Introduction to Yoga Nidra and Body Scan
Table of Contents
A message from your coach - Uma
What is Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra is an ancient method deriving from the Tantras. It is a potent technique which will teach you how to really relax. As enjoyable as it may be, watching TV or surfing the internet are not true forms of relaxation, they are merely distractions – the mind is still engaged in external activities.
Yoga Nidra induces a complete state of relaxation within the physical, mental and emotional systems. While practising Yoga Nidra, you may feel that you are asleep, but in fact, your consciousness is awake and working at a much deeper level. It is during this state of sleep and wakefulness that one may make contact with the subconscious and unconscious dimensions.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati, who pioneered the practice in the early 1950s, calls it “reaching the border between waking and sleeping states.” Western medicine would call it the confluence of alpha and delta brainwaves.
How does it work
So how does it work and what exactly is going on? As we move from a wakeful state into a sleep state, our brain moves through a range of waves starting with the active state of beta waves (14-40hz), we then move into the more relaxed and thoughtless state of alpha waves (9-13hz).
From there, we move to a state of deep meditation which is theta (3-8hz) and finally into the deep sleep waves of delta (1-3hz).
In Yoga Nidra, we are moving into the ‘hypnagogic state’ which is the state between alpha and theta waves.
In the theta state, our senses are withdrawn from the external world and are focused within. It is that twilight state which we typically only experience as we wake or drift off to sleep.
In theta, we are in a dream; vivid imagery, intuition and information beyond our ordinary conscious awareness.
After the session
After you’ve spent some time listening to and working with the body scan method, you’re ready to move onto week two where we’ll be listening to our first full Yoga Nidra.
If you haven’t already done so, you might like to have a notebook and pen/pencil nearby to jot down any images or thoughts that come up during the practice.