Blog Post: Why Yoga Nidra?

Slow down, you move too fast. You work hard, you play hard, you study hard, you push—and push—and push. Or, you feel drug-out, tired and you can barely focus on your work. You get home, and you’re so tire,d you’re lucky to throw food in the microwave before flopping down in a chair. Some days, pushing it is awesome, but it can be too much and lead to a lowering of the immune system. Sometimes it feels good to just let go, but too much can lead to lethargy.

I have great news and surprising news, whether you are an endurance athlete or an avid couch surfer…

What if I told you that too much exercise could be causing you just as much physiological stress as too little? What if I told you that if you are working that hard to lose weight or de-stress that there is a healthier, easier, more sustainable way to achieve your goals that actually heals you and doesn’t harm you?

Maybe you are a physical health junky, but an injury has sidelined and you are itching to get back into ASAP, this can help that too!

What if you knew of a way to completely revitalize yourself in under 30 minutes so you had energy to have a life after work?  What if I told you that you don’t need to work harder only smarter and that you could give up sugar, caffeine and being a total grouch all the time—easily?  

What if you could do all this laying on the floor? 

Welcome to the wonderful world of Yoga Nidra—yogic sleep.  

As a hypnotherapist, yoga teacher and meditation junky this is by far the most rejuvenating, life altering and important practice that I recommend to my students, clients and even random strangers.  This ancient practice combines mind body sensory awareness, mindfulness, hypnotic imagery and apana meditation to bring the body and mind into a state that is beyond and more rejuvenating than sleep.

But what I love the most about it is how universally beneficial it can be, so whether you are needing to heal, rest, energize, calm down, recharge, recover, reconnect or make a change of any kind this practice can help you…and even my most fidgety students and clients have found they can start to access that amazing place of calm and rejuvenation.

I am often asked if it is different than mediation or hypnosis and in my studies and experience I see them as all sides of the same process and each of them has similar processes, outcomes and techniques. My own practice of Nidra has allowed other styles of meditation to become easier and more impactful and I utilize Nidra techniques to help clients achieve a deep hypnotic state. You can choose to simply experience any of them with no other intention other than to be in that state or they can be more goal or outcome orientated, in hypnosis we refer to this as hypnotic suggestions—that thing or action you will experience due to planting the idea in your subconscious. In Nidra it is referred to as the sankalpa—intention—again a seed that is planted in the subconscious.

In my estimation, the only one that is a bit different is traditional meditation as I prefer to have meditation always be just about the experience and don’t usually focus on an outcome or intention for that practice—but even that is not necessarily true for all styles of meditation.  

In the end, all three practices complement each other and achieve similar states of consciousness via focused attention that allow the mind and body to connect and heal.

What also happens in all three practices is that stress leaves the body, it is released, without effort. What I have found is this is most profound in Nidra because of being able to lie down of not focusing entirely on the outcome and not feeling like it is work—or as I describe it, “savasana on crack”! Even the lovely pose of savasana can be difficult if you have a hard time relaxing and letting go. Adding the yoga Nidra techniques can take you into the deepest state of relaxation while remaining aware and you get the most benefits out of this important state. (Seriously, this is so like the hypnotic state it is hard to discern the difference.)

So if you don’t have the energy to lift your coffee cup in the morning, Nidra can rejuvenate you and help you get that energy.

If you are slowly taking over the world with 100 miles of running a week, Nidra can help you keep going, and if you run/exercise/sweat so much to burn off angst or stay model perfect, Nidra can help you slow down a bit and achieve your goals easier and with less strain

If you are injured and dying to get back on the mat or the road—Nidra can help you heal faster and keep your body healthy while down for a bit (and keep the mind sane as well).

As I am personally always leery of things that are touted as a panacea, there is a caveat: this is still just part of your practice, and if you don’t have a practice yet this is a great place to start to get you ready as it is accessible to anyone!  Three times a week, 30 minutes per session approximately—do it and watch everything change! 

Great times to do Nidra: directly after doing asana as your savasana, during your afternoon slump (makes a nap look like child’s play), first thing in the morning before caffeine (caffeine can diminish the benefits of any meditative/hypnotic practice), on your lunch break (no seriously you will be the most productive person in the office, they will start to wonder what you are taking)! I know, I know “a whole 30 minutes”? There are shorter ones, 15 and 20 minutes which are great quicker fixers-uppers; I just find I get the most benefit from the slightly longer ones! 

Eventually you can do a Nidra practice on your own and even better? Down the road you will be able to shift into the stare of deep rest quickly and easily and rejuvenate in moments. Until then, here’s my free yoga Nidra recording. 

Be sure to follow me on Facebook for upcoming recordings—next up “Hypnotic Yoga Nidra for Deep Sleep”!

And you can always find recordings on Amazon and elsewhere on the web, my two favorite recordings are from James Jewell and Anandmurti Gurumaa.  (no I have no association with them at all, those are just the ones I happened to download and love)

Don’t forget to check out Rod Stryker’s work “The Four Desires”  He has a great program utilizing yoga Nidra to make profound changes in your life and practice.

I will be presenting at the South Bay Yoga Conference on HypnoRestorative Yoga and YinYasana for Your Back. Come visit me!

Until next time, Namaste my lovelies—and rest well!

Love,

Aminda Courtwright