Peace of Mind: Some Benefits of Yoga Nidra (guided relaxation practice)
If I had to choose between a physical practice, a sitting meditation, or a Yoga nidra, I would choose Yoga nidra for all the benefits it has for the mind and body. The best thing about Yoga nidra is that anyone can easily do it and by doing it consistently, receive the benefits of it. Even just practising a 20 minute Yoga nidra a few times a week will be beneficial.
If you’d like to try a Yoga Nidra, click on one of the pictures on this page.
A regular Yoga nidra practice has been proven to reduce anxiety levels (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6134749/) and prompt dopamine release in the brain, a neurotransmitter that has a profound effect on brain function and mental health (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0926641001001069).
It can be difficult for us to reconcile our culture’s reverence for constant effort and striving with the idea that lying down for a deep rest is more important than “achieving” or doing something. But Yoga nidra is beneficial for our nervous systems on its own, without the physical practice that often goes before it in classes. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22866996/).
During Yoga nidra, the brain produces theta (4-7 hertz) and delta waves (1-3 hertz), the brain waves of deep sleep, and yet we remain conscious throughout the practice. These are the brain waves that facilitate deep restoration both physically and psychologically, while reducing pain and stress levels.
Theta is the state of mental and emotional healing. Unprocessed thoughts and feelings are reorganised and cleared. Theta waves stimulate learning and memory, allowing us to be creative and intuitive.
When delta waves are dominant, your physical body heals and regenerates and cortisol, the “stress hormone” is lowered. Delta waves are correlated with empathy. If we don’t get enough uninterrupted time in the delta state, we can become less sensitive both to our own needs and to the needs of others.
Due to this brain wave activity in Yoga nidra, 15 to 20 minutes of this practice is said to be equal to up to 1 hour of sleep. Yoga nidra can certainly help reduce the impacts of poor sleep, such as poor memory and trouble concentrating, heart disease, increased blood pressure, metabolism dysfunction, hormonal imbalance, weakened immune system and increased inflammation. Yoga nidra also trains the mind and body to relax and move more easily into the deeper states of sleep, so that with regular practice, you’ll sleep better.
Yoga nidra is also a gift for anyone suffering from chronic pain in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. In this study Yoga nidra “showed significant clinical relief in pain, tenderness, stiffness and swelling of the joint in all patients taken under trial. Those patients reported feeling of well being lightness in the body, improvement in mental tension, muscular tension & emotional tension”: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3800872/
These are just some of the general benefits of Yoga nidra, but each practice is unique and can be crafted to provide very specific benefits.
Some Yoga Nidra/iRest research
Remotely Delivered Yoga Nidra for Insomnia and Anxiety during COVID-19
Erica Sharpe, Matthew Butler, Doug Hanes, Ryan Bradley Sleep, Volume 44, Issue Supplement_2, May 2021, Page A96
“Remotely delivered Yoga Nidra is feasible to deliver, and demonstrates potential benefits for anxiety and insomnia, warranting additional research”.
https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsab072.240
https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/44/Supplement_2/A96/6260149
The effects of a yoga nidra practice on mental health clinicians' perceived stress Kyla L. Ferguson Smith College (2016)
“Participants reported significantly lowered perceived stress at the end of the study, indicating that yoga nidra may be a useful intervention in managing and preventing workplace stress.”
The effects of a yoga nidra practice on mental health clinicians' perceived stress
Effectiveness of a short Yoga Nidra meditation on stress, sleep, and well-being in a large and diverse sample Esther N. Moszeik, Timo von Oertzen & Karl-Heinz Renner
Current Psychology (2020)
“Overall, a large, heterogeneous sample showed that already a very short dose of meditation can positively influence stress, sleep, and well-being…”
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-020-01042-2
Yoga Nidra as an Adjunctive Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Feasibility Study Conducted at Walter Reed Army Hospital in conjunction with funding from the Samueli Institute
“Yoga Nidra may be a beneficial and accepta-ble treatment approach for soldiers experi-encing significant symptoms of PTSD.”
Effects of a yoga nidra on the life stress and self-esteem in university students
Department of Nursing, College of Health Science, Kangwon National University: 346 Hwangjo-gil, Dogye-eup, Samcheok-si, Gangwon-do, 245-907, Republic of Korea Received 19 December 2018, Revised 4 March 2019, Accepted 4 March 2019, Available online 8 March 2019.
“The yoga nidra group showed significantly decreased life stress intensity levels compared to the control group...”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1744388118308089?via%3Dihub
iRest Yoga-Nidra on the College Campus: Changes in Stress, Depression, Worry, and Mindfulness October 2013 International Journal of Yoga Therapy Heather Eastman-Mueller, Indiana University Bloomington; Ae-Kyung Jung, Gyeongin National University of Education;
Andrea Kimura, University of Missouri; Jeff Tarrant, NeuroMeditation Institute
“iRest yoga-nidra practice may reduce symptoms of perceived stress, worry, and depression and increase mindfulness-based skills”.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258116123_iRest_Yoga-Nidra_on_the_College_Campus_Changes_in_Stress_Depression_Worry_and_Mindfulness
“Immediate effects of yoga nidra and shavasana (supine rest) among insomnia patients on heart rate variability”-a comparative study
KshetrimayumGuneri Devi, Shivaprasad Shetty and Prashanth Shetty 2019
“This study result concluded that Yoga Nidra improved HRV significantly by increasing parasympathetic activity and reduces the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality rate of insomnia patients”.
