It’s no secret that I’m kind of a yoga nidra head. If you’re not familiar with the practice, you may know it better as NSDR (or Non Sleep Deep Rest).
The good news is you don’t have to know anything about it to reap all of the benefits it offers (and it provides an ass-ton of free benefits.) All you need to do is relax to the best of your ability and concentrate your full attention on each body part as we scan through them. In our day-to-day lives, things like stress, phones, news, jobs, and responsibilities have a tendency to put us in our sympathetic nervous system (aka fight or flight). By doing relaxed body scans, we immediately bring ourselves back into our bodies, activating our parasympathetic nervous system (or rest and digest).
My favorite yoga nidra tidbit is that 30-45 minutes of it provides the same amount of rest and healing as three to four hours of sleep. This stuff delivers, baby.
There’ve been a ton of compelling studies on the benefits of yoga nidra / NSDR over the last decade+. If you have something that you’re struggling with—anything from a broken bone to anxiety to Alzheimer’s—try googling yoga nidra’s effects on it. I’ve never been let down. Plus, the proof is in the pudding for me as I’ve seen the changes it’s made for my own nervous system. I like to say yoga nidra takes you from depressed to deep rest, but for some reason, it’s not catching on.
Anyway, let’s just get to the good stuff. This week, I made you a yoga nidra recording that I’ve been dreaming up for some time. Whenever I’m listening to one of my favorite recordings, I always want sound effects to support the scene. So, that’s what this is: an immersive yoga nidra (NSDR) experience that will hopefully leave you feeling peaceful and well-rested. I borrowed from some of my favorite Ally Boothroyd scripts. If you like my recording, check out her YouTube channel for hundreds more like it.
And now, your workout schedule:
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