Is working late at night giving you sleepless nights? Do you find it hard to sleep even for an hour at night? Blame the sedentary lifestyle and poor quality diet, which impacts your ability to sleep peacefully at night. However, there is a solution to your dilemma. Have you heard of Yoga Nidra? It is a powerful and ancient technique to relax your body, mind, and spirit.
Yoga Nidra is a yogic technique, also known as conscious relaxation. In other words, your body relaxes while the mind stays awake. You practice Yoga Nidra by separating the external awareness of the physical body through different stages. Do you know when this yogic technique came into being? Let us find out.
Origin Of Yoga Nidra
In the holy Vedas, one yuga refers to the time between one cycle of creation and destruction. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Vishnu is said to be lying in the Yoga Nidra position during this phase. We can take this that a good and effective action is possible after a state of being in total rest.
However, it was Swami Satyanand Saraswati who introduced this powerful yogic technique to the modern world in the 1960s. You can enroll in an RYT Certification course to know more about this effective yogic technique.
For you to practice Yoga Nidra, first you have to be aware of its different stages. Read further to know what are the eight stages of Yoga Nidra.
8 Stages Of Yoga Nidra
There are a total of eight stages of Yoga Nidra, out of which four are most important. During the practice session, as you progress through each stage; you become aware of the different layers of your being.
Keeping that in mind, given below are the different stages of yogic sleep.
1. Relaxation
The preparatory stage of Yoga Nidra is where you make the body comfortable and increase your awareness of the environment. You focus on breathing and start moving from external awareness towards internal awareness. In short, you start to withdraw inwards and away from the outside world.
2. Intention
The second stage is during which you create a short statement depending on what you long for. It gives the mind a direction and reshapes your personality. The intention or Sankalpa can be general or specific. This helps you concentrate on the practice.
3. Rotation Of Consciousness
In this stage, you take the awareness throughout your body from one body part to the next. Now is when you have to pay attention to what the teacher says and follow what is exactly is being said. Doing this relaxes any part of your body that still carries tension. You should enroll in an RYT Certification In Rishikesh to learn everything about Yoga Nidra.
4. Breath and Energy Awareness
As the name suggests, this stage is all about becoming aware of your breath. This helps you relax on a deeper level and activates higher energies to all parts of your body. In this stage, the teacher might ask you to bring your attention to inner sensations and breath.
5. Sensory Perception
This is the stage where you experience the not-so-pleasant sensations, but without passing any judgment or reacting emotionally. Doing this strengthens your willpower and provides you emotional relaxation.
6. Visualization
This is the stage where you experience mental relaxation. This stage helps you in getting rid of disturbing and negative material from your mind. As the name suggests, you do this by visualizing a variety of images. For more, you should enroll in an RYT Certification course to learn Yoga Nidra under the best yoga teachers.
7. Sankalpa
Here is when you reinforce the Sankalpa that you made during the starting of Yoga Nidra practice. This makes you aware of the promises made to yourself. It helps you dive deeper into the subconscious mind which keeps reminding you of the resolve.
8. Externalization
The most important stage of Yoga Nidra. If you move out suddenly from Yoga Nidra, you will end up being all disoriented and confused. The teacher brings your attention towards breath awareness, body awareness, and the external environment. Enroll in a certified RYT Certification course to know more about this stage.
However, you might question –
What Is The Use Of Doing So Much?
Although practicing all the stages described above might seem a bit cumbersome, there are some impressive benefits that come along with the efforts.
1. Minimizes Anxiety & Stress
The two most common reasons behind you losing sleep are anxiety and stress. However, practicing Yoga Nidra under the guidance of a yoga teacher helps you fight stress and anxiety. In the long run, this keeps you away from numerous health issues like stroke, fatigue, and chronic pain among others.
2. Anyone Can Do It
In comparison to other yoga exercises which might be a bit hard to practice, Yoga Nidra is much easier. All you need is to find an experienced yoga teacher for the job. Yoga experts recommend you should enroll in a certified RYT Certification to learn Yoga Nidra.
3. Helps Develop A Positive Mindset
With Yoga Nidra, you are able to tap into the hidden aspects of your mental health. Daily practice of this yogic technique removes negative thinking, clears your mind of all the unnecessary clutter, and creates space for positivity in your life. In other words, you start to embrace the brighter side of life and let go of the negative.
4. Helps With Self-Discovery
If you are looking for a way to release painful emotions and feelings, try Yoga Nidra. This yogic technique helps you let go of harmful long-held emotions. Moreover, it aligns you with the hidden energy and intuition with time.
In the long run, you become aware of the actions you do and their impact on your life. Enroll in an RYT Certification In Rishikesh to understand more about this aspect of Yoga Nidra.
5. Unlocks Inner Creativity
With expectations away from your life, Yoga Nidra unlocks your inner creative streak. It brings you more towards self-acceptance and deals with the internal conflict in a healthy manner.
There it is! The complete guide to how you can sleep soundly with Yoga Nidra.
Conclusion
Do you want to get back those lost Z’s? Stress and anxiety are mostly the culprits behind loss of sleep. However, that does not means there is no solution. You should enroll in an RYT certification to learn everything about Yoga training and its impact on your overall health and well-being.
