Relaxation Sleep Yoga

A lot of folks all over the world all over the world are being drawn to Yoga Practices. They all seem to believe they will find solution to their problems there, be they physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. A lot of weight is given to relaxation techniques which may assist tense individuals because of chronic stressful life styles. One such wonderful technique happens to be Yoga Nidra.

Yoga Nidra is not just meant for physical and mental relaxation but also to prepare one’s mind for spiritual discipline. Yoga Nidra is mainly concerned with Pratyahara and Dharana. The former, in Yoga, means withdrawal of the senses from the external sense-objects and the latter refers to concentration.

In Yoga Nidra you use just opposite process for making the brain centers active. You do this by concentrating on the different parts of your body in a prescribed sequence. This way, you aim to arouse different parts of your brain by concentrating on the matching parts of your body. By awareness we mean 'the approach of a spectator' to your physical or mental physical sensations.

The process is done by first doing a couple Yoga poses – practicing a few asanas. After that, you lie on your back in a completely relaxed pose (Shavasana – corpse pose). Your eyes are supposed to be slightly shut, your arms should be by your sides, palms facing the ceiling and fingers are half bent from the ground. Your breathing should be abdominal, slow and rhythmic.

Subsequently the alternation of awareness starts. You have only to imagine the part of the body instructor mentions. It may be a teacher or a cassette, DVD or CD. Most importantly, you should not move any part of your anatomy. Speedily matching the instructions, you have to shift your awareness from one part of your anatomy to the next. You must not visualize the next part before the instructor mentioning it. The whole procedure is fun and not an encumbrance. You must not feel any anxiety or tension.