Yoga Nidra - how does it help us?
Yoga Nidra aids relaxation - by shifting our awareness from our thinking mind to feeling our body, noticing the sensations in different areas, our body naturally relaxes & then the mind follows.
Yoga Nidra improves Interoception through awareness - feeling our bodies, noticing our breath gives us a better internal sense. This means we can use our interoception better to notice when we are depleted or ill. People with eating disorders & depression report not being able to feel their bodies so increasing our sense of embodiment helps our mental state.
Yoga Nidra improves our emotional regulation- the more we tune into our bodies the more we are aware of our feelings & emotions. This means we notice emotions more & build awareness of them, which in turns means we have space to decide how we respond to stimuli rather than reacting.
Yoga Nidra is soothing for the nervous system - so our brains can process better & memory can improve. Heart rate & blood pressure also lower, Cortisol production is more balanced, calming inflammation & increasing immunity.
Yoga Nidra taps into our spirituality - helping us to feel outside our bodies & see how we extend out into the Universe this can be healing & freeing.
Yoga Nidra can increase self-compassion - a study has shown that just by tuning in an sensing the body as it is without trying to change it increases self-compassion. Lots of us have harsh inner critics that make us feel we are not enough, advertising works on this sense that we don’t have, look, give enough so having something to balance the scales is extremely helpful.
Yoga Nidra nurtures our energies - by turning inwards we are not giving our energy outwards so its nurturing & healing.
Yoga Nidra helps us to sleep better - by aiding relaxation & having more awareness of sleep cycles. Better sleep lowers anxiety & depression, but more that that it seems to have positive effect on the risks of us getting chronic disease & illness. Good sleep is great for communication, concentration, balance and more.
Yoga Nidra can aid memory - by aiding the Hippocampus in processing information as we rest.
Yoga Nidra can help creativity - by giving us a more spacious outlook, also by holding pairs of opposites at one time gives us access beyond the rational mind & finally in the dreaming brain wave state we can have ‘out of the box’ ideas
Yoga Nidra brings stress relief - by working with opposite pairs we can free ourselves from dualistic thinking choose our responses rather than reacting.