Yoga Nidra stems from the ancient health practices of India and is sometimes referred to as yogic sleep. Unlike the sleep wefre accustomed to, Yoga Nidra involves inducing a state between normal sleep and wakefulness. In the West we sometimes refer to this as a hypnagogic state, a point of transition between wakeful consciousness and the unconsciousness of sleep. During the practice you may become deeply relaxed and only vaguely aware of your surroundings. At the same time, you may become conscious of some of the of some of the subtle workings of the mind, workings that usually elude our awareness because of the busyness of our day-to-day thinking. It is in this conscious sleep that the benefits of Yoga Nidra manifest.

Yoga Nidra: The Art of Yogic Sleep is the 5th track in the meditation recording series Meditations for Deep Living. The other tracks will be available soon.

This guided meditation is available for free listening on the Insight Timer App, and on SoundCloud.