Nidra Yoga

I've practiced Yoga for six years now, sporadically, since there have been months without practice (and boy, how I notice when I don't practice). My memory is fragile and I don't remember when exactly I started practicing regularly, I think probably for at least six months. Honestly, because of a sort of depression -let's call it mild depression since it comes and goes, and I should recognize that it has been difficult to call it by its name- I've been exploring esoteric or spiritual topics. I am a very rational person, surrounded by even more rational loved ones, all of them atheists, so I've been very reserved about these things. Self-hypnosis, guided meditations, affirmations, chakras, theta healing... I don't intent to get into much detail about it in this post, but it just to give you an idea.

After some years going to the same academy to take my Hatha Yoga classes, it was the first time that I decided to attend a workshop: Nidra Yoga. The truth is that I was too lazy to find out what was this type of yoga about, I just gave a glance to a definition in the internet that said it was "the sleep yoga". Sleeping is another issue that I am exploring, writing down my dreams every day and trying formulas to sleep better. Sometimes I don't sleep very well, it's true, and I generally wake up with my neck very stiff and very sleepy, as I haven't rested much, and it's really hard to get out of bed, especially since it's winter here and my bedroom is a freezer. I am working on improving this aspect of my life.

The workshop was facilitated by my usual yoga teacher and lasted 2 hours, from 7 to 9 p. m. This teacher has a really straight forward, didactic way of teaching, told us a little about the history of yoga in general and when this yoga Nidra came from. He talked about the energetic discharge that our bodies do while we sleep, and how our thoughts move in two directions: inside and outside. Due to our lifestyles, always going out to do ours activities and coming back home, with all the information and problems we carry, it's hard for us to disconnect and rest, and we always end our days ruminating one thought, and then the next one. We go to bed thinking in the past -what we did during the day- and then in the future -what we have to do the next day-, and we fell asleep with all that, without doing the only thing we need to do when sleeping: resting.

"All of us human beings go in different buses towards the same end. We can choose which bus to ride, what sit to use, but at the end we all now our final destination," he explained. "God is very wise. Since he knows we direct towards our final sleep, he gave us the dairy sleep: little deaths, so we can be prepare to what will be our definitive death."

What did we do at this workshop? I will give you a detail of our exercises and how I felt afterwards.

1- We started the workshop as we use to do in Hatha. Sitting in our mats in a simple cross-legged position, with our hands over our knees in the gyan mudra (thumb and index together, the rest of the finger extended), we paid attention to our breath, to the air that goes in and out of our nostrils. Then we put our palms together close to our hearts, lead our minds to our heart, and greeted each other with the Om chanting.

2- Bhramari Pranayama or "bee breath": we closed our eyes, put our thumbs in our ears with a light pressure, we took a deep breath through our nose and made the sound "mmm", as an inside Om, vibrating our skulls. We did it for 5 minutes and while the exercise progressed, we put our fingers in the following way:

• Index fingers over the eyelids
• Middle fingers over the cartilaginous part of the nose
• Ring fingers over the corners of the mouth

With a Tibetan bowl, the teacher gave a signal to finish the exercise. We simply lowered our hands and breathed deeply through the nose during a minute.

(In this site you can read about the benefits of bee breath: https://www.artofliving.org/us-en/yoga/breathing-techniques/bhramari-pranayama)

3- Neck exercises: I must say these exercises suited me perfectly and I will add them to my daily neck stretching routine. I have a discopathy in two cervical vertebrae and a kinesiologist taught me some stretches to practice during the rest of my life to avoid that this condition gets worse. Sometimes I am lazy and I don't do it, to be honest, but when I am in a lot of pain I do them and they help a lot, as well as those stretches that I have learned in yoga.

We did all these exercises in the same cross-legged position, with a straight spine, during 5 to 10 respirations each one.

I don't know if they are officially asanas, with names, but this is what we did:

• First something that my teacher calls "what do I care?" You inhale through the nose, lift your shoulders the most you can, hiding your head like a turtle. Then you release your shoulders and lift your head in normal position, exhaling through your nose.

• You move your head to the right, the further you can. Inhale deeply through your nose and when you fill your lungs, move your head really slowly to the left holding your breath. When your head gets to your left shoulder, the further you can, exhale slowly, releasing all the air. It's very strong and you just need to do it a few times.

• We were warned by the teacher that this would be strong, but we would accomplish an excellent neck stretching.

Put the palm of your right hand at the left side of your head, with the pinky and the ring fingers pressing in front of your ear, and the middle and index fingers pressing behind your ear. Stretch your left hand diagonally and, always inhaling and exhaling through your nose, pull your head towards your right, stretching the left hand the most you can. Then, put the palm of your left hand facing upwards, to increase the stretch. We did this during 5 to 10 respirations, and then we changed sides.

• Grab both your elbows behind your back. Open your chest wide. Let your head fall down with your chin towards your chest to stretch the neck and exhale all the air, giving weight to the head. After a few respirations, slowly, without lifting your head -inhale-, move it towards the right, leading your ear towards your shoulder. While exhaling, go back to the original position. Do the same to the left.

• Last neck exercise: Again, put your chin over your chest, cross your fingers behind your neck and push slightly to the ground.

4- With our necks very relaxed, we stayed sited with our backs in a straight position, paying attention to the flow of air in the nostrils. Each time the mind got distracted, you have to refocus in the flow of air. It's hard, since "the monkey mind" wants to call your attention at any cost.

Our teacher said the mind is like a child: curious and fearful. The child mind doesn't want to be ignored by us, but we have to treat it in a loving way, not judge it or scold it. The more you forbid things from a child, the more he or she wants to do them.

5- We went to Śavāsana, the corpse position, lying on our backs with our palms facing upwards, relaxing the feet. The fleece blankets of the room were very thick; they kept us very warm. When we were absolutely comfortable and ready to stop moving, we closed our eyes and pay attention again to the breathing. He told us to repeat in our minds several times the following affirmation: "I am not going to fall asleep, I am going to focus, and I am practicing Yoga Nidra."

According to the instructions he previously gave, we followed the guided meditation. We centered our attention in the body parts he instructed, very slowly of course. Right hand, from pinky to thumb, palm, wrist, elbow, shoulder, the whole arm; then the same in the other arm, right toes finger by finger, sole of the feet, ankles, shins, and so on. You had to scan thoroughly your whole body, every corner.

Then we focused on the temperature of our bodies: first every part that felt warm, then every part that felt cold, and finally parts where we sensed no temperature.

The teacher started a countdown of 28 deep inhalations and exhalations. Afterwards, he left us on our own several minutes, with the only aim of focusing in the air that went in and out our nostrils. It's not easy, but I kept "the monkey mind" more focused than in other occasions, and there were moments in which I could think blank. At some point I had the sensation of having a universe inside me. It was really peaceful.

We came back, moving our fingers and toes slowly, then wrists, feet, etc. We stretched as when waking up in the morning, lift our knees towards our chests, and let us fall towards the right in fetal position, hearing our hearts beating and resting for 5 more minutes, while our teacher played Tibetan bowls, bells and a wooden flute, increasing the volume progressively. He stopped and told us to sigh 5 times. We sat back again in a simple cross-legged position to finish the class.

The workshop was very relaxing, and I can proudly say that I managed to focus. There was just one constant annoying sensation that I had while lying down. This use to happen also in yoga, during Śavāsana: my mouth fills with saliva and I have to swallow. It's hard to control, so when we finished the class I asked the teacher how I could avoid it. He suggested me to use a folded blanket, not too tall or too short, behind my head (not the neck). The idea is to keep the chin to the chest, because while you're lying on your back, your chin tends to go up. This help to close your throat and avoid the need to swallow.

I felt very happy after the workshop, but beside this I didn't notice anything else different in me immediately after. The teacher said it was possible that we felt an unsteady mood, or feeling like crying all of the sudden.

A couple of hours later, when I laid down my head over my pillow, I felt tired and extremely relaxed. The sensation was as if I had taken a muscle relaxant. I felt asleep in a few seconds and slept deeply for several hours, with a sensation of lightness, as if my body floated. Suddenly, after 7 or 8 hours of sleeping, I felt as if that sensation evaporated, and I had an urge to go to the bathroom. I returned to bed and slept a couple of hours more.

I will definitively do it again on my own.

Looking forward for your feedback and opinions. Have you tried Yoga Nidra? Do you know any other neck or tips to sleep smoothly?