Yoga Nidra

  Over last year we had quite an agenda of themes which I hoped would be interesting and useful. It's an enjoyable challenge to find ways of linking the wisdom of the traditional texts with the asana and pranayama practices.  Almost every class ends with a yoga nidra in the Satyananda style.  Yoga nidra has spread widely now, often with modifications, and I hope everyone delivering it understands just how powerful it is. In the Yoga nidra training I received, a very useful part was reviewing Swami Satyananda's book and being given valuable advice about modifications, especially what not to use!  This was usually from a mental health awareness perspective, especially possibly re-awakening old traumas.

The weekly Accessible class continued in Livingston and we were delighted to welcome back a previous member of the group who hadn’t been able to come during the pandemic.  The Monday and Tuesday Zoom classes...

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...