What is Yog Nidra?

- Kirti Tarang Pande
Official Website, Instagram, Twitter

Mandala Courtesy: Bhavana Agarawal, Instructor, Home Yogis' Home

Yog Nidra (yogic sleep) is a state between sleeping, dreaming and wakefulness.

 At the beginner’s level, Yog Nidra is a state of dynamic sleep. As we go deeper into practice we realize that it’s an experience far beyond all this.

It is a psychic sleep, a state of deep relaxation with inner awareness. It is a spontaneous point of contact with the subconscious and unconscious dimensions.

Where it came from?

The first available reference to Yog Nidra is found in ancient Hindu text- Mandukya Upnishad, written in late 5^th century BCE.
While discussing the four stages of consciousness with respect to the scared utterance of Om (AUM), Mandukya Upnishad talks about Yog Nidra as-

An awareness of consciousness in a deep-sleep state leading to the unraveling of Prajna(highest and purest form of wisdom).

In Raja Yoga, rishi Patanjali refers to Yog Nidra as an aspect of Pratyahar, which leads to higher states of dharna (concentration) and Samadhi. He calls it a state where the mind and mental awareness are dissociated from the sensory channels.

The method:

Yog Nidra, the practitioner is guided by the Guru to turn inwards, away from the outer experiences. The entire process is an attempt to separate the consciousness from external awareness and from sleep. This sieved consciousness is used as a mind transformation tool.

Practice of Yog Nidra

These days Yog Nidra is most commonly used as guided relaxation technique, as a learning tool and as a therapy for insomnia, post traumatic stress disorder and other psychosomatic conditions.

However, traditionally, Yog Nidra is a practice of Mantra Yoga and Nyasa Yoga wings of Yoga.

In Mantra Yoga, Yog Nidra is practiced with the chant of AUM or SOHAM, to invoke the presence of a deity, in the body of a practitioner. This visualization meditation is performed before pooja.

While in Nyasa Tantra, Yog Nidra is performed at the end of the practice as a meditative technique to harmonize the deeper unconscious and awaken the inner potential.

Home Yogis’ Home and Yog Nidra

We infuse the essence of both Nyasa Tantra and Mantra Yoga in the practice of Yog Nidra. For the ease of practice, we have extracted the ritualistic practices of Nyasa Tantra from Yog Nidra. In all this, our attempt is to keep the practice as close to its original source Mandukya Upnishad as possible, while making it adaptable for our modern minds.

Therefore, we teach this powerful technique as a bedtime practice.

Caution:

While we always underline that learning to relax consciously is the step 1 in the practice of Yog Nidra, sleep isn’t regarded as relaxation. In fact, from a yogic point of view, sleep is nothing more than a sensory diversion. Therefore, the biggest challenge of our modern minds in the practice of Yoga Nidra is- to maintain a relaxed awareness and not fall asleep.

What’s the solution?  

            

Go step by step. At Home Yogis’ Home, we approach Yog Nidra through following stages and until a practitioner is comfortable with a stage we do not jump to the next one:

Stage 1:

Initiation into ‘Antar Maun’ meditation, to familiarize the practitioners with the process of resting in a relaxed awareness.

Stage 2:

Preparing the mind through a special ‘preparatory meditation’.

Stage 3:

We touch the surface of Yoga Nidra through four-point Pratyahar.

Stage 4:

Initiation into Yog Nidra.

Want to know more? Read...

1. General guidelines for practicing Yog Nidra
2. How to stay awake during Yog Nidra
3. Nyasa Tantra and Yog Nidra

On unrelated note, suggested reading:

1. Orgasm and Yoga
2. Yoga Kit for Surviving Heartbreak