A few days back, I had posted an advertisement regarding “Yoga Nidra” classes in my blog; surprisingly my inbox was flooded with only one common question - “What is Yoga Nidra?”
This gave me all the more reasons to write about it & spread awareness about our ancient technique of healing originated in the Indian tradition & culture.
“Yoga Nidra” is also called Yogic Sleep. This may sound like a new terminology for many, as this ancient yogic sleep technique is not much talked about or practiced. Yoga Nidra or Yogic sleep is as ancient as yoga. It is in fact also been mentioned in the “Upanishads”.
I really appreciate & thankful to my school, which introduced me to this ancient practice during my childhood days. It was actually used as a tool by my Yoga teacher to bring in behavioral changes and sometimes to calm down hyperactive minds.
Going forward, after leaving my school I actually lost touch with the technique until I decided to complete my Yoga certification, which helped me restart my journey again, which brought back all my childhood memories of Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra actually helps you relax both mentally and physically. Research has proven that most of the lifestyle disorders/diseases are all stimulated because of stress in modern lifestyles. Even sleeping pattern plays an important role in lifestyle disorder/diseases. This was also one of my important observations during my tenure as a “Diabetes Educator”.
Studies show that 30 minutes of Yoga Nidra can actually improve our sleeping patterns. This does not mean that sleep can be replaced by Yoga Nidra but it could definitely be used as a tool to distress oneself both mentally and physically.
Now, what exactly happens in Yoga Nidra?
To answer this, I would like to share my own personal experience. Yoga Nidra is basically performed in a five steps process which includes;
Body scanning,
Breathing,
Emotional Balancing,
Visualization and
Self-healing
In Yoga Nidra, one can actually reach a soulful “state of mind”, where you are not either in sleep nor are you awake but experience your inner peace. This is the simplest way I can put it down. One has to actually experience it to get the actual benefits to oneself.
Yoga Nidra has been beneficially used therapeutically to treat many physical and psychological disorders. US Army is also known to have used the benefits of Yoga Nidra for its soldiers to recover from post-trauma stress. Indian Prime Minister Mr.Narendra Modi is also known to be using Yoga Nidra to distress himself. Yes, he also suggests the nation practice it.
I'd highly recommend everyone in today's stressed lifestyle to leverage from this ancient technique of Yog Nidra. We must be thankful to the universe for giving us this body to experience life to the fullest.
With gratitude from a soul to the one reading it.
Author
Monika Deepan
Certified Yoga Teacher
Certified Diabetes Educator
Certified Diet Advisor
This blogpost is also originally posted on Medium.com. Here's the link, https://medium.com/@unleashyourimmunity/yoga-nidra-or-yogic-sleep-183e17329260
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