An Exercise in Relaxation

What if I told you that you could reap the benefits of a solid 4 hour nap in only 20 minutes? Or reduce/release stress and boost your immune system while lying down and doing ‘nothing’? Would you do it?

This is exactly what the ancient practice of Yoga Nidra does. Unlike the traditional yoga where you move through poses like downward dog or warrior II on your yoga mat, Yoga Nidra, also called Yoga Sleep, is practiced while comfortably lying down, in stillness and promises increased levels of awareness, mood regulation, better sleep and a boost in your immune system.

Often described as ‘meditation made easy’ Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation where participants bring awareness to their breath while the ‘guide’ directs their attention to specific body parts, one by one usually starting with the toes and working up to the top of the head. Participates pause on each focus point and bring their acute awareness to that point, then gently move on. This guided body scan eases the participant into a profound meditative state - a place between being awake and asleep, where one has access to brainwaves that help create balance in the body’s nervous system. Unlike self-guided seated meditation where the participant may often lose focus and dwell on mind chattering thoughts, Yoga Nidra takes away the pressure of ‘doing it right’ allowing relaxation in its ultimate form.

But does it work? In a study by Harvard on the physiological effects of Yoga Nidra verses traditional forms of meditation, it was found that participants rebuilt the gray matter (increasing brain plasticity) in their brains after a few short weeks of meditation. Gray matter is areas of the brain that contain most of the brains neural cell bodies. These areas of the brain are responsible for sensory perception, muscle control, hearing, memory, decision making, emotions and movement of muscles (just to name a few).

“The study was led by a Harvard-affiliated team of researchers based at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the team’s MRI scans documented for the very first time in medical history how meditation produced massive changes inside the brain’s gray matter. “Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day,” says study senior author Sara Lazar of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program and a Harvard Medical School instructor in psychology. “This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing.”

So if you are looking to become more present, better able to manage stress and find more clarity and perhaps more purpose in your life, why not give Yoga Nidra a try? At hOMe with Nicole offers guided audio Yoga Nidra Practices and all you have to do is find a comfortable spot and listen!

Here is the link to try it out for free!: https://vimeo.com/402726298