What is Yoga Nidra?
I often get asked what is Yoga Nidra, but moreso, what does the experience sound like, what will I feel.
To answer that I have recorded an example session, a ‘Gratitude Yoga Nidra’ which is wonderful to enjoy first thing in the morning or during the day to pep you up when you get those energy slumps.
What Is Yoga Nidra?
Yoga Nidra literally means ‘yogic sleep’. It is a form of guided meditation which invites you into the present, to just be and receive. It is usually practiced lying down with the Yoga Nidra facilitator guiding with the spoken word at a pace that support you to remain alert and awake rather than fall asleep.
With my Yoga Nidras I also usually accompany it with intuitive playing with my alchemy sound family, usually crystal bowls, chimes, bells, drumming etc, it varies on the content and energy at the time.
With this practice we are invited to go within, surfing between the states of wakefulness and asleep, this is called the liminal space, a place of equilibrium (homeostasis) – accompanying this experience we find we de-clutter the mind, time becomes expansive, for example 15 minutes can feel like 5 hours rest, our breath balances, we become ‘still’ and the unconscious and conscious aspects of our mind get an opportunity to reveal themselves inviting awareness.
In this experience we can then start to feel our interconnectedness with our external environment and internal, a sense of wholeness, becoming aware of our true nature, being expansive, deeply rested, inclusive and in a state of blissful being.
It is in this space that profound healing can then occur, restoration can take place, nurture and awakenings blossom.
We awaken to ourselves.
Who is it for?
Anyone and everyone can enjoy and feel the benefits of Yoga Nidra.
It is particularly profound for people however who struggle to let go, be that our emotions, our constant frenetic thoughts, to let go into relaxation, to meditate etc. It is also great to take you with guiding hand into deeper states of meditation if you are already practicing meditation but wish to go further.
The forms of Yoga Nidra that I practice and teach is from different schools and include elements of visualisation, allowing me to set scenes that include immersion of the senses and tapping into the elements around us that pertain to the energy of whatever on a larger scale we are working with, for example a Full Moon.
My Yoga Nidras are usually created from scratch for each experience or at least tweaked and the intuitive playing will be different every time. I also create bespoke Yoga Nidras as profound healing meditations on a 1:1 basis aswell as facilitating sessions for groups.
“So excited your doing another series, you are a moon Goddess in your own right. Thank you for the space you hold for healing on all levels your sessions are hypnotic and have been invaluable support for me.”
― Rachel Cherry, Facial Technician & Healer
Yoga Nidras can take anything from 15 minutes to over an hour, it really depends on the piece at the time.
I will guide you through the entire experience, starting on getting you into position, a brief intro, the welcome, the arrival through to the intention setting, body scanning, breathwork, imagery etc and any other script work that I have chosen to include in the experience.
It is important that during the Yoga Nidra experience that you are in a state of ‘receiving’ rather than doing.
Often when starting out with Yoga Nidra it is hard to stay awake, and this is fine if your body is deeply calling for sleep. But like anything with practice you can attain that liminal state fairly quickly and that is when the real magic happens.
The breathwork really helps one to go into a deep state of relaxation. Body scanning helps to improve sensory awareness and a healthy relationship with our body. When we set our intentions or Sankalpa we are energetically sending out messages of acceptance to embrace your wishes and desires as actual and happening, right here right now and as such bringing into your life positivity, growth and transformation. When we reach that neutral state of deep relaxation, it is when the de-cluttering of the mind, improving cognitive function but also allowing emotions, thoughts and beliefs often pushed away and hidden to finally welcome, respond to and create a new healthy belief system, creating positive habits rather than negative.
“I can’t live without my Yoga Nidra thanks to Justine. It’s the deepest meditation I’ve ever experienced without actually falling asleep during it. Amazing sleep afterwards.”
― Pieta Mc Crum, founder of body HIIT
Why Do I Teach Yoga Nidra?
I discovered Yoga Nidra in the midst of my own life taking a downward turn when I was experiencing chronic pain, which plagued my life for a long while, took me away from my kids and as such as a consequence I did not have a healthy relationship with my body. Being wracked with pain I saw it as my enemy at the time, and no matter how hard you can rationalise this and understand it is not your enemy it is hard to ‘hit that state’ of feeling better. I can also tend to have a busy mind, which doesn’t get any less busy when stressed.
I found myself experiencing states of journeying or deep meditative states that I had never experienced before even though I had been practising meditation and mindfulness for a while.
From this, I found space to gather my thoughts and feelings into a more balanced place, to start to love my body again, to come to a better understanding of what my body was trying to tell me and also insights, states of stillness and blissful being, deep rest and so much more that I came to a place where I had such a strong desire to be able to bring it to others in my own unique way, so that I could, in turn, bring you that same gifts from this practice that I got to enjoy.
Justine Nagaur
Founder
Feedback from one of my lovely clients, Mira, founder of Prana Coaching.
Please find below an example of one of my Yoga Nidra Meditations. This is a short one, based around the principle of fostering gratitude, a great one to start your morning with.
Make deep rest, de-cluttering of the mind, great sleep and healing a regular part of your weekly experience and come and join us on one of my series, which you can find in the Events Page tab next door!
Myself and the wonderful group of people that join me look forward to seeing you soon. Justine xxx
Grab your yoga mat or jump on your bed, get an eye pillow, plug in your headphones and enjoy the preview Gratitude Yoga Nidra below.
You can find out more about my 1:1 sessions on my ‘work with me page’ which you can find on the tab below. Or to hop on board to one of my group events, ping the button above.
Many of my Yoga Nidra series are themed ie ‘sleep tips’ and ‘moon series’ giving you the added benefit of enjoying a specific theme.
Recordings are often taken of the live events and access given after for a certain period of time, so that you can deepen your experience by continuing to listen to them daily if you wish.
Let’s not forget also that Yoga Nidra is made up of many sections, giving you the added benefit with the recording that you can just listen to certain bits, ie if you want to hone in your manifestations through intention, then just listen to that bit!
Justine Nagaur
Founder
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