Yoga Nidra Explained

What’s the big deal about yoga nidra? What is it and how can it help people?

Often when we talk to people about what we do they either haven’t heard of yoga nidra or they don’t know much about it and want to know more.

Here we’re going to unpack it all for you, so you’ll know what a big deal it really is and why you should give it a go.

What is yoga nidra?

Yoga nidra, or ‘yogic sleep’ is a relaxation technique that involves being guided through various stages with the aim of achieving a state of consciousness similar to sleep. You’ll read more info about the stages in point 8.

Nidra helps you achieve a unique form of awareness, where the external senses are tuned inwards to enable a deep state of restoration and healing.

2. Is yoga nidra a guided meditation?

We often liken nidra to a guided meditation, and it is similar in the way that it follows many of the stages of a guided meditation, but there are other elements to it too, such as the use of visualisations and sound.

Nidra is, in our opinion, more effective than a general meditation technique. With it’s unique approach to attainment of pratyahara (sense withdrawal), nidra could be more accurately compared to certain forms of martial arts - such as Tai Chi or Qi Gong – where you can achieve a state of flow whilst in a deeper level of consciousness.

3. Where does nidra come from?

The practice of yoga nidra dates back as far as the 6th century and was referred to in many of the foundational yogic texts, such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the yoga sutras and the Mandukya Upanishad.

Nidra Shakti or ‘the divine embodiment of the power of sleep’ is an ancient Indian practice focussing on ‘the power of sleep or rest’. Interestingly some of the earliest yogic texts manifest Nidra Shakti as a goddess - ‘the Goddess of Rest’, giving the practice a human form, which expresses its significance and importance in ancient yogic traditions. As Uma Dinsmore-Tuli of the Yoga Nidra Network points out in her book ‘Yoga Nida Made Easy’, many schools of yoga nidra have re-written history to some exent to place their founder as the centre of origin, but there is no earlier reference to nidra than the great goddess Nidra Shakti herself.

Modern day yoga nidra was brought to the West by Swami Satyananda in the 1960s. It blends ancient yogic traditions with the impact of modern scientific research around rest, mindfulness, nervous system regulation and tension relief techniques.

4. What are the main benefits of nidra?

Yoga nidra has many brilliant benefits, including the slowing down of the fluctuation of brain wave frequencies, which induces a feeling of calm, reducing stress as well as regulating your nervous system.

It also stimulates the pre-frontal cortex, promoting memory, creativity, concentration and problem-solving.

Nidra really can work wonders for people with all kinds of different needs – including improving sleep, helping people manage chronic pain and lowering blood pressure.

Read more about the other brilliant benefits of yoga nidra in our first blog.

5. What does it mean to regulate your nervous system?

*“Yoga nidra regulates your nervous system”*

Are you ready for some science? We’ll try to keep it simple.

Our automatic nervous system is in charge of all the things our body does automatically, such as blood pressure, temperature, heart beat, metabolism and digestion.

The automatic nervous system is made up of the sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PNS) nervous systems.

Stressful or dangerous situations are managed by the SNS, which when engaged can make your heart beat faster, your palms go sweaty and your pupils dilate. This is known as the ‘fight or flight’ response. The SNS also has a functional element, enabling us to be alert and functional, so we can work, perform tasks etc.

The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) manages your body when in a neutral state where your body is able to conserve and restore energy.

We should naturally spend most of our time in a blend of sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PNS). But, given the pace of modern day life, these days we often spend too much time in our SNS, where our brains are always on and we can experience feelings of stress and overwhelm.

You may have heard nidra practitioners talk about ‘vagal tone’ or the ‘vagus nerve’ and wondered what that’s all about. Well, basically, there are five nerves linking the brain to the nervous system – the ‘vagus nerve’ is the main one and the ‘oculomotor nerve’ is another.

Yoga nidra effectively provides a hack to help calm these nerves and improve your ‘vagal tone’, which then calm your SNS so the much-needed calmness of the PNS can take over more readily. And in doing so enable you to enter a state of deep rest where your body is able to restore its natural balance and begin the process of healing.

6. How does it help us to heal?

When we sleep our body and brain have time to rest and restore. This is essential for us to be able to function at our best ready for the next day.

During the different stages of rest our brains go through five different types of brainwaves.

Each stage has a different function:

Beta: normal, awake, alert
SMR: calm, quietly alert
Alpha: relaxed, calm
Theta: deeply relaxed, meditative
Delta: deep, dreamless sleep

*Nidra enables us to access all 5 brainwaves*

Yoga nidra allows us to access all of the states whilst still awake, including our delta brainwaves where we enter a deep, dreamlike state. This is the state in which all our healing and restoration happens, which is essential for us now more than ever, as we are living at a pace that is totally out of kilter with the natural rhythms of our bodies.

By reconnecting to our natural cycles and intuition, we can start to reconnect with ourselves on a deeper level, promoting relaxation and physical healing at a cellular level which helps aid recovery from physical ailments, as well as emotional healing, by allowing us to release emotional blockages.

7. What can I expect to happen when I practice nidra?

Here’s a few interesting facts about what happens when you practise nidra:

Nidra is **adaptogenic**

- it adapts to the person who is using it - meaning your body will take from it whatever it needs at any particular time - that may be sleep, release of tension or energetic blockages, creativity boost etc.

You will enter the **liminal, paradoxical space**

- neither being asleep or awake, but a state in between.

You will experience **timelessness** .

- like having a holiday from normal life with a spacious expanse of time.

You will enter a state of **pure awareness**

- disengagement from everyday consciousness without thought but not asleep.

8. What are the stages of yoga nidra and how can each stage benefit me?

There are various different stages of nidra, each with their different benefits.

Although different styles of yoga nidra will differ in the stages and order in which they use them, they will all begin and end in the physical body and aim to take us through the koshas (layers of self) into a state of conscious awareness and back out again.

The main stages of nidra we use at Revival are as follows :

Stage 1 - Preparation and Setting

Beta waves lower. Theta waves occur. Mood swings and emotional distress dissipates.

Stage 2 - Sense Withdrawal

Takes us out of our external senses (‘pratyahara’) and leads us into an introspective intuitive state.

Stage 3 - Sankalpa

Enables us to plant a seed of something that we may wish to work towards in our life - such as a change, a positive outlook etc.

Stage 4 - Rotation of consciousness

Relieves physical and emotional tension, activating the PNS and deactivating the SNS.

Stage 5 - Opposites

Induces a trance like state as the brain can’t be in two places at the same time - purposely after rotation to cause confusion as it causes us to enter further into our intuitive wisdom rather than our solid thoughts.

Stage 6 - Visualisations

Takes us deep into those lower brainwave states where all the magic happens - healing on both a cellular and emotional level and deep nourishing rest.

Stage 7 - Externalisation

Gradual return to the external senses.

We also use breath awareness throughout the practice for the purpose of coaxing the body into the SNS and to help you attain pratyahara.

*“Doing a nidra after learning new information improves neuroplasticity by up to 50 per cent”[1]*

9. Who practices nidra?

Everybody can practise yoga nidra and everybody can benefit from it. Some people practice to help with a specific problem, such as to aid sleep, or provide relief from trauma, while others practice nidra for an overall sense of wellbeing.

10. How do you practice it?

Nidra is usually practised in the yoga pose ‘Shavasana’ (or corpse pose), with participants lying on the floor covered with blankets to keep warm and cosy. This is how we do it at Revival Nidra too (unless of course this is not appropriate for you physically, in which case adaptations can be provided). Each of our sessions begins with some gentle breath work to help calm the nervous system and ground the body, which allows us to turn inward. Then the journey to complete relaxation begins.

Imagine yourself getting super cosy and being guided by a gentle voice through a meditation, along with the unique and powerful sounds and vibrations of Koshi Chimes and Crystal Alchemy bowls, which act as a sonic gateway to deepen the experience on both a physical and energetic level.

Many people practice nidra at home using recorded online nidras (watch out for Revival Nidra ones coming soon), but often the preferred way to practice is at an in-person class or workshop. There is something very tribal and nourishing about resting in groups with a guide who is keeping watch over you - like an extra layer of comfort and security for the nervous system.

11. When should you practice it?

At Revival our in-person classes tend to be in the evening so people can practice nidra after a busy day at work to find calmness in the evening. Workshops are often on a Friday or at the weekend to help people to relax after their busy working week.

If you’re practising at home you can practise nidra at any time of the day that suits you really. It’s down to personal preference and what time you have available to you.

Personally (says Leanne) my favourite time of day to practise is mid afternoon (pre school run). It can turn me from exhausted to energised within the space of half and hour and feels like plugging in the battery for a while.

I also use nidras a lot during the night (to get to sleep, to get back to sleep) or for an early morning boost.

To get the most of out of the practice, it is recommended to do it regularly (daily if possible - according to Moszeik et al you just need 11 minutes a day for 30 days to make a significant difference to a range of factors[1]), as the repetition can start to cause changes in neuroplasticity which improves our ability to change and learn, as well as having a positive impact on our stress levels.

12. Why do you teach it, Leanne?

I believe yoga nidra is a magical tool to transform lives in many ways. It can be used effectively to overcome trauma, anxiety, addiction, grief and so much more - so simple but yet so profoundly impactful.

Yoga Nidra has literally changed my life. I have been able to use it to overcome mental health challenges, in particular getting my bipolar disorder under control with very little medication. I have also used it to help me overcome severe insomnia.

I want to help other people to achieve these great benefits too through the sessions I hold at Revival Nidra.

blog2

location

contact

blog2

blog 1

location

contact