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Yoga Nidra
Jan. 16th, 2011 11:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sagecrossposting here by request.
Yoga Nidra is, essentially, the yoga of sleep, where (with practice) a thirty-minute session of it equals three hours of restful sleep. It's also really great for systematically relaxing and healing your entire body, as well as helping a person to reclaim her body as her own and reclaim the ability to exercise control over it. At the beginning, there is a cue to choose a sankalpa, a simple "resolve" to impress into your mind during the meditation. Choosing something simple like, "I will be healthy," or "I will have more courage," works best.
Yoga Nidra is intended to be practiced in savasana, lying on your back with arms and legs slightly spread, but for people with back injuries and pregnant women, there is an alternative position: Lie on your left side in a loose fetal position with pillows supporting your head and wherever else you need so that you can lie comfortably still for the duration.
Yoga Nidra is also intended to be done at the low-point of your daily energy, when you have nothing else on your plate but rest and relaxation. It is like sleep, except that you're fully conscious throughout the meditation. If you're having trouble sleeping, it can help put you to sleep.
I can't actually remember where I got this recording, it's been so long -- I don't even know who the speaker is -- so unfortunately I can't paste a link to purchase the entire CD (this is only one track of several). I wish I knew because I've made enough excellent use of this that I feel like I should pass along some money for it. But it's here for anyone who wants it.
Link: 25 minutes, 23MB
note: yoga nidra is contra-indicated for people with clinical depression. For depression, active, physical yoga (as gentle as necessary) is recommended instead, because chronic physical stillness makes depression worse and healthful physical motion adjusts our brain chemistry for the better (cf. the mellow, blissed-out feeling people get after yoga and surfing). If you're already getting enough exercise and are in a stable mental space, yoga nidra will simply help you relax. Likewise, one of my old yoga instructors used to end the evening class with an abbreviated yoga nidra session in order to balance the activity with enough stillness to prevent us getting insomnia from the yoga high.
If you any have questions, let me know. And if any of you happen to know the source of this recording, I'd love to find out where it came from. Thanks!
Yoga Nidra is, essentially, the yoga of sleep, where (with practice) a thirty-minute session of it equals three hours of restful sleep. It's also really great for systematically relaxing and healing your entire body, as well as helping a person to reclaim her body as her own and reclaim the ability to exercise control over it. At the beginning, there is a cue to choose a sankalpa, a simple "resolve" to impress into your mind during the meditation. Choosing something simple like, "I will be healthy," or "I will have more courage," works best.
Yoga Nidra is intended to be practiced in savasana, lying on your back with arms and legs slightly spread, but for people with back injuries and pregnant women, there is an alternative position: Lie on your left side in a loose fetal position with pillows supporting your head and wherever else you need so that you can lie comfortably still for the duration.
Yoga Nidra is also intended to be done at the low-point of your daily energy, when you have nothing else on your plate but rest and relaxation. It is like sleep, except that you're fully conscious throughout the meditation. If you're having trouble sleeping, it can help put you to sleep.
I can't actually remember where I got this recording, it's been so long -- I don't even know who the speaker is -- so unfortunately I can't paste a link to purchase the entire CD (this is only one track of several). I wish I knew because I've made enough excellent use of this that I feel like I should pass along some money for it. But it's here for anyone who wants it.
Link: 25 minutes, 23MB
note: yoga nidra is contra-indicated for people with clinical depression. For depression, active, physical yoga (as gentle as necessary) is recommended instead, because chronic physical stillness makes depression worse and healthful physical motion adjusts our brain chemistry for the better (cf. the mellow, blissed-out feeling people get after yoga and surfing). If you're already getting enough exercise and are in a stable mental space, yoga nidra will simply help you relax. Likewise, one of my old yoga instructors used to end the evening class with an abbreviated yoga nidra session in order to balance the activity with enough stillness to prevent us getting insomnia from the yoga high.
If you any have questions, let me know. And if any of you happen to know the source of this recording, I'd love to find out where it came from. Thanks!