Thousands of years ago, the yoga tradition had already recognized the significance of relaxation. Several ancient texts detailed various approaches to systematic relaxation as an essential practice for maintaining health and vitality. These ancient practices were called Yoga Nidra. The word Nidra means "sleep." The term Yoga Nidra is best summed up as "yogic sleep," which in practical terms refers to the deepest state of rest possible (complete effortlessness), combined with awareness.
The sages developed Yoga Nidra through a profound understanding of the subtle systems that link the physical body, mind, energy body, and the unconscious. Yoga Nidra was their ingenious methodology for healing and transforming each of these "layers." In other words, Yoga Nidra is a complete and holistic approach to restore the body, the mind and the most subtle realms of being.
When I first began teaching it, few Westerners had heard of, let alone experienced, the practice of Yoga Nidra. Now, two decades later, it is being increasingly embraced and recognized as one of the most powerful yogic tools both for healing and for realizing your fullest potential -- that anyone, of any age, can do.
Recently, Yoga Nidra has been studied in an array of clinical settings. In practically every case, initial findings suggest that it is a remarkably effective method in the treatment of various afflictions ranging from sleep disorders, chronic pain, chemical dependency, anxiety and multiple sclerosis to low self-esteem. Some of the most promising results have come from research conducted at Walter Reed Medical Center and the Miami Veterans Affairs (VA) for veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) who have returned from the Iraq war. Thanks to the success of these early clinical trials, the U.S. government has done follow-up studies and is currently considering multi-million dollar studies on Yoga Nidra's effect on PTSD. Additional studies are also underway at Brooke Army Medical Center as well as at the Washington VA and North Chicago VA. The results of the studies on PTSD are particularly interesting as they appear to validate what the teachings of the yoga tradition have asserted for centuries: Yoga Nidra is more than a way to transform the body, it is a profound modality to transform the unconscious.
I was introduced to Yoga Nidra more than 30 years ago. I later studied and practiced additional approaches to it and eventually evolved the practice of Yoga Nidra into what I call "Relax Into Greatness." The miracle of Yoga Nidra and Relax Into Greatness is that the practice doesn't require you to do anything, which is why it can be done by anyone, even those who are infirmed. For 30 minutes or so, you simply rest on your back while you are guided through steps that lead to ever-deeper states of relaxation.
Neuroscientists describe the state that Yoga Nidra helps you access as delta, the brain rhythm that signals the deepest rest. However, unlike the delta state that occurs for a total of about 20 - 30 minutes intermittently during eight hours of sleep, Yoga Nidra provides a systematic approach to access delta directly. A complete practice onto itself, the practice offers, as previously stated, an array of physical and mental benefits. Among them is that it is an incredibly valuable tool to combine with resolution.
We are all familiar with the concept of resolution or intention. We create resolutions to lose weight, find a more rewarding career, get organized or attract the ideal relationship. We resolve to change our diet, be more disciplined, work harder, work less hard, spend more time in nature or with our families, do something about our stress levels, enrich our spiritual life, be a greater force for good in the world or any one of countless other things we aspire to achieve.
It's critical however, to note that research shows that 80 percent of us do not achieve our intentions. Despite all that you may have heard from motivational speakers or spiritual teachers or read in books in praise of the limitless power of intention, it turns out that only one out of five of us achieves the things we set out to achieve.
One very significant reason for this is that the longer we live, the more experiences we collect. Some are pleasant, some are relatively neutral and others are stressful. Left unresolved, all stressful experiences remain stored indefinitely in our body as well as our unconscious. This ever-increasing storehouse of stress affects your health and physical wellbeing while the various feelings, memories and sensations related to stress impact your mind and how it relates to the world as well as your intentions.
Moreover, the latest research shows that stress can rewire the brain in ways that perpetuate stress. The latest findings are showing that the accumulative effects of stress make it harder to escape the habits that prevent you from acting in your own best interests, and less likely that you will have the cognitive awareness necessary to achieve your goals.
The good news is that your brain is elastic. When it experiences enough of an interruption between stress cycles, brain function returns to a state that supports your total wellbeing.
When psychologists try to identify the single reason that so many of us fail to fulfill our resolutions, many point to the lack of alignment between the positive goals of our conscious mind and the negative patterns of our unconscious -- which is precisely why the technique of Yoga Nidra can be so helpful in helping us achieve more of the things we aspire to achieve.
Through the depth of relaxation it provides, the practice helps to calm, if not still, unconscious tension and patterning. This means that Relax into Greatness has the potential of reducing the unconscious resistance that often stands in the way of us fulfilling our intentions. In other words, by becoming established in complete effortlessness and ease, where your body and mind are absorbed in a rhythm of healing and well being, your unconscious becomes more open and more capable of leading you to the fulfillment of your conscious intentions.
It is in this context that I like to remind people that resolutions are like seeds. Like any seed, there is a right way and wrong way to plant it. In other words, how you "plant" your resolutions can make all the difference. One of the most vital considerations is the quality of the soil in which it is planted. No matter how perfect the seed of your intention, if the soil of your unconscious is packed with layers of tension and less-than-constructive associations, then no matter how many times you water the seed by recalling/repeating your resolution, the soil of your unconscious will remain too compacted to allow the seed to grow and bear fruit.
This is why clearing your unconscious and enlisting it to work on your behalf in supporting your goals or intentions can be so helpful. It may be hard to fathom that becoming more effortless can help you achieve more of what you truly want, but it can. Thus, whether you are seeking the benefits of deep rest and renewal or to increase your capacity to achieve more of what you truly want, few things are as accessible, as enjoyable to practice, and beneficial as Yoga Nidra or learning to "Relax Into Greatness."
Excerpt adapted from The Four Desires by Rod Stryker. Copyright © 2011 by Rod Stryker. Excerpted by permission of Delacorte Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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There are several Yoga Nidras available free online. Free does not mean lack of depth or quality. In fact, these are amongst the most outstanding ones available. Several Yoga Nidras are available on www.mahasriyoga.com/meditation and they based on the Satyananda Yoga Nidra structure (all content is free). Some are available on www.swamij.org (Yoga Nidras in the tradition of Swami Rama who founded The Himalayan Institute). The website www.mahasriyoga.com gives freely to retain the purity and integrity of the teachings by not trying to monetize these tools of peace. They are given to everyone who needs them. Swamij has an abundance of free and excellent information on yoga that is authentic and not found in mainstream yoga that is so removed now from traditional yoga.
Swami Satyananda (founder of The Bihar School of Yoga) and Swami Rama are the two main Yoga Nidra gurus. In fact, the book Yoga Nidra by Swami Satyananda is an outstanding book on the subject.
i understand savasana to be a releasing, a way to "practice our deaths" as yoga master aadil palkhivala taught me. laying on our backs, we release thoughts, controlled breath, and the physical body. in yoga nidra, we guide the breath physically in the beginning (laying on the back), then mentally. rather than release thoughts, we use the fluctuations of the mind to bring us to deeper, more nourishing states of relaxation than savasana/corpse pose alone brings us.
in the end, deep rest is so important to our health. i personally am on a campaign to GET MORE REST and i practice yoga nidra, often. today was my 3rd or 4th day in a row, but i usually average 1-3 times/week. i'm not the same unless i deeply rest! thanks for this great reminder to rest.
I used the corpse pose for years, nearly exclusively, but in recent years I mix it with the easy pose, now with more of the easy. The experience of each one is different but they both feel oh so good.
It's fascinating that stress can rewire the brain and encouraging that we can change it.
l look forward to your continuing posts.
I was personally trained at the Bihar School of Yoga by Paramahamsa Swami Satyananda who is known throughout India, Europe & Australia as the Master of Yoga Nidra.
I lived with Swamiji in 1968 over 43 years ago & have written a book on Yoga Nidra in the UK - living there 11 years & am a UK citizen.
The sankalpa / resolve or afirmation is the key purpose of Yoga Nidra as this article well explains.
Our subconscious mind is like an obedient child - when you relax in YN enter into the unconscious removing trauma & stress etc.
The sankalpa is used to train the subconscious with a positive intention / usually we use a maningful one that affects our whole life.
Joy in yoga,
Swami Brahmananda (Ed)
We usually do Tuesday's today is a fun title!
Shut Up And Be Still
True "yogic sleep" is sleep experienced with inner wakefulness. Yoga Nidra is just ordinary sleep but the kind experienced by a person who is "enlightened," meaning someone who has stabilized the state of yoga (atma or pure consciousness) throughout the other three states -- waking, dreaming and sleep.
Yoga Nidra is a description of, not a prescription for, enlightenment.
The deepest rest isn't sleep. It's samadhi. Check out studies on TM meditators showing that during transcending (the true state of yoga, pure consciousness) there is complete suspension of respiration, accompanied by high amplitude alpha coherence. This is the deepest state of rest (as measured by activity of sympathetic nervous system), but accompanied with pure inner wakefulness. True yoga.
For accessing inner reserves of energy and intelligence, improving brain function, and increasing inner wakefulness, the evidence in neurophysiology far favors alpha coherence over delta waves. Yoga is not delta, it's longitudinal alpha coherence.
See: "Lost State of Consciousness"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeanne-ball/fourth-state-of-consciousness_b_897085.html
"Liberate Yourself"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeanne-ball/meditation-and-ego_b_1032259.html
Your emphasis on effortlessness is right on: http://www.tm.org/blog/research/different-meditation-techniques/
i agree: it's a description of the kind of sleep one has when one is enlightened.
enlightenment as defined in the Vedic tradition is when you don't lose the state of yoga, or pure consciousness, while sleeping, just like you don't lose it while you're awake or dreaming. as a long time meditator, i often experience the inner wakefulness of pure being during sleep. the senses shut down, the body sleeps, but the "I am" remains awake. however, this is not the state that many yoga nidra people talk about of just lying and drifting while watching your thoughts or breathing or listening to someone guide you into sleep. when you're really in yoga nidra, you're not thinking, perceiving, or feeling. you're asleep, but full self awareness remains.
i think as a means to get some nice rest, what Stryker is promoting is good. i do it sometimes at my yoga class. it's peaceful, relaxing, but i would never use it as my main meditation technique (TM). the state of samadhi is best experienced sitting up, otherwise, people tend to fall asleep and lose awareness or drift into dullness. samadhi is a different physiological state from sleep -- different even from "yoga sleep." transcending during meditation (sitting up) is a more beneficial state to sharpen the mind and restore the body, i find.
I also think it's important to note that in the yogic tradition, meditation is about a lot more than relaxation. It's about accessing the inner field of cosmic potentiality within everyone.
It means, that we, as individuals, have a great power and a huge tool at our disposal, if properly embraced and activated, to change our lives for the better. It is free to use, it is not too difficult to use, it has no unintended negative consequences, and, the more you use it, the easier it becomes to engage its power in a mindful and purposeful manner. In a completely different context, educators once said, that the mind is a terrible thing to waste, even more significantly, the mind (i.e. the brain), when trained, can totally change one's life for the better.
On a hopeful note, I do notice people around me slowly waking up to this realization. Powerful stuff.