Yoga Nidra is a meditation and conscious relaxation practice that is intended to induce total physical, mental and emotional relaxation. Yoga Nidra puts you into a deep state of relaxation and has the ability to alter your unconscious programming. It’s a powerful method of reshaping your mind-set and changing the course of your life for the better. This practice can literally change the course of your destiny.

Yoga Nidra literally means Yogic Sleep and is a state of conscious deep sleep. In meditation, you remain in the waking state of consciousness, and gently focus the mind, while allowing thought patterns, emotions, sensations and images to arise and go on. However, in Yoga Nidra, you leave the waking state, go past the dreaming state and go to deep sleep, yet remain awake. It is in this state that the Sankalpa goes to work.

A Sankalpa is an intention formed by the heart and the mind—a one-pointed resolve. This Sankalpa is set at the beginning of a class; the practice of Yoga Nidra allows the Sankalpa to go very deep in one’s psyche, thus making it a call to awakening. It makes one able to direct consciousness through the chakras. 

Yoga Nidra fosters feelings of peace, calmness and clarity. The practice alleviates stress, decreases anxiety and eases insomnia. It reduces the effects of PTSD and chemical dependency, heightens awareness and focus, transforms negative habits, behaviors and ways of thinking, all while easing chronic pain. It is said by many that an hour of Yoga Nidra equates to four hours of sleep. Yoga Nidra is a relaxing yet extremely powerful practice.

Yoga Nidra is offered locally at The Sanctuary for Yoga, in Medford. For more information, call 609-953-7800, email [email protected] or visit TheSanctuaryForYoga.com.