Meditation is a technique for calming down the activity of the mind so that we can experience inner peace.

When we bring our awareness to the present-moment experience without judgement (nothing that arises in your practice is right or wrong, good or bad) then this is also called mindfulness.

Yoga Nidra, an ancient form of guided meditation to achieve deep relaxation and touch a place of stillness, peace and insight within. If you’ve been to one of my Yoga Nidra sessions you’ll know it’s a lot to do with attention and awareness. When we focus our awareness on our physical, mental and energetic experience, whatever method we use we immediately drop into the present moment.

As you can see Yoga Nidra is Meditation and Mindfulness rolled into one. For the full length of a Yoga Nidra practice you are guided by my voice. The practice of Yoga Nidra is the act of hearing and feeling, you function on the level of awareness…. awareness of our physical, mental and energetic experience whilst being guided by my voice.

Talking you through the practice helps you to maintain connection to the outer world while exploring the depths of your inner world. This kind of mindfulness is a way of looking at things differently and allows a way for you to relate to all of the experiences in your life which may be causing you to suffer. This, in turn, will allow you to personally transform yourself.

We as humans are constantly looking for ways to solve the causes of our suffering and then discover how we can alleviate it.

Sooner or later you end up asking yourself questions such as: “Why don’t I feel better?” or “Is there something I can do or something that be prescribed so it makes the pain go away.” No one wants to be on pills the rest of their life. As we age (and sometimes throughout your whole life) you can suffer with illness. Sickness, old age and death usually exposes us to pain.

Throughout your life you can struggle emotionally when you are confronted with adverse circumstances. When you don’t get what you want in life, if you suffer from great loss or have to deal with things you don’t want to deal with you are constantly seeking ways to feel better.

The history of Yoga Nidra is somewhat unclear due to the fact that it was originally passed down orally from one generation to the next. However, there is a general consensus that it was first practiced more than 5,000 years ago by ancient holy men and it wasn’t until the 20th century that Yoga Nidra began to be used as a relaxation technique for people from all walks of life.

With practice over time you can figure out how to become more and more mindful in your everyday life. Yoga Nidra is meant to bring about awareness, attention, and remembering. Awareness means becoming aware and fully enjoying and appreciating the things around you no matter how small it is.

When you are attentive, it means that you are participating in focused awareness. That means that you are aware of what is occurring within and around you. When you participate in this “awareness” you can begin to free yourself from mental preoccupation and difficult emotions. How do you do this? You do this by becoming aware and cultivating insights into how your mind works and the meaning of everything in the material world we live in. You are looking for ways to calm your mind and bring peace to your world.

Through Yoga Nidra you are re-training your mind in order to manage it. This practice
is not an end-all or doorway to happiness but it can provide you with the foundation you need to build those skills. By allowing yourself to get rid of habits in your mind that can cause you unhappiness the result will be letting go of anger, envy, greed or other harmful behaviors that serve no purpose.

The mindfulness practice of Yoga Nidra is about awareness and acceptance first and changes second.

If you are in the Stratford Upon Avon area come along to one of my sessions and experience this ancient technique for calming down the activity of the mind so that we can experience inner peace. You can only learn so much about Yoga Nidra by reading about it. The real wisdom comes from experiencing the practice for yourself.