What Is Yoga Nidra?
Yoga Nidra is becoming more popular as many people are searching for a method which is guaranteed to liberate them from stress. Yoga Nidra is such a technique, not only for physical or mental relaxation but as a spiritual practice which withdraws the senses from sense-objects and leads one towards self-realisation as a result.
Sleep is not necessarily relaxation, because tension cannot always be resolved completely during ordinary sleep. Yoga Nidra is a qualitatively different relaxation. It is a 'sleep' where all stresses and worries are cast off to attain a more peaceful state of awareness, a relaxation much deeper and more nourishing than that which can be achieved during ordinary sleep.
Yoga Nidra Practice
Usually it takes about 45 minutes to complete a full Yoga Nidra session. The student lies on his or her back in totally relaxed manner. Eyes are lightly closed, arms are kept with palms facing upwards and fingers are half lifted from the ground, breathing is natural and quiet.
Ideally, you shouldn't practice Yoga Nidra on an full stomach - otherwise you might feel drowsy during the session.
For the same reason, it's best not to practice just before you go to bed at night (unless you want to use Yoga Nidra as a 'cure for insomnia!).
The various steps or sequences involve many or all of the following:
Resolve or Sankalpa
Before the rotation of consciousness a positive resolve is decided upon. This could be anything that will benefit the well-being of the practitioner or of others. For example:
- I resolve to live with an open heart
- I forgive myself and others
- I lovingly accept myself and others, just the way they are
- My one goal is inner peace
Rotation of Consciousness
The meditator simply visualises the part of the body mentioned by the instructor, be that a teacher or recording. The student must not move any part of his body. Quickly corresponding with the instructions, he or she has to shift his or her awareness from one part to the next. The student should not imagine the next part before the instructor mentions it. The whole process is pleasurable and no effort is required.
The basic pattern is to start focusing awareness in the following sequence:
First, the right side:
The thumb, fingers (one by one), palm of the hand, then the wrist, the forearm, the elbow, arm, shoulder, right back, hip, thigh, knee, leg, ankle, foot, great toe, other toes of the right foot.
The same sequence is repeated for the left side.
Then awareness is focused on the proximity of with the carpet (ground). Back of the head, shoulders, back and spine, thighs, heel. Next the front of the surface is brought in to awareness. Face, brow, eyes, nose, lips, mouth, ears, chin, neck, chest, abdomen.
Breath Awareness
After rotation the rotation of consciousness in such a sequence, focusing attention on the act of breathing completes physical relaxation. One simply maintains awareness of breath, either at the nostril or of its passage through the navel and throat.
Feelings and Emotions
Next comes relaxation at the level of feelings and emotions. Intense physical and emotional feelings are recalled. Usually this is practiced with pairs of two opposite feelings like hot and cold, lightness and heaviness, pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow, etc.
Visualisation
The final stage of yoga nidra relates to mental relaxation. The student tries to visualise the objects as described by the instructor. This is often facilitated by the narration of a guided visualisation of a journey of some kind.
The practice helps to develop self-awareness and helps in concentration.
Ending The Practice
Once again the resolve is invoked and mentally repeated with feeling three times. Thus, consciously one tries to direct the unconscious mind about the goal in life. A resolve made at the level of awareness facilities during Yoga Nidra is much more effective than one which is made at the normal level of consciousness.
Yoga Nidra also helps harmonise the left and right hemispheres of the brain and the two aspects of autonomous nervous system - sympathetic and parasympathetic.
"At the point of sleep when sleep has not yet come and external wakefulness vanishes, at this point being is revealed." - Vigyana Bhairava Tantra
