51
Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra means ‘yogic sleep’. It is a state of conscious deep sleep. You l e a v e t h e w a king state, go past th e
dreaming state, and enter a deep sleep, yet remain fully alert, aware and awake. It is a kind of ‘psychic sleep’
produced by a systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation, while
maintaining awareness at the deeper levels. It is a prolonged suspension between wakefulness and sleep. It
induces a higher state of consciousness - a wakeful state of deep introversion or an inner awareness. It is a
movement of consciousness rather than a deliberate auto-suggestion. You cannot relax by trying to relax - yo u
need to feel relaxed. After relaxing your body and calming your mind you can plant a few intentions, sankalpas,
o r assertions in your subconscious before detaching your mind and experiencing the final stage of deep
relaxation.
Th er e is a close r elations h i p between the body and the brain. Various centres in the brain control modify, and
affect all our bodily functions. In fact, there is a centre in the brain for every act, whether wilful or reflex,
physical or mental. Experimental data have identified many such specific centres. Stimulation of these centres
leads to appropriate actions, be they motor, sensory, emotive or cognitive. Thus we have a holographic
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e b o d y o n t h e b r a i n with th e left half of the body being represented in right half of the brain
and the right half of the body being represented in left half of the brain.
In Yoga Nidra w e make the brain centres active by focusing awareness on the parts of the body in a specific
sequence. Thus, w e t r y to stimulate various parts of the brain by focusing the awareness on the corresponding
parts of the body. Awareness can be defined as adopting an attitude of witness towards physical or mental
a c t i o n s o f t h e b o d y.
From the Yogic vie w point the body and the mind (together with the emotions) are so interrelated that they are
actually inseparable. The mind is not simply the thinking process relegated to the brain but is the sum total of the
intelligence which permeates every atom of the physical and subtle organisms. Whatever affects the body must
influence the mind and vice-versa. Since the mind is present throughout the body and permeates its every atom,
the Yoga techniques which we perform to stretch, strengthen and otherwise improve and develop the body must
have a correspondingly profound effect on the mind and the emotions
As we become more familiar with the practice of meditation and begin to perceive the more subtle levels of our
thought process we also become faintly aware of the junction point between relative thought and transcendental
awareness. It is from this threshold of conscious awareness that Yoga Nidra functions and it is from this field
that we are able to carry faint, positive intentions deep into our sub-conscious mind.
Whilst this ancient technique has been part of the Tantric Yoga tradition for thousands of years there are now
many derivations of it in our western world. Most follow a fairly standard pattern of procedures, starting with an
awareness of the breath, progressive relaxation, introducing a subtle intention and then a ‘rotation of
consciousness’ which involves rapidly placing awareness of various parts of the body in a specific sequence.
Yoga Nidra is primarily a technique of subtle intention and directed awareness. We have a very faint intention
and then we very innocently direct that intention with our subtle awareness. The more innocently, faintly and
subtly we are able to do this the more powerful the results. It is a case of ‘do less and accomplish more’ – th e
less we tr y, and the less we allow our minds get in the way of our actions, the easier it becomes to accomplishes
any difficult task.
Our minds are very good at getting in the way of our intentions and often over-ride our intuition which is never
wrong and always works for our highest good. We have almost become brainwashed or conditioned into
believing that the harder we try, the more likely we are to accomplish the desired results. However, this is