Yoga Nidra

The total systematic relaxation of yoga nidra session is equivalent to hours of ordinary sleep without awareness. A single hour of yoga nidra is as restful as four hours of conventional sleep. This is one of the secrets of the superhuman efficiency and energy of many great yogini’s and yogis, past and present, who have managed to achieve so much in one short lifetime.

Through the practice of yoga nidra, we are not only relaxing, but restructuring and reforming our whole personality from within. Like the mythological phoenix, with every session we are burning the old samskaras, habits and tendencies in order to be born anew.

Release of tension, relaxation and peace of mind are the secret of transformation.

In Hindu mythology the symbol of yoga nidra is Lord Narayana reposing on the ocean of milk. He is lying on a large serpent with many hoods, and the beautiful Laksmi is massaging his feet. From his navel a lotus flower springs, and seated in the pericarp is Lord Brahma, symbol of the unconscious. This means that in yoga nidra, your unconscious manifests. Lord Narayana is in repose; your blanket is the serpent, and the floor is the milk ocean.

All the highest ideals of life should not remin in the scriptures; we must start to live them. Yoga nidra puts us in touch with our psychic personality which is responsible for all that we think and do. With the help of yoga nidra, we can start to act on those ideals in which we believe.

In yoga nidra perhaps the most effective means of training the mind is found in sankalpa, which you make for yourself during each practice. Anything in life can fail you, but not the sankalpa made during yoga nidra.

Sankalpa is a Sanskrit word which can be translated as resolve or resolution. It is an important stage of yoga nidra and a powerful method of reshaping your personality and direction in life along positive lines. If you know what you wish to achieve in life, sankapla can be the creator of your destiny. Whether you want to become a painter, writer, orator or spiritual leader, you can train yourself through this simple technique. But first you must have a direction.

Sankalpa is a determination to become something or to do something I your life. For success, the sankalpa needs to be planted with strong will power and feeling. Because it is a very powerful technique it should be respected and used intelligently in it’s application toward self-realization and Samadhi.

If at first you are very uncertain, wait and allow understanding to develop. Sankalpa can create a direction for your whole life if you use it wisely. Sankalpa can also influence and transform the whole life pattern, not only physically but also mentally, emotionally and spiritually, therefore when your personal resolve becomes the directing force, everything you do in life becomes successful.

Samskaras are referred to as karmas, archetypes and seeds. They are like deep seated stresses and impressions stored in the nervous system and are accumulated in the layers of the inner consciousness. Yantras and mandalas are the most powerful way of releasing the stored archetypes into conscious awareness. Sometimes in yoga nidra, we are able to go to the core of the unconscious. Then we can manifest the latent faculties of the suprasonic cerebral circuits. The extra sensorial centers in the brain are known as supraconic circuits, and they are very powerful. This practice can take you very deep into the state where you are completely united with your inner being.

In yoga nidra it is not important to make yourself peaceful. Even in your mind is full of anxiety and worry, fantasy and imagination while practicing, it does not matter. If you are disturbed, it does not matter. Even if you are agonized mentally, it does not matter. Do not be too strict on yourself in the practice the important thing is simply to expose yourself to the instructions of the teacher, and to view any experiences which may arise with total awareness and detachment.

Each part of the body is precisely mapped out along the surface of the central gyrus of fold in the sensory motor cortex of the brain. Researchers have named this neuronal map or hologram of the physical body the “little one” or the motor homunculus. All the body parts through which the awareness passes during rotation of consciousness can be located there.

The use of guided imagery in yoga nidra is a very powerful method of resolving suppressed conflicts, desires, memories, and samskaras. At the same time it is the key to the awakening of a new creative individual with unlimited resources of knowledge readily accessible. Many if not all, of the truly creative discoveries in life, such as those of science, art, music and religion, were made during creative “flashes” of intuition which we can understand as occurring when the inherent k knowledge of the unconscious surface into consciousness. There are many documented examples. Newton’s revelations about gravity occurred while he was relaxing under an apple tree. Van Gogh said that “pictures come to me as in a dream”. Mozart once composed an entirely new musical composition while dozing in the back of a carriage. Einstein increased his perception of relativity while visualizing himself walking along a sunbeam. Once of the hallmarks of a genius is the ability to produce imagery in great abundance.

Some examples of sankalpas or resolves are as follows:

“My spiritual potential is awake:

“I am a positive inspiration for the evolution of others”

“I am successful in all that I undertake”

The result depends on your sincerity and deep felt need to attain the goal of your sankalpa.

In yoga nidra the practice begins with the resolve then proceeds to rotation of consciousness through the different body parts to visualization and again ends with sankalpa. This direct order from the conscious mind to the unconscious is the seed enabling one to radically change one’s attitude, behavior, and destiny. It is very important that the resolve be stated clearly and positively. This will give the mind strength and a positive outlook. Once should have sincere faith that the resolve will be effective. This faith strengthens the effect of the resolve of the unconscious mind, so that the resolve will lead to direct experience becoming a reality in one’s life.

Swami Satyananda Saraswati