WHY YOGA NIDRA SHOULD BE PART OF YOUR YOGA PRACTICE
Co-Founder, Jenny Stewart, shares why we should all be incorporating yoga nidra into our weekly practice.
After a crazy year of change and ups and downs, I think you all deserve a little time to find a place of deep relaxation and let go of that heavy weight from your shoulders.
SO WHAT IS YOGA NIDRA?
Yoga nidra comes from the Indian yoga tradition. The technique could be described as a lying down form of meditation that uses the whole body as a focus of awareness. The theory behind yoga nidra is that it works on something called our body of energy or life force. In India this energy is known as prana, and in China it is called chi. It’s a state of deep relaxation, it will feel a bit like a conscious sleep.
In classic yoga nidra practice, you lie on your back with your arms away from your body, palms turned upwards. Your feet should be hip width apart, with your toes falling outwards. Your eyes remain closed throughout the practice. Yoga nidra puts a strong emphasis on the way your body is laying. Your relaxation posture influences your consciousness, and that this supine position prepares you for letting go and helps to balance the flow of life force in your body.
HOW DOES A CLASS WORK?
I will guide you through becoming aware of your breath, a ‘rotation of consciousness’ - basically rotation awareness through your body through the practise of tensing and releasing different body parts, At this point, you may begin to feel softness and lightness in your body, or feel as if you are melting into the floor or floating.
After the rotations, I will help you to further calm your mind. This often involves bringing your awareness to the natural rhythm of your breath. Other techniques may include visualising energy or light flowing through your body or being guided into an imaginary place of beauty and serenity.
Yoga nidra practice often includes a technique for realizing a resolve in your life, something you want to achieve. Your guide invites you to repeat your resolution several times to yourself before you move into deep relaxation and immediately after you come out of it.
Your resolution could be as simple as wanting to be more loving to someone in your life, or kinder to yourself. Or it could something very specific, like resolving to give up smoking on a certain date. By repeating your resolution to yourself when you are in this state helps it take root in your unconscious, almost like post-hypnotic suggestion.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Just 1 hour of yoga nidra has been proven to be the equivalent of 3-4 hours of actual sleep
Deep state of relaxation
You’ll totally chill out
Feeling peaceful and calm
Restore, refresh and feel connected
WON’T I JUST FALL ASLEEP?
You may fall asleep but don’t worry! The aim of the practise is that you stay awake and as the teacher I’ll be guiding and communicating to you throughout the practice. The idea is that you just follow my verbal communication which allows you to stay in a state of consciousness.
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