Learn About Yoga Nidra, Yogic Sleep

Have you been looking to take up meditation but just can’t quite find the time or the stamina to sit for 10 minutes and clear your mind? Do you notice your thoughts just don’t seem to go away in meditation? Or maybe your left leg keeps falling asleep? 

Well, if you are looking for a way to start meditating and need a little help quieting the mind, you need to try Yoga Nidra. 

Literally translated it means Yogic Sleep. 

We all know how to sleep! The difference here is that we use the brain to drop into dreamlike states, while still remaining conscious. How do we do that? 

Through a guided Yoga Nidra practice, we take the brain down from waking states to dreamlike states. We follow the wave of consciousness down from Beta (Waking state) to Gamma (learning state) to Alpha (The bridge to sleep) to Theta (REM/dreamlike state) to Delta (Restorative). Yoga Nidra literally helps calm and quiet the mind. Allowing your body to release trapped energy and start to naturally heal. 

The benefits of Yoga Nidra include: 

• Increase in GABA (Decreases anxiety and depression), melatonin (increases restful sleep), serotonin (supports your memory and mood), oxytocin (creates a feeling of calm, security, contentment, and reduces pain), endorphins, dopamine, and DHEA (enhances memory). 

• It decreases Cortisol, which is tied to lower immunity, accelerates aging, elevates blood pressure, causes weight gain, heart attacks, and strokes.

What Yoga Nidra Is Not…

It’s not hypnosis. In hypnosis, the left side of the brain is shut down, allowing the right side to take control. Yoga Nidra activates both sides of the brain through a series of specific techniques. 

With all the stress we are all experiencing in our homes, jobs, and the world around us…it’s often hard to find moments to quiet the mind. 

Did you know that chronic stress or continued exposure to stress without healthy ways to engage the parasympathetic nervous system can increase the chances of death from a stroke? 

Stress creates inflammation, which then leads to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s diseases, and arthritis. 

Companies lose $200-300 billion a year in stress-related illnesses and work productivity. 

Over 77% of the workforce is burnt out. 

The Research Shows…

• Individuals who practiced meditation for five months saw a 40-50% decrease in response to pain and stress. 

• 30 minutes of Yoga Nidra is equal to 3 hours of REM sleep

• People exposed to trauma or who have PTSD have seen a 47-50% improvement in their PTSD symptoms 

• Practices like Yoga Nidra help improve sleep, decrease pain from chronic illnesses, and lower blood pressure

We offer various Yoga Nidra practices throughout the week in our studio and online.  We teach various lineages depending on the teacher…Bihar, Himalayan, and most recently the I AM Yoga Nidra lineage through the Amrit Institute. 

We also offer this for corporate environments…we can help take your teams through 20-30 minutes of mindful meditation through Yoga Nidra. It’s been shown that the more teams are given a chance to release the stress from the day and rebalance the nervous system, the more productive they become and the less reactive to small issues. 

This practice will truly transform your life. All you have to do is find the time. 

Namaste

Follow Buka Yoga Studio Owner, Brooke Page-Thompson on Insight Timer! Download the app from any device and follow @brpthompson for I AM Yoga Nidra practices.