HEALING WHITE LIGHT YOGA NIDRA
Yoga Nidra is my universal recommendation for everyone! After my head injury, the chronic migraine pain, altered moods, insomnia and anxiety led me to discover Yoga Nidra. It has changed my life for the better. It created space within me to discover my intuition and make aligned choices to bring me a more joyful life. Here is how it happened.
Better than a Nap
I first did yoga nidra as a lawyer and thought it pointless, I wanted my sweat! I had little interest in shavasana at the end of a yoga class, let alone a dedicated class to it. But it is funny what makes us shift.
Pain is harder to manage when you are tired, so the first step is to improve your rest state. Sleep cleans the brain removing toxins that contribute to Alzheimer's disease and other mental health issues**. Thirty minutes of Yoga Nidra is the equivalent to 2-4 hours sleep*. Yoga Nidra includes this benefit so it has a long-term and short-term clearing of the junk in your mind!
Set an intention to be "healthy, healed and whole" avoiding the associations with 'pain' at the start of your practice. Use this if you are in chronic pain. Your intention is what you create truly in your experience, so a positive and pain-free intention will move you towards your goal. If you need to know more about setting intentions then read my blog post here.
The yoga nidra practice focuses the mind and works with different brainwave states (more on that in another blog post - see Brain Wave and Yoga Nidra post). When the brain waves are in a calmer state then you can begin to clear out the clutter and retrain the mind. This is the deep work of yoga nidra that restores the brain to balance.
May Provide Pain Relief
When you are in pain you get in a vicious cycle of stress in the body. This contributes to sleep issues, more physical pain, and emotional swings. I often failed to realise my low moods due to the pain being so strong in my experience, so then our relationships are affected and you do not always see your role in why. Yoga Nidra affects all of these cycles and bringing them into balance improves the opportunity to heal.
Studies show that meditation alone can reduce pain by 57% and if you're an accomplished meditator up to 90%***. That is such a wonderful FREE medicine to add to your bag! The caveat is that this is disciplined pain relief and not easy. You must commit and fully focus on the practice whole-heartedly to ease the pain. This requires immense discipline and willpower which can be hard to muster when in pain. I know this and there are times when I have not managed it myself.
White light is very calming and cleansing as it encompasses the entire rainbow of colours that lift your vibrations positively. The colour correlates to the Alpha brainwave state where we often feel 'dreamy' and that our intuition is opening****. This open state is great for retraining the brain and pain receptor relationships. This is also the bridge of the conscious and unconscious states, the hypnogogic state similar to hypnotherapy or falling asleep.
Prevention is Awareness
The opposite sensation work in this healing yoga nidra trains you to become aware of sensations that arise before the pain. This means that you start to notice them before they arrive and act in a preventative manner. You then start to take preventative steps to calm, de-stress and rest in the onset of pain. If the pain hits it you will be calmer and the pain less intense and shorter in duration.
You also become aware that sensations are a choice of experience. A yoga nidra master will be able to alter the sensation of pain to pleasure - it's opposite sensation - as you become aware that sensations are all the energy that you put into your body that become emotion. You can discover the willpower to choose the disciplined actions that prevent or change pain cycles. Please note the words ‘master’ and ‘willpower’ - for it is these that you must cultivate within yourself to control the experience of pain. This is simple and possible, commit yourself fully to another experience.
Pain or No Pain - Wash Away Your Day
If you do not suffer from pain - great! The white light healing yoga nidra will help wash away energy and thoughts that do not serve you. They will make cleansing space inside and outside you for more good stuff in your life. You will be prepared and trained for any situations that arise where you may experience pain sensations. We can curate a yoga nidra for you to help you achieve your sankalpa!
Why I updated this practice
There are now new versions of this practice. The newer recordings are available in the Nid’s Nidra app. You can enjoy the first recording made in a busy London studio with a professional producer has a very different energy, that will support some of you on YouTube or Insight Timer.
Listen to Nid’s Nidra on:
