February 20, 2023
What are the benefits of Yoga Nidra
It’s important that we make time for our health now, so we don’t have to make time for our dis-ease later.
Yoga Nidra is offered at every Sunsetbay Retreat, usually on the first evening to give everyone a sense that they have come to relax both their body and their mind! Yoga Nidra is a powerful meditation technique where you get to lie in Savasana (corpse pose) the whole time while you’re systematically instructed through a deep relaxation exercise. Yoga Nidra guides you through the layers of your being and drops you into deep relaxation where healing and true restoration can occur. The sequence of cues relaxes the body and awakens the unconscious and subconscious mind. The benefits of Yoga Nidra are plentiful and range from better sleep to reduced stress and beyond.
Anyone can practice Yoga Nidra to receive it’s valuable health benefits.
- Yoga Nidra Reduces Stress
Yoga Nidra promotes deep rest and relaxation that isn’t found in your average meditation, the stages of body scan and breath awareness alone calms the nervous system leading to less stress.
- Yoga Nidra Allows The Body to Restore.
Yoga Nidra induces a sleep-like state of relaxation, although remining conscious the brain is guided into a sleep state producing delta waves and theta waves.
When our brain waves have slowed down to the delta level of 1-4 cyles per second, this is when the body has an opportunity to rest, restore and heal.
- Yoga Nidra Can Be Used to Heal From Trauma.
Yoga Nidra has proved to help people heal and move on from trauma. It has been proven that soldiers in the USA with post-traumatic stress disorder were given yoga nidra into a weekly treatment program which improved reduced rage and anxiety and increased feelings of [peace, relaxation and self-efficacy.
- Yoga Nidra Reduces PMS Symptoms
Yoga Nidra is known to help women with menstrual irregularities, a survey on women with severe PMS found they improved significantly in the areas of their wellbeing, anxiety and depression by learning and applying a yoga nidra program, becoming less agitated, experience more energy and overall more balanced emotionally.
- Yoga Nidra Reduces Chronic Pain
Yoga Nidra when used as an intervention in treating chronic pain, gives the body time to rest, recover and restore, which brings down inflammation, improves the function of the immune system, therefore speeding up the healing process.
- Yoga Nidra Improves Sleep and Reduces Insomnia
Yoga Nidra is known to improves insomnia and enhance sleep quality. Insomnia and sleep deprivation contribute to mental disorders, stress management and immune suppression. Yoga nidra trains the mind and body to relax and move more easily into the deeper states of sleep. Forty-five minutes of yoga nidra is equal to up to 3 hours of sleep! Sleep is vital to our health and wellbeing.
- Yoga Nidra Reduces Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes
Yoga Nidra and other deep relaxation practices may even extend to those with type 2 diabetes. Many studies have found yoga nidra positively affected blood glucose levels may reduce the symptoms of diabetes.
- Yoga Nidra Controls Heart Rate Variability
Yoga Nidra is known for improving Heart Rate Variability. The practice of yoga nidra shifts the balance of the autonomic nervous system toward the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system is what governs our relaxation response, commonly referred to the “rest and digest” response.
- Yoga Nidra Can Alter Thought Pattern’s
Yoga Nidra offers a sankalpa (an intention or positive affirmation) which can facilitate life altering changes in one’s thought patterns, relationships and achievements. It is a tool that the yogis have been using for many years to achieve new and positive changes in one’s life.
- Yoga Nidra Heps Us To Be In The Moment
Yoga Nidra helps switch us out of doing and into being in the now so we can rest, offering a space to explore what you need in the moment as well as an opportunity to work on long-held emotions.
Our bodies naturally want to heal and yoga nidra gives our body the time to do just that.
“Theta waves delta level of 4-7 are always creative, characterized by feelings of inspiration and very spiritual. It is believed that this mental state allows you to act below the level of the conscious mind.”” – Maggie Paterson
Yoga nidra has been proven effective in reducing stress and anxiety. A 2018 study published in the International Journal of Yoga found that yoga nidra was more effective than meditation at reducing both cognitive and physiological symptoms of anxiety. In the United States there has been a dramatic increase in hospitalizations due to stress in both men and women.
Yoga nidra guides the student into the deepest state of sleep where the brain produces theta (4-7 hertz) and delta waves (1-3 hertz), but the student remains conscious throughout. According to Theta Healing, “Theta State is a state of very deep relaxation; it is used in hypnosis and during REM Sleep. The brain waves are slowed down at a frequency of 4-7 cycles per second…
Delta waves on the other hand, are the slowest waves at 1-4 cycles per second and are experienced during deep dreamless sleep. When our brain waves have slowed down to the delta level, it is when our body has an opportunity to rest, restore and heal.
According to the same Boston Globe article before “the US Army Surgeon General endorsed.
There have actually been a handful of studies on the efficacy of yoga nidra’s ability to reduce PMS symptoms. According to one recent study, “…
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults and young adults get 7-9 hours of sleep every night. poor memory and trouble concentrating
- heart disease, heart attack & stroke
- increased blood pressure
- low libido
- weight gain
- diabetes
- a weakend immune system
- increased inflammation
Yoga nidra is a good way to supplement your sleep if you’re not sleeping well at night. You could try yoga nidra during your lunch break or give it a try right before bed — go ahead and crawl into bed and prepare yourself for a restful night of sleep.
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