In this article, we have shared 6 life-Changing benefits of Yoga Nidra that will help you reduce stress and improve sleep.
Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation practice done while lying in a comfortable pose, usually the Shavasana. It is also known as yogic sleep, as it leads to deep relaxation, similar to rest. However, in Yoga Nidra, or meditation for sleep, the practitioner remains conscious and aware.
What Happens During a Yoga Nidra Session- Meditation for Sleep?
In a yoga nidra session, the practitioner gets guided for a series of body scans, visualization, and watching breathing. This helps to release physical, mental, and emotional stress. The yoga Nidra or meditation for sleep practice helps provide deep rest, lowers anxiety and stress, and enhances overall well-being.
Yoga Nidra is a meditative technique that can help restore and rejuvenate the body, mind, and soul. It provides rest equivalent to or better than sleep but one does not have to fall asleep and stay aware and relaxed.
How this Happens
While falling asleep, brain waves transform from beta waves to alpha waves theta waves and then to the most relaxing – delta waves.
Yoga Nidra is the practice of getting into a state of relaxation between the alpha and theta states. So one has to lie down in deep relaxation between waking and sleeping.
The Yoga Nidra technique brings a balance to the autonomic nervous system that regulates the body’s involuntary processes. Apart from this, the technique also puts the parasympathetic nervous system into a deep resting state.
Yoga Nidra helps calm the nervous system and has extensive benefits while being one of the most straightforward yoga practices. No wonder, yoga nidra may serve as a therapeutic tool for various conditions such as chronic pain, insomnia, PTSD, and also anxiety disorders. In addition, the profound practice of yoga nidra helps strengthen one’s connection to the Universe. Yoga nidra has so many physical and mental benefits.
Yoga Nidra or Meditation for Sleep: 6 Amazing Benefits
Not only does yoga nidra help lower stress and anxiety, the different steps of yoga nidra work on the subconscious pattern of our mind and the deep-rooted impressions therein. Spiritual seekers practice yoga nidra for purification of mind and also to get deep experience of realizing our being without the physical body. Undoubtedly, yoga nidra is not only a guided meditation for sleep but also highly powerful yogic technique with incredible benefits. Few are listed and briefly described below.
1. More Productive Thought Patterns With Lowered Stress with Guided Meditation for Sleep
During Yoga Nidra, a person gets into a deeply tranquil state of mind and body. The relaxed state of mind and heightened awareness helps ease emotional stress and slow down excessive activity of the nervous system. It also helps to relax the muscles and lowers the mind and body stress.
Yoga Nidra is a body scan meditation for sleep that rewires the brain for thinking patterns with conscious awareness. As you get the ability to watch your thoughts from a distance, you are also able to retrain the thought patterns.
2. Improved Sleep Quality with Guided Meditation for Sleep
Yoga Nidra, a mindfulness meditation for sleep helps to improve sleep quality and helps to counter insomnia. The best part is that Yoga Nidra is also a great tool to improve sleep quality and timely sleep. It helps you to:
- Fall asleep faster at night
- Stay asleep effortlessly
It can improve your ability to achieve a full night’s rest. That’s why it is also helpful to treat sleep disorders like sleep deprivation and insomnia.
3. May Help in Blood Pressure Management
A pilot study at the National Institute of Nutrition ICMR, Hyderabad, India, conducted by a team of seven experienced doctors was done to study the effects of yoga nidra in hypertension patients.
Out of two groups, the intervention group was doing yoga nidra while the other was the control group. The parameters evaluated included:
- Blood pressure,
- Lipid profile
- Glucose
- Insulin
- Cortisol etc.
The results showed a significant improvement in blood pressure levels, and mental status, and a lowering of cortisol, triglyceride levels, and glycated haemoglobin ( in diabetics). Also, there was an increase in beneficial substances like adiponectin.
The scientists also evaluated the effect of yoga nidra or meditation for sleep on various mental conditions, including:
- Stress
- Depression
- Anxiety
They found positive results of consistent yoga nidra practice as a meditation for anxiety and sleep in a few studies. More research is underway on the subject.
4. Meditation for Sleep May Help Improve Cognitive Performance
Yoga Nidra benefits may include improving cognitive function by calming down excessive brain activity due to emotional overstimulation. When you are overwhelmed with emotions, the mind gets little room to carry out daily activities correctly. That’s why, yoga nidra can be a free guided meditation for bringing balance in lifestyle of hyperactive kids.
Yoga nidra or free guided meditation for sleep and anxiety helps you get rid of excessive emotions. It also allows the brain to perform to its full potential. Yoga Nidra or guided meditation for sleep helps stress management and lowers the volume of random thoughts in the conscious mind.
Regular practice of Yoga Nidra helps improve your memory and proves beneficial in preventing cognitive decline due to ageing. In addition, the technique has an impact on your mental performance. Frequent practice helps you to carry out daily tasks more efficiently and also improves immune function.
5. Meditation for Sleep May Help Lower the Chronic Pain
Yoga Nidra or mindfulness meditation for sleep may lower chronic pain and improve the quality of life while enhancing overall well-being. The visualization technique in yoga nidra is used for reducing chronic pain. A research study shows that yoga nidra helps in decreasing chronic pain. Also, people prefer listening to meditation music for sleep for improves sleep quality.
6. Meditation for Sleep May Improve Confidence
Studies conducted on burn patients in Turkey Universities reveal that the regular practice of Yoga Nidra helped to enhance self-esteem and confidence. These studies were done to understand their level of body image and self-esteem. The group practising Yoga Nidra has a considerable improvement in these areas than the group that did not practice Yoga Nidra.
How to Prepare for Yoga Nidra or Guided Sleep Meditation?
Slip into a comfortable set of clothes. Choose a dark, neat, clean space with a cosy bed. Place a small pillow under your head. Rest the body in the corpse pose with the ventral side of the body facing the sky, arms lightly spread and feet wide apart. Now, play the sleep meditation soundtrack. You will be able to highly relax with this meditation music for sleep.
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In The End- Guided Meditation for Sleep
Yoga Nidra or guided meditation for sleep is highly useful in lowering stress and anxiety while improving well-being. Studies show evidence that Yoga Nidra practice can help in the management of blood pressure and lowers addiction. Research shows yoga nidra also reduces cholesterol levels and C-peptide. In addition, studies also show that regular yoga nidra can decrease pain medication levels.
Yoga Nidra effortlessly fairs as the best meditation for sleep allowing you to be well-rested and energized. It may also prove helpful in balancing mood disorders and improving self-confidence. It is a highly restorative practice that proves helpful in lowering the impact of chronic pain. Overall, regular and correct practice of yogic sleep may significantly improve general health and well-being.