|
During various yoga courses conducted in Yogam Sharanam, Yoga Nidra is most powerful and effective tools to beat the stressful effects of modern lifestyle Yoga Nidra is the yogic techniques studied and devised first by Swami Satyananda Saraswati . A few words about Yoga Nidra... Paramhansa Swami Satyananda is the first yogi in the world who discovered this technique from Nyasa Tantra. Later on, all over the world Yoga Nidra is propagated by his disciples, directly or indirectly. Yoga Nidra, which is derived from the tantras, is a Powerful technique in which one learn to relax consciously. Yoga Nidra is a systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation. The term Yoga Nidra is derived from two Sanskrit words, yoga meaning union or one–pointed awareness, and Nidra which means sleep. During the practice of Yoga Nidra, one appears to be asleep, but the consciousness is functioning at a deeper level of awareness. For this reason, Yoga Nidra is often referred to as psychic sleep or deep relaxation with inner awareness. In this threshold state between sleep and wakefulness, contact with the subconscious and unconscious dimensions occurs spontaneously. In Yoga Nidra the state of relaxation is reached by turning inwards, away from outer experiences. If the consciousness can be separated from external awareness and from sleep, it becomes very powerful and can be applied in many ways, for example, to develop the memory, increase knowledge and creativity, or transform one’s nature.
In the raja yoga of Patanjali there is a state called Pratyahara where the mind and mental awareness are dissociated from the sensory channels. Yoga Nidra is one aspect of Pratyahara which leads to the higher states of concentration and Samadhi.
The Birth of Yoga Nidra About 60 years ago, when I was living with my guru, Swami Sivananda, in Rishikesh, I had a very important experience which triggered my interest in developing the science of Yoga Nidra. I had been appointed to watch over a Sanskrit school where small boys were learning to chant the Vedas. It was my duty to remain awake all night to guard the school while the acharya was away. At three a .m. I used to fall into a deep sleep and at six I would get up and return to the ashram. Meanwhile, the boys got up at four, bathed and chanted Sanskrit prayers, but I never heard them. Some time later, my ashram was holding a large function, and the boys of that Sanskrit school were brought to chant the vedic mantras. During the function they recited certain slokas which I did not know, yet somehow I felt that I had heard them before. As I listened the feeling grew stronger, and I tried in vain to remember where and when I had heard them. I was absolutely certain that I had never read or written them, yet they sounded so familiar to me. Finally, I decided to ask the boy’s guru, who was seated nearby, if he could explain the meaning of this. What he told me changed my entire outlook on life. He said that this feeling of familiarity was not at all surprising, because my subtle body had heard the boys chanting the same mantras many times while I was sleeping in their school. This was a great revelation to me. I knew that knowledge is transmitted directly through the senses, but from this experience I realized that you can also gain directly knowledge without any sensory medium as well. That was the birth of Yoga Nidra. The characteristic feature of Yoga Nidra was the systematic rotation of consciousness in the body, which originated from the tantric practice of Nyasa (meaning ‘to place ‘or ‘to take the mind to that point ‘)
|
