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usually our downfall and often leads to the accumulation of stress, and ultimately failure to achieve our goals in
life. Meditation and Yoga Nidra are both techniques that re-condition and retrain our minds to function on more
subtle and powerful levels – t h e y r e-educate the mind and remind it how to function properly. We so easily
forget that some of the most amazing things we do take no effort whatsoever. Take the simple act of moving the
arm above the head – we just do it – we have the intention and the arm moves into exactly the position we
decided it should move. We do not have to think the thought over and over again until the arm finally moves by
shear will power – it just moves in an instant.
Think the word ‘one’ for the briefest of milliseconds and then spend a few minutes faintly observing how th e
word remains in the awareness long after you’ve thought the word. A part of you recognises that even when the
word appears to have drifted away completely, it could almost still be there in some dim and distant awareness.
Try the same exercise with ‘orange’ – see an orange in your mind’s eye and notice how the image stays ‘in the
mind’s eye’ long after you stopped the intention of visualising an orange. This is the same level and ease at
which the ‘mantra’ in meditation and the various body-parts in Yoga Nidra are thought – there is no focus, no
concentration and no will power involved. The mind is taken out of the equation and the sub-conscious or
intuitional mind takes over.
As a further example try this little task. Imagine that you are strolling along a country path. It suddenly becomes
very rough and you end up jumping from rock to rock. At one point you realise that the next jump will take you
across a deep cavern, one hundred feet deep with wild, swirling rapids below. Suddenly, actions that had been
automatic now become conscious. The rational, intellectual, thinking mind takes over – it over-rides the sub-
conscious mind which was allowing the body to respond automatically, adjusting each step to land in exactly the
right place for ease and safety. You stop dead in your tracks – the mind’s saying, ‘it’s a long way down, you
could get hurt if you misjudge the next step, turn back, it’s not safe to continue’. However, if our ‘conditioned,
brainwashed’ mind hadn’t taken over we would have just stepped over it, as it was no wider and no harder to
step over than any of the other gaps you’d just crossed.
Similarly, image walking down the same country track and then coming across an electric fence that bars your
way. There’s a sign on it saying ‘beware; electr ic fen ce – do not touch’. However, it’s still in the process of
being erected and isn’t y e t attached to any electrical source so you could just climb under or over it. However,
your rational mind is telling you ‘don’t touch it, go round’. A part of you knows you don’t need to do that and is
aware that even if the fence was connected to a power source and switched on, it wouldn’t hurt much anyway.
However, you just can’t bring yourself to touch the fence even though you know it’s not electrified. An almost
physical barrier is created which will not allow the hand to move anywhere near the fence – the hand has
surrendered its power to the control of the limited rational, intellectual mind and over-ridden the higher-
functioning, the sub-conscious or intuitional mind.
Meditation and Yoga Nidra are simple techniques that strengthen the mind and help it to remain centred and
grounded in situations such as these. Obviously, these are both extreme situations that most of us don’t normally
find ourselves in but they hopefully illustrate the point fairly well. Less dramatic situations which we may find
ourselves in, o r m a y be able to relate to more easily, could be: panicky feelings before interviews, auditions or
public-speaking; having to apologise or retract our words; picking up a spider or other animal; eating certain
foods or drinking herbal substances we know to be extremely sour or bitter.
Yoga Nidra helps re-educate and strengthen the mind and allows us switch off our lower, limiting conditioned
reflexes in situations such as these. It allows us to act instantaneously and appropriately without the need to
weigh up and evaluate every possible outcome. When we are able to do this naturally our lives become peaceful
and fulfilling and our mind and body remain vital and healthy. We then begin to function at that powerful level
on the very threshold of consciousness where all desires are spontaneously fulfilled.
One of the main practices involved during Yoga Nidra is called ‘rotation of awareness’ during which the mind
quickly observes different parts of the body. F r o m n e u r o-physiology we know that each part of the body has a