The body is heavy and completely relaxed. I feel like I’ve melted into the mat, the muscles have fallen off the bone and I am floating through the essence of nothingness. Visually I let my consciousness flow, it seems to make it out of the room. It doesn’t use a door or need to follow down the hall. Instead, it flows through the walls, I can imagine the bird that is singing, the car that went by, or even the person mowing, but that is just in the yard. I extend it further, down throughout the neighborhood, through the streets of South Florida, and expel out into the world on the sun’s rays, riding on the wind’s breeze and rushing with the flow of the ocean. I balance on the cusp of awake and asleep. And I am. A bell breaks the hushed silence, and my awareness slides back in. The first sensations tingle to the surface and I do find myself awake, present, and refreshed.

Yoga Nidra is one of the best-known techniques to induce complete physical, mental, and emotional relaxation.  It is a way to reset, reboot, and recharge the system. The systematic sequence of body awareness and breathing exercises activates the parasympathetic nervous system allowing the body and mind the opportunity to resolve underlying tension.  The calming of this hyper-aroused state and the release of dopamine during practice can stimulate a positive emotional state and increase motivation.  Furthermore, studies show the positive effects of yoga nidra on various physiological and psychological criteria such as insomnia, addictive behavior, chronic diseases, pain therapy, pregnancies, geriatrics, asthma as well as disorders of the cardiovascular system. These reports are not only based on self-reports but confirmed by imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and electroencephalography (EEG), that show sustained changes in the brain.