There are different approaches, ideas and definitions of what Yoga Nidra is, both the practices that support it, and the state of being that it uncovers.
Its heart and soul is ultimately a spontaneous, wild intelligence that wants to work its own magic and mystery with/through you. 🙂
It’s useful to consider different approaches and feel into how they resonate with your own direct experience, giving some breathing room to make your own connections and discoveries along the way.
What does Yoga Nidra feel like to YOU?
- Does it feel like awareness in the space between waking and sleeping?
- Does it feel like being ‘awake’ while asleep, or is it more subtle and nuanced than that?
- Does it feel like subtle awareness in deepest, dreamless sleep?
- Does it feel like awareness in/of waking, dreaming AND deep sleep?
- Does it feel like awareness of a vast wilderness that is teeming with subconscious, unconscious and superconscious energy?
- Does it feel like all of these and more, and beyond even that?!
Here are some resources I have used as jumping off points for my learning exploration, in case they are helpful for your own. 🙂
Articles & Websites:
Indu Arora ~
International Journal of Yoga Therapy ~
The Yoga Nidra Network ~
Jason Birch and Jaqueline Hargreaves ~
Books:
Richard Miller, PhD ~
- Integrative Restoration Institute
- Yoga Nidra: A Meditative Practice for Deep Relaxation and Healing
- The iRest Program for Healing PTSD
Sri Aurobindo and the Mother ~
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche ~
Dr. Sarah Mednick ~
Kamini Desai ~
NC Panda ~
Pierre Bonasse ~
Karen Brody ~