Brought to the masses in the early 1950s by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, yoga nidra has its roots in ancient tantric texts. The practice claims to help you reach ‘the border between waking and sleeping states’. Sometimes described as ‘dynamic sleep’, it allows the body to get into a deep state of relaxation, while keeping the mind alert. It doesn’t involve holding poses or moving through sequences, but laying still while an instructor talks you through a set of relaxation techniques to put you in a meditative state.
There are various offshoots, like ‘Divine Sleep’, which claims to take you out of flight or fight mode and put you into a relaxation response, and iRest, which is a more ‘westernised’ version, with easy-to-understand terminology. It’s been steadily gaining in popularity, as it’s seen as an effective way to offset stressful modern lifestyles and reduce anxiety.
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September 2018
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