How to best prepare for the practice of Yoga Nidra.
Yoga Nidra is best practised in a quiet room, laying on the floor or a bed. Use a blanket, bolster or any props you need to be comfortable and still for the duration of the practice. The practice is a systematic guided meditation that lasts for 21 minutes and 12 seconds. Listen to the recording with headphones for the best sound quality. Choose a volume setting that is comfortable for you.
Time: 21 minutes. 12 seconds. ** live event recording**
What is Yoga Nidra and how can it help me?
Yoga Nidra is one of the most supportive and beneficial practices you can do to strengthen the Inner Witness. A regular Yoga Nidra practice allows for the non-judgmental observation of your inner dialogue to become second nature.
The practice of Yoga Nidra activities and engages the conscious and subconscious mind. Through occupying your conscious mind with body scanning techniques, breath awareness and a visual sensory component, your subconscious mind can comfortably fall into a non-judgmental observation of the physical sensations in your body and emotional experiences during your practice.
Yoga Nidra is often called ‘Yogic Sleep' as the practice will guide you to the hypnagogic state, the state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleeping, resulting in deep relaxation of the mind and rejuvenation of the physical body.
When you consciously relax, you’re switching off the sympathetic nervous system (the human fight/flight/freeze response) and actively engaging the healing qualities of the parasympathetic nervous system. A busy lifestyle and overactive mind can keep you stuck in the fight or flight mode, not giving your mind or body enough time in the rejuvenating space of conscious relaxation where our lifeforce energy thrives and recharges.
There is no way to do Yoga Nidra wrong. All you need do in the practice is follow the voice that is guiding you. After the practice, you may remember certain parts of the meditation and not others; this is very normal. Every time you do the practice it is likely that you will feel different each time. Falling asleep is okay, too (in fact it is highly beneficial), as you will still receive the benefits of the practice on an even deeper level as the unconscious mind is absorbing even more astutely while you sleep.
Yoga Nidra not only strengthens and supports the body, but it also changes the psyche and helps us shed limiting beliefs so we can live more fully and joyfully. Cultivating a regular practice creates an opportunity to work on releasing long-held emotions, freeing your from the Inner Critic and strengthening the connection to your Inner Witness, the master peacekeeper of your internal world.