by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

Yoga Nidra means yogic sleep. It is a state of conscious Deep Sleep.
In Meditation, you remain in the Waking state of consciousness, and
gently focus the mind, while allowing thought patterns, emotions,
sensations, and images to arise and go on. However, in Yoga Nidra,
you leave the Waking state, go to Deep Sleep, yet remain awake. Yoga
Nidra is a state that is very relaxing, but is also used by Yogis to
purify the Samskaras, the deep impressions that are the driving
force behind Karma.

Receding process: The significance of this receding process cannot
be overstated. It has become very common in modern Yoga circles to
think that Yoga Nidra is merely another terminology for relaxation
exercises. This is not the case. Almost all relaxation exercises
operate when one is in the Waking State or in the reverie between
Waking and Dreaming. Some modern practitioners consciously dream, a
process which has become known as Lucid Dreaming. While this may be
a useful exercise as a meditation exercise, particularly if used to
cultivate non-attachment (vairagya), this too is not Yoga Nidra.

Conscious Deep Sleep: To repeat, Yoga Nidra is the state of
conscious Deep Sleep. It is beyond, or deeper than these other
practices, however useful they may be.

Formless thoughts: To understand Yoga Nidra, it is imperative to
understand that thoughts are in a formless form. There are literally
no pictures and no words (as there are in the waking and dreaming
states). There is no visual awareness of any form whatsoever,
including the physical aspects of your own body, or of any dream
sequence. Yet, there is a truer, deeper knowledge than any of the
knowledge that is of pictures and words. This level has been called
the infinite storehouse or knowledge, or the infinite library.

Birth of dreams: While there are no pictures at this level,
attention may drift slightly outward (thus, starting to leave Yoga
Nidra), through the transition stage between the Deep Sleep state
and the Dreaming state. Here, the birth of images leading to dream
sequences and mental processing is experienced. In Yoga meditation
science, this transition stage is called Aladani, somewhat like the
story of Aladin's lamp, where the genie who was in latent form (like
in Deep Sleep) goes through a transition stage of being like a wispy
cloud before taking the human like form.

Beyond archetypes: Some schools of psychology refer to deep
impressions of archetypes. However, these archetypes are referred to
as having form. In the context of these archetypes, Yoga Nidra is
touching the causal level that is prior to, or underneath the
archetypes. It is the seed or bija level out of which the archetypes
and subsequent dramas arise. It is because of the access to the
seed or bija level that one is able to directly attenuate the
samskaras, or deep impressions that drive karma, or actions.

Yoga Nidra and parachuting

State of consciousness versus methods: The methods used for Yoga
Nidra are for training the mind to focus, to go inward, subtler and
subtler, until finally, attention dives off into stillness and
objectless-ness. The methods themselves are not Yoga Nidra. They
lead up to Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra is a state of consciousness, not
the methods that lead you there. This is a very tricky point to
understand. It takes a bit of reflection to grasp. (Then it requires
direct experience.)

Methods are preparation: Think of parachuting. You get into an
airplane. The airplane takes off. It climbs up to its altitude. The
pilot positions the airplane in just the right place, and then slows
down. Then, finally, you jump out of the airplane and start to
parachute. None of the steps leading up to that were themselves
parachuting, nor is the airplane itself really related to
parachuting directly. The airplane and the actions of taking off,
climbing, and moving here and there were only preparation for the
moment where one can do the part called parachuting.

Variety of methods: In addition, there are different types and sizes
of airplanes from which one could parachute. One could also
parachute off of a cliff, a tall building, or a high bridge. Each of
these are methods of bringing you to the point of parachuting. The
same is true of the various methods of bringing you to the point of
jumping off into the state of Yoga Nidra.

Jumping off: Entering Yoga Nidra is like jumping out of the
airplane. There are many methods one can do to train the mind, to
move the attention here and there, so that you can then jump out of
the Waking and Dreaming states of consciousness into the fully
conscious experience of Deep Sleep (prajna). That is the experience
of Yoga Nidra.

Seek the depth beyond imagery: There is a reason that it is so
important to know that Yoga Nidra is a state rather than the
methods. It is very easy to practice the techniques, but to
incorrectly think that the goal is merely to relax through creative
visualization. Creative visualization alone might be a useful
practice, but by staying in those shallow waters, the deeper value
of Yoga Nidra will be missed. One can practice visualization
exercises for many years, and not be aware of the depth of Yoga
Nidra. Remember the parachute metaphor, and that while creative
visualizations might be useful in the practice leading up to Yoga
Nidra, the Yoga Nidra itself comes by going beyond all of the
imagery.

Emptying: By being aware of the differences in the levels of
practice, one can consciously work on reaching the end of the
practice, the point where it is time to jump out of the plane, into
the emptying practice that is Yoga Nidra. This emptying process is
further described below.

Yoga Nidra is like the backdrop of a stage

Reverie: Imagine that you are sitting in the audience of a live
theater. The curtain is closed, such that you cannot see the set of
the play. This is like being in the Waking state. The curtain forms
that reverie state between Waking and Dreaming.

A halfway step: Gradually the curtain opens, and you see the objects
on the set of the play and the actors. This is like viewing the
Dreaming state of consciousness, the unconscious mind. This is a
stance of Meditation, where you stay in the Waking state, allow the
veil to open, and the unconscious comes forward, while staying
focused. However, Meditation and Yoga Nidra are two different
things. Sometimes, it can seem that Yoga Nidra is that state halfway
between the Waking and Dreaming states, but this is not so. This
halfway place is only a step along the way.

Beyond the dreams: Imagine that the curtain is completely open, but
that instead of watching the actors and the stage set, you look
beyond, searching for the backdrop behind them. You get up from your
seat and walk around to the backside of the stage, completely
ignoring the set and the actors. You look, but you see nothing
there. It is as if the theater has been set up in a desert on a
moonless night. There as an ocean of emptiness behind the actors
that feels strangely not empty. It is as if it is completely full of
potential or being-ness, but yet has no specific form. This is the
nature of Yoga Nidra. It is like being in the Deep Sleep (prajna)
state, yet fully conscious. There are no dreams playing out, no
fantasies, no subtle realm!

Deep, formless sleep: Yoga Nidra is not between Waking and Dreaming.
Rather, it is beyond both of them. It is equivalent to the Deep
Sleep state, where there are no images, no dramas being played out.
There is only a deep abiding stillness that is rich with awareness.
It is like the awareness of the endless backdrop of stillness behind
the actors in the desert play. It is a state where one comes to see
the pure potential of existence without form. It is not yet samadhi
or turiya, that state beyond all of the other states, but it's
pretty close.

Purifying samskaras, the deep habit patterns

Examining: While Yoga Nidra is very relaxing, it is also an
extremely useful state for spiritual practices. The yogis use Yoga
Nidra to examine thought patterns in their latent, non-active form.

Yogis use Yoga Nidra
to attenuate samskaras,
the driving force behind karma.


Samskaras: This level of consciousness is the place where thoughts,
emotions, images, and sensations go when they recede from their
actions in the Waking and Dreaming states. These formless forms, or
deep habit patterns are called samskaras, which are the driving
force of actions, or karma.

Reducing deep habits: Thus, Yoga Nidra is a tool for examining,
attenuating, and eliminating habit patterns or samskaras, which are
not useful. Habitual negative actions, normally arising from these
deep impressions can thus be reduced and eliminated through the
practice of Yoga Nidra.

Undistracted by the formless: In the Waking state, thought patterns
can be troubling. In the Dreaming state, they can form trains of
thoughts that seem to drag you around. However, imagine that you
could observe your thought patterns when they were not active, when
they were in a latent, sleeping form, while you were awake. Then
they would not disturb or distract you. This is what happens in Yoga
Nidra. The paradox is that while they are not in active form, they
are still there. This can be frustrating to try to conceptualize,
but this is as close as we can get, to just say they are in a
formless form.

Subtle thoughts with little charge: Imagine a photo on the screen of
your computer. It might be a picture you find pleasing or offensive.
However, imagine that you saw a print of the binary numbers, all of
the zeros and ones, that mathematically formed those pictures in the
memory of the hard disk. There would be no reaction whatsoever.
There would just be a bunch of numbers, without any emotional charge
to them. This is what happens when witnessing samskaras (deep
impressions that drive karma, or actions) while you are in Yoga
Nidra. There may be subtle traces of emotions, but they are very,
very subtle, and do not seem to have the charge of active desires,
wants, wishes, dislikes, or aversions.

Transformation: By witnessing the samskaras in the state of Yoga
Nidra, a certain transformation happens. They start to lose their
coloring of attraction and aversion. They start to weaken, and are
less and less able to later control our thoughts and actions. In
this way, we use Yoga Nidra to reduce or soften the impact of our
samskaras that play out as karma.

Who I am: Through Yoga Nidra, there is an ever increasing awareness
that, "Who I am is different from my thoughts!" In Yoga Nidra, you
experience consciousness underneath, or prior to all of the active
mental process, both conscious and that which is normally
unconscious. Being awake in this place, underneath or behind the
thinking process can seem quite strange, bewildering at first.
Gradually, it brings increasing peace of mind and insight about the
nature of who we truly are.

Doorway beyond: In Yoga Nidra one touches the doorway to the
awareness that still operates beyond all of the levels of mind, that
leads to realization of the center of consciousness, or Self.

It comes in time: Once again, you may or may not reach the state of
Yoga Nidra in the beginning. It does not matter. The deeper
experience of Yoga Nidra may come soon, or it may come later, but it
will definitely come with practice. In any case, you will surely
find Yoga Nidra to be a very relaxing part of your life.

Yoga Nidra is a process of emptying

Leap into stillness and silence: In Yoga Nidra itself, the mind is
not being directed here and there. There is no guided imagery, no
exploration, and no effort whatsoever to be aware of any object or
part of your body or being. Rather, you go into a deep state of
emptying. All of these other processes and practices are used to
gently guide your attention inward, further and further, until your
attention finally leaps into the deep stillness and silence of
conscious Deep Sleep (prajna), Yoga Nidra.

At the time of jumping off into Yoga Nidra, here is what happens:

In Yoga Nidra practice, you invite your attention to go deep into
the stillness and silence, in the space between the breasts.

As you move into the state of Yoga Nidra itself, you want
to "empty, empty, empty" the field of mind.

There may be thoughts in the Dreaming mind, but you have gone past
that in Yoga Nidra. Just like your attention has left the activities
of the external world, your attention has also left the Dreaming
state of mind, and gone further inward.

From this vantage point, all of that mental activity is now
external, and is not even noticed.

Here, you completely let go of any words, thoughts, images,
impressions, or pictures in the mind--completely empty.

It is this emptying which takes you to Yoga Nidra, to conscious Deep
Sleep.

You focus your attention in the space between the breasts, and go
deep, deep into Yoga Nidra.

Explore what is, not just fantasy: Recall again, that you use
various methods to move towards the state of Yoga Nidra. While these
might involve visualizations to relax the body and focus the mind,
what is recommended is the exploration of the aspects of yourself
that are already there, rather than creating some new fantasy. For
example, if you visualize a beach or a forest, or imagine sounds of
animals or nature, this is creating a hallucination in the mind. If
you systematically explore points within, or the flow of energy of
breath, you are examining aspects of what is actually there, so you
can then go beyond.

Relaxation versus Deep Sleep: Said differently, you could say that
there are two common usages of the name Yoga Nidra. First, is Yoga
Nidra as a relaxation exercise, in which there is guided imagery.
Second, Yoga Nidra is the conscious Deep Sleep (prajna) state,
without such imagery. The latter is the true intent of Yoga Nidra.

Yoga Nidra and the chakras

Chakras: The three states of consciousness are Waking, Dreaming, and
Deep Sleep (prajna), and these predominantly operate from three
separate chakras:

State of Consciousness Dominant Chakra
Waking Ajna / eyebrow
Dreaming Vishuddha / throat
Deep Sleep Anahata / heart

Heart chakra: Yoga Nidra is practiced by emptying into the space
between the breasts, the heart chakra.

In the Waking state, consciousness operates from the eyebrow center,
as the command center for mental and sensory process.

In the Dreaming state, the throat center is the place from which
consciousness operates (note that the throat chakra is often
described as a creative center, and that creativity is manifested,
in part, as dream sequences).

In the Deep Sleep state, awareness automatically operates from the
space between the breasts, the heart center.

Through three centers: Thus, in the practice of Yoga Nidra, one of
the very effective parts of the process is to bring attention
systematically through the levels of Waking and Dreaming, to the
level of conscious Deep Sleep (prajna) by moving attention through
those three centers (described later in the Methods part of this
paper):

Systematic Inward Process to Yoga Nidra:
Waking > Dreaming > Conscious Deep Sleep
Eyebrow center > Throat > Space between Breasts

Empty into the heart center: It is important to note that the
question of chakra for Yoga Nidra is an entirely different question
of which center on which one focuses for meditation. One's
predisposition at a personality level may be, for example, on
feelings in the heart or thoughts in the eyebrow center. For
meditation, one may follow that predisposition as the space for
focus. However, at the depth of the three levels of consciousness
themselves, all people are constructed the same way, and thus the
space between the breasts is the space for emptying into Yoga Nidra.
It is the natural place where consciousness rests during Deep Sleep.

The methods are many, and simple

From gross to subtle: There are many methods leading up to the point
where you can jump off into the state of Yoga Nidra. The idea of
working with those preparatory methods is that you start with your
attention on the gross aspects of you being, such as the physical
body, then systematically move awareness inward to the subtler
levels.

Progressive inner attention: For example, moving breath awareness up
and down the stream of light in the spine is subtler, deeper, more
interior than moving inner awareness through the physical parts of
the body. Progressively, attention goes inward to that final, inner
place of jumping off into the stillness and silence of Yoga Nidra.

Many ways: So, for example, how many ways can you move awareness
through the physical body? Many! How many ways can you work with
breath awareness? Many! How many ways can you explore the subtler
energy flows? Many!

Yoga Nidra is a state of consciousness,
while there are a variety of methods
used to attain that state.


State versus methods: The point, once again, is that while the
various methods are extremely useful in leading awareness subtler
and subtler, Yoga Nidra itself is a state of consciousness, not the
methods that lead you to that state. Yoga Nidra is a state of
conscious Deep Sleep (prajna).

Simple methods lead to emptying: Each of the various methods are
also pretty simple, in that they all involve the straightforward
shifting of attention here and there, in ever subtler ways. The
difficulty, if it can be called a difficulty, is in the act of
letting go itself, of the determined, willful emptying that leads to
Yoga Nidra. But that too comes with practice.

Universal: It is important to once again note that the state of Yoga
Nidra is universal, regardless of whether or not one has ever heard
of it as the name Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra, as such, has been known to
the yogis for thousands of years, while some reports incorrectly
claim that Yoga Nidra was invented in the past few decades by a
single modern teacher.

Yoga Nidra Methods of practice

Methods: Following are outlines and links to several methods of
entering Yoga Nidra. The details of the practices are on individual
web pages so that these can be printed out for easier review and
practice. The lengths of the practices might vary from as little as
10-20 minutes, or as much as 50-60 minutes or more.

Yoga Nidra is a state of consciousness,
not the methods that lead you to that state.


The state comes after the methods: As you review these methods and
practice them, remember that Yoga Nidra is the state of conscious
Deep Sleep (prajna) that comes after, or as a result of the methods,
by emptying the content of images and impressions. Also, there is a
guided Yoga Nidra CD available that is similar to Method #1. Or, you
might wish to use your own recorder to make a guided practice in
your own voice.

Method: Involves these practices:
Method #1 Complete relaxation
61-points
Spinal breath
Chakras awareness
Yoga Nidra

Method #2 Complete relaxation
61-points
Elongated spinal breath
Chakras awareness
Yoga Nidra

Method #3 61-points
Spinal breath
Chakras
Yoga Nidra

Method #4 61-points
Yoga Nidra

Method #5 Naval center and Spinal breath
Yoga Nidra


Yoga Nidra begins to come naturally

It starts to come naturally: When one's whole life becomes one of
meditation, Yoga Nidra begins to come naturally. The nature of daily
sleep begins to change. It becomes more conscious when one wants it
to be so. Dreams are seen more vividly, and there is often a natural
sense of lying in bed sleeping, while still being awake. Awareness
more easily goes to the stillness and silence beyond those dreams,
into conscious Deep Sleep.

Witnessing and determination: How does this happen, that Yoga Nidra
comes naturally? As you gradually gain more and more of a witnessing
stance about everything external and internal, it becomes easier to
set aside mental content with a simple act of determination,
sankalpa shakti. In a sense, you simply go there, emptying and
entering Yoga Nidra.