Tag Archives: Tantric Yoga

Yoga Nidra and Yoga Nidra Yoga Self-Examination Application

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Yoga Nidra

Yoga Nidra

is a carefully guided resting process that a lot of users refer to as a daytime type of profound sleeping. It was crafted by ancient yogic sages to help folks realize complete peace, to promote dynamic rejuvenation and it is a wisdom meditation that these sages prescribed as a means of knowing through your other than conscious mind. It is an outstanding relaxation tool for all human beings.

Yoga Nidra is an ancient Tantric-Yoga path that leads to inner freedom. It is a secret of transformation that unfolds in a realm that is neither sleep or waking – it unfolds somewhere between the two because in this process you relax and rest as in deep sleep yet remain conscious.

Recently, yoga practitioners and modern western clinicians have found  the benefits of this yoga relaxation meditation with regard to the daily stresses of modern life, and they have found the practice to be helpful in soothing the nervous system, increasing relaxation and mental focus.

The greatest benefit of Yoga Nidra is that it restores both your body and mind to complete peace and restfulness. In the practice your thinking mind is guided to completely relax such that you enjoy complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation and explore the tremendous powers hidden within your subconscious and other than conscious mind.

Yoga Nidra

is able to supercharge your renewal process and boost your body’s immune system because it is a step-by-step treatment of maximum letting go, naturally dealing with your bodily, neurological, and unconscious requirements.  It is simultaneously a skill designed for peacefulness as well as an application practiced to provide physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual healthiness and well-thiness.  This yoga routine  is definitely the most effective strategy yet acknowledged to bring about maximum physiological, psychological and emotional letting go.

In addition to that Yoga Nidra application presents the actual possibility to unravel the sacred secrets of being and divulge the mystery and power of your essence because it is the experiential activity of discovery that goes past the boundaries of information and book-learning. It is a method to get immediate access to nothingness, the intelligent no-thing-ness or pregnant emptiness that is the root of being by whatever name you choose to label it. When you initiate the application you effectively discover gentle relaxation, powerful rejuvenation and deep rest; in all scenarios the treatment leads to the insight or realisation that one’s life itself is the dynamic meditation in which the traveling is the destination, and, that this approach is the way of the human ‘being’, in contrast to the human ‘doing’ of our present day societies.

Yoga Nidra is an amazingly useful approach for causing the relaxation response to cancel out the accumulation of anxieties.  It is uniformly loved by school children and golden-agers, and it is genuinely treasured in a large number work environments.

Now you know of the classic remedy of this specific yoga meditation,   you’re ready to utilize it. That’s uncomplicated to do because this course of action does not require any special props or equipment; all that is needed is a quiet place where you can lie down and rest as if you were going to take a nap for 30 minutes or so, and then simply allow yourself to be guided into deep relaxation while remaining alert to reap all of the benefits of Yoga Nidra.

Meditation – Relax with Yoga Nidra

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Introducing the unique tantric meditation technique of Yoga Nidra, popularized by Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga

Doctors, gurus and neighborhood do-gooders are all in the habit of prescribing relaxation as a remedy for taut nerves, work pressures and emotional upheavals. But very few know, or will tell you, how to accomplish the deceptively simple task of relaxing.

Yoga Nidra seems to have the answer. Although it finds mention in old tantric texts, it was rediscovered 20-odd years ago by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, founder of the Bihar School of Yoga (BSY) in Munger, eastern India. He translates Yoga Nidra as psychic sleep and describes it as a systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation, while maintaining awareness at the deeper levels.

Indeed, the practice is so relaxing that it becomes almost impossible to remain awake. But you come out feeling more rested than you do after a good night’s sleep, and injected with large doses of gumption to tackle the day’s tasks. The Swami says that prolonged suspension between wakefulness and sleep—called the hypnogogic state—in Yoga Nidra may have untold benefits that go beyond the therapeutic.

You practice Yoga Nidra while lying prone and follow the spoken instructions of a teacher. It is, of course, convenient to use the Yoga Nidra tape, or record one yourself. In the first phase of the session, you progressively relax your muscles by quickly running attention through different parts of the body. This is followed by an awakening of sensations of pairs of polar opposites, such as heaviness and lightness. The last phase is a rapid visualization of some nature images and abstract symbols.

But what is the purpose of each phase of the practice ? From neurophysiology we know that each part of the body has a different control center in the brain—curiously, small ones such as the fingers or armpits claim a large brain area. The movement of awareness through different parts of the body not only relaxes them, but also clears nerve pathways to the brain.

The alternating of opposite sensations such as heat and cold, heaviness and lightness, helps to improve the body’s ability to regain balance and brings the related involuntary functions under conscious control. Visualization is a method of consciously using a symbol our image as a catalyst to provoke a reaction in the unconscious mind. But since no time is given for the conscious mind to react, you remain detached and the ego becomes temporarily inactive. This phase helps to resolve suppressed conflicts, desires, memories and sanskaras.

In each session, you also repeat a sankalpa, or resolve. It should be a short statement, phrased in positive language and in the present tense. For example, your resolve could be: “I am taking full care of my family.” The resolve gets embedded deep in the subconscious and is bound to bear fruit in time.

by Parveen Chopra

Learning the Popular Styles of Yoga

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Learning the Popular Styles of Yoga

There are many styles of yoga, but teachers should be familiar with the nine main forms of yoga, from India, and their relationships to contemporary styles. The nine main styles are: Bhakti, Hatha, Jnana, Karma, Kundalini, Mantra, Raja, Tantric, and Yantra Yoga. Bhakti yoga is widely practiced in India, yet barely known by the masses outside of India.


If you’re looking to become a yoga instructor, you must be thoroughly trained and ready to cater to a variety of student needs. A competent yoga instructor should be well-versed in many aspects of yoga. Different styles emphasize varying aspects of yoga. Some may focus on the coordination of breath and movement, while others focus on the proper alignment of the body. Others use atmospheric conditions as the basis of the style.


Globally, one of the most popular styles is Hatha yoga. This is a style that focuses on slow, meditative breathing and relaxed postures. A yoga instructor will slowly guide students through poses one at a time. Many people, who attend Hatha classes, appreciate the relaxed feeling they get from the exercise aspects. Some people, who try Hatha classes, do not like the slow-pace and are searching for a higher-intensity exercise.


Vinyasa yoga, sometimes called Flow or Power yoga, contains a completely different focus, in comparison to the meditative Hatha. Vinyasa is called, Flow or Power, because of its emphasis on smooth and powerful movements. The teacher will guide students through a series of poses, changing them in rhythm with the breath.


The poses run together like a dance. Vinyasa classes can be either, high or low intensity, depending upon the yoga instructor’s emphasis. Vinyasa can be very diverse because it allows the yoga instructor to interject their personality into the routines.


Vinyasa, Flow, or Power yoga, draws sequences from Hatha or Raja yoga, depending upon the instructor’s lineage. Raja is the form of yoga, which Maharishi Pantanjali describes in the Yoga Sutras. It should be noted that Raja is sometimes called, Ashtanga, which means “eight limbs.”


Ashtanga yoga can also be an athletic style of yoga. It is based on a demanding series of pose changes, sometimes connected by jumps. Designed for flexible, and usually young, bodies, Ashtanga has gained popularity in the Western world because of its intensity. Some popular students of this style are Madonna and Sting. An advantage of this style is that it can be self-led.


Usually the yoga instructor will teach students a series of poses and lead them in the routine. After mastering the poses and changes, the students can go through the routine at their own pace. Since this is done in the company of the yoga instructor, and other students, progress can be monitored and mistakes corrected.


For a completely different experience, there is Bikram yoga. Also known as Hot yoga, Bikram is a modern style, focusing on a set series of poses performed in a heated room. The creator of the style, Bikram Choudhury, designated twenty-six poses that constitute the Bikram style. The temperature of the room is ideally set to 105 degrees.


By keeping the room at a high temperature, the muscles of the body are more flexible. This is a controversial style because of an intellectual property lawsuit by Choudhury. Only those yoga instructors, certified in his method, are permitted to teach Bikram yoga.


On the other end of the timeline is Kundalini yoga. An ancient form, that is relatively new to the West, Kundalini focuses on the spiritual aspects of yoga. The yoga instructor leads students through a series of poses, making sure that movement is linked with breath.


The idea behind this discipline is to cause dormant energy in the lower body to become free and move upwards. For students seeking an athletic workout, Kundalini is not the place to look; but it is still an important style for a yoga instructor to understand.


From the purely physical yoga, to the more spiritual forms, a yoga instructor must be well versed. If you want to be a great yoga instructor, you should understand the basics of each major style, even while you focus on your favorite style. In this way, you’ll be ready to answer any student’s question and guide them to the right style.


Copyright 2008 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. He is an author of many books on the subject of Yoga and has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995.

http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org