As I teach yoga to singers around the country, I am still amazed at how many singers tell me that one of their biggest challenges is getting a good night’s sleep. It inspired me to research yoga poses that assist the sleep process, and to include them in the Yoga for Sleep section of my program, YogaSing. Through this research, I discovered Yoga Nidra, and have found the practice to be very beneficial.
When I have trouble sleeping, I do the YogaSing sleep poses to prepare my body for sleep. If I am still awake after the poses, I go to my Yoga Nidra (pronounced YOH-gah NEE-drah) CD and settle in. Yoga Nidra clears my mind fully and allows me a deep relaxation. I feel that even if I am not sleeping, through poses and Yoga Nidra, my body is getting the rest and relaxation it needs.
Yoga Nidra is an ancient healing process. Swami Satyananda Saraswati, founder of the Bihar School of Yoga in Munger, India rediscovered Yoga Nidra about 20 years ago. He translates Yoga Nidra as “psychic sleep” and describes it as a “systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation, while maintaining awareness at the deeper levels.” I describe it as a door to total physical and mental relaxation where you are hovering between sense and sleep consciousness.
A Yoga Nidra class is quite different from a typical yoga class. The practice involves lying on your back without moving, while following the instructions of a teacher, either in a class or from a recording in your home. Through instruction and poses, the teacher helps a student get comfortable, create a “resolve,” bring attention to specific parts of the body, connect the counting process to breathing, bring awareness of the sensation of opposites, visualize images from nature, reaffirm the resolve, and return to consciousness. Yoga Nidra instructors teach that this technique is as restorative as sleep, and that one hour of nidra is equivalent to three hours of sleep.
To Practice Yoga Nidra
1. Lie on your back on a soft surface, making sure you are very comfortable. Your legs should be slightly apart and your arms a few inches away from your body. The palms of your hands face upward.
2. When you are comfortable, close your eyes and keep them closed until the end of the practice. Yoga Nidra involves no effort or concentration, no judging your practice. Singers, who are used to regularly judging progress, really need to let go of analyzing whether the nidra is working.
3. Set your Sankalpa (Sanskrit for “resolve”). The resolve is something you would like to bring into your life, expressed in the present tense. For example, “I want to be a good mother to my children.” That resolve goes into my subconscious through repetition.
4. Allow your body to become quiet and still—give it permission to go into a profound relaxation. Bring your attention to your breathing. Take in three deep breaths and let any tension go with each exhalation.
5. Be aware of your body, surroundings, and breathing. Begin with stating your Sankalpa. Let it become a reality and accept it with gratitude.
6. Rotate your awareness through all parts of your body, from your fingers to your arms and throughout the rest of your body. The movement of awareness through different parts of the body relaxes and clears the nerve pathways to the brain.
(The next few sections make sense when you listen to the detailed instructions from your teacher.)
7. Deepen the connection to your breathing by connecting the counting process to your breaths.
8. Bring awareness to your sensation of opposites.
9. Visualize images from nature.
10. Reaffirm the resolve.
11. Wiggle your fingers and toes for a few moments, deepen your breathing, open your eyes, and return to consciousness.
A few of my students regularly practice Yoga Nidra after a performance as a ritual to prepare themselves for deep sleep. However Yoga Nidra fits into your life, it is another valuable tool for singers to take on the road or to use at home.
