Whether you are a beginner or you have been practicing for sometime it’s always nice to bring yourself back to what it is that you are benefiting from by doing this practice.
The benefits of Yoga Nidra/Non Sleep Deep Rest:
1. When you practice Yoga Nidra for approximately 45 minutes you’re actually receiving the same amount of rest from 2 to 4 hours of sleep.
If you are a person that struggles with sleep and getting an adequate amount of sleep, this is a practice that is going to help you restore that balance.
2. Regulating the nervous system
We are looking at two parts of the nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is where we are usually living our life from, which can be from a fight or flight, freeze or phon state, which are all trauma responses.
All of the overstimulation happens in this part of the nervous system. So, when you practice yoga, Nidra, you are moving from a sympathetic to the parasympathetic. The parasympathetic nervous system is where we rest, digest, and relax. This is where healing happens, and ability to process everything we are constantly bombarded with. Yoga, Nidra works with the vagus nerve to calm down the body and regulate the nervous system.
3. Regulates production of lactic acid
Blood lactate is a way that we can measure in our blood what are stress markers are. If you are in the heightened level of stress you’re going to have a higher level of lactate. Yoga Nidra helps to lower that.
4. Lowers Heart Rate/Diastolic + Systolic Reduction
When you are practicing Yoga Nidra, your heart rate begins to lower. This is why you may feel a little bit cooler, and is an indication of the body is restoring.
5. Brain Waves
When you practice Non Sleep Deep Rest you move into the alpha brain wave state. This is a place where we enter into relaxation, and peacefulness, and are able to actually feel a sense of calm.
6. Respiration Rate: Restores the Autonomic Nervous System
When you are in the rest and repair state of the parasympathetic nervous system, you are healing and resting, and you need a little less oxygen. The breath begins to slow down in the state.
7. Enhances your ability to respond vs. react
The more you practice Yoga Nidra the more you strengthen this ability to step in to the witness mind. The benefit of this is that when you are in a situation, that would maybe be triggering, stressful, or create anxiety, you are able to take a moment and step outside of the experience, and witness exactly what is going on without just reacting. This gives you the power to respond versus react.
8. Enhances Memory Retention
Another great benefit is that it allows you to learn and retain. When you practice non-sleep, deep rest, you’re actually strengthening your ability to become aware of the conscious and subconscious programming that is happening in your world. The powerful thing about this is that you can start to recognize and retain these experiences in a way that’s going to benefit your world moving forward.
9. Ayurvedic Benefit Clears Energy Channels
The practice of Yoga Nidra harmonizes the pranic energy of the body. Prana is the life force of the breath. In Arigato, which is an ancient medicine in India, they call the systems of the body the Nadis, or energy channels. When you have a difficult experience in your life that can create a block in the body. This is why you may have pain in some areas of the body or certain areas of the body never seem to be able to relax deeply. We know that trauma is not stored in the brain, but in the tissue of the body. When practicing we bring awareness to all areas of the body, which can open up all of the energy channels, and help to remove trauma of any kind.
10. Strengthens Resilience
When we practice non sleep deep rest, and what happens is that we are actually building this ability to rise up, when we get pull down by life. Whether it’s depression, or anxiety, grief or illness, these things can pull us out of the present moment. Yoga Nidra helps us to move into a more healthy experience to deal with life in and respond in a more resilient way. When you build a relationship with your subconscious by allowing yourself to deprogram everything that’s held you back from being able to step forward into your true authentic self.
11. Cultivating Peace at Will
By practicing resilience begins to cultivate the will to live, and overcome. Yoga Nidra builds indomitable will.
12. Deep Healing Rest
Whenever we are in a state of unrest or illness, or something that is within us that we want to heal, we have to find the balance between doing and being. Healing comes from the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the relaxation mode. To rest and to digest is to heal. When you’re practicing Yoga Nidra, you are lying down and you were allowing yourself to do that. This allows you to actually heal. It is truly a transformative practice!
Join us for Yoga Nidra!
We hope that you will join us in the studio, or on zoom to experience for your self! Yoga Nidra is every Thursday 7-8:30pm EST.
For all details please see link: