How do you like to relax? Perhaps with a glass of wine, flopping onto the couch after work? Smoking a fatty with some friends? Perhaps a hike through the woods? As relaxing as these may sound, they are only just sensory diversions. Even sleep, our ultimate surrender, can be anything but relaxing. To achieve ultimate relaxation, you must remain aware.

Derived from the Tantras, yoga nidra is a systematic method to induce physical, emotional and mental relaxation. The name yoga nidra comes from Sanskrit, yoga meaning union and nidra which means sleep.

For yoga nidra to be effective one must turn away from outer experiences and distractions and find the state of relaxation by turning inward. Separating the consciousness from sleep and external awareness, the practitioner gives themselves the opportunity to develop the memory, transform behaviours and increase knowledge and creativity.

Yoga nidra is ultimately a form of pratyahara with the mind and awareness separated from the sensory channels.