A Review Study On-Yoga NIDRA And Its Impact

Abstract

In the present situation, human life has gotten quick, disorderly and testing. The present lifestyle requests adjustment with respect to the person. Every one of us, as per our coping resources, tries to fiddle with in this varying world. Some adjust by becoming overactive and others by moving back from the situation. When we fail to make a proper modification according to the demands of the situation, a state of unconstructive stress or distress develops in our personality, which gives rise to mental or psychological dilemmas. In most people, the mind at all times remains in a state of arousal and tension. Yoga Nidra, as a method of pratyahara, not just gives unwinding to the body and psyche yet additionally has various advantages.

Introduction

Yoga Nidra is a primeval but little-known yogic practice that’s becoming more and more popular as both a form of meditation and mind-body therapy.

Yoga Nidra can fill in as a pathway to freedom without making real pressure. A samskara (mental depression) is shaped by a redundant idea or practice that is extended in the brain and body, making a psychological impression (groove) after some time. These impressions can cause off-putting responses and feelings which forestall a unification of the five layers (koshas) of one’s self. On the off chance that these negative feelings drag out to torment you, the psychological/enthusiastic layer of oneself can’t incorporate with different layers: physical, energetic, higher wisdom, and bliss body. This is where yoga Nidra can be especially helpful.

Yoga Nidra (Sanskrit: योग निद्रा) or yogic sleep is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping, like the ‘going-to-sleep’ stage, typically induced by a guided meditation.

There is evidence that yoga Nidra helps relieve stress. The earliest practice from India, it has now extended worldwide and is also being applied by the US Army to assist soldiers to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Definition – What does Yoga Nidra mean?

Yoga Nidra, a Sanskrit term meaning ‘yogic sleep’ is a deep relaxation technique and a form of meditation.

Also called ‘psychic sleep,’ Yoga Nidra is a state between sleeping and waking. The body is totally relaxed and the practitioner turns the awareness inward by listening to a set of instructions; much like a guided meditation. Performing yoga Nidra involves practicing pratyahara (‘withdrawal of the senses’), which is the fifth limb of Ashtanga yoga.

Yoga Nidra practice results in deep relaxation and expands the individual’s self-awareness.

It is said that the past of yoga Nidra is as old as yoga itself, as the first cite of yoga Nidra is in the Upanishads.[2] Lord Krishna is connected with yoga Nidra in the epic Mahabharata:[6] [The Ocean] becomes the bed of the lotus-naveled Vishnu when at the termination of every Yuga that deity of infinite power enjoys yoga-Nidra, the deep sleep under the spell of spiritual meditation.

— Mahabharata, Book 1, section XXI

In detail about Yoga Nidra

Yoga Nidra was practiced by ancient sages so they could willfully watch their samskaras or the ‘impressions of the mind.’ They could likewise channel their samskaras so as to come nearer to freedom, or moksha.

The act of yoga Nidra includes pratyahara, yet in addition requires pranayama (breathing procedures) and Dharana (‘focus’), which are the fourth and 6th appendages of Ashtanga yoga.

In yoga Nidra, the practitioner enters their alpha state and their center shifts to the third eye chakra(Sahasrara). It also stimulates the hormones in the pineal gland, which releases melatonin — a hormone that reduces stress boosts the immune system and helps prevent illness. Regular practice helps harmonize the brain hemispheres, promoting better mental performance.

State of consciousness

Yoga Nidra is a state in which the body is entirely relaxed, and the practitioner becomes methodically and increasingly conscious of the inner world by following a set of verbal directions. This state of consciousness is different from meditation, in which awareness on a single focus is mandatory. In yoga Nidra the practitioner remains in a state of light withdrawal of the 5 senses (pratyahara) with four senses internalized, that is, withdrawn, and only hearing still connects to any instructions given. The goals of both yogic paths, yoga Nidra and meditation are the same, a state of meditative consciousness called samadhi.

It is among the sincere possible states of relaxation while still maintaining full consciousness. In lucid dreaming, one is only, or mainly, cognizant of the dream environment, and has little or no awareness of one’s actual environment.

Yoga Nidra results in conscious attentiveness of the deep sleep state, which is called prajna in the Mandukya Upanishad.

Scientific evidence

Yoga nidra is related with expanded endogenous dopamine discharge in the ventral striatum of the mind. The reduced desire for action in the state is associated with the reduced flow of blood in parts of the brain connected with controlling actions, the prefrontal cortex, the cerebellum and the subcortex.

Yoga nidra improves heart rate variability, a measure of stability in the autonomic nervous system, whether or not it is preceded by a session of hatha yoga asanas.

The regular practice of yoga relaxation has been found to decrease stress and anxiety. The autonomic symptoms of high anxiety such as headache, giddiness, chest pain, palpitations, sweating and abdominal pain respond well. It has been utilized to help fighters from war adapt to posttraumatic stress issue (PTSD). A recent report proposes that yoga nidra can ease pressure and develop confidence of college understudies.

Benefits of Yoga Nidra

Aside from being relaxing, restorative and restful, studies have shown that yoga nidra can also:

• Ease sleep deprivation
• Decrease nervousness
• Alleviate stress
• Reduce PTSD, chronic pain and chemical dependency
• Heighten awareness and focus
• Transform negative habits, behaviors and ways of thinking
• Foster feelings of peace, calm, and clarity

Yoga nidra offers other amazing health benefits, as well, including:

• Calms the mind
• Relaxes and restores the body
• Soothes the sensory system
• Reduces fatigue
• Lowers high cholesterol and blood pressure levels
• Strengthens immunity
• Improves quality of sleep
• Treats depression
• Reduces pain
• Boosts focus level
• Supports mind capacity and lifts imagination

The Difference Between Meditation and Yoga Nidra

In many ways, yoga nidra is similar to meditation. The benefits are similar and the reasons why people practice are similar. But there are some distinct differences; here are the biggest ones that I can identify:

Meditation

• Physical Position: Meditation is classically a seated practice, where your body is at ease, yet upright and alert.
• Attention: for the duration of meditation, you purposely place your fixation on one stay—as a rule the breathing or a mantra, in spite of the fact that there are a wide range of sorts of meditation , some including various forms of guided meditation to help you focus.
• State of Consciousness: In meditation, people can experience multiple states of consciousness within a single meditation. Many stay in what’s known as the waking state of consciousness, which is the state of consciousness where the majority of us humans spend most of our waking hours. There are certain meditation techniques that take you into transcendental consciousness, and even beyond—into higher states of consciousness.

Yoga Nidra

• Physical Position: Yoga nidra is generally practiced lying down so you can let go completely. Props, cushions and covers are generally utilized, just as anything that will assist you with getting into a totally comfortable, restful position.
• Attention: A typical yoga nidra practice is highly guided, and takes your attention to specific places through a series of steps (mentioned below). In many ways, the particular guidelines make it simpler to relax than in meditation.
• State of Consciousness: During yoga nidra, you move into the state of conscious deep sleep. You are no longer in the waking state of consciousness, but you also move past the dreaming state of consciousness and into the deep sleep state. However, your mind is actually awake, so it’s often discussed as the state between being asleep and awake. This is why it is said that yoga nidra is so restorative for the body. In both practices, the mind is conscious; in yoga nidra, the body is in a more restful state.

How Does Yoga Nidra Work?

Although there are many different ways of teaching and practicing yoga nidra, most practices include several stages to relax the body, mind and emotions. These steps may include (but are not limited to):

• Intention
• Body awareness
• Breath awareness
• Emotional awareness
• Visualization
• “Waking up” or re-integration

Each progression is planned to take you more profound into a modified condition of awareness—the state among sleeping and wakeful—where you’re completely conscious yet your body and brain are completely very still and straightforwardness. At the point when you set a conscious aim toward the start of your yoga nidra practice, and afterward let proceed to take into consideration profound unwinding of the body, brain and feelings, your oblivious opens up to better approaches for thinking, healing, and fulfilling your conscious aims.

Conclusion

From the above conversation, it becomes justifiable that the act of yoga nidra has preventive, promotive and remedial worth. It forestalls pressure and stress-related clutters by prompting profound physical, enthusiastic and mental unwinding, via preparing the psyche to stay cool and calm and by uncovering the curbed wants and musings from the more profound domains of the brain. As a promotive science, yoga nidra stirs the intrinsic innovativeness and advances the learning and memory capacities of the professional. Looks into likewise demonstrate that yoga nidra can be utilized as a helpful system to fix mental disarranges like tension, threatening vibe, a sleeping disorder and so on and psychosomatic ailments like asthma, coronary illness, malignant growth, hypertension and so forth. In our present current way of life, where mental and psychosomatic issues are on the ascent, the system of yoga nidra may fill in as a genuine help for humanity.

References

1. Ross, Gillian (23 July 2009). ‘Yoga nidra: deep relaxation practice’. ABC. Archived from the original on 29 July 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
2. Desai, Kamini (2017). Yoga Nidra The Art of Transformational Sleep. Twin Lakes USA: Lotus Press. p. 689. ISBN 978-1-6086-9213-2.
3. ‘The Theory and Principles of Yoga Nidra’. Spirit Web. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
4. ‘Mahabharata Book 1 Section XXI’. Sacred Texts. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
5. Miller, Rick (2005). Yoga Nidra : the meditative heart of yoga. Boulder, Colorado: Sounds True. ISBN 978-1-59179-379-3. OCLC 62705943.
6. Kjaer, Troels W; Bertelsen, Camilla; Piccini, Paola; Brooks, David; Alving, Jørgen; Lou, Hans C (2002). ‘Increased dopamine tone during meditation-induced change of consciousness’. Cognitive Brain Research. 13 (2): 255–259. doi:10.1016/s0926-6410(01)00106-9.
7. Dol, Kim Sang (May 2019). ‘Effects of a yoga nidra on the life stress and self-esteem in university students’. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice. 35: 232–236. doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2019.03.004. ISSN 1873-6947. PMID 31003664.
8. Markil, Nina; Whitehurst, Michael; Jacobs, Patrick L.; Zoeller, Robert F. (2012). ‘Yoga Nidra Relaxation Increases Heart Rate Variability and is Unaffected by a Prior Bout of Hatha Yoga’. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 18 (10): 953–958. doi:10.1089/acm.2011.0331.