Yoga Nidra as practised around the world now was developed by Sri Swami Satyananda of the Bihar School of Yoga, from an advanced Tantric technique called nyasa.  During nyasa a yogi mentally touches various parts of his or her body with consciousness while repeating mantras.  When this is done in the prescribed manner the yogi is able to awaken subtle energy within the physical matter of the body.

The practice  connects you to your subconscious and unconscious minds.  The main aim of yoga nidra practice is the exploration of consciousness, with the ultimate aim of increasing self-awareness; but it has the side-effects of deep relaxation, rejuvenation, healing and increased inner strength.  The characteristic feature of Satyananda Yoga Nidra is the systematic rotation of consciousness in the body, and other stages that include settling, sankalpa (resolve), breath awareness, pairs of opposites, visualization and so on.  A practice is led...

Raja Yoga – the Yoga of mind training.   The word Raja means Royal.  Raja yoga is a about methods of meditation  to guide us through the self-inquiry needed to make personal changes.  It is also known as Classical Yoga as expounded in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (approx. 200 BCE).    Each of the 196 sutras or verses, in four chapters, contains a wealth of dense information requiring deep thought and practice.  In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali we find terse instructions for calming the mind and preparing it for meditation practice.  In the second chapter there appears perhaps the most well-known part of the system, known as ashtanga yoga (not to be confused with the modern structural flowing asana practice known as  ashtanga vinyasa) because it describes a method of 8 (ashta) branches or limbs (anga).  The first two are called the 5 yamas – guidance for our...