In fact, Yoga Nidra predates this trend by about 5,000 years. Sri Dharma MittraThe Lower Manhattan guru, who has practiced yoga for 60 years, thinks it probably predates yoga. “The ancients knew that you had to put the body to sleep in order to restore and heal,” he explains over Zoom. The oldest yoga sessions in human history ended with short breaks at regular intervals. “Gradually, teachers created a process of relaxing for a little longer,” he says. They rang bells at intervals to keep practitioners on the brink of consciousness.
Huberman’s preferred protocol, and the one he offers free to his own congregations, borrows from an older tool known as guided meditation audio videos on YouTube. Mitra suggests setting an alarm on your phone to ring every two minutes, like a digital bell, and staying as comfortable as possible in bed. [yoga] “If your studio floor is uncomfortable, people will feel uncomfortable,” Mitra says.
“I often recommend yoga nidra for my patients,” explains Dr. Salas, who typically prescribes it to patients struggling with anxiety or insomnia at the start of their bedtime routine. Dr. Salas has them Google it until they find a calming video or audio, but he’s also developed a breathing protocol. Patients are asked to blow their worries into the air and visualize them floating away, something Dr. Salas calls the Salas Bubble. “It’s a blend of rest and intention,” Dr. Salas says.
Dr. Holliday Bell has a simpler approach: if given 30 minutes and the choice between a nap or an NSDR session, she’d choose the former. But the protocol I liked best was the state of concentration that Dr. Mitra described. “Let’s think of our body as a telescope. The first step, the first level, is fixing the telescope,” he explains. “Once the body relaxes and the telescope is fixed, you see the power of the telescope and you can step deep into divine perception.” Even a quick glance through this lens can take a lifetime, or longer, and requires ongoing practice of detaching consciousness from time and place. “It takes a tremendous effort not to completely fade away,” Dr. Mitra says.
Source: Allure – www.allure.com
