Yoga Nidra is also known as 'the sleep of the yogi'. In this yoga form you lie on your back (in Savasana) throughout the session. This is the most effortless and balanced resting posture for deep relaxation. You may know this posture as the final relaxation at the end of a yoga class or when doing a body scan, but neither is the same as Yoga Nidra.

Yoga Nidra is often confused with a body scan, but is a systematic, fixed sequence of experiences to the deeper layers of your consciousness through which you eventually arrive at the being experience where healing occurs. The experiences to the deeper layers include the circumambulation of consciousness (this is often referred to as body scan); vital energies and breath; sensations, feelings and emotions; ego identification, representations, images/symbols and visualisations and finally happiness experiences. In a body scan, you only touch one layer, while Yoga Nidra takes you to the deeper layers of yourself and beyond deep sleep, beyond dreams, to full awareness. Yoga Nidra is a systematic approach based on Pratyahara, the withdrawal of your senses and external stimuli, but your listening and feeling remains active. Using a series of breathing, body and awareness techniques, the teacher's verbal guidance helps you enter a deeper state of relaxation, of 'non-doing'. You bring your body into the deepest relaxation physically, mentally and emotionally, while remaining fully conscious. You do not fall asleep in Yoga Nidra, but balance on a boundary between a state of wakefulness and sleep. It is a form of meditation that leads you to subconscious layers of yourself allowing you to clean up your system. It purifies the nerve pathways to your brain. In deepest relaxation, a healing energy can flow from the body, freeing you from the limitations of the mind that go beyond time and space. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Yoga Nidra is een systematische aanpak die gebaseerd is op Pratyahara, het terugtrekken van je zintuigen en externe prikkels, maar je luisteren en voelen blijft actief. Met een serie van adem-, lichaams- en bewustzijnstechnieken helpt de verbale begeleiding van de docent je om in een diepere staat van ontspanning, van ‘non-doing’, te komen. Je brengt je lichaam fysiek, mentaal en emotioneel in de diepste ontspanning, terwijl je volledig bij bewustzijn blijft. Je valt niet in slaap bij Yoga Nidra, maar balanceert op een grens tussen een staat van waken en slapen. Het is een vorm van meditatie die je leidt naar onderbewuste lagen van jezelf waardoor je je systeem kunt opschonen. Het zuivert de zenuwbanen naar je hersenen. In de diepste ontspanning kan een helende energie vanuit het lichaam stromen en bevrijd je van de beperkingen van de geest die voorbijgaan aan tijd en ruimte.

Yoga Nidra can be practised by everyone. It can be helpful for people who sleep badly and suffer from sleep deprivation. As you descend into a deep state of being, you come to a deeper connection with yourself and experience a deeper sense of peace and calm. In order not to miss the point of Yoga Nidra, this form is practised without music, but you follow the instructions of the yoga teacher. In Yoga Nidra you do not fall asleep, but remain conscious. If this should happen, it is not a problem. The effect continues, but the intention is not to fall asleep. To achieve the desired effect, the minimum duration of a Yoga Nidra session is half an hour to three quarters of an hour. Otherwise you do not reach the deeper layers of yourself and your system cannot recover. 45 minutes of Yoga Nidra equals three hours of sleep.