Yoga Nidra: Why and How to practice?

By: "Rajkumar Padhy"

In this fast-paced world, full of emotional and physical stress, it's natural to feel tired and have an urge to take a break from the chaos. Nidra yoga is emerging as a trending solution. More and more people are engaging in Yoga Nidra practice, and are becoming aware of the health benefits which it possesses. 

What is Yoga Nidra?

Just like it sounds, it's a type of yoga Asana,  but with a small minor difference. It focuses more on the meditative aspect of yoga rather than the physical part. In Yoga Nidra practice, you would lie down and enter a trans-state between being completely awake and sleep. If done correctly, you would be able to course through your Panch maha Kosh(  five layers of a person's self-identity)  and enter a state of wholeness. It has proved its health benefits such as curing body pain, eliminating tiredness, and stress.  After an accurately done session, a person would feel energetic and full of life. 

How to do Yoga Nidra?

For a beginner,  there would be no clear cut boundary between actually sleeping versus performing Yoga Nidra. But as you indulge more and more, you will realize that it requires more patience and commitment than it initially seems. 

• To try to do a Yoga Nidra, you should wear some comfortable clothes and lie down on a hard but comfortable surface and follow the following procedure. 

• Lie down on your yoga mat in the savasana position. 

• Close your eyes and start taking deep breaths to regulate your heartbeats. 

• While taking deep breaths, take notice of your right foot and try to relax only that part of your body as much as you can. 

• Now move a little bit upwards and try to relax your right knees and right thighs. 

• Now do the same with your left leg. Maintain slow breathing with your eyes closed. 

• After you are done with your lower body try to move on to your stomach, then just chest, your shoulders, your hands, and the neck and face area. 

• While focusing on your arms,  try to move at a  slow but comfortable pace. Just like the lower limbs, concentrate on each part of your hands individually like the Shoulders, then the biceps, the forearms, your wrist, and fingers.

• After you have focused on every part of your body, turn to your right and maintain slow breathing and closed Eyes. 

• Then repeat the above procedure and after 3-4  minutes,  get up, and open your eyes. 

Why should you do Yoga Nidra?

The following are some of its health benefits: 

Helps in monitoring a stressful life:

We are always thinking about what is the next target to achieve in our life,  and we engage ourselves so much to complete that target we forget about ourselves and our mind. Our body may be getting rest for 5 to 7 hours a day, but our mind is never in a peaceful state away from continuous and constant thought. We are always thinking about something and stressing out our minds.  Yoga Nidra helps us to break this chain of endless stressful feelings and introduces your mind to a trance state for at least 10 minutes a day. If done regularly, in the long run, it helps to keep our mind healthy and improves our overall effectiveness. 

Helps improve the quality of sleep:

People often target a specific number of hours they should sleep to feel energetic the next day without realizing the fact that it's sleep quality which matters, not the sleep hours.

Releases Tension:

After a tiring day at work or school, you would want to have a relaxing massage to soothe your muscles. But have you ever thought that your mind requires the same treatment? A yoga Nidra session not only helps in relieving tension from the mind, but it also helps to shed those muscle exhaust in the entire body. 

Self Time:

Take some time to break away from the monotonous chain of work,  and make out some time for yourself. Yoga Nidra helps to detach from the world of work stress and smartphones so that you can enjoy some time with yourself away from all these attachments. 

Restart your mind:

Break from the cycle of stress, even for 10 minutes a day has exceptionally positive effects on the human body. It helps us in maintaining an energetic attitude towards life by eliminating anxiety and breaking the chain of continuous thinking. 

There are numerous health benefits of Yoga Nidra Practice. You should take out some time for it to elevate the level of your mental effectiveness.