Yoga Nidra

[sage]

crossposting 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!

Comments

[recessional]

because chronic physical stillness makes depression worse

That, and giving us a lot of time with nothing to do but lie there and think (no matter what the thinking is SUPPOSED to be) is often a really, really bad idea. *g*

Thank you for the link, though - I think I'm approaching sufficient stability that yoga nidra would be helpful again, instead of a one-way ticket to increased Badness.

[sage]

Yeah, it really has to be balanced with healthy activity, even among people who are in a great place, mood-wise; otherwise the sedating effect can get out of hand.

[kate]

This is brilliant, thank you so much for sharing! I can't wait to try it out.

[sage]

I hope it's a good fit for you! :)

[jumpuphigh]

I am excited about this. I haven't don't Yoga Nidra is close to a decade but I really enjoyed it when I did.

[sage]

I go through phases where I forget yoga nidra exists and insomnia is eating my life, and then I remember the recordings I have and go, OH! Every. Single. Time. /o\

[jumpuphigh]

I bought a meditation CD back in October, I believe, and have been faithfully using it every day. It has 4 meditations that are 15 minutes in length. Part of the instructions were "if you don't want to fall asleep, don't lie down while doing this". I'm using it to fall asleep and it is wonderful. I rarely make it to the end of the 15 minutes before I am gone. Occasionally, I get to about minute 12 which starts the just listen to music and breathe section but mostly, I don't even get that far.

[jumpuphigh]

I've used this recording twice this week to put myself to sleep. Thank you so much for it! It's lessened the impact of this bout of insomnia.

[sage]

oh, cool! I'm glad to hear it. :)

[erika]

Thank you for the note; I was unaware that yoga nidra was contra-indicated for people with depression.

[sage]

Yeah, none of my instructors mentioned it. I didn't find out until I did some research online, and then I was all, "Okay, well THAT makes sense. Finally." Basically, the sedating effect really needs to be balanced by daily exercise even among people with generally happy moods. With depression, there's a significant risk of making things worse.

[journeys_end]

This sounds like it would be perfect as a relaxation tool after I get home from work. Thank you for sharing!

[sage]

Good luck with it. You might want to play around with trying it after dinner vs. before, to see what sort of difference it makes.

[journeys_end]

Will do. I'll admit that sometimes I'm probably too keyed up after work to practice this properly so after dinner might do the trick.

[ruric]

Oh thank you - years ago I used to attend a yoga class which had an abbreviated yoga nidra session at the end. Alas I lost thetape our istructor made for us. Defiitely taking this.

[skythrown]

*wanders by* Hopefully you still get comment notifications on this entry!

I found this very helpful when you posted it, but have since lost the file, and none of the other recordings I've found have worked quite as well for me. When I remembered (finally) where I'd found it, and came back to the post, the link was invalid. Any chance you still have it, and can re-upload it? Or have found out the source?

[sage]

Thank you for reminding me this exists! I forgot to move this onto my new laptop after my old one went kaput. (Yay external backups!)

I'm not entirely sure which yoga nidra meditation I posted before, but I *think* it was this one: https://app.box.com/s/l8p1evf2cur5mwxik9s2

The source is Deep Relaxation & Yoga Nidra Vol 1 by Swami Pragyamurti. She has several more in the series, but I have no idea about availability.

[skythrown]

Thank you!