How to Practice Yoga Nidra: 3 Benefits of Yogic Sleep

Yoga Nidra, also known as yogic sleep or iRest, is a deeply meditative and ancient practice consisting of lying in Savasana, or corpse pose, for 30 minutes to an hour while led by a meditation or yoga teacher in a guided meditation. Nidra is the Sanskrit word for “sleep.”

A typical yogic sleep session can be supported by yoga props like bolsters and blankets and consists of entering a deep state of relaxation between sleep and wakefulness. Breath awareness and complete surrender are critical as the teacher guides you through focusing and releasing different parts of the body or mind that may hold onto tension or stress.

Yoga Nidra was developed, studied, and practiced in India for thousands of years before being introduced to the West. The modern development of Yoga Nidra has been credited to Swami Satyananda, a student of Satyananda Saraswati. In the mid-twentieth century, Swami Satyananda wrote books and taught many practitioners the art of Yoga Nidra meditation.

Richard Miller, a clinical psychologist and yoga scholar, adapted the practice to Western culture toward the end of the twentieth century. The practice became more prominent in Western mainstream culture after the success of a 2006 case study that used the yoga style to treat military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The veterans who took part in the study reportedly experienced a decrease in anxiety, sleep disturbances, and other acute PTSD symptoms when regularly practicing Yoga Nidra. Miller developed subsequent Yoga Nidra programs for active and veteran armed forces members to help combat PTSD.

A routine Yoga Nidra practice has many benefits, including:

• Helps manage chronic pain. The guided mind-body visualizations that occur during Yoga Nidra center around entering into any tense or painful areas of the body through the mind and mentally dissolving the pain and stress held onto in that area, such as the shoulders or lower back. In 2010, the Office of the US Attorney General endorsed Yoga Nidra as a treatment modality for chronic pain.
• Improves sleep quality. Yogic sleep is more of a deep rest than a yoga practice, as only one physical Asana (Sanskrit for “pose”) is practiced for the duration of the session. Practitioners find that Yoga Nidra helps calm sleep disturbances because it trains the mind and body to enter a deep state of relaxation regularly. You can listen to Yoga Nidra meditations on headphones or a speaker next to your bed right before you go to sleep.
• Encourages relaxation. Daily life can be stressful, fast-paced, and may even promote a "fight or flight" sympathetic nervous system response. Yoga Nidra allows us to experience the deep state of relaxation that our brains need to function properly and maintain our overall health.

Here are some steps to practice if you want to experience the deep relaxation and healing possibilities that Yoga Nidra has to offer:

• Set an intention. At the beginning of the practice, it is important to set a personal intention, or Sankalpa, whether that be better sleep, pain relief, a calmer mindset, or something unique to your circumstance. Surrender your intention by letting it go, and allow yourself to be guided into deep rest by the meditation.
• Lie down and get comfortable. It's okay to go into a deep sleep when first practicing Yoga Nidra. The point is complete relaxation and surrender, so if your body needs to sleep, allow it to do so. You will lie on a mat, on your bed, or on the floor in Savasana for the entire practice, so place a bolster (or pillow) underneath your knees to support your lower back or cover yourself with a blanket to avoid the cold if necessary.
• Journey through the layers of the self. In yoga scriptures, it is taught that we all have five Koshas, or layers to ourselves. These layers are physical, energetic, mental/emotional, higher self, and bliss. Aim to move through and harmonize each of these layers of self to experience calm, health, and serenity.

Yoga Nidra and meditation are practiced for similar reasons, but there are some core differences between the two practices.

• Meditation aims to quiet the mind. In meditation, you are generally in a seated pose, and the mind is more alert and awake. While it is possible to move through many states of consciousness in meditation, the aim is to quiet the mind chatter and release attachment to and identification with thoughts and emotions. Controlled and conscious breathwork is commonly practiced in meditation to calm the mind and keep you focused and present.
• Yoga Nidra focuses on deep rest. Yoga Nidra is a type of meditation, but a deeper level of rest is the aim, and the brain enters a theta state, or the state of mind between being awake and asleep, bordering the conscious and the unconscious. Typically, you want to let go of your breath and simply surrender to the visualizations your guide is taking you through.

Proper form and technique are essential to ensure the safety and effectiveness of a yoga practice. If you have a previous or pre-existing health condition, consult your physician before practicing yoga. Yoga poses may be modified based on your individual needs.

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