Yoga Nidra

Capital News 9 Television Coverage Fall 2004
[click here to link to the video]

Go, go, go. It seems to be the best word to describe the 21st Century. But it's an action that often leads to stress which usually compounds into bad health. So stop and take a breath.

Colleen Hassett said, "I get so relaxed, I actually fall asleep."

And that isn't a bad thing. Colleen has been practicing yoga for about 10 years. She's tried it all and just recently Lisa Temoshok introduced her to one more.

Lisa Temoshok of Sraddha Yoga said, "Yoga Nidra is relaxation in a sense. It means "yogic sleep." So in every yoga class I've ever been to there is a point where the instructor has said 'begin to prepare for relaxation.' Whether it's Ashtanga, Iyengar or Kripalu, it all ends in relaxation. And in most of the classes I've attended there's this assumption that you know how to do this, you know how to lie down, you know how to relax."

But Lisa found many people actually don't know how to relax—so she decided to put together a CD with a 4-step process on how to move from an overactive conscious mind to a subconscious state of awareness—best described as floating on air. She calls it "Sacred Awakening"—a sort of guided adventure where you follow her voice through affirmations.

She said, "Basically what we're doing is resetting the default on your brain and clearing the space. So that all the information that is coming in—you can let it go."

And if Lisa's voice doesn't send you into that peaceful place, I really don't know what will. I just wanted to lie there for rest of the day.

There are many styles of yoga from the postures to the breathing techniques, but the Eastern philosophy is always the same. It prepares the body for meditation, and there are several ways to get that state of mind.

"I wanted to get a sense that this was a beginning. That this was an opportunity if you had no idea about yoga or even if you are an experienced yoga practitioner, that this was a way to either begin a new practice or to look at yoga in a different way," Lisa explained.

Colleen said, "If you can't afford to take a nap during the day, you can do 15 minutes of Yoga Nidra and feel almost refreshed as a whole night's sleep."

So take that go, go, go and turn it into slow, slow, slow.