Episode 91: Yoga Nidra for Deep Sleep

Episode 91:

Yoga Nidra for Deep Sleep.

Yoga Nidra is a guided savasana that leads you into a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. The practice draws our attention inwards, and we can learn to slip between the states of wakefulness and sleep. The breath becomes very quiet, and unconscious and conscious aspects of the mind reveal themselves. You may fall asleep or into a deep state of calm. 

Yoga Nidra is a really concrete way to bring rest into your life. I hear from so many students that they are over worked and over tired. Some days you might feel more like a machine than human… The practice of yoga nidra is a radical practice of resistance against a culture of overwhelming busyness. When we embrace ease and rest, our thoughts become more clear, the imagination and creative ideas start flooding to us, and it becomes easier to focus on what matters. This class could be used to help you fall asleep or to get some much needed rest, and we all know how important a restful night sleep is. 

New research shows that both meditation and Yoga Nidra improve memory, mood, sleep efficiency and emotional regulation. Doing Yoga Nidra, a form of NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest), can even reduce a person’s overall sleep needs. The stress reduction that is brought about during these 20-30 minute sessions is good at offsetting some of the cortisol increases that are associated with reduced sleep or a poor night of sleep. This leads people to be able to function cognitively and physically better on reduced sleep. The reduction in stress creates a healthy pattern of cortisol release and thus the kind of sleep people get is deeper or they need less sleep. In this study, Yoga nidra practice shows improvement in sleep in patients with chronic insomnia, there was a statistically significant reduction in cortisol (the stress hormone) immediately after the yoga nidra practice. The reduction of cortisol during yoga nidra was shown to be even more effective than meditation. 

If you have a hard time falling asleep, wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep or generally have sleep issues, yoga nidra done any time of day can be beneficial for your overall well being. 

Sarah Baumert has been teaching movement and creating Sarah B Yoga podcast classes since 2006. She is a certified yoga teacher, yoga therapist and Feldenkrais® practitioner. This podcast is an intersection of her yoga teaching and training in the Feldenkrais® method. Classes include sensory rich movement experiences for a more resilient and healthy nervous system to help you feel a greater sense of ease and comfort in yourself. Each podcast is an originally crafted class taught by Sarah Baumert. Sarah's teaching is alignment based, unhurried, and rich with somatic inquiries. The cueing is effective, easy to follow, and uses visualizations of postures to allow for unexpected growth and depth. You will find live unplugged versions of her classes from yoga studios, as well as classes that are specifically produced for the podcast medium.

Find more teachings like this class on the Body Matter website, including:

Live online classes
Self-paced courses &
The Body Matter Membership Library

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