Yoga Nidra For Sleep

YOGA NIDRA IN A NUTSHELL

Yoga nidra is a powerful form of yoga that has been practiced for thousand of years as a process of awakening to one's true self."yoga nidra" means "yogic sleep" and goes far beyond deep relaxation to a place of  natural peace and quiet that is tremendously healing. the first stage of relaxation brings about a calm mind while the body feels heavy and deeply relaxed. An inner stillness is also felt during the second stage. As relaxation progresses, the heaviness lifts and a light, buoyant feeling arises. It is somewhat like lingering in the interval between being awake and asleep. Eventually, you will be able to remain alert and aware with a spacious, timeless feeling that is extremely peaceful while your mind and body sleep. 

Specialized relaxation exercises, breathing techniques, meditation, and guided imagery are utilized for becoming extremely relaxed and to replenish energy. The unique experience of complete awareness without words, thoughts, images, feelings, and other sensations is felt.It takes you to a place where you innate wisdom, intelligence, and intuition naturally reside. yoga nidra effectively handles everyday tension and is capable of healing deep-seated stress. It is much more than a quick fix.

One of the main tenets of yoga philosophy is that each and every one of us has an indestructible center that is already peaceful, joyful, wise, soulful, luminous, and loving. this "center" is referred to as the atma (individual soul) or atman (universal soul) and is believed to be our true self.

By nature of being human, the Atma is covered up by layers that the Yoga sages call koshas (pronounced KOH-shahs). these layers, or sheaths, are physical, energetic, mental-emotional, intuitive,and joyful. while each of these aspects is needed to be aliveand well, it is easy to get distracted with the misunderstanding that they are real and permanent. this causes us to lose the capacity to feel authentic contentment, and fulfill our own ultimate meaning and purpose of life on Earth.

Yoga masters believe that stress management and relaxation training are valuable. However, it is thought that stress will always be experienced, at least to some extent,until we can eventually identify with our true self. this amazing, life-changing realization happens gradually. yoga nidra gives us the direct experience that our inner core is stress- free and that unshakable inner peace and joy really exist within rather than outside ourselves. we learn firsthand about the temporary nature of our thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and this changes our perspective, on stress and on ourselves. our own personal faith and beliefs, religious or otherwise, are supported, clarified, and enhanced.this gives us the ability to truly quiet our mind, open our heart with compassion, and do some real healing for high-level living. everyday stresses are handled much more easily. these concepts will be explored further in chapter.