Need a Nap?—Try yoga Nidra
Scroll to end of post for Yoga Nidra recording.
Ok this is a long one but trust, it’s worth it. 🤓
We’ve all been to that place where we hit a wall, the dreaded mid afternoon crash. You think, “just a quick power nap, twenty minutes should do the trick. Then I’ll get up and make dinner.” You wake up an hour later (or more) even more groggy and grumpy than you were before you laid down. So much for power naps.
Or perhaps you toss and turn at night, struggling with insomnia. What if there was an energetic alternative to reset and restore without reaching for another cup of caffeine or a way to invoke the Sandman without prescription help?
Enter yoga Nidra, my favorite way to recharge the batteries and re-align inner frequencies. So what is this nap with benefits all about?
Yoga Nidra translates to enlightened sleep and is a guided technique that lasts between thirty to forty five minutes, a practice of quality over quantity- though you may “wake up” feeling as refreshed as if you’d been out for three hours. No poses or postures, just blankets and brainwaves.
Like meditation? Well, sort of.
In yoga Nidra, we are lay down and intentionally move into a deeply relaxed form of consciousness, using pointed awareness to bring focused relaxation. The result is what happens in your brain (and body consequently) when you drop into a state of stillness that feels as heavy and restful as sleep, but without falling asleep.
Your body is a bag of water with electricity running through it wrapped in a skin suit.
Ok, that’s not the most eloquent imagery, but it’s true. Your sleep is governed by this miraculous electrical circuitry and cycles through different phases as it moves from wavelength to wavelength. These electrical patterns each play a role in how the brain functions energetically and biochemically and each frequency has a different job.
The body is wicked cool.
When you first lay down and tell the body it’s time to rest, beta waves decrease. These are wiggling around up there when we are engaged, aroused, and active. They are also associated with anxiety and aging. We focus on and slow down the breath and this feels good to the body, so it responds by pumping out a little more serotonin. This feel good hormone is triggered by alpha waves, a frequency resonating with calmer times like sitting in the garden or meditating, connecting to the heart.
Theta waves are also increased as we move through relaxing visualization.
Ever been in a daydream and end up missing your exit home because you were on “auto-pilot” visualizing somewhere else entirely? You can thank theta waves for daydreams, DNA repair, and antioxidant activity. Last but not least, in yoga Nidra we cycle into the sublime state of delta wave. The slowest of the cycle, this dreamless state is thought by neuroscientists to be when neurons regenerate and the brain’s lymphatic channels clean up sticky plague and any toxic junk slowing down the firing system.
Calming the fight or flight response, switching on rest and digest, and balancing the part of your autonomic nervous system that maintains your immunity, digestion, and stress levels…we’re tapping into that vagus nerve, baby! When we hit slow delta waves, we stimulate our pineal gland (third eye) which releases melatonin. Having a hard time with sleep? Pop on a yoga Nidra right before bed may drop you into the most delicious night of deep rest.
In a nutshell, the practice of yoga Nidra lowers beta and increases alpha, theta, and delta waves while you’re conscious. We are literally regenerating, replenishing, and changing how the mind fluctuates by chilling out on purpose. How empowering is that.
Back in the yoga studio days, I guided a weekly yoga Nidra and people would leave half floating, half crawling off of the bolsters and into bed. Now with the recording below, you can enjoy this blissful practice from the comfort of your bedroom.
Ready to try it? Made for you with love, here is a yoga Nidra with a 61 point guided relaxation by yours truly.
Night night, sleep tight.