Yoga nidra, also known as yogic sleep or Non sleep deep rest (NSDR) is a powerful technique for controlling your body’s rest and digest response. Yoga nidra can be as restorative as sleep, while you remain fully conscious. Giving your mind and body an extra window, even just 10 minutes, of deep relaxation offers powerful benefits! Yoga Nidra works by guiding you down through the different levels of your brainwaves, which happens naturally as you fall asleep. This engages your parasympathetic nervous system (there's that term again), yes your body's natural place of rest and digest. It allows you to reside in a relaxed state and is associated with tissue regeneration, brain repair and healing of the body.

I guide groups both in person and online.

In person classes run one Sunday per month at 6:30PM in the Wollongong area. Please check here for details.

Or Book online below:

Yoga nidra 1:1

Yoga nidra 1:1 allows us to address a specific issue that you may be facing and struggling with. It may be in any area of your life: Relationships, Career, Money, Physical, Mental or Emotional Health, Fears or Phobias. It may be something new or something that you have been dealing with your whole life.

Yoga nidra 1:1

Investment is $195 and includes:

• Initial consultation/set up session in person or online. During your initial Yoga nidra set up session we will discuss an area of your life that you wish to work on and what negative thought patterns or limiting beliefs may have been created around this area of focus . From here we will work on intention setting and exploring WHAT IT IS EXACTLY YOU DO WANT. We will also discuss the content for creating your tailored Yoga nidra recording and the creation of your ‘Sankalpa’.

• a uniquely scripted Yoga nidra recording, lasting approx 30 minutes. The nidra will incorporate a reset for the nervous system, the areas identified in our consultation above, and the planting your ‘Sankalpa’.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

What is Yoga nidra?

Yoga nidra is a Sanskrit word from the Vedic texts (originating from ancient India) and is part of the Yogic teachings and philosophy.

Yoga - To unite or bring together, interconnectedness, the state of oneness. 

Nidra - Sleep, Deep Sleep, Changing State of Consciousness. 

Yoga Nidra - a State of Pure Awareness in the Deepest State of Relaxation/Sleep 

Yoga nidra is a unique state of consciousness, where the body is in a deep state of sleep, the brain is aware but resides in a dream-like state. You are completely relaxed but awake, although falling into a deep sleep is very common due to our high levels of sleep deprivation. In a Yoga nidra practice there is a progressive movement through the brain wave states that naturally occur during sleep. Gradually, Yoga nidra brings the mind into a natural stillness. A deep state of rest with conscious awareness. In the state of Yoga nidra, there are DELTA brain waves present, this is the deep, slow wave state, associated with tissue and brain repair. Simultaneously, ALPHA brain waves are present, these are often reached through practices such as Yoga and meditation. This is a calm and tranquil state and is the UNIQUE combination where the body and mind reside in the deepest level of regeneration. Unlike deep sleep you are consciously aware at the same time. That conscious awareness combined with ALPHA brain waves gives us powerful access to shifting deep seated belief systems, behavioural patterns and conditioning.

How is Yoga nidra different from Meditation?

1. You are lying down on your back (in Savasana) unlike meditation where you are typically in a seated position. Stillness is more effortless and it is easier to reach deep states of relaxation when lying down. When we are seated it is impossible to completely relax as the spine is engaged.

2. Yoga nidra is fully guided. Meditation uses an anchor like the breath to return to. There may be some guidance in meditation but generally it is up to the individual to guide themselves back to the anchor when the mind wanders. This can take years and years of practice.

3. Yoga nidra moves beyond the waking state into a dream state (Theta and Delta brain waves) accessing deeper layers of consciousness and is an exploration of self. Unlike meditation where you remain in a waking state (Beta and Alpha brain waves).

What is a Sankalpa?

Sankalpa is a Sanskrit word from the ancient Vedic texts.

San - born from your heart

Kalpa - over eons (something that will remain true over eons)

A Sankalpa is your heart's desire, an intention, a seedling. It is different to a goal as there is no time frame or time pressure.

Why do we work with Sankalpa in Yoga nidra?

Working with an intention in the waking state can dilute an intention. Using the conscious mind may work in direct conflict with our subconscious. In Yoga nidra the conscious mind is quiet and allows us powerful access to the subconscious. The Sankalpa provides a lighthouse guiding you to your true north, your heart's desire and purpose. You may work with more than one Sankalpa at any given time. It is common to have a primary and secondary Sankalpa, and they will change over time as you evolve.

What is Samskara?

The word Samskara is a Sanskrit word meaning 'little groove or impression'.

Sam - complete or joined together

Kara - action, cause, or doing

You can think of Samskaras to be like neural pathways. Samskaras are individual impressions, ideas, or actions; taken together, our Samskaras make up our conditioning and affect our Karma (our way of being). Repeating Samskaras reinforces them, creating a groove that becomes deeper with each repetition. Samskaras can be passed down from past lives and ancestors when we are born. They can also be created over our lifetime. There are 'positive' and ‘negative’ Samskaras. Negative Samskaras hinder our positive evolution and take us away from our Sankalpa. We work on reversing negative Sanskaras during Yoga nidra and reinforcing positive ones. Yoga nidra is a powerful tool for rewiring the neuroplasticity of the brain because the rewiring process happens during sleep in Theta and Delta brain wave states, where we reside in Yoga nidra.

What is Ashraya/inner resource and how do we use this in Yoga nidra?

Ashraya is a Sanskrit word meaning 'coming home', inner resource' or 'inner sanctuary'.

Ashraya is a tool for developing emotional resilience. Your Ashraya is unique to you. It is somewhere or something that creates a somatic experience, meaning it is perceived from within the body. Your Ashraya will create feelings of peace, ease, safety, support, love, connectedness, stability, stillness, balance and calm. An Ashraya can take months, even years of practice to cultivate. Yoga nidra give us the perfect space to cultivate this inner resource. We can utilise our Ashraya when we are triggered, or when the reactive fight or flight mode is dominating and we need a safe place to return to. We cultivate this from within during Yoga nidra allowing us to return to our safe place again and again with practice, so that it eventually becomes second nature. Like a Sankalpa your Ashraya may change over time.

What to expect from your initial set up session?

During your initial Yoga nidra set up session we will discuss an area of your life that you wish to work on and what negative Samskaras may have been created around this area of focus . From here we will develop a primary Sankalpa and an potentially your ‘Ashraya’ that I will use in creating your tailored Yoga nidra recording.

What can I expect from my Yoga nidra recording?

These are different and unique to each individual but generally your Yoga nidra recording will focus on breathing techniques and calming the central nervous system, ensuring that you are out of your reactive fight or flight state and residing in your natural state of rest and digest. This allows your body and subconscious to associate your Sankalpa with peaceful and calm sensations in the body and reinforce positive Samskaras.

How many times a week should I listen to my Yoga nidra recordings?

It is recommended that you listen to a recording at least 3-4 times per week but more if you can.

What do you need to do before my session?

You may like to consider the following:

1. An area of your life that you would like to focus on. This may be emotional, physical, mental or spiritual. It may be related to your health, finances, career, habits or addictions, family, relationships, education, limiting self beliefs. We can work with anything.

2. What are the associated negative Samskaras/thought patterns in relation to the above? What are the positive Samskaras/thought patterns that you would like to reinforce?

3. Make a short list of words that best describes the direction you would like to take. Use somatic words that create feeling tones such as love, courage, peace, acceptance, compassion, calm, spaciousness and gratitude for example. We want to put attention on what you want to create and move it away from what you do not want.

4. What are the feelings and feeling tones that bring you a sense of peace and wellbeing? What does the space that creates these feelings tones look like? Indoors? Outdoors? What can you see, taste, smell, feel? What plants, animals or beings might be there with you?

If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to contact me.