It’s this: stop filling every second with words.

Most nidra I hear taught is continuous. Beautiful language, correct structure, warm voice — and never more than three or four seconds of quiet from beginning to end. The teacher is doing everything right on paper. And the room never quite goes under.

If you’ve been guiding nidra for a while and you have the vague sense that your students enjoy it but don’t drop — this is almost always why.

What is the most common mistake when teaching yoga nidra?

Talking too much. Specifically, leaving too little silence between instructions.

Yoga nidra works by guiding a student to the threshold between waking and sleeping and then leaving her there, conscious. Your voice gets her to that edge. The silence is where she actually goes over it. If the next sentence arrives before she’s had time to arrive, you’ve called her back before she ever left.

Rhythm, cadence and the art of the pause will transform your students’ yoga nidra experience, so this is where you should refine your delivery.

Filling every second is the mistake that survives training, because nothing about it looks like a mistake. Your script is fine. Your students say it was lovely, but they don’t really drop in.

Why does silence matter so much in yoga nidra?

The state you’re after can’t be instructed into existence. It has to be allowed to happen, and that takes unfilled time.

Think about what you’re actually asking for. In the rotation of awareness, you name a body part and the student’s attention has to travel there and land. That’s not instant. In the sankalpa, you’re asking her to repeat a phrase internally three times with meaning — which takes about twelve seconds if she’s doing it properly, and about one second if you’ve already moved on. In the visualization, you’re asking her to build an image. Every one of these is a task with a duration, and we routinely give them no duration at all. You want to pause just long enough without giving their brain too much time to wander.

There’s also a mechanical piece. The sleep-onset transition — the drowsy, image-rich, threshold state that nidra is aiming at — is genuinely fragile. It reverses easily. A voice is a sound, and sound is one of the reliable things that pulls a nervous system back toward waking. Every sentence you speak is a small tug in the wrong direction. Necessary tugs, most of them. But you want fewer of them than feels natural.

What does the research actually say?

The strongest evidence is Kjaer and colleagues (2002), who used PET imaging during yoga nidra and found roughly a 65% increase in endogenous dopamine release in the ventral striatum, alongside a measurable drop in readiness for action. That’s a real, physiological shift into a distinct state — not just a nice lie-down. It’s also the finding that makes the case for silence, because that shift takes time to develop and is not something a student can be talked into.

Two other threads are worth knowing about. The sleep-onset literature describes the hypnagogic transition as unstable and easily reversed by external stimuli. And there’s evidence the brain continues processing the meaning of speech even as a person drifts toward sleep. Read that second one carefully: it means your students’ language networks stay engaged while you’re talking, whether they seem “out” or not. Continuous speech keeps a part of the brain working that you are specifically trying to let go quiet.

I will say that there are no studies that tess pause length in yoga nidra scripts and tell us the right number of seconds. That research doesn’t exist. What we have is the physiology of the state, the tradition’s own instructions, and what you can observe in your own room. Everything below is that — reasoned practice, not proven protocol. Treat the numbers as a starting place and adjust to what you see.

Why do teachers over-talk in nidra?

Because silence feels like you’ve stopped teaching. I remember dealing with this too; whether I was teaching yoga nidra or an asana class, I felt like I had to talk and fill the space because I carried the belief that I wasn’t a good teacher if I couldn’t or didn’t.

You’re the only person in the room who’s awake and responsible. Ten seconds of quiet feels endless from the seat you’re in — you’re tracking the clock, tracking the room, wondering whether someone thinks you’ve lost your place. Meanwhile the woman on the mat has no idea how long anything is taking, because time perception is one of the first things to go in that state.

The other cause is the scripts themselves. Nidra scripts are written as continuous prose, so they read as continuous prose. Even the pause markers are usually just the word [PAUSE] — which tells you that to stop, but not how long. So you stop for a breath, because a breath feels like a pause, and you carry on.

My own nature-inspired script does this, and I’m not exempting myself. Go look at it: the markers are there, unquantified. Below is how I’d time them.

How long should the pauses be in yoga nidra?

Here’s where I’d put actual seconds, stage by stage. These are for a 25–30 minute practice.

Add it up: a well-paced 30-minute nidra can be a third to nearly half silence. If your 30-minute script takes 30 minutes to read aloud at a conversational clip, you’re teaching a very nice guided relaxation. It isn’t nidra yet.

The practical fix: write the seconds into your script. Not [PAUSE] — [PAUSE — 20 sec]. Then read the whole thing aloud with a timer before you ever teach it.

The discomfort test

Here’s the thing I’d most want you to take from this post, and it’s the one I use myself:

If the silence feels slightly too long to you, it’s probably about right for her.

You’re awake, alert, and holding the room. She’s at the edge of sleep, where time stretches. Your discomfort is not information about her experience. It’s information about yours — and it’s the single most reliable signal you have that you’re finally giving her enough room.

So when that itch arrives to say the next line, wait through it. Count if you need to. The itch is the practice working.

Want a script to practice this on?

My nature-inspired yoga nidra script is free — printable PDF plus the full audio — and it’s built on the Bihar School structure with the pause points already marked. Take it, add the seconds from the table above, and read it aloud with a stopwatch.

Read the blog where I share the script or get the free script + audio delivered to your inbox below.

Will my students think I’ve forgotten where I am?

No, that’s the fear underneath the over-talking.

A student in nidra has substantially reduced time perception and no expectation of pace. She isn’t holding your script in her head. She has no idea whether ten seconds or ninety have passed, and if she’s genuinely dropped, she isn’t tracking anything at all.

The students most likely to notice a long silence are the ones who haven’t gone under yet — which is exactly the group who need more silence, not less.

If it helps, you could say something at the start like“There will be long stretches of quiet in this practice. That’s on purpose. You don’t need to do anything with them.” One sentence at the front buys you all the room you need.

What changes when you get this right

The reports change. Students stop saying “that was so relaxing” and start saying things they can’t quite explain or don’t have the words for — that they lost time, that they’re not sure whether they slept, that they went somewhere, that something unexpected came up. Sankalpa work starts to land instead of just being a fleeting phrase. People get up slowly.

That’s the practice doing what it’s supposed to do. And most of the time, the only thing standing between a good nidra teacher and that outcome is a willingness to sit in quiet longer than feels comfortable.

Your voice gets them to the edge. Give them the room to go over it.

Frequently asked questions

How long should the pauses be in yoga nidra?

For a 25 to 30 minute practice: 20 to 30 seconds after settling in, 10 to 15 seconds for each sankalpa repetition, 45 to 90 seconds for breath awareness, 15 to 20 seconds for each pair of opposite sensations, 15 to 30 seconds for each visualisation image, 3 to 5 minutes at the deepest point, and 30 to 45 seconds before coming back. The rotation of awareness is the exception and should stay brisk and rhythmic.

How do you time pauses in yoga nidra without watching a clock?

Count your own breath. A slow breath cycle runs roughly four to six seconds, so four breaths is about 20 to 25 seconds and ten breaths is close to a minute. This keeps you internally paced rather than glancing at a phone, which pulls you out of the room. Write the intended seconds into your script, rehearse it with a timer beforehand, and by the third or fourth time you teach it the timing sits in your body.

Can you play music during yoga nidra?

You can, but choose carefully, because music fills the silence the practice depends on. If you use anything, keep it to a single sustained drone with no melody, no rhythm and no changes, played very quietly. Melodic music gives the thinking mind something to follow and track, which works against the state you’re guiding towards. Traditional yoga nidra is taught without music at all, and it’s worth teaching it that way at least once to feel the difference.

Should the rotation of awareness be slow in yoga nidra?

No. The rotation of awareness is the one stage that should stay brisk. In the Bihar School method the rotation is rhythmic and quick, which keeps the thinking mind from catching up. Long pauses belong elsewhere in the practice, particularly around sankalpa, breath awareness and visualisation.

How long should a yoga nidra practice be?

A full traditional practice with all its stages usually runs 25 to 45 minutes. Shorter forms of 11 to 20 minutes are common and can be effective, but the stages have to be genuinely shortened rather than simply read faster, because the pauses are part of the practice rather than gaps between instructions. If a 30 minute script takes 30 minutes to read aloud at a conversational pace, it’s being rushed.

Should you read a yoga nidra script or memorise it?

Read it, particularly while you’re still building experience. Everyone in the room has their eyes closed, so nobody knows or minds. Reading protects your pacing and stops you improvising extra words to fill a silence that felt uncomfortable, which is the most common way a nidra gets over-talked. Mark your pause lengths directly on the page so the silences are part of what you’re reading.

How do you learn how to teach yoga nidra?

Start by practising nidra regularly yourself, then learn the traditional structure: settling, sankalpa, rotation of awareness, breath awareness, opposite sensations, visualisation and return. Read scripts aloud with a timer to build a sense of pacing. Formal training matters here because guiding nidra depends more on facilitation and timing than on the words themselves.

Do you need a certification to teach yoga nidra?

There’s no single governing body for yoga nidra and no legally required certification, so any qualified yoga teacher may guide it. That makes the quality of your training the thing that matters rather than the credential itself. Most general teacher trainings cover nidra only briefly, so if you intend to teach it regularly, look for a training that treats it as a subject in its own right.

Where to go next

• New to nidra, or want the science in more depth? The benefits of yoga nidra →
• Want the full script? Yoga nidra script inspired by nature (free PDF + audio) →
• Curious about nidra for intention work? Yoga nidra for manifestation →
• Already teaching yoga nidra? Stop policing sleep →

Learn to teach nidra properly

Pacing is one piece. Finding your facilitator voice, writing scripts that hold up, guiding sankalpa work, knowing what to do when someone cries or snores or leaves — that’s the rest of it, and it’s what we work through in the yoga nidra module of my 200-hour teacher training for women.

See the teacher training →

References

1. Kjaer TW, Bertelsen C, Piccini P, Brooks D, Alving J, Lou HC. “Increased dopamine tone during meditation-induced change of consciousness.” Cognitive Brain Research 13(2):255–259, 2002. DOI: 10.1016/S0926-6410(01)00106-9
2. Ogilvie RD. “The process of falling asleep.” Sleep Medicine Reviews 5(3):247–270, 2001. DOI: 10.1053/smrv.2001.0145
3. Kouider S, Andrillon T, Barbosa LS, Goupil L, Bekinschtein TA. “Inducing task-relevant responses to speech in the sleeping brain.” Current Biology 24(18):2208–2214, 2014. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.08.016

The post If You’re Teaching Yoga Nidra, Stop Doing This appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

Full disclosure, I trained in a Bihar-inspired lineage, so I do ask my students to remain awake. Once when I’m explaining the practice, and usually once more right before we drop in: this isn’t sleep — see if you can stay on just this side of sleep.

Then I let it go. And here’s what I’ve realized after thirteen years of watching rooms full of tired women fall asleep during yoga nidra:

If a woman can fall asleep on the ground, outside, surrounded by women she met yesterday (or even just an hour ago)— that is not a practice that failed. Nor has she failed. In fact, it’s the single best piece of evidence I will ever get that she feels safe and that the container has done its job.

She needed the sleep. And her nervous system had to come all the way down before she could take it.

Is it bad if students fall asleep during yoga nidra?

No, it isn’t inherently bad. Is it conscious rest? No. But it usually means one of two things, and both are good news.

The first is obvious: she’s exhausted. Most of the women I teach are carrying a sleep debt that no single night of “good” sleep can touch. When the lights go down and someone else is finally in charge of the next twenty-plus minutes, the debt collects. That’s the body doing exactly what it should.

The second one is the one most yoga nidra teachers miss. Sleep does not happen in an activated nervous system. It can’t. Arousal and sleep onset are mutually exclusive, and the arousal has to come down first — not as a metaphor, as a precondition. So if she fell asleep on a floor, in an unfamiliar room, among people she barely knows, something in her genuinely downshifted. You can’t instruct that. You can only build the conditions that allow it, and if it happened, you built them

The research on this is better than you’d expect

The best-established finding in insomnia research is that people who can’t sleep are aroused — and not just in their heads.

Riemann and colleagues reviewed the evidence and found support for hyperarousal at every level they looked, from the molecular up through the whole system, with autonomic, neuroendocrine, neuroimmune, electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies all converging on elevated arousal in people with insomnia. A 2023 update calls increased arousal one of the most consistent findings the field has produced.

If elevated arousal reliably blocks sleep, then sleep arriving is evidence that arousal came down. You don’t have to take her word for how she felt. Her physiology already answered.

There’s a second finding worth knowing, and it explains why this is harder in your room than in her own bed. Sleep researchers call it the first-night effect — people sleep badly the first night in a new place. Tamaki and colleagues used brain imaging to show why: in an unfamiliar environment, one hemisphere stays measurably more vigilant than the other during deep sleep, acting as a kind of night watch. It runs automatically on novelty, and it fades once the place stops being new.

Which sets the bar higher than you’d think. Her brain arrives in your unfamiliar room running a protocol designed to keep her from going all the way under. If she does anyway, she cleared an obstacle her nervous system put there on purpose. And on retreat, when night three is easier than night one, that’s the same protocol standing down as the place becomes familiar.

One thing to note: the hyperarousal work studies people with insomnia, and the first-night research was done overnight in sleep laboratories. Nobody has studied either in a yoga room at four in the afternoon. I’m reasoning across from one setting to another, and you should hold it as a mechanistically sound argument rather than a proven finding. Worth saying too: the Tamaki team specifically argue the first-night effect is not driven by conscious anxiety — it tracks novelty rather than how nervous anyone reports feeling. So the honest version of my claim isn’t that she consciously felt safe. It’s that her arousal came down far enough for sleep, in a setting built to prevent exactly that.

So why say anything about staying awake at all?

Because the awareness is where the value lives, and the tradition is right about that.

In the Bihar School method, yoga nidra is explicitly distinguished from sleep. Swami Satyananda is direct about it, and do not sleep appears in the traditional scripts. If you trained in that lineage you were taught it for a good reason. Conscious rest and unconscious rest are different practices with different benefits, and only one of them lets a sankalpa land.

So I’m not arguing you should drop the instruction. I say it. Say it.

I’m arguing about everything that happens after you say it.

Where teachers actually go wrong

Not in giving the instruction. In repeating it, and in what we do with our faces when it doesn’t work.

Here’s what policing sleep looks like in practice. You say it at the start. Then again after the rotation. Then again before the visualization, with a little more emphasis, because you can hear breathing change in the back row. By the fourth time there’s an edge in your voice that everyone still conscious can hear clearly.

Every one of those repetitions is an interruption. And it lands hardest on exactly the wrong people — the women who were settling, who now have to surface, register an instruction, and check whether they’re doing it right. The ones already asleep hear none of it. You’ve woken your best students to police your most tired one.

There’s a deeper problem with repeating it, too. You’re asking for a state that depends on the release of effort, and try harder to stay awake is a request for effort. Vigilance is arousal. Arousal is the thing standing between her and the threshold.

The part that should genuinely bother you

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine lists it among the effective behavioral treatments for chronic insomnia, and it works exactly as it sounds: you instruct the patient to lie down and gently try to remain awake. Ascher and Efran first applied it to sleep-onset insomnia in the seventies.

The rationale is the part you should sit with. The technique rests on the premise that performance anxiety is what inhibits sleep onset. Take away the pressure to succeed at sleeping, and the anxiety goes with it, and sleep arrives more easily than it did when she was chasing it.

Now read that back as a description of your room. “Try to stay awake” is a performance instruction with a failure condition attached. You’ve handed every woman on the floor something to succeed or fail at, in a practice whose entire mechanism depends on her stopping trying.

The mechanism is well described in the insomnia literature as the attention–intention–effort pathway: the more deliberate effort you aim at a sleep-related outcome, the more you interfere with the automatic process that produces it. Effort breaks it in both directions. Trying to sleep keeps you awake. Trying not to sleep is still trying.

So the instruction you’re repeating to keep the room conscious is, in clinical terms, a recognized method for helping a person fall asleep. Say it once, where it does its framing work. Past that you’re not really enforcing anything.

What to say once, and how to say it

Frame the state, then remove the failure condition:

“We’re aiming for the place between waking and sleeping — awake enough to hear my voice, relaxed enough that you’re not holding on. You’ll probably drift in and out. That’s normal. And if you fall asleep, your body needed it and you haven’t done anything wrong.”

The last sentence is the one that matters the most. It takes the performance out. It removes the pressure of doing it “right.”

Then I say a shorter version right before we drop in, and that’s the last time I mention it.

How to wake someone without embarrassing her

If someone starts snoring loudly enough to pull the room out, I get up and wake her. Gently, and this part is craft. I intentionally share my “wake up” protocol with my students while we’re preparing. This removes any uncertainty and reduces the chance that they will startle awake.

Kneel down beside her rather than standing over her. Make contact before sound — a light tug on her mat, a gentle hand on the top of her foot or on her shoulder, enough pressure that she registers it before she surfaces. Give it a second. Most people shift their breathing and come back up on their own without ever fully waking, and that’s the ideal outcome. I honestly never use words to bring students up from sleep, but if you do, keep them quiet and close and undirected — no name, nothing the rest of the room can hear.

Then go back to your seat and keep going in exactly the same voice. The room reads your response, not the snoring. If you handle it as unremarkable, it stays unremarkable.

And never, ever say anything to her about it afterward in front of anyone else.

When half the room goes under every single time

That’s a design question, not a discipline question, and no amount of instruction fixes it.

• Time of day. Mid-afternoon and post-dinner are the hardest slots to stay conscious in. Late morning is the easiest.
• What came before. Long hot vinyasa straight into nidra is a sleep protocol.
• Temperature and light. Warm and fully dark is a bedroom. Cool with a little low light keeps a thread of alertness alive.
• Position. Fully flat goes deepest. A bolster under the knees and a folded blanket under the head supports her without laying her out. Reclined or seated is an option for anyone who wants it.
• How tired the room genuinely is. Retreat, day two, after a hike? They’re going to sleep. Let them.

Change the conditions. Leave the instruction alone.

Want a script to try this on?

My nature-inspired yoga nidra script is free — printable PDF plus the full audio. It follows the Bihar School structure through the koshas with a journey instead of the archetypal images, and it’s the framework I teach from and train teachers on.

What changes when you stop policing it

The language your students use changes first.

Right now, in most rooms, women come up and apologize. I think I fell asleep, sorry. That apology is learned — she picked it up from a teacher who made sleep into a failure, and she’s carrying it into a practice designed to give her permission.

Take the failure condition out and you start hearing the other report instead. That she lost time. That she isn’t sure whether she was completely out or not. That something surfaced she wasn’t expecting. That in-between report is the practice doing precisely what it’s built to do, and it shows up far more often in rooms where nobody is “working at it.”

Your job is to build a room safe enough that her body will let go, and then to get out of the way of whatever it does next. Some days that’s conscious rest. Some days it’s the first real sleep she’s had in a month.

Both of those are worth it.

Next in this series: If You’re Teaching Yoga Nidra, Stop Calling It Nidra — on the stages most of us skip, and what’s left when you do.

Where to go next

• The science on why nidra works: The benefits of yoga nidra →
• The full script: Yoga nidra script inspired by nature (free PDF + audio) →
• Nidra for intention work: Yoga nidra for manifestation →

Learn to teach nidra properly

Framing, pacing, sankalpa work, and what to actually do when a room won’t settle — that’s the yoga nidra module of my 200-hour teacher training for women.

See the teacher training →

Frequently asked questions

Is it bad to fall asleep during yoga nidra?

No. It usually means two things, and both are good. Your body needed the rest, and your nervous system came down far enough to take it. Elevated arousal reliably blocks sleep onset, so sleep arriving is evidence that arousal fell away. Reaching that state in an unfamiliar room among people you barely know is harder than doing it at home, which makes it a sign the setting worked.

Does yoga nidra still work if you fall asleep?

Partly. The rest itself is real and your body takes it either way. What you miss is the conscious part, which is where the intention work happens and where you practise observing sensation without reacting to it. If you sleep through most practices you’re likely carrying a genuine sleep debt, and the awareness tends to return once that’s paid down. Treat the sleep as the practice doing something useful rather than as a session wasted.

How do I stop falling asleep during yoga nidra?

Practice earlier in the day, keep the room cool rather than warm, use a bolster under the knees and a folded blanket under the head instead of lying completely flat, and consider a reclined or seated position. Avoid practising straight after a vigorous class. If you fall asleep every time, you’re likely carrying a genuine sleep debt, and the awareness tends to return once that’s addressed.

Why do I twitch or jerk during yoga nidra?

Those are hypnic jerks, the involuntary muscle contractions that commonly occur as a body crosses from waking into sleep. They are harmless and most people experience them. In yoga nidra they are useful information rather than a problem: a jerk means you reached the threshold the practice is aiming at. Nothing needs to be done about them. Let the body settle and carry on.

Is one hour of yoga nidra equal to four hours of sleep?

No, and no research establishes that ratio. The claim circulates widely in yoga marketing but no study supports it. Yoga nidra does produce real physiological change and many people feel deeply rested afterwards, but it isn’t a replacement for sleeping and should not be described as one.

Should you tell students to stay awake during yoga nidra?

Say it once while explaining the practice, and optionally once more just before beginning. Don’t repeat it throughout. Yoga nidra depends on the release of effort, and asking a student to try harder to stay awake asks for vigilance, which is arousal. Repeated reminders also interrupt the students who were settling, while doing nothing at all for the ones already asleep.

Does the yoga nidra tradition say not to sleep?

Yes. In the Bihar School method taught by Swami Satyananda, yoga nidra is explicitly distinguished from sleep, and the instruction not to sleep appears in traditional scripts. The awareness is where the benefit of the practice lives. The tradition frames this once rather than repeating it, and it doesn’t treat a sleeping student as having failed.

Why do so many students fall asleep in yoga nidra?

Most are carrying a real sleep debt, and the practice creates the first conditions in which their body is willing to collect it. Setting matters too. Mid-afternoon and post-dinner slots, a warm dark room, lying fully flat, and a vigorous class immediately beforehand all make sleep more likely. Adjusting these conditions works far better than repeating an instruction.

What should a teacher do if a student snores during yoga nidra?

If the snoring is pulling the room out, wake her gently. Kneel beside her rather than standing over her, make light physical contact at the shoulder or foot before using any sound, and give her a moment to shift her breathing on her own. Keep any words quiet and undirected, then return to your seat and continue in the same voice. The room takes its cue from the teacher.

Is yoga nidra the same as sleep?

No. Yoga nidra guides you to the threshold between waking and sleeping and keeps a thread of awareness there, which is why it’s sometimes called conscious sleep or yogic sleep. Ordinary sleep involves losing that awareness. Most practitioners cross back and forth over the threshold several times in a single practice.

Why is it harder to sleep in an unfamiliar place?

Researchers call this the first-night effect. A 2016 study by Tamaki and colleagues found that in unfamiliar environments one brain hemisphere stays measurably more vigilant during deep sleep, acting as a kind of night watch. The effect runs automatically on novelty rather than on how anxious a person reports feeling, and it fades once a place becomes familiar. It’s why the first night of a retreat is often the hardest and the third is easier.

References

1. Riemann D, Spiegelhalder K, Feige B, Voderholzer U, Berger M, Perlis M, Nissen C. “The hyperarousal model of insomnia: a review of the concept and its evidence.” Sleep Medicine Reviews 14(1):19–31, 2010. DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2009.04.002
2. Dressle RJ, Riemann D. “Hyperarousal in insomnia disorder: current evidence and potential mechanisms.” Journal of Sleep Research, 2023. DOI: 10.1111/jsr.13928
3. Tamaki M, Bang JW, Watanabe T, Sasaki Y. “Night watch in one brain hemisphere during sleep associated with the first-night effect in humans.” Current Biology 26(9):1190–1194, 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.02.063
4. Morgenthaler T, Kramer M, Alessi C, et al. “Practice parameters for the psychological and behavioral treatment of insomnia: an update. An American Academy of Sleep Medicine report.” Sleep 29(11):1415–1419, 2006.
5. Ascher LM, Efran JS. “Use of paradoxical intention in a behavioral program for sleep onset insomnia.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 46(3):547–550, 1978.
6. Espie CA, Broomfield NM, MacMahon KMA, Macphee LM, Taylor LM. “The attention–intention–effort pathway in the development of psychophysiologic insomnia: a theoretical review.” Sleep Medicine Reviews 10(4):215–245, 2006. DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2006.03.002

The post If You’re Teaching Yoga Nidra, Stop Policing Sleep appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

Here’s a question that stops a lot of women cold: what do you actually want?

Not what your family needs. Not what’s on the list. Not the next thing you’re supposed to handle. What do you want — for your days, your body, your one life?

If your mind went quiet and a little panicky just now, you’re in good company. Most of us have been so busy meeting everyone else’s needs for so long that our own desires have gone faint. Not gone. Just faint. Buried under the noise.

And this is the part manifestation teachers almost never say out loud: you cannot manifest what you can’t feel. Manifestation doesn’t start with a vision board. It starts with desire — with actually knowing what you want, clearly enough to move toward it. And you can’t hear your own desire while your nervous system is roaring.

That’s exactly where yoga nidra comes in.

What Is Yoga Nidra?

Yoga nidra is a guided practice of deep, conscious rest where you lie down, follow a voice, and settle into the doorway between waking and sleep without falling asleep. It’s sometimes called “yogic sleep,” and the research world calls a version of it NSDR: non-sleep deep rest.

You’re not doing anything. You’re not clearing your mind or fixing yourself. You’re being guided through your body and breath while staying just barely awake — ten to forty minutes, lying down, under a blanket. It asks nothing of you. Which, for a woman who is asked for everything all day, is the entire point.

Why Can’t I Feel What I Want Anymore?

Because desire is quiet, and your nervous system is loud. When you’re running on empty — over-caffeinated, under-slept, bracing through the day — your brain stays in survival mode, scanning for the next threat and the next task. In that state there’s simply no bandwidth left to feel something as subtle as what would actually light me up.

Desire needs safety and space to surface. It’s not that you’ve stopped wanting things. It’s that wanting requires a nervous system calm enough to feel past the noise — and yours hasn’t had a quiet moment in a long time. Yoga nidra gives it one.

Doesn’t Yoga Teach Us to Let Go of Desire?

Not the way most people assume. Classical yoga philosophy actually honors desire — it names four kinds of it worth pursuing, called the Purusharthas, or the four aims of a whole life. Far from telling you to want less, the tradition says a meaningful life moves toward all four:

• Dharma — your purpose. The desire to become who you’re here to be, and to do the work that’s yours to do.
• Artha — your means. The desire for the resources, security, health, and stability that let you actually live your purpose. (Yes — wanting money and a home that supports you is a legitimate spiritual aim.)
• Kama — your pleasure. The desire for joy, beauty, delight, connection, and the simple experience of being alive in a body. Not a guilty afterthought. An aim.
• Moksha — your freedom. The desire to feel unburdened and spacious — free from the constant weight of everyone else’s needs.

If you’ve ever felt quietly guilty for wanting more comfort, more pleasure, or more freedom, this is your permission slip from a 2,000-year-old tradition: those wants aren’t unspiritual. They’re the point. Teacher Rod Stryker built an entire modern practice around exactly this — his book The Four Desires uses yoga nidra and sankalpa to help people clarify and move toward these very aims.

Which is what makes yoga nidra the natural home for this work. It’s not about transcending your desire. It’s about getting quiet enough to hear which of the four is calling you right now.

What Actually Happens in Your Brain During Yoga Nidra?

Your brain shifts out of its busy, alert beta-wave state and slows into alpha and then theta waves — the same receptive rhythm your brain makes right before you fall asleep, when the mental gatekeeping goes quiet and the deeper parts of you get a word in.

This is measurable, not poetic. In a well-known 2002 PET study published in Cognitive Brain Research, researchers scanned experienced practitioners during yoga nidra and found a roughly 65% increase in dopamine released in a reward-and-motivation region of the brain (the ventral striatum), correlated with rising theta activity. Dopamine isn’t only the “pleasure” chemical — it’s the chemistry of wanting, of anticipation, of what your brain marks as worth pursuing.

Sit with that for a second. In yoga nidra you get a calm body, the brain’s most receptive rhythm, and a surge in the exact neurochemistry of desire. It’s almost the perfect physiological setup for reconnecting with what you want.

How Does Yoga Nidra Help With Manifestation?

Yoga nidra helps you manifest by quieting the noise so you can feel your desire, then giving that desire to your brain as a clear target to move toward. Manifestation isn’t magic — it’s clarity plus a regulated nervous system plus neuroplasticity plus aligned action, over time. Yoga nidra sets up the first three.

It calms the nervous system so desire can surface. Yoga nidra activates the parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) side of your nervous system — heart rate drops, cortisol comes down. Only from that settled place can you feel the quiet pull of what you actually want, instead of just reacting to what’s urgent.

It opens the window where new wanting can take root. Neuroplasticity is your brain’s ability to form new patterns. Much of that rewiring happens during deep rest, not effort — and the theta-rich state of yoga nidra is one of the most receptive windows you have. It’s where a new desire can move from “I could never” to “maybe I actually want that.”

It sharpens what your brain goes looking for. Once you name a desire clearly, your reticular activating system (RAS) — the filter that decides what reaches your attention — starts flagging the people, resources, and openings that match it. It’s why you notice your car’s model everywhere the week after you buy it. Give the filter a clear desire, and it quietly starts hunting for it.

Then you act on what shows up. Desire without aligned action is just longing. Yoga nidra reconnects you to the wanting and primes the brain to notice the way forward — the next real step is yours to take.

What Is a Sankalpa — and How Is It Different From Wishing?

A sankalpa is a short, present-tense intention you plant during yoga nidra — your desire, distilled into one clear sentence and spoken as if it’s already true. It’s different from wishing because you set it in the receptive theta state, where your mind can receive it instead of instantly arguing it down.

In your busy daytime brain, you think I want to feel alive again and a voice fires back must be nice, no time for that. In the yoga nidra state that critical voice softens, and the desire gets to land. A good sankalpa is short, positive, and present-tense: not “I want to stop feeling numb” but “I am alive and awake to my life.” Not “I hope I’m worthy of more” but “I am worthy of a life that feels good.” You’re not lying to yourself — you’re letting yourself want something clearly, in the one state open enough to believe it’s possible.

If you’re not sure what to name, let the four desires be your starting point. Is it dharma calling — a pull toward purpose or work that’s actually yours? Artha — the security and resources to breathe? Kama — more pleasure, more joy, more aliveness in your days? Or moksha — freedom, space, room that belongs to no one but you? You don’t have to name all four. Just the one that’s loudest right now.

How Do You Practice Yoga Nidra for Manifestation?

You practice by resting into a guided recording and planting one clear desire as your sankalpa at the start and end. No experience, flexibility, or special setup required. The simple version:

Before you begin, ask yourself the honest question — what do I actually want right now? — and let one true answer rise. Lie down somewhere warm and quiet, under a blanket, and press play on a guided yoga nidra (twenty minutes is plenty). As it starts, name your desire once as a present-tense sankalpa. Then let the voice carry you and stop trying. You’ll drift and float back — that’s the state. At the end, name your desire one more time. Then get up and take one small step toward it.

Feel the want. Name it clearly. Take the aligned action. Repeat it enough that it becomes a pattern. That’s manifestation with the science attached — and with your own desire back at the center of it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is yoga nidra actually backed by science? Yes. Research on yoga nidra and non-sleep deep rest shows it shifts the brain into theta-wave states, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, lowers cortisol, and in one PET study was associated with a roughly 65% increase in dopamine. These are measured physiological effects, not just a feeling of calm.

How does yoga nidra help you manifest what you want? Yoga nidra helps you manifest by calming your nervous system enough to actually feel your desire, opening the brain’s receptive state where new wanting can take root, and helping you hold that desire as a clear intention. You still take aligned action — but yoga nidra reconnects you to what you’re moving toward in the first place.

What if I don’t even know what I want anymore? That’s incredibly common, and it’s usually a sign of depletion, not failure. Desire is quiet and needs a calm nervous system to surface. Yoga nidra creates exactly that quiet — many women find that once the noise drops, a clear want they’d forgotten about comes back into focus.

What are the four desires in yoga? The four desires are the Purusharthas — yoga’s four aims of a whole life: dharma (purpose), artha (the means and security to live it), kama (pleasure and joy), and moksha (freedom). Rather than teaching you to give up desire, this framework treats these wants as legitimate and worth moving toward. They make a useful starting point for choosing a sankalpa.

What’s the difference between yoga nidra and meditation? In most meditation you sit upright and practice focusing or observing your mind. In yoga nidra you lie down and are guided into a state between waking and sleep, doing effectively nothing. Yoga nidra is often easier for beginners because there’s no “doing it right.” Learn more about the differences between yoga nidra and meditation here.

What is a sankalpa? A sankalpa is a short, present-tense intention — your desire in one clear sentence, like “I am alive and awake to my life” — that you plant during yoga nidra, when your mind is receptive enough for it to take root.

Do I need experience to try yoga nidra? No. Yoga nidra requires no yoga experience, no flexibility, and no ability to quiet your mind. You lie down and listen. It’s one of the most beginner-friendly practices there is.

How long should a yoga nidra practice be? Ten to forty minutes. Even a short session shifts your nervous system. Twenty minutes is a good starting point, midday or before bed.

How often should I practice for it to work? Consistency matters more than length. A short daily or near-daily practice, returning to the same clear desire, gives your brain the repetition it needs to form a new pattern — the way any real change happens: a little, often, over time.

A gentle invitation

If reading this stirred up a want you’ve been ignoring — even a small one — don’t rush past it. That flicker is information.

You are allowed to want things. A life with more ease in it. More laughter. More of whatever quietly lights you up. Wanting more isn’t selfish and it isn’t too late — it’s the most honest starting point there is. Rest isn’t the destination here. Desire is. Rest is just how you get quiet enough to feel it again.

Try this tonight: Twenty minutes of yoga nidra, one honest desire named as your sankalpa, before you fall asleep. Notice what your attention starts catching tomorrow. Here’s one of mine.

And if you’re craving the deeper version — a few days to truly rest, get quiet enough to hear what you actually want, and let yourself want it out loud alongside women who get it — our next retreat is Rooted & Wild near Asheville, NC this fall. Come as you are.

The Research

Kjaer TW, et al. “Increased dopamine tone during meditation-induced change of consciousness.” Cognitive Brain Research, 2002. PubMed

The post Yoga Nidra for Manifestation: How Deep Rest Helps You Reconnect With What You Actually Want appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

Yoga Nidra vs. Meditation: What’s the Difference?

The short answer: yoga nidra is an effortless, guided practice done lying down, where you simply follow a voice into deep relaxation. Meditation is an active practice of training your attention, usually done sitting up. The simplest way to remember it: meditation takes effort; yoga nidra takes almost none.

If you’ve been around yoga for a while, you’ve probably tried both — and maybe wondered, isn’t yoga nidra just guided meditation? Sort of. They’re cousins. But they do different things, in different ways, and they’re wonderful for different reasons. Here’s the honest breakdown.

What Makes Yoga Nidra Unique?

Yoga nidra is often called “yogic sleep” or “conscious sleep” — sleep with a thread of awareness running through it. It’s a systematic practice that guides your attention from the outside world inward, moving through what yoga calls the koshas: five layers of you, from the physical body all the way in to the quietest, most peaceful part. (If you want the deep dive on those, I wrote a whole post on the koshas.)

As you settle in, your senses start to power down — a state yoga calls pratyahara, or sensory withdrawal, is the fifth limb of Patanjali’s Eight Limbed Path. In plain terms: the outside world goes quiet, and the only door left open is your hearing, so you can follow the voice guiding you.

This process of moving inward shuts down the thinking mind and into a state of pratyahara (hallelujah! — please tell me I’m not the only one whose brain likes to do, do, do). Pratyahara, known as the practice of sense withdrawal, is the fifth limb of Patanjali’s ashtanga yoga. And yoga nidra provides a systematic approach to withdraw our awareness. In yoga nidra we disengage the parts of our mind that are linked to sense perception. The only sensory input we keep “open” is the auditory channel and perhaps a little “feeling”.

To me, yoga nidra is a receptive practice, not a focused one. It genuinely doesn’t matter if your mind drifts, or if you lose track and the dreamy subconscious takes over — the practice still works. There’s nothing to force.

And in that quiet, receptive state, something useful happens: you can begin to soften the old mental grooves you run on autopilot — yoga calls these samskaras — and, by setting a clear intention (a sankalpa), start laying down healthier samskaras in their place.

Here’s the metaphor I always come back to: yoga nidra is a game of “follow the leader” for your brain. You don’t work to hold focus — you just follow the lead of the teacher. The teacher is the gondolier, yoga nidra is the boat, and you’re simply the passenger, along for the ride.

What Makes Meditation Different?

Meditation, by contrast, is an active practice. “Meditation” has become a catch-all word that spans dozens of traditions, so it’s hard to pin down a single definition — but most forms share one thing: effort. You train your mind toward one-pointed focus, whether that’s a mantra, your breath, a candle flame, or your own thoughts. And when your attention wanders off (it will), you gently notice and bring it back. That returning, again and again, is the practice.

So where yoga nidra asks you to let go and follow, meditation asks you to focus and return. One is the passenger; the other is rowing the boat.

Yoga Nidra and Meditation are Complementary Practices

Yoga nidra and meditation both have numerous benefits and the two practices complement one another well. As a matter of fact, scientists on multiple continents are studying these two ancient practices and finding that they reduce stress, improve sleep, relieve menstrual discomfort and so on.

So Which Should You Do?

Honestly? Both — but here’s how to choose in the moment:

• Reach for yoga nidra when you’re depleted, wired-but-tired, struggling to sleep, or so overwhelmed that “just focus” feels impossible. It meets you where effort isn’t available.
• Reach for meditation when you want to build focus, steady your reactions, or train a calmer relationship with your own mind over time.

They really do complement each other beautifully. Many people find that regular yoga nidra — by calming the nervous system — actually makes seated meditation easier. You don’t have to pick a side.

What Does the Science Say?

Researchers have studied both practices, and the encouraging news is that both reduce stress and support better sleep. One 2018 trial is especially relevant here because it compared them directly: 60 college professors were split into a yoga nidra group, a seated meditation group, and a control group. Over three months, both practices reduced stress — with a tendency toward yoga nidra being slightly more effective for anxiety specifically (Ferreira-Vorkapic et al., 2018).

In other words: you really can’t go wrong. (If you want the full rundown of the research on yoga nidra, I gathered it in this post on the benefits of yoga nidra.)

Try It for Yourself

The best way to understand the difference is to feel it. Yoga nidra especially — it’s hard to describe and easy to experience.

Get my free guided yoga nidra recording →
A 20-minute practice you can do tonight, lying down. Drop your email and I’ll send it right over.

I also teach live yoga nidra on Zoom check my schedule and have on-demand sessions on YouTube. I’d genuinely love to hear how it goes for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between yoga nidra and meditation? Yoga nidra is an effortless, guided practice done lying down, where you follow a voice into deep relaxation. Meditation is an active practice of training your attention, usually done seated. The simplest difference: meditation takes effort, while yoga nidra takes almost none.

Is yoga nidra a type of meditation? Loosely, yes — yoga nidra is often grouped with meditation because both calm the mind and aren’t physical like other yoga. But it’s distinct: it’s done lying down, it’s fully guided, and it’s receptive rather than focused.

Is yoga nidra better than meditation? Neither is better — they do different jobs. Yoga nidra is best for deep rest, sleep, and nervous-system recovery; meditation is best for building focus and steadiness. Many people do both.

Is yoga nidra easier than meditation? For most people, yes. Because yoga nidra is fully guided and doesn’t ask you to hold focus, it tends to feel easier than seated meditation — especially when you’re tired or overwhelmed.

Should I do yoga nidra or meditation for sleep? For sleep, yoga nidra is usually the better fit. It’s done lying down and guides you into a deeply relaxed, sleep-like state, which makes it ideal before bed or during a restless night.

Should I do yoga nidra or meditation for anxiety? Both help with anxiety. One 2018 study found yoga nidra had a slight edge for anxiety specifically, and because it requires no effort, it’s often more approachable when you’re feeling anxious or scattered.

The post What’s the Difference Between Yoga Nidra and Meditation? appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Here’s what I love about it: the benefits of yoga nidra are well documented, they range from better sleep to less anxiety, and they’re backed by actual research, not pseudoscience. In this post I’ll walk you through eight of them, each one tied to a real study you can go read yourself.

And the best part? Anyone can do yoga nidra. You don’t need to be flexible, experienced, or even know what’s happening. You just lie there and listen.

What is Yoga Nidra?

Yoga nidra is a structured, guided meditation practiced lying down, designed to move you into a state between waking and sleeping while you stay aware the whole time. Unlike most yoga, there are no poses — you simply rest while a recording or teacher guides your attention through the body, the breath, and a series of relaxation stages.

Its roots are in ancient India, and the modern form most of us practice was systematized in the 20th century by Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga. You may also have heard it called NSDR — Non-Sleep Deep Rest — a term coined by Stanford neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman to describe exactly this kind of practice. Same deep rest, friendlier name.

One reassuring note before we go further: if you fall completely asleep during yoga nidra, that’s okay. It just means your body needed the rest.

What Are the Benefits of Yoga Nidra?

1. Yoga Nidra Reduces Stress & Anxiety

Research consistently links yoga nidra to lower stress and anxiety. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis concluded that yoga nidra has a positive effect on stress, anxiety, and depression (Ghai et al., 2025). In one often-cited 2018 trial of 60 college professors, both yoga nidra and seated meditation reduced stress — with a tendency toward yoga nidra being more effective for anxiety specifically (Ferreira-Vorkapic et al., 2018).

There’s a measurable, physical side to this too: a 2025 randomized controlled trial found that even a short 11-minute yoga nidra practice reduced stress, anxiety, depression, and rumination, alongside changes in cortisol (the primary stress hormone) (Moszeik et al., 2025). That’s worth taking seriously — chronically elevated cortisol is linked to inflammation, poor sleep, and a long list of downstream health problems like heart disease, fatigue, stroke, and chronic pain. Better to make time for our health now, so we don’t have to make time for our dis-ease later.

2. It Shifts You Into “Rest and Digest”

Yoga nidra appears to nudge the nervous system out of fight-or-flight and toward the parasympathetic “rest and digest” state. A 2025 systematic review of 15 randomized controlled trials found improvements in heart rate variability (HRV) — a marker of healthy autonomic balance — in ten of the studies, along with reductions in blood pressure (Systematic review of RCTs, Int Res J Ayurveda Yoga, 2025). In plainer terms: the practice helps your body remember how to downshift.

3. Your Brain Slows Down — and Your Body Gets to Restore

You know that drowsy, floaty feeling right before you fall asleep — when the mental chatter finally quiets and your body goes heavy in the best way? Your brain actually runs at different speeds all day, a little like the gears of a car. Rushing, multitasking, reacting from morning to night? You’re in high gear. Drifting off at bedtime? You’ve shifted down into the slow, dreamy ones.

Yoga nidra walks you down into those slower gears on purpose — and lets you stay there, awake enough to feel it, instead of racing straight past into sleep.

Nidra and Your Brain Waves

When scientists measure this, the most consistent change they see is a rise in something called theta — the slow, dreamy “edge of sleep” rhythm where the mind softens and the body starts to restore (EEG systematic review, 2025). It’s the same place you drift through every single night. Yoga nidra just lets you actually rest in it, instead of blowing past it on your way to sleep.

And if you sink really deep, some people drop into an even slower rhythm — delta, the gear your brain usually only reaches in deep, dreamless sleep, where the real physical restoration happens (Datta et al., 2022). Not everyone gets there every time, and that’s perfectly fine.

Is the science completely nailed down? Not yet — these are early, smallish studies, and honest researchers will tell you this state isn’t fully understood. But the pattern is steady, and the experience speaks for itself: deep, sleep-like rest, while you stay awake. Advanced napping, explained.

A quick cheat sheet — your brain’s “gears,” slowest to fastest (slower means deeper rest):

• Delta — about 0.5 to 4 cycles per second: deep, dreamless sleep and your deepest physical restoration
• Theta — about 4 to 8 cycles per second: the dreamy, drifting edge of sleep and deep meditation
• Alpha — about 8 to 12 cycles per second: calm, relaxed, and awake
• Beta — about 13 to 30 cycles per second: your busy, thinking, running-the-whole-day brain

Yoga nidra gently walks you down from beta toward theta and delta — and lets you stay there, awake enough to enjoy it.

4. Yoga Nidra May Help Heal Trauma & PTSD

One of the most striking applications of yoga nidra comes from the military. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Defense conducted research at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on iRest — an adaptation of yoga nidra developed by psychologist Richard Miller, PhD — for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD. The results were strong enough that iRest became part of the treatment programs at Walter Reed and a number of VA facilities, and the practice was later endorsed by the U.S. Army Surgeon General as a complementary therapy (iRest Institute; Miller, 2015).

If it can help wounded warriors begin to heal from severe trauma, it’s worth a few quiet minutes of your day.

5. Yoga Nidra Can Ease Chronic Pain

Our bodies naturally want to heal and yoga nidra gives our body the time to do just that. Remember those delta waves I mentioned earlier? And the parasympathetic nervous system? Yoga nidra helps switch us out of doing and into being so we can rest.

The same line of military research led the U.S. Army Surgeon General to recognize yoga nidra (as iRest) as a complementary approach for chronic pain in 2010. The likely mechanism ties back to everything above: by shifting you out of “doing” and into deep rest, yoga nidra calms the stress response, which can lower inflammation and give an overworked body the conditions it needs to recover.

6. It Eases Anxiety and Low Mood Around Your Cycle

If your energy crashes, your mood dips, or anxiety spikes around your period, yoga nidra may help. In a randomized controlled trial of 150 women with menstrual irregularities, a six-month yoga nidra program significantly reduced anxiety and depression scores compared to a control group (Rani et al., 2011).

Personally? When “aunt Flow” is in town, I’ve found it genuinely steadying. I’m less agitated, my energy improves, and I feel more even. Anecdotal, yes — but the research backs up the pattern.

So if you’re feeling low energy, anxious, depressed, or irritable carve out a little time for yoga nidra.

7. Yoga Nidra Improves Sleep and Helps With Insomnia

Yoga nidra trains the body to relax and slip more easily into deeper rest, and several studies have found it improves sleep quality and reduces insomnia symptoms (Datta et al., 2022). The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults get 7–9 hours a night.

Sleep is vital to our health and wellbeing. Poor sleep and insomnia can lead to more than just irritability and bags under your eyes. If you’re sleeping crummily (is that even a word?) you might experience:

• poor memory and trouble concentrating
• mental health disturbances
• heart disease, heart attack & stroke
• increased blood pressure
• low libido
• weight gain
• diabetes
• a weakend immune system
• increased inflammation

Yoga nidra is a good way to supplement your sleep if you’re not sleeping well at night. You could try yoga nidra during your lunch break or give it a try right before bed — go ahead and crawl into bed and prepare yourself for a restful night of sleep.

A quick myth-bust, in the spirit of honesty: you may have heard that 45 minutes of yoga nidra equals three hours of sleep. It’s a lovely traditional yogic saying — but there’s no scientific research behind that specific ratio. What the research does show is that yoga nidra meaningfully improves sleep quality.

8. It May Support Healthy Blood Sugar

Early research suggests yoga nidra may help with type 2 diabetes management — as a complement to medication, never a replacement. A small 2009 study of 41 people with type 2 diabetes found that adding 30 minutes of daily yoga nidra to their usual medication improved symptoms and blood glucose control more than medication alone (Amita et al., 2009). Small study, promising direction.

A Few Honest Caveats

I’d rather you trust me than oversell you. So: many of these studies are small, and a research review noted that yoga nidra’s benefits for mild anxiety and depression did not necessarily extend to severe cases (Sharpe et al., 2022). Yoga nidra is a powerful, accessible tool for rest and regulation — and it’s a complement to good medical and mental-health care, not a substitute for it. If you’re dealing with something serious, please loop in a professional.

Can You Use Yoga Nidra for Manifestation?

Yes — though probably not the way the internet means it. Yoga nidra is one of the most powerful tools I know for the grounded, science-backed kind of manifestation: getting clear, calm, and focused enough to actually move your life. This is the part of the practice I love most as a teacher, so let me explain the difference — because it really does matter.

For thousands of years, yoga nidra has included a step called a sankalpa — a short, clear intention you plant at the very beginning and end of practice, in the moments when the mind is calmest and most open. The old teaching calls it planting a seed in the subconscious. Modern neuroscience doesn’t argue with that — it just explains why it works.

Because here’s what manifestation actually is, in my world:

Manifestation is not magic, not wishing, and definitely not waiting for the universe to deliver. It’s clarity, plus a regulated nervous system, plus aligned action, repeated over time. Yoga nidra is one of the best tools there is for the first two:

• A regulated nervous system comes first. You can’t manifest much from a depleted, fried nervous system — your brain is too busy surviving to imagine, plan, or act. Yoga nidra drops you out of fight-or-flight and into the calm state where change becomes possible.
• A calm mind is a receptive mind. In that slow, theta “edge of sleep” state, the usual mental noise quiets down, and an intention set there tends to land far more deeply than one you mutter while scrolling.
• Repetition reshapes you. Your brain physically rewires around what you focus on — that’s neuroplasticity. A clear intention, returned to again and again in a calm state, slowly becomes part of how you think.
• Your brain starts noticing. Once you name what you actually want, your reticular activating system — the filter that decides what you pay attention to — begins flagging the people, opportunities, and resources that match it. They were likely there all along. Now you see them.
• Then you act. This is the step the magical version skips. Manifestation without aligned action is just wishing. Yoga nidra gets you clear and regulated; your real life is where you take the steps.

So yes — yoga nidra is a genuine manifestation practice. Not because something out there grants your wish, but because a calm, clear mind that knows what it wants and then acts on it is one of the most powerful forces there is.

(This is exactly the work we do on retreat and in training — pairing the practice with the science of how change actually happens.)

How to Start (You Really Can’t Do It Wrong)

The beautiful thing about yoga nidra is how little it asks of you. No props, no experience, no special outfit — you can practice at home, in your pajamas, in bed. Find a recording that resonates with you and simply follow along.

Get my free guided yoga nidra recording →
A 20-minute practice you can do tonight. Drop your email and I’ll send it right over.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is yoga nidra?

Yoga nidra is a guided deep relaxation practice, typically practiced lying down that moves you into a deeply relaxed state between waking and sleeping while you stay aware. Unlike most yoga, it involves no poses — you simply rest and follow a voice through stages of relaxation.

What are the benefits of yoga nidra?

Research links yoga nidra to lower stress and anxiety, better sleep, reduced blood pressure, improved heart rate variability, and support for chronic pain, PTSD, and mood around the menstrual cycle. Most studies are small but consistently positive.

Is yoga nidra better than meditation?

They’re closely related, and both reduce stress. One 2018 trial found a tendency toward yoga nidra being slightly more effective for anxiety, but the bigger difference is practical: yoga nidra is done lying down and fully guided, which many people find easier than seated meditation.

Can yoga nidra replace sleep?

No. Despite the popular saying that 45 minutes equals three hours of sleep, there’s no research supporting that ratio. Yoga nidra can improve your sleep quality and help you fall asleep, but it complements rest — it doesn’t replace a full night.

Do you need yoga experience to practice yoga nidra?

No. Yoga nidra requires no experience, flexibility, or prior practice. You lie down and follow a recording, which makes it one of the most accessible practices there is.

How long should a yoga nidra practice be?

Anywhere from about 10 to 45 minutes. Research has found benefits from sessions as short as 11 minutes, so even a brief practice on a busy day is worthwhile.

Is yoga nidra the same as NSDR?

Essentially, yes. NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest) is a broader term coined by neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman for practices that create deep relaxation without sleep. Yoga nidra is the original, more structured practice that NSDR draws from.

Can you use yoga nidra for manifestation?

Yes, but not in the magical sense. Yoga nidra traditionally includes a sankalpa — a clear intention set in a calm, receptive state. In modern terms, that calm state plus repetition helps shape your focus and the opportunities your brain notices, which, paired with consistent aligned action, is how real change happens. It’s clarity and action, not wishing.

Is yoga nidra safe for everyone?

For most people, yes — it’s gentle and low-risk. It’s a complement to medical or mental-health care, not a replacement. If you live with significant trauma or a mental-health condition, it’s worth starting with a trauma-informed teacher or checking with your provider.

This article is for educational purposes and isn’t medical advice. Yoga nidra is a complement to professional care, not a substitute for it. Please consult a qualified provider about your individual health.

The post Eight Benefits of Yoga Nidra: What “Yogic Sleep” Actually Does for You appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

If yoga nidra is new to you, check out some of my other yoga nidra resources:

• Benefits of Yoga Nidra
• Yoga Nidra Script Inspired by Nature

We’ll practice yoga nidra in shavasana. If you’re not comfortable in shavasana, find a comfortable seat or lie on your side. For shavasana, slide a bolster or folded blanket underneath your knees and another blanket or pillow underneath the back of your head. The body temperature tends to drop during yoga nidra, so a blanket over the top of your body is usually really nice too. Let’s drop into this ocean-inspired yoga nidra.

Preliminary Relaxation For This Yoga Nidra Inspired by the Ocean

Take the next couple of minutes to get really comfortable. Adjust your props, your clothing and remove any distractions from your space. Once we’re in the practice of yoga nidra, you will want to remain still for the duration. 

Settle in. Take care of any last-minute wiggles and invite in a sense of stillness and calm. Close down your eyes and bring your awareness to your breath. Without changing your breath, simply witness it. Witness the rise and fall of your breath at your belly. Witnessing this sacred, natural rhythm. Unhurried. Unrestricted. Stay with the rise and fall of your breath.

Witness its ebb and flow. Your inhale releases into your exhale and your exhale surrenders into your inhale. PAUSE

Yoga Nidra Sankalpa

In yoga nidra we work with a sankalpa. A sankalpa is a positive “I am” statement that is true at the core of who you are. It is your essence simplified into a short positive “I am” statement. Bring into your mind’s eye your sankalpa. Once it has formed, repeat it quietly and internally to yourself three times. PAUSE

Remain aware of my voice and be still throughout the remainder of practice. The practice of yoga nidra begins now.

Rotation of Consciousness

Remain aware of my voice and do not sleep. I will guide you through a rotation of consciousness all you have to do is follow along and move your awareness from point to point within your body.

• Move your awareness to your mouth
• Become aware of your tongue
• Lower jaw
• Lower row of teeth
• Upper row of teeth
• Gums
• Upper lip
• Lower lip
• Space between your lips
• Both cheeks
• Right ear
• Left ear
• Forehead
• Both temples
• Top of the head
• Back of the head
• Tip of the nose
• Right nostril
• Left nostril
• Right eyelid
• Left eyelid
• Right eye
• Left eye
• Right eyebrow
• Left eyebrow
• Space between the eyebrows
• Now go to the right hand
• The right hand thumb
• Second finger
• Third finger
• Fourth finger
• Little finger
• Palm of the hand
• Back of the hand
• wrist
• forearm
• elbow
• Upper arm
• shoulder
• Right armpit
• ribs
• waist
• hip
• Right thigh
• knee
• calf
• ankle
• Heel 
• Sole of the foot
• Top of the foot
• Right big toe
• Second toe
• Third toe
• Fourth toe
• Little toe
• Now Go to the left hand
• The left hand thumb
• Second finger
• Third finger
• Fourth finger
• Little finger
• Palm of the hand
• Back of the hand
• wrist
• forearm
• elbow
• Upper arm
• shoulder
• Left armpit
• ribs
• waist
• hip 
• Left thigh
• knee
• calf
• ankle
• heel
• Sole of the foot
• Top of the foot
• Left big toe
• second toe
• Third toe
• Fourth toe
• Little toe
• Groin
• Right buttock
• Left buttock
• Lower back
• Mid-back
• Upper back
• Right shoulder blade
• Left shoulder blade
• Back of the neck
• Back of the head
• Right inner ear
• Left inner ear
• Roof of the mouth
• Throat
• Right collar bone
• Left collar bone
• Right chest
• Left chest
• Middle chest
• Upper abdomen
• Navel
• Lower abdomen
• Groin
• Whole spine
• The whole head
• Right arm
• Left arm
• Both arms together
• The whole right leg
• The whole left leg
• Both legs together
• Whole front body
• Whole back body
• Be aware of the whole body. PAUSE

Breath as Prana

Now bring your awareness to your breath. Experience your breath as it is. Follow its natural tide without altering it. Experience the pranic tide of your breath as if your whole body is breathing. Vibrant, white light flowing in and out with each cycle of breath. Waves of sparkling light washing over you with each inhale and falling away with each exhale. Each inhale peaking like a wave of prana cresting and then giving way to the exhale. Experience the peaks and valleys of your breath like the waves of an ocean. PAUSE.

Now count each breath. Count down from 54 to 0. Inhale 54. Exhale 53. Inhale 52. Exhale 51. If you lose count simply begin again. PAUSE

Opposites

Now bring your awareness to an experience of pleasure. Welcome the feeling of pleasure into your being. Hold your awareness on the experience of pleasure.

Now bring your awareness to an experience of pain. Meet the feeling of pain with equanimity. Experience it fully. Hold your awareness on the experience of pain.

Now bring your awareness to your body. Feel your body, mind and soul contracting. Becoming smaller and smaller. 

All at once, the body expands. The mind expands. And the soul expands. Body, mind, and soul expanding into the infinite, boundless.

Now bring your awareness to the experience of holding tightly. Experience the gripping in your body and mind. 

Now bring your awareness to the experience of letting go. Experience the release in your body and mind.

Archetypal Images

I will now describe images to you. Experience them without attachment and allow them to wash over you.

Your bare feet on the earth

You see a meandering path

Tall tufts of grass line the trail

Follow the path toward the sound of the ocean

You glimpse the ocean’s glimmering waves

The sea is calm

Your path gently gives way to a wide stretch of golden sand

You see the vast expanse of sea stretches out before you

The sun dances off the crest of each wave

Your breath in sync with the rhythmic pulse of the ocean

Miles of shimmery sand in each direction

Seabirds dart and dive

Puffs of clouds drift overhead

Dolphins play just beyond the waves

You walk over to the edge of the water

With each step little crabs scurry away

You stop and roll up your jeans

The water flows over your toes

Tiny shells, little gems, and sparkly stones turned and tossed by the gentle sea

A perfect shell washes up to your feet

You reach down and pick it up admiring its perfection

You peacefully slide it into your pocket and walk along the beach toward distant cliffs

A large piece of driftwood provides a spot to sit and rest

You turn your gaze toward the horizon and you take in your surroundings

A sense of ease washes over you

You reach into your pocket and pull out the shell

You turn it over in your hands, one, two, three times

You see a tiny inscription — it’s your sankalpa

Now, repeat your sankalpa internally to yourself. Speak it into the deepest layers of your being with meaning and intention. PAUSE

Gently bring your awareness back to your physical body lying on the earth. Experience your breath as the waves of an ocean. Sensation coming back. Arms. Legs. Torso. Head. Without opening your eyes, find a bit of movement. Little movements to start and finally a full body stretch. The practice of yoga nidra is complete. When you’re ready, roll over onto your side and pause there for a breath or two before coming up to a seat.

I hope you enjoyed this yoga nidra inspired by the ocean and beaches of sunny California. If you would like to learn more about yoga nidra, join me for a yoga teacher training or retreat. Both are great ways to learn more about this immensely healing practice.

Many blessings to you.

Love,
Autumn

Permissions for live in-person classes only: This script is copyrighted Ambuja Yoga© 2020, all rights reserved. You may use this script to guide live in-person classes or events only. Descriptions and advertising for any live in-person class using this script in whole or in part must include one of the following attributions: script ©Ambuja Yoga used by permission, or modified from script ©Ambuja Yoga used by permission.

This use does not convey the right to borrow from this script or to reproduce it in any way. No part of this script may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, digital copying, print, audio or video recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Other Resources for Yoga Nidra

• Book: Yoga Nidra by Swami Satyananda Saraswati
• Book: Yoga Nidra: A Meditative Practice for Deep Relaxation and Healing by Richard Miller
• Book: Yoga Nidra: The Art of Transformational Sleep by Kamini Desai (this one is really good on Audible)

The post Yoga Nidra Inspired By The Ocean appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

Nine Meditation Types For Beginners

Mindfulness Meditation

Since mindfulness meditation is the most popular meditation practice today I’ve put it in the number one spot. You’ve probably heard of it before, but may not know what it is or how it is different from other meditation practices. Mindfulness meditation is simply paying attention to the present moment and being aware of all the sensations, thoughts, etc. that arise without judgement or attachment. Here is a cool video from Jon Kabat Zinn about how a mindfulness meditation practice lights up different parts of the brain and here is a link to get you started with a mindfulness practice.

2. Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental meditation doesn’t seem to be as popular today as it was in the past, but there is still a substantial community worldwide. Transcendental meditation (TM) was made popular by the Beatles who learned the technique from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It has it’s roots in religion and involves mantra (sound) repetition for 15-20 minutes twice daily. Transcendental meditation teachers are required to undergo a certified training before they can teach and share the practice and students are initiated into the practice.

Much research has been done on the technique, but the research has been poorly conducted and unfortunately is of little scientific value. But honestly, any form of meditation is likely to create positive changes in your life, so why not try TM.

3. One of my favorite meditation practices: Mantra or Japa

Similar to Transcendental Meditation, mantra and japa meditation involve the repetition of a mantra, sound or divine name. This type of meditation practice is often practiced with a mala. A mala is a necklace, similar to a rosary, with 108 beads on it. The mantra is repeated 108 times either softly spoken or internally repeated. This type of ancient meditation practice is used in many different religious traditions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. You could even say it is similar to praying with a rosary.

A handmade green sandalwood meditation mala.

4. Guided Meditation: Chakras, Third Eye, Breath, Journey & More

Guided meditations are wonderful for those who need a bit more guidance and whose minds tend to wander off. Guided meditations can focus on visuals, energetics, sounds, the breath, emotional states and much more. There are many apps you can use on your phone or ipad. Choose your length of practice, the teacher, the focus and get started.

5. Trataka Meditation (also spelled tratak)

Trataka is a form of meditation where one focuses the eyes on one point. Very commonly trataka is performed while gazing at a candle flame. Eventually you may want to close the eyes. When the eyes are closed envision the candle flame in all of it’s detail. Hold this vision of the flame as long as you can and when it dissipates you may end your meditation practice. Slowly open your eyes. Don’t look directly at the flame again right after your meditation. You may need eye drops if the eyes feel dry or strained.

6. Focused Attention- Zazen, Breath, Mantra, etc.

In focused attention meditation the mind is focused on one thing; that one thing could be the breath, sensation in the body, a mantra, an object, etc. The attention is held on this one thing. As thoughts come up, and they will, the mind’s focus is guided back to it’s original point of focus.

7. Metta- Loving Kindness

Metta, or loving kindness, meditation is a practice of sending love to oneself, a good friend, a neutral person, a difficult person, all four of them equally and then eventually to the entire universe. This exercise is excellent for cultivating compassion. Here is a Loving Kindness Meditation with Jack Kornfield.

Loving kindness meditation is kind of like a hug for the soul.

8. Vipassana

Vipassana often begins with awareness on the breath and then moves to a practice that includes noting external stimuli without becoming attached to the source of the stimuli. An example could be if you hear a motorcycle drive by label it “hearing”, not motorcycle or if you notice a sour taste in your mouth instead of labeling it sour note it as “taste”. Noting the sense that recognized the external stimuli. It is very common to attend vipassana retreats where one has the opportunity to delve deep into a meditation practice.

9. Yoga Nidra

I hesitate to include yoga nidra on this list because I don’t necessarily consider it a meditation practice. Yoga nidra is “yogic sleep” and it is a way to access the unconscious and subconscious mind. It is a guided practice, similar to that of a guided meditation. Yoga nidra induces a state of deep relaxation and yoga nidra has a multitude of benefits. If you’re wondering what yoga nidra is or what it is like, I have a yoga nidra script inspired by the natural world here.

Not sure where to start? Google your local community and see what’s available. You might be surprised to find local meditation groups and meditation teachers that would be more than happy to take you under their wing. Another option is to go on a yoga and meditation retreat. On retreat you’ll often practie a few different meditation practices and you’ll have an opportunity to talk to others and share experiences.

Good luck on your meditation practice. Feel free to shoot me a private message if you have any questions via our contact form.

Love and Light,

Autumn

The post Demystifying Meditation: Nine Different Meditation Practices appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

Stress is so pervasive in today’s world. Just about every person I meet is struggling with stress and stress management. We have so many demands placed on us daily and in our strive for perfection, for climbing to the top we forget to slow down, to get off of our computers and take time for relaxation. Sometimes as a yoga instructor I feel like I’m expected to be perfect, to have my shit together, when really there are some days where I am literally just hanging on by a thread…. just like everyone else. Sometimes I forget to practice what I preach, so maybe that’s why I am writing this blog post. To remind myself that reducing stress can be utterly simple… it’s just a matter of using the tools we’ve been given.

The physiological signs of stress are the same for everyone: increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, and constricts peripheral blood vessels. How it outwardly manifests varies from person to person. Some react to stressful situations with an overexcited stress response characterized by being quick to become fired up or by being quick to express agitation or anger. Others may react with an under-excited stress response characterized by depression or by shutting down in stressful situations. Your “typical” stress response will determine what kind of activities you need to truly reduce stress. Those with overexcited stress responses will need activities that are quieter, while those with under-active stress responses will need more stimulating exercises.

Maintained high levels of stress are associated with all sorts of health problems including, but not limited to: obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, depression, gastrointestinal problems, and asthma. High levels of stress may also lead to adrenal fatigue, accelerated aging and premature death. If stress management isn’t part of your daily routine now may be the time to start.

The following is a short list of activities for stress management.

1. Focus on your breath. Close your eyes and bring your awareness to your breath. Become aware of the quality of your breath and the texture of your breath. Begin to lengthen your breath. Inhale for a count of 4 or 5 and exhale for a count of 4 or 5 and allow the breath to deepen without strain. If you find it hard to focus on your breath place one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest. Witness the breath for 3-5 minutes. Notice how you feel afterward.
2. Move your body. Go for a walk. Practice a few yoga postures (1/2 sun salutations or more) in which you can connect breath with movement.
3. Get some fresh air. Eat your lunch outside. Leave your phone in the office. Take a walk around the block. Go for a hike/bike ride before or after work.
4. De-clutter your workspace. Having a clean workspace means you aren’t wasting time shifting things around on your desk. It also means that those pesky tasks that are piling up won’t be staring you in the face.
5. On the same note. Get organized… perhaps even hire someone to help you become organized. Time management is a huge part of stress management. You’ll be able to spend more time doing the important tasks and less time doing the menial tasks.
6. Reach out to a calm friend that is also a good listener and enjoy a little face time…. real face time, not the cell phone version.
7. Make time for meditation. Any type of meditation. There are plenty of apps that you can use if you’d like a guided meditation. Some option are listed here in my meditation blog post. You don’t need to meditate for 20 minutes or an hour. Start with 5 minutes and work from there. Taking just a few minutes a day for quiet meditation is proven to work wonders.
8. Yoga nidra is another technique that can be used for stress management. There are many recorded classes on YouTube of varying quality and length, I have a downloadable yoga nidra on offer for those that subscribe to my newsletter. You may also find that some of the local yoga studios and wellness centers offer live guided yoga nidras.
9. Massage. The power of touch is phenomenal. Whether you visit a professional for a massage or give yourself a 5 minute massage you will feel much more relaxed afterward.
10. Drop into a yoga class. A good class will include plenty of movement, breath work, meditation and also time for rest.

Resources:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/stress-management-approaches-for-preventing-and-reducing-stress

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/basics/stress-basics/hlv-20049495

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-management.htm

37 Stress Management Tips from the Experts

The post Quick Tips for Stress Reduction appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

The five koshas are:

1. Annamaya kosha (the physical body)
2. Pranamaya kosha (the energy or vital body)
3. Manomaya kosha (the mental body)
4. Vijnanamaya kosha (the wisdom body)
5. Anandamaya kosha (the bliss body)

Unlike the layers of an onion that can be completely peeled away from one another the koshas are intertwined, inseparable with each kosha influencing the state of the others. We will begin our exploration of the koshas with Annamaya Kosha, the food/physical body, and continue from there to Anandamaya kosha, the bliss body. We can look at these sheaths, improve our awareness and explore our inner landscape as we begin to answer life’s big questions like, “Who am I?” or “What is the meaning of life?” We also work with the sheaths in yoga nidra, working through the layers methodically and patiently in hopes that we will one day be fully aware of our true self.

Annamaya Kosha (the physical body or food body)

The physical body is just that, physical. It’s made by the food and water we consume. When we are not in tune with our physical body, annamaya kosha, we may experience a sense of being ungrounded or unstable, we may lack appropriate proprioception and bump into things. Also, when we are not clued into our body and the needs of our body we may not be aware of how the food we are consuming is effecting our body and therefore every other aspect of our lives (remember all of the koshas are intertwined).

When we are attuned to our physical body we may experience a sense of balance and ease. Because our body is functioning more smoothly, it’s happier (and therefore not a distraction) so we can begin to focus on the other koshas. The physical body or the Annamaya kosha is the realm of the unconscious mind.

A simple exercise that you can practice to begin bringing more awareness to annamaya kosha is to find a comfortable seat or perhaps lie down on your yoga mat and bring one hand to your chest. Bring all of your awareness to the hand on the chest, becoming aware of your heart beat in the chest and in the hand. Be aware of where the hand meets the chest and become aware of any sensation that arises, the sensation of touch, heat, movement, etc. As you begin to feel more comfortable with this exercise you can begin to shift your awareness to other parts of your body. For example, your feet meeting the Earth, your liver, stomach, lungs, mouth/jaw and the muscles of your back. Be specific and stay with it for at least three to five minutes. Feel free to journal about your experience afterward.

Pranamaya Kosha (the energetic body or vital body)

Each of us has an energetic signature and it is contained within the pranamaya kosha, our energetic body. Pranamaya kosha is the vital force (prana, energy) that animates our physical body, annamaya kosha. We consume prana via our breath, the food we eat and the sun. This life force is carried throughout the body via channels called nadis (the most important nadis being sushumna, ida and pingala) and controlled via the chakras (energy centers). When we work with pranamaya kosha and the prana vayus we affect all seven chakras. The pranamaya kosha is the realm of the subconscious mind.

To work with pranamaya kosha begin to incorporate more pranayama (breathing exercises), bandhas (energetic locks), and pratyahara (sense withdrawal) into your practice. Practicing these methods will teach you how to increase prana and channel prana through the body. As you begin to work with prana you may notice heat, a sense of calm, a vibration, or many other sensations. Experience each sensation fully. Once you feel connected to the pranamaya kosha you may desire to work deeper into the koshas.

Manomaya Kosha (the mental body)

Manomaya Kosha, the mental body, creates meaning out of the world around us. It is the portion of our being where thinking, daydreaming and fantasizing reside. It is also where the beliefs, emotions and opinions from our culture and community reside. It is the repository for our unconscious mind. This kosha guides our emotional responses and is also home to the jnanendriyas (organs of knowledge, ie. our sense organs). Manomaya kosha is also the home of Ahamkara, the ego.

Manomaya kosha is the abode of our samskaras. Samskaras are the grooves of our mind, they are set paths and they are created by repetitive thought patterns. “I’m worthy/not worthy.” “I’m too fat/skinny.” “I choose love/fear.” These are thought patterns that occur often without us even acknowledging them. These samskaras color and shape all of our experiences.

A wonderful exercise to begin to work with these thought patterns and change your samskaras is one that Byron Katie teaches. Byron says to ask ourselves, “What would I be without this thought?” This is an excellent opportunity for self reflection, growth and journaling. I encourage you to keep a journal or small notepad with you at all times, so you can really see how often you experience these thought patterns. This is where big change can happen. This is the realm of the conscious mind.

Vijnanamaya Kosha (Wisdom Body)

Vijnanamaya kosha is the home of Buddhi, higher knowledge, intellect, intuition, judgement and discrimination. Ahamkara appears in vijnanamaya kosha, but as a higher knowledge of self. Our human qualities like gentleness, serenity, humility, non-attachment and bliss are also apparent in Vijnanamaya kosha. Vijnanamaya kosha is the realm of the superconscious mind. To reach Buddhi and Vijnanamaya kosha a regular meditation practice is recommended. A regular meditation practice allows one to cultivate the power and knowledge gained by being the witness and the observer.

Anandamaya Kosha (Bliss Body)

Anandamaya kosha is the innermost of the koshas and therefore the closest to Atman. The bliss in anandamaya kosha, is more than just an emotional state. Ananda (bliss) is peace, joy and love achieved through contact with the Atman (ultimate consciousness) and is a direct experience of the divine. By not identifying with the lower koshas we gain access to the higher koshas of vijnanamaya and anandamaya, where we may eventually move into that bliss state.

Interested in working with your koshas more? Join me for an upcoming Yoga Nidra class or on retreat where we will have the opportunity to practice yoga nidra multiple times.

Love and Light,

Autumn

The post What Are The Koshas? appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.