mind,
You repeat the body part and visually see that body part in your head.
Jumping from one area to the next,
Working the way around your body.
The next session of Yoga Nidra,
It could be something as simple as floating your awareness to your breathing.
Continuing to throw your awareness to your breathing.
Sometimes we do this also just before we do reverse counting.
Reverse counting.
Focusing on your breath and then incorporating the counting,
Reverse counting into that breathing portion of the practice.
That involves the Mano Mayakasha.
Sometimes we do imagery and concentration on symbols.
Depending on where you're from,
There may be different symbols incorporated into the Yoga Nidra practice.
For example,
Perhaps a symbolic could be a sunrise or a sunset or a full moon.
There are different symbols that are woven into the practice.
Depending on the participants.
Vinyana Mayakasha.
The higher mind would be part of this process.
In Yoga Nidra,
The body sleeps,
But the mind remains awake.
This is sometimes called yogic sleep.
Yogic sleep.
In the Ananda Mayakasha.
Yoga Nidra is a very,
Very relaxing therapeutic practice.
However,
A relaxation is not the goal.
The goal is to allow your mind to be in a relaxed state.
And that subconscious state,
Perhaps allowing different things to surface that possibly could have been buried a long time ago.
It is a way to release latent traumas that have settled in ourselves,
Slowly allowing them to surface.
Not reliving those traumatic events.
Rather,
Being a witness to the content that's rising.
Knowing,
Yes,
That did happen to me.
But that is not the core of who I am today.
Little by little,
With a continued practice,
You might find yourself feeling a little bit freer,
A little bit lighter.
With Yoga Nidra.
It's a form of relief for chronic stress.
It can increase the digestive and enzymes.
So,
For example,
If you're under continual stress,
Sometimes this turns into cortisol,
It's settled into ourselves.
And it affects the way your body digests your food.
If,
For example,
You're under continued stress,
Your body is not going to increase the digestive enzymes because it's not going to say,
Oh,
I'm so relaxed.
I can digest my food.
It's not the way our bodies work.
We do need a certain amount of adrenaline in our system.
Like,
Let's say you're walking across the street and a car is backing up and you jump out of the way.
That adrenaline causes you to be able to jump out of the way.
And then,
You know,
Two to three hours,
You know,
You settle down and things return to normal.
But if you're under continued stress,
That means your body never has a chance to totally reset and relax.
That stress continues to build and you're never truly relaxed.
It develops into cortisol and it settles into yourself and it affects the way your whole body processes everything.
So with a continued practice of yoga nidra,
You can learn how to relax deeply.
It can give you physical and mental balance.
Yoga nidra can reduce symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.
It can also release latent deep impressions in the unconscious mind.
Sometimes inflammation is developed in our body from hypertension.
This practice can decrease inflammation.
It can improve and stabilize your mood.
It can decrease your blood pressure.
That may not mean that it will eliminate the need for blood pressure medicine,
But it can definitely lessen the amount of medication that you need.
Yoga nidra is beneficial for the vata pitra or kapha dosha.
And one of the really enjoyable for many of the dosha is the fact that yoga nidra does start in savasana.
So it's a very beneficial practice.
So once again,
Finding that comfortable position for your body,
Perhaps laying on a blanket,
Making sure that your body temperature is comfortable so you're not too hot and you're not too cold.
You don't want anything that's going to bring you back to the surface or take away from your practice.
Comfortable clothes,
Perhaps a bolster under your knees,
Perhaps a little pillow under your shoulders.
Or maybe little bolsters or blankets rolled up,
If that's what you have available.
You want your neck to be comfortable.
And you want to just float your awareness into your breath.
Perhaps just starting by breathing,
Just by breathing.
Allowing the room to be a comfortable temperature,
Maybe lights off,
Maybe blinds drawn.
Starting out by just floating your awareness to outside sounds,
Outside sounds.
Gently bringing your mind to closer sounds,
Perhaps sounds inside the room you are in.
Allowing your mind to jump freely from one sound to the next.
Floating your awareness to your navel center,
Your navel center,
Your seat of heat.
Menapura chakra,
Breathing out from your navel center to your throat.
Vishuddha chakra,
Your seat of coldness.
Exhaling from your throat to your navel center.
Inhalation from the navel center to the throat.
Gentle relaxed inhalations and exhalations.
Perhaps a count of three or four.
Allowing your breathing to be easy and relaxed.
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to be.
Just this.
Allowing your inhalations and exhalations to be of equal length.
Giving your body permission to release,
Permission to relax.
Breathing in relaxation,
Exhaling tightness and tension.
Comfortable relaxed breathing.
Feeling everything slowing down.
Noticing every point of contact between the back of your body and the ground.
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to be.
Just this.
Preparing yourself for your practice of yoga nidra.
Comfortable relaxed breathing.
If you find yourself drifting in and out of sleep,
No worries there.
That just means that your body is tired.
Just continue to listen to the voice.
Continue to remind yourself,
I am practicing yoga nidra.
I will remain awake.
Yoga nidra is not hypnosis and it is not meditation.
However,
It is a meditative tantric practice.
My name is Bonnie Rae Thamioni and I am your guide today.
