Nidra is hindi word which literally means
"Sleep" but Yoga Nidra is not a yogic sleep but it’s a yogic
technique to relax and calm down conscious mind to reach subconscious mind,
which is store house of all possibilities, powers, past birth memories, cause
of present, our present nature, attitude towards life and the reason for our
present being.
Yog Nidra is a tool to unlock that vast source of
energy/consciousness which would definitely change your attitude towards life
and not only this but you will also come to know about the causes of your
sufferings in present life and its way out. You will be surprised to know that
by practicing Yoga Nidra, I have many times slipped in transcendental state and
have seen my 2 previous births. In yogic nidra, you become aware and become observer
of event, like watching TV without getting involved into drama; however, your
body get relaxed like in deep sleep and conscious mind also get calm down. The
more your conscious mind gets calm down, the more you will get in touch with
your subconscious mind. And you will find that your intuition is getting
stronger and stronger day by day and in fact you will start getting messages
from your subconscious mind which you have never expected. It is not like that
you did not know that thing before but you were not having access to that. You
will find increase of positive energy within yourself and you will also find
that you have now become more compassionate and responsible towards other. It
also decreases negative aspects of human like anxiety, anger, fear etc. You
will find that every answer to any question lies within you.
Many ways have been written in various yogic text
about how to do yogic nidra, but I will tell you my way of doing this. In fact I
use to do it in two different ways- in one technique, I use mantra to calm down
mind and in other technique I use to focus on breath to calm down concisions
mind. Right now, I will tell you the second one.
First of all, you must find a place where you can
be alone and will not be interrupted for at least 1 hour. It may be your
bedroom or any other room. But i suggest that, you must practice it in your
home only because some time person slipped in transcendental state of mind and
remain there for hours.
At first, you have to lie down on carpet or mat
in which you can lie down straight on back comfortably without any difficulty.
The mat should not be very cozy or hard. It should be comfortable only. You
should lie down on back in straight line in which you can put your neck
straight like you do in standing position, by keeping your feet 1 foot apart.
Now, at first, you just try to bring your awareness on your breath. That how
your breath is coming in natural way and how it’s going out. You may think that
by inhaling breath, a warm and positive energy is coming from head and going
outward through legs by taking your all tensions and anxiety. And if you find
any tension in any part of body then do concentrate on that part of body for a
while and you will see that tension in that part of body has been reduced and gradually
vanished. By focusing on breathing pattern (i.e. natural exhaling and inhaling),
you will find that your mind and its chatter box is getting calm and simultaneously
you body is also getting relaxed. But beware; there is thin line between Yoga
Nidra and Sleep, many practitioners slipped into sleep rather in yogic nidra.
In Yogic Nidra, you become more aware about any thought and witness that
thought like watching TV. But at same time, you must also try to not involve in
thought despite of fact that it’s bad or good thought. Because, if you will not
get involved in that thought then you will see that gradually you have overcome
that event/thought. Gradually you will see cessation of thoughts and stillness
of mind. The more your mind gets stilled, the more you will get in touch with
sub-conscious mind. It is not that you will find answers only in that
meditative state but by practicing this technique, you will feel that the
barrier which was restraint in conscious and sub conscious mind is getting thin
and weak. And now you are getting various messages, thoughts from sub conscious
mind.
In actual, when any person dies, the memories of
that life gets stored in mind (chitta) which carries away with departed soul
and when that soul entered into new body, that whole impressions comes in the
form of sub conscious mind, which is nothing but you own experience, which you have
gathered over 1000 of births. Every birth is a lesson for soul to get elevate
in higher place of consciousness.
Yogic Nidra is a kind of meditation which makes
you more aware about your thought process and the way to control that thought
process. It takes you at that point from where these thoughts emerge. By regular
practicing yog nidra, you will gradually gain mastery over this technique and
you will start achieving meditative state in shorter period of time. You may
get glimpse of your past births, future events, cause of long illness. For eg.
if any bodies death has been caused by knife in particular part then that part of
body must be affected in this life also. In fact past life regression is also
based upon this technique but difference is that in yog nidra, you on your own
get touch in sub conscious mind; whereas, in past life regression, any
consultant uses hypnosis upon you to take you at that point.
I suggest every person to do yoga nidra in daily
life to get control over your persona to have more positive attitude towards
life and other beings.
~Soham~
