Yoga Nidra meditation

Description

This yoga nidra meditation track follow the original sequence of the practice as devised by the Bihar School of Yoga.

This Yoga Nidra meditation track can be used for different purposes:

• General relaxation
• As a Power nap
• To give positive suggestions to our mind
• As an introspective tool

Yoga Nidra is very effective for:

• Insomnia
• Stress
• Anxiety
• And all conditions caused by the above causes.

Yoga Nidra technique is performed in 8 stages:

1. Preparation: First you relax your body by lying in shavasana. This is a position that minimizes touch sensation by eliminating contact between the limbs of the body, as you are lying on the floor with legs and arms apart. You then focus the mind on external sounds and you move from sound to sound with the attitude of a witness. By practicing this, the mind starts to lose interest in external sounds and will automatically become quiet. This is the stage of “prathyahara” where we shift our awareness form the external to the internal.
2. Sankalpa (resolve): The Sankalpa indicates the “resolve” the motivation behind the practice; it’s the expression of the “Will”. It’s important to choose your sankalpa very carefully. The wording should be very precise and clear. You should choose only one sankalpa according to your needs and inclination and you must not change to another. The idea of the Sankalpa is to give the mind a suggestion when it’s in a state of relaxation. The use of the Sankalpa is common in the Tantric practice of Japa (mantra repetition), Puja and Havan where the practice is done for a particular reason with the aim of achieving a particular “benefit”.
3. Rotation of consciousness. The rotation of consciousness through different parts of the body is not a practice of concentration and does not involve any physical movement. During this stage it’s important to remain aware, to listen to the voice and move the mind quickly according to the instruction. This is the core of the practice, it comes from a tantric technique called matrika nyasa, nyasa that means, “to place”, matrika refer to the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. In matrika nyasa, different letters of the Sanskrit alphabet are “placed” in different parts of the body touching that body part. In the rotation of consciousness in yoga nidra we don’t use letters or mantra, but we move the awareness along that part of the body without touching the body, just using the mind.
4. Awareness of breath: The physical relaxation is continued and completed by drawing the attention to the breath, in this stage you simply need to maintain the attention on the natural breath without any attempt to force it or change it, and greater relaxation is attained by simultaneously counting the breath mentally.
5. Creation of opposite feeling and sensations: In this stage the focus is on relaxation of the emotions and the emotional state. Feelings that are intensely physical or emotional are awakened, experienced fully and then removed. Usually we use opposite feelings like heaviness/lightness, heat /cold, pain/pleasure, love/hate. This usually brings emotional relaxation by a means of catharsis, as memories of profound feeling are re-lived. The creation and experience of opposite sensation is very useful for a Yoga practitioner, because it helps to experience the relaxation/peace in between the opposite ‘events’ that can affect the life and bring the practitioner the realisation of transcendence of duality.
6. Visualizations: This stage of yoga nidra induces mental relaxation, here some images are visualized. The images used in yoga nidra often have universal significance.
7. Sankalpa: The same sankalpa is stated.
8. Ending the practice: The practice is concluded by gradually bringing the mind from the internal to the external.

You can use this yoga nidra meditation track whenever you are

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