If you desire the benefits of yoga but the thought of attempting to be flexible in a room full of strangers has you heading for the door, then yoga nidra might be the practice for you. Yogic sleep (as it’s commonly known) is a powerful meditation technique that looks like a nap. Practitioners lie in savasana (corpse pose-flat on your back) while going through the five layers of self to reach a state where the body is completely relaxed yet capable of increasing awareness of the inner world. After class, you’re left with a strong sense of wholeness and relaxation.
Here are some (more) pros to trying it out.
1. If you’ve stayed away from Yoga in the past because of mobility issues, then you’re in luck. In yoga nidra, as long as you can lie on your back, you can do it. And even if that’s not possible for you, it can be modified for a seated position.
2. The stages of yoga nidra take you through body scans and breathing awareness that really allow you to relax into your body and focus your mind away from daily stresses and anxiety. This leads to less stress and therefore overall better health.
3. You can’t mess it up! There are no movements or poses to follow, so flexibility, strength and mobility won’t help you in this class.
4. Deep relaxation created by yoga nidra improves the function of your nervous and endocrine system. So almost all aspects of health benefit, from hormone balance and mood to thyroid and muscle repair.