Enchanted pen

You know in the current times that we live in, we generally believe in working fast, easting fast, being competitive, knowing what’s going on around in the world with a few clicks and in a few seconds and most of all we have come down to making a small world of stress, anxiety and scrolling through the phone without worrying about our sleep. And in most of the cases now people just can’t sleep because they have too many thoughts and it just doesn’t happen even if they want to. Which obviously leads to a generational insomnia. Given that people love to sleep but they either sleep at the wrong time or don’t go to sleep at all which obviously leads to a lot of physical problems in the future.

“Yoga Nidra is a powerful technique in which you learn to relax consciously. It is a systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental, and emotional relaxation.” – Swami Satyananda Saraswati

1. UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE OF MEDITATION AND YOGA NIDRA

Meditation solely focuses the mind on a particular object such as breathing or mantras but Yoga Nidra is something where you lie down peacefully and relax every single body part with deep relaxation while you’re fully aware. With meditation it depends on what meditation you choose which leads you to different states of consciousness but with Yoga Nidra you’re more relaxed and just completely aware to enjoy the relaxation.

2. BENEFITS OF YOGA NIDRA

• Helps to flush out toxins in your body along with reducing stress and anxiety
• It’s simple enough to practise everyday and it allows you to know and be intimate with your body.
• It’s not only physical relaxation it also gives emotional relaxation and helps with the psychological conditions by reducing the symptoms of depression, post traumatic disorder and addictions.
• And the best part of it is there is no wrong way to practise this, anyone can practise yoga nidra.

3. TECHNIQUES TO DO YOGA NIDRA STEP BY STEP

• Firstly lie on your back with your arms open by your side, palms open and legs a little apart. When you’re comfortable in that position, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
• Now since the process is to relax every part of your body, start with your right or left foot of your choice and keep your awareness on the foot till it’s completely relaxed, after that gradually go up to your leg, knee, thighs and hips. Now after you reach the hips imagine the whole leg being relaxed and take a deep breath. Now repeat the process on the opposite leg. 
• After your legs are done, focus on going with a chronological order: after legs, your private parts, lower and upper abdomen, chest, back, right and left arm with shoulders, left arm with shoulders, neck, throat and lastly face. 
• After you reach the last point, just let the whole body relax with deep breaths and when you’re through that bring your awareness back to the body surroundings and then slowly turn to your right side, make your hand like a pillow and after a few minutes push your left hand on the ground and come up to a seated position. 
• Again take a few deep breaths, run your palms till heat generated, bring it to your eyes and pass on the heat and whenever you’re ready slowly open your eyes. 

There you have it folks, this is the art of Yoga Nidra. And as a yoga instructor myself I can tell it just works wonders. The feeling after this fully aware sleep is just magical. Let me know if you would opt to do this in the comments section and I will see you in the next one. Toodles.