Yoga Nidra questions.
Posted by Armand | Filed under Yoga Nidra Practice
“Dear Armand, I tried the Yoga Nidra meditation last night for the first time, and during it, some common fearful thoughts arose for me. I’m always unsure of whether they are fear or intuition, but I know they are habitual for me so it wasn’t surprising to see them pop up towards the end of my Yoga Nidra. What I’m wondering is this: is this normal? Would these thoughts in fact be intuition as I was in a very relaxed
state, or does this practice have a tendency to bring to the surface negative thoughts? Also, during the “pain” part of the meditation, I found myself crying. Then I felt like I was doing something wrong because I thought Yoga Nidra was supposed to help me be detached or to see the experience from a less attached place, rather. Am I doing something wrong here? Thanks!”
Reply to a student:
Your experience is not uncommon. The deeply transformational aspect of the yoga Nidra practice comes from the fact that during it we access the unconscious thoughts which govern our lives. It is within the hidden realms of the mind that pattern blueprint of our interpretations of reality lie.
If the experiences in the yoga Nidra practice feel particularly vivid this means we are accessing these vast storehouses of reactions and beliefs.
The mind (particularly in a trance state) cannot distinguish between something vividly imagined or remembered and something actually experienced. This is corroborated by multiple brain scan studies.
The reason we purposely visualize pain and pleasure, heat and cold etc. is to activate multiple neural networks and develop means to more easily understand our motivations and thus, if needed, alter them. The 3 primary functions of the physical brain are 1) The intake of food and water 2) maintaining the body’s temperature in a narrow range & 3) the interpretation of pleasure and pain.
In the scriptures on Yoga Nidra there is mention of the practice clearing vritis or debris from our internal systems which prevent us from seeing reality as it is, the large aspect of the oft sought after state of enlightenment. The clearing of vritis is said to expedite the process of extracting oneself from the cycle of karma.
You mentioned that you “don’t feel detached” in the practice, Yoga Nidra allows one to experience deeply from an ultimate observer’s stand point eventually translating every moment into a consciously aware state (even while sleeping and dreaming you are able to observe and if you desire control your dreams) This is full consciousness, an awakened state, where no separations exist between all things including the conscious and the unconscious. This is one of the many benefits of regular practice.
Hope this helps
Armand