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Introduction to Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra - Conscious Sleep
Yoga Nidra means conscious awareness during the deep sleep state. Nidra means sleep. For most of us sleep is not restful, as we do not resolve our tensions effectively before we go to sleep. We take our tensions into the unconscious state. Disturbed sleep detriments all aspects of our life.
Certain yogic meditation processes remove deep-seated tensions and improve our capacity to sleep peacefully. In this way we cultivate health. Removing tensions allows us to penetrate awareness into the unconscious areas of our selves. This expands our sense of who we are and links us to the spiritual reality within. These processes are taught during the technique of Yoga Nidra.
Relaxation does not mean sleep. Relaxation means to be blissfully happy; it has no end. I call bliss absolute relaxation; sleep is a different matter. Sleep gives only mind and sense relaxation. Bliss relaxes the atma, the inner self; that is why, in tantra, Yoga Nidra is the doorway to Samadhi.
Swami Satyananda
Yoga Nidra – Deep Relaxation, Bihar School of Yoga 1982
Two Distinct Meanings of Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra refers to a state of consciousness of absolute awareness, or awareness of the Self (the atma). Referred to in many philosophical and mythological texts, Yoga Nidra has also been described as the state that Vishnu (the God that represents the preserving aspect of the highest consciousness) enters when he sleeps at the time of the destruction of creation, called pralaya.
Yoga Nidra also refers to a technique derived from the tantras. This technique induces deep relaxation of the body-mind with the ultimate purpose of reaching exalted states of awareness. The technique is a practical and easily accessible method by which we can create the deep relaxation required for health, mental peace and higher awareness.
The higher awareness that is the state of Yoga Nidra arises as a result of long periods of meditative practice using techniques such as Yoga Nidra itself and other forms of meditation. In the final stages of the practice of Yoga Nidra, the yogi remains conscious even in the deep “unconscious” state normally associated with deep sleep.
The Origins of Yoga Nidra
Swami Satyananda developed this technique in the 1960’s based on tantric principles, primarily nyasa. In the authentic traditional tantric practice of nyasa, consciousness and energy are injected into parts of the body systematically using mantras. Nyasa is performed to protect the body during powerful tantric rituals that invoke vast energies from the deep unconscious.
Swami Satyananda recognised that the ancient tantric techniques had great value if they could be brought into a form that was relevant to modern human beings immersed in busy lives. He saw the value of nyasa and simplified it so that it could be performed without mantras or special ritual requirements. He realized that if nyasa could inject protective power into the body, then a milder form could be used for healing, rejuvenation, and as preparation for higher meditative processes. He performed this process in the lying position, where deep relaxation could be more easily attained, and called it Yoga Nidra.
Swami Satyananda aimed to make complex and advanced techniques accessible to everyone. The method is based on scientific principles including the use of rhythm to induce deep relaxation, stimulation of the brain along the sensory and motor cortex, as well as powerful principles for psychological growth.
As it is practiced today, Yoga Nidra is a technique that creates introversion (pratyahara). All forms of pratyahara induce deep relaxation. The technique induces conscious relaxation, starting in the gross physical body and then systematically moving awareness and relaxation to the more subtle levels of being. That is, we initially relax the physical body, then the breath, then the mind and then psyche. As each part relaxes another part opens up to our awareness liberating energy that may have been trapped and connecting us to our dormant abilities and strength.
The process takes our awareness deep into parts of ourselves that we normally cannot access because of tensions. Tensions block awareness and energy. Deep relaxation liberates tensions from each layer allowing energy to be released for healing and positive growth. It also unveils deeper layers of being and allows our inner potential to unfold, to be revealed and realized.
Yoga Nidra - Essential to Yoga Therapy
Yoga Nidra is a powerful healing tool that is fundamental to yoga therapy. This is because yoga nidra is an ultimate method of inducing profound relaxation and deep rest.
Resting the body-mind is the basis on which true and deep healing takes place. Most people find it very difficult to rest deeply, especially when they are ill. Many will not take time off from work during an illness because of commitments, or because they are so driven. This reluctance to slow-down may lead to more complex and difficult to manage illnesses.
In therapeutic situations, the deep rest and relaxation induced by yoga nidra is used as a basis to introduce other healing processes. In yoga therapy, we combine yoga nidra with an understanding of Ayurveda and tantra. In particular, we use tantric techniques to release energy for healing. We access the five elements (tattwas) earth, water, fire, air and space in different ways in order to cleanse, strengthen and rebalance the body-mind.
Yoga Nidra can be applied as both the primary therapeutic tool, and as an adjunctive treatment for many acute and chronic physical and psychological disease conditions. These conditions include heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, digestive problems of all kinds, arthritis, other chronic degenerative conditions, and some acute conditions, such as coughs and colds.
Yoga Nidra is particularly useful as a tool to recuperate from exhaustion, to manage stressful situations of all kinds, and to manage pre and post-surgical conditions.
Yoga Nidra therapy has two main stages:
The first stage induces a relaxed state of body-mind. This stage is common in all Yoga Nidra practice. The body has the potential to heal itself but requires the correct conditions to allow healing to proceed. The primary condition required for healing is deep rest. The process of inducing deep rest begins with the use of a positive resolution, a resolve that consciously articulates our desire to heal ourselves. Then rotation of awareness through the parts of the body is performed, which is a simplified form of nyasa. Rotation of awareness creates whole body relaxation. This is followed by awareness of and manipulation of the breath, which powerfully relaxes the nervous system and the thinking mind.
The second stage is the use of processes that can either be general healing strategies appropriate for the majority of people, or strategies that are specific to the condition being treated. In specific disease conditions the yoga therapist must know about the condition they are dealing with, and must understand its nature and its usual progression. This gives the therapist the understanding required to initiate proper treatment.
The second stage of yoga nidra may employ tactics and techniques such as specific forms of breathing, and instructions to induce feeling-states that rebalance the basic elements of the body-mind. For example, inducing the feeling of heaviness activates the earth and water elements that may be required when a person is feeling ungrounded or anxious. Inducing lightness activates the air and space elements that may be useful when a person is feeling stuck, heavy or depressed.
Techniques that work with feelings of heat and cold, pleasure and pain, and thoughts, including memories, attitudes and held beliefs are also employed.
Another important part of therapeutic yoga nidra is the use of visualization to create positive images while focusing on affected parts of the body. Positive awareness injects energy for healing into those parts.
About the Author(s):
In 2004, Dr Swami Shankardev and Jayne Stevenson decided to pool their talents to create Big Shakti. They co-create various seminars and workshops, which Swami Shankardev presents throughout Australia, USA, Europe and India.
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