Yoga Nidra
Today, life seems to be a tremendous playground offering endless things to do, have and know. Technology has broadened our vision and potential, and given us a seemingly greater capability to achieve anything we want.
However, amidst these newfound opportunities and possibilities, we can’t help but ask, whether consciously or subconsciously, what is it that we really want? What is the desired outcome of all this acquisition and achievement?
The answers, in fact, can be found using a very old technology…
How it works
For thousands of years, Yogis have known that the only way to know what you want, and then to get what you want, is to do less…not more. This concept is the essence of Yoga Nidra.
Yoga Nidra is effortless. In fact, it is a practice of ‘effortlessness’, and it is necessary in order to counter all the striving, straining and 'figuring out' we do in our habitual lives. You can liken the practice of Yoga Nidra to the first and most effective action taken when your computer goes wrong and all processes stop working: you re-boot. Yoga Nidra follows this same principle of stopping and re-starting to allow for new perspectives and insights.
Putting it into practice
Here is a simple truth:
It is impossible to think and feel at the same time.
For many of us, what we commonly call ‘meditation’ can feel forced; it can seem to create conflict in our mind and we find ourselves imposing a state of unnatural focus. In contrast, the practice of Yoga Nidra enables us to relax and switch off through a process of ‘interruption’. The practitioner lies down, creating a passive state of mind, and is then guided to ‘feel’ sensations in the body. This process of ‘feeling’ naturally inhibits the mind’s tendency to produce new thought. Then, something astonishing and wonderful occurs: before you know it, you have completely let go.
Benefits
What is most important to you? What do you want above all other things? These questions arise consistently in our everyday lives, but they often do so amidst a noisy mind and stressed-out state of being.
Whenever Einstein was faced with a particularly taxing problem, he would allow himself to drift towards sleep and then catch himself before he fully dropped off. It was in this ‘in-between state’ that he found he was able to gain pertinent insights, without ‘hard thinking’. Ideas and answers would simply just come to him.
Yoga Nidra can have this same effect by leading you to an extremely deep relaxation and moving you from cognitive thinking into a state of being somewhere between asleep and awake.
Put simply, Yoga Nidra is an effortless means to reach a particular state of being that allows for clarity and insight.
Want to know more?
If you are intrigued by what you have read so far then you might like to participate in a workshop or retreat.
Below are specific days and retreats where we explore the techniques and concepts of Yoga Nidra in a deep way. You will experince some time in Yoga Nidra in all of my evening classes.
Here are two up-and-coming Yoga Nidra days:
22nd January 2012, 1.00-4.00pm: Yoga Nidra afternoon
Iffley Church Hall, Iffley Village, Oxford.
Click here for course and booking details - £20.00
3rd March 2012, 10.00 - 4.00pm: Yoga Nidra day
Iffley Church Hall, Iffley Village, Oxford.
Click here for course and booking details - £35.00
Special pre January discount! - both workshops for £50.00. email james@blissdivineyoga.co.uk to make your booking.
In May 2012, the opportunity to come on retreat with James at the beautiful Charney Manor retreat centre:
18th May- 20th May 2012 Charney Manor Weekend Retreat
Charney Manor, Charney Bassett, Oxfordshire
Click here for course and booking details - £295.00
