yoga nidra

[Brother Neil]

to the more informed then I. Yoga nidra is Yogic sleep. does this mean it can be done at bedtime and you sleep through the night?
thanks
Brother Neil

[Pandara]

Yes you can, but be warned you won't sleep through the night, you'll wake up 2-4 hours later bright and ready for the day and it is only 2am. What to do then? Get up and do work or meditate or tossing around in bed until 6am arrives and you are tired of all the activity? This is what happened to me the few times I did yoga nidra just before bed with a cd. Remember to leave out the last part where they bring you back to the waking state in yoga nidra.

Yoga nidra is best used in a yoga setup as part of your total yoga programme.

[suryadaya]

Originally Posted by Pandara

Yes you can, but be warned you won't sleep through the night, you'll wake up 2-4 hours later bright and ready for the day and it is only 2am.

Ooooh so then maybe I should get one of these nice cds for when those nights when I stay awake until 3am! I'll wake up just in time for class and work!
Hooray!

[InnerAthlete]

Yoga nidra elicits certain brain wave patterns that are NOT identical to the sleep phase in human beings. As such, it is obviously not "sleep" in the traditional sense NOR can it easily be entered by the practitioner themselves. The mind reaches a certain point where it cannot be reached by itself and needs to move more deeply to be classified as yoga nidra. For this reason an external guide - a teacher or audio tape/dvd/cd is best.

Some very advanced yogis (read: renunciates) can achieve this state of their own accord. Others merely deceive themselves into believing they have entered such a realm "on their own" and this, obviously is fodder for the Ego.

Gordon

[Brother Neil]

thanks pandara and IA for your insight
brother Neil

[Techne]

So, a question from the 'uninformed but hopefully intelligent' side:
There are states of relaxation that a person can achieve unassisted that are quite lovely and are a great way to initiate nourishing sleep, right?
Or, at least, when one attempts to sleep without deliberately relaxing first, that sleep has a better chance of being poor in quality?

[yalgaar]

Any recommendations on the CD for practicing yoga nidra?

[john104]

Theres a 'Yoga Nidra' cd available at swamij.com

[Brother Neil]

Originally Posted by Techne

So, a question from the 'uninformed but hopefully intelligent' side:
There are states of relaxation that a person can achieve unassisted that are quite lovely and are a great way to initiate nourishing sleep, right?
Or, at least, when one attempts to sleep without deliberately relaxing first, that sleep has a better chance of being poor in quality?

good point mr. uniformed but intelligent

[Pandara]

Originally Posted by Techne

So, a question from the 'uninformed but hopefully intelligent' side:
There are states of relaxation that a person can achieve unassisted that are quite lovely and are a great way to initiate nourishing sleep, right?
Or, at least, when one attempts to sleep without deliberately relaxing first, that sleep has a better chance of being poor in quality?

Dear Mary,

I would like to give you a quote by Swami Satyananda Saraswati on Yoga Nidra: " Yoga nidra is a more efficient and effective form of psychic and psychological rest and rejuvenation than conventional sleep. Those who adopt this practice (yoga nidra) in their daily routine soon experience profound changes in their sleeping habits."

These profound changes in your sleeping habits is something that I have experienced first hand. I used to be a very restless sleeper, turning and tossing around leading to great unhappiness with my partner. When I started yoga my teacher soon introduced me to yoga nidra and after a few months my partner told me one morning that my sleep is much more calmly and that I don't turn and toss around as much anymore. So yoga nidra can influence the quality of your normal sleep as well, but the greatest benefit is still when you practice yoga nidra under the guidance of a good teacher.

[yalgaar]

I am in process of exploring and gaining enough knowledge about yoga nidra so I can start he practice. I am also researching proper CD that will help me with the practice.

While thinking more about this I am confused and think this may not be for me. I would appreciate to know thoughs on the same?

I have a several sleep apnea condition. I sleep with a bi-pap mask to get me a continuos air flow to breathe in my sleep. I am still not comfortable wearing this mask; but really don't have a choice. I hate to wear it, but hate myself more next day if i don't wear it becuase i feel like crap all day for not getting the sleep needed by my mind and my body. Not getting proper and enough oxygen. So I am left with wearing it which is stil very uncomfortable and makes me feel weird even after 1 year of using it.

Now, if I do yoga nidra, it means I have to kinda concentrate on the audio, attempt to relax....I doubt I can do it while my wearing the crazy mask. Wearing the mask does not allow me to relax...at least for quite some time.

Now if I don't wear the mask, if you are not aware of sleep apnea....I would fall asleep and stop breating...and my brain would make me wake up gasping for breath. This would wake me up from Yoga Nidra.

Your thoughts?

[yalgaar]

Hello friends, I wanted to share that I practiced my first yoga nidra session yesterday night using the CD "john104" recommended. So thanks a lot "john104"


Following was my experience:

I could not believe myself that I was so calm while listening to the CD. I found myself very relaxed most of the time. The total time listening was close to 1 hour. At some point of the session it seemed very long but later after the session I could not believe 1 hour passed so fast. Some times during the session I found it boring and so frustrating as well. But I kept on going. Like I mentioned earlier the overall experience was very relaxing and calming.

Even though i was relaxed most of the time, I didn't find myself into "deep sleep" at all. Yes I was concious all the time. To the best of my knowledge in "yoga nidra" you will be concious but in "deep sleep" I highly doubt I got any where close to the "deep sleep" part. Or maybe I still don't know what exactly is "deep sleep" supposed to feel like.

Will be very nice to hear your experiences as well. Also how do you define "deep sleep" ?