The ‘nidra’ or sleep may be defined as a normal active state of all living creatures when the mind and body are less responsive. It recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended. It is considered to be restorative process and rejuvenate both body and mind.
Broadly, sleep is divided in to two parts i.e. rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. REM sleep is associated with eye movements, dreaming, desynchronized and faster brain waves, loss of muscle tone, and suspension of homeostatis. In NREM there is usually little or no eye movement, the dreaming is rare, and muscles are not paralyzed as in REM sleep and the mindset of a person is more organized.
The quantum of sleep or duration mainly depends on age, profession and health conditions. Usually a normal adult needs approximately 7 to 10 hours daily sleep depending on the physical and mental work he performs in the day.
The sleep is controlled by various astro-psycho-physico-physiological and metabolic biological factors. Among all factors astrological factors for sleep have great relevance because now it is well established that the circadian rhythms have direct bearings on the sleep. In other words the alternate day and night have direct impact on human sleep.
Our sleep is controlled by two hormones secreted by pineal body i.e. melatonin and cortisol. The melatonin is a sleep inducing hormone whereas cortisol is responsible for awakening. The secretion of these hormones is controlled by biological clock set in our body. When sun sets the pineal body starts secreting melatonin and process continue till mid night and after mid night melatonin secretion starts reducing and cortisol production is started in place of melatonin and its peak concentration reaches before a person wake up.
The secretion of these two hormones is directly controlled by our biological clock and life style. After hard work of the day body need physical and mental rest to rejuvenate through sleep. Therefore in the evening melatonin i.e. sleep inducing hormone is required and in combination with physical and mental fatigue man starts sleeping quickly and rejuvenates maximum. But after midnight wake up hormone i.e. cortisol appears which gradually induces awakening and in the morning when its concentration is on peak we wake up.
So when we are tired and need sleep to rejuvenate, the sleep inducing hormone is present and after rejuvenation when our mental and physical fatigues are over, the awakening hormone acts upon our body. This is the astro-psycho-physico and biological cum metabolical equation of sleep. That is why in all societies maxim ‘early to bed and early to rise’ is preached and practiced. It is ideal to go bed by 9.00 or 9.30 PM and if it is done so our wake time will automatically come to 4.00 or 4.30 AM. This sleeping time is synchronized with astro-bio- physico and metabolic factors and gains from the sleep are maximum. If we go bed early we wake maximum fresh and energetic but if we sleep late in the night the morning is not as good as in the case of early-night sleep.
A question arises that what will happen if due to compulsions of modern life style we fail to manage adequate and proper sleep as described above, the specialists answer the question in the following manners:-
In our modern life style sometimes we do not sleep as described above and remain awake when our body secretes melatonin i.e. sleep inducing hormone. But we go to sleep just before midnight or after midnight when cortisole’s production started. Thus our life style contradicts the physiological functioning of our body. This results in to in-adequate and imperfect sleep ultimately leading to various malfunctioning, disorders, stress, and serious ailments.
Today stress is one of the important factors responsible for our most of the psycho-somatic disorders. In fact the stress and sleep are directly related. The present day life style and working conditions are bound to create a disturbed sleeping pattern. The adequate and proper sleep is essential for healthy mental and physical growth. Usually in absence of ideal sleep, a person will behave in the following manners:
(a)the mental consolidation and physical repair and rebuilding do not take place.
(b)when one wakes up with an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of sleep, he/she is mentally irritable throughout the day due to lack of REM sleep.
(c)if somebody has slept for less than 5 hours, the body is in a complete physical mess due tolack of non-REM sleep, the person is tired throughout the day and immunity is way down.
If a person wants to remain ‘swasthya’ he must avoid inadequate and improper sleep. But often people fail to do so because of compulsions of modern life styles. So what is the remedy? The answer lies in the Indian yogic tradition called ‘yoga nidra’. The ‘yoga nidra’ is a guided practice of relaxation and ‘pratyahar’ i.e. withdrawing the mind from external sense objects and directing it inwards. It is a practice of progressive relaxation from muscular to mental followed by emotional and deep psychic level which enables the practitioner to enter and explore deep layers of mind one by one. The contents of mind spontaneously surface up. Long forgotten impressions can rise in to the conscious realm. This helps us to understand many of our attitudes, habits and reactions in the light of this newfound knowledge. It is only possible to connect with the self when in a totally relaxed state. If anything is bothering the body and mind, the connection is not possible unless one learns to transcend that disturbance consciously and then relax at will.
The ‘yoga nidra’ is usually practiced by under the verbal guidance of a ‘guru’ or instructions given through an audio recording. Technically it is a guided practice having following six stages:-
(1) Preparation and relaxation – it requires some aerobic exercises and few asanas which activate muscles as well as tone up the body. After that for few minutes deep breath in ‘shavasana’ is practiced followed by completely relaxed body with slow and relaxed breath.
(2) Resolve – in this stage we mentally prepare ourselves for ‘yoga nidra’ by keeping eyes closed and relaxing our mind. This stage persists for few minutes.
(3) Rotation of consciousness on body parts – here we start taking our attention for few seconds to various parts of the body especially from foot to head and ultimately to entire body.
(4) Breath control – in ‘shavasana’ breath automatically becomes short and relaxed but sometimes deep breath is also advised.
(5) Visualization – This stage have two sub-stages i.e. floating body and tunnel of chidakasha. In floating body stage we see below our body lying in ‘shavasana’ on the floor and we watch silently activities performed by other people. We move outside the room and experience that our body is floating like cloud. In tunnel of‘chidakasha’ we withdraw our mind and concentrate it on the space in front of the fore head. It is called ‘chidakasha’.
(6) Ending the practice – In the end we become aware of our body and natural breath. Gradually externalize the mind and senses. Start moving various parts of the body.
.
In the practice of ‘yoga nidra’ the consciousness rests between the fully awake state and the sleep state. One is aware of one’s dream state, but not of one’s environment. One remains in sub-conscious state. It provides total physical, mental and emotional relaxation. Physical relaxation provides rest and the opportunities for the body to rejuvenate and heal. Mental relaxation allows mental conditionings and defences to be dropped. All expectations, logic and preconceived ideas are pushed aside and one enters in to the state of one’s self, releasing many self created tensions. During ‘yoga nidra’ emotional relaxation allows suppressed emotions to surface up in to conscious awareness. This can put an end to stressful, emotionally charged situations in the past. Thus ‘yoga nidra’ is a very powerful tool for combating stress of any kind and for the management of any disease.
Inadequate and improper sleep is responsible for negative attitudes like worry, depression, frustration, anger, jealousy, revenge, fear, anxiety, insecurity etc. responsible for negative state of mind which ultimately adversely affects our immune system. The psycho-somatic disorders are very common under such circumstances. A person must be very careful in eating proper food, exercising, and maintaining proper weight but if he miss proper and adequate sleep i.e. minimum 7 hours, it may turn fatal. Therefore we are killing ourselves if we are sleeping less than 7 hours even if we have low stress.
Broadly, sleep is divided in to two parts i.e. rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. REM sleep is associated with eye movements, dreaming, desynchronized and faster brain waves, loss of muscle tone, and suspension of homeostatis. In NREM there is usually little or no eye movement, the dreaming is rare, and muscles are not paralyzed as in REM sleep and the mindset of a person is more organized.
The quantum of sleep or duration mainly depends on age, profession and health conditions. Usually a normal adult needs approximately 7 to 10 hours daily sleep depending on the physical and mental work he performs in the day.
The sleep is controlled by various astro-psycho-physico-physiological and metabolic biological factors. Among all factors astrological factors for sleep have great relevance because now it is well established that the circadian rhythms have direct bearings on the sleep. In other words the alternate day and night have direct impact on human sleep.
Our sleep is controlled by two hormones secreted by pineal body i.e. melatonin and cortisol. The melatonin is a sleep inducing hormone whereas cortisol is responsible for awakening. The secretion of these hormones is controlled by biological clock set in our body. When sun sets the pineal body starts secreting melatonin and process continue till mid night and after mid night melatonin secretion starts reducing and cortisol production is started in place of melatonin and its peak concentration reaches before a person wake up.
The secretion of these two hormones is directly controlled by our biological clock and life style. After hard work of the day body need physical and mental rest to rejuvenate through sleep. Therefore in the evening melatonin i.e. sleep inducing hormone is required and in combination with physical and mental fatigue man starts sleeping quickly and rejuvenates maximum. But after midnight wake up hormone i.e. cortisol appears which gradually induces awakening and in the morning when its concentration is on peak we wake up.
So when we are tired and need sleep to rejuvenate, the sleep inducing hormone is present and after rejuvenation when our mental and physical fatigues are over, the awakening hormone acts upon our body. This is the astro-psycho-physico and biological cum metabolical equation of sleep. That is why in all societies maxim ‘early to bed and early to rise’ is preached and practiced. It is ideal to go bed by 9.00 or 9.30 PM and if it is done so our wake time will automatically come to 4.00 or 4.30 AM. This sleeping time is synchronized with astro-bio- physico and metabolic factors and gains from the sleep are maximum. If we go bed early we wake maximum fresh and energetic but if we sleep late in the night the morning is not as good as in the case of early-night sleep.
A question arises that what will happen if due to compulsions of modern life style we fail to manage adequate and proper sleep as described above, the specialists answer the question in the following manners:-
(a)Short sleep duration i.e. <5 or 5-6 hours increases risk for high BP by 350% to 500% compared to those who slept longer than 6 hours per night.
(b)Young people (25-49 years of age) are twice as likely to get high BP if they sleep less.
(c)Individuals who sleep less than 5 hours a night have a 3-fold increased risk of heart attacks.
(d)Just one night of sleep loss increases very toxic substances in body such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and C-reactive protein (CRP). They also cause cancer, arthritis and heart disease.
(e)Sleeping for <=5 hours per night leads to 39% increase in heart disease. Sleeping for <=6 hours per night leads to 8% increase in heart disease.
Today stress is one of the important factors responsible for our most of the psycho-somatic disorders. In fact the stress and sleep are directly related. The present day life style and working conditions are bound to create a disturbed sleeping pattern. The adequate and proper sleep is essential for healthy mental and physical growth. Usually in absence of ideal sleep, a person will behave in the following manners:
(a)the mental consolidation and physical repair and rebuilding do not take place.
(b)when one wakes up with an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of sleep, he/she is mentally irritable throughout the day due to lack of REM sleep.
(c)if somebody has slept for less than 5 hours, the body is in a complete physical mess due tolack of non-REM sleep, the person is tired throughout the day and immunity is way down.
If a person wants to remain ‘swasthya’ he must avoid inadequate and improper sleep. But often people fail to do so because of compulsions of modern life styles. So what is the remedy? The answer lies in the Indian yogic tradition called ‘yoga nidra’. The ‘yoga nidra’ is a guided practice of relaxation and ‘pratyahar’ i.e. withdrawing the mind from external sense objects and directing it inwards. It is a practice of progressive relaxation from muscular to mental followed by emotional and deep psychic level which enables the practitioner to enter and explore deep layers of mind one by one. The contents of mind spontaneously surface up. Long forgotten impressions can rise in to the conscious realm. This helps us to understand many of our attitudes, habits and reactions in the light of this newfound knowledge. It is only possible to connect with the self when in a totally relaxed state. If anything is bothering the body and mind, the connection is not possible unless one learns to transcend that disturbance consciously and then relax at will.
 |
Nidra - a restorative process |
(1) Preparation and relaxation – it requires some aerobic exercises and few asanas which activate muscles as well as tone up the body. After that for few minutes deep breath in ‘shavasana’ is practiced followed by completely relaxed body with slow and relaxed breath.
(2) Resolve – in this stage we mentally prepare ourselves for ‘yoga nidra’ by keeping eyes closed and relaxing our mind. This stage persists for few minutes.
(3) Rotation of consciousness on body parts – here we start taking our attention for few seconds to various parts of the body especially from foot to head and ultimately to entire body.
(4) Breath control – in ‘shavasana’ breath automatically becomes short and relaxed but sometimes deep breath is also advised.
(5) Visualization – This stage have two sub-stages i.e. floating body and tunnel of chidakasha. In floating body stage we see below our body lying in ‘shavasana’ on the floor and we watch silently activities performed by other people. We move outside the room and experience that our body is floating like cloud. In tunnel of‘chidakasha’ we withdraw our mind and concentrate it on the space in front of the fore head. It is called ‘chidakasha’.
(6) Ending the practice – In the end we become aware of our body and natural breath. Gradually externalize the mind and senses. Start moving various parts of the body.
.
In the practice of ‘yoga nidra’ the consciousness rests between the fully awake state and the sleep state. One is aware of one’s dream state, but not of one’s environment. One remains in sub-conscious state. It provides total physical, mental and emotional relaxation. Physical relaxation provides rest and the opportunities for the body to rejuvenate and heal. Mental relaxation allows mental conditionings and defences to be dropped. All expectations, logic and preconceived ideas are pushed aside and one enters in to the state of one’s self, releasing many self created tensions. During ‘yoga nidra’ emotional relaxation allows suppressed emotions to surface up in to conscious awareness. This can put an end to stressful, emotionally charged situations in the past. Thus ‘yoga nidra’ is a very powerful tool for combating stress of any kind and for the management of any disease.
Inadequate and improper sleep is responsible for negative attitudes like worry, depression, frustration, anger, jealousy, revenge, fear, anxiety, insecurity etc. responsible for negative state of mind which ultimately adversely affects our immune system. The psycho-somatic disorders are very common under such circumstances. A person must be very careful in eating proper food, exercising, and maintaining proper weight but if he miss proper and adequate sleep i.e. minimum 7 hours, it may turn fatal. Therefore we are killing ourselves if we are sleeping less than 7 hours even if we have low stress.
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Yoga Nidra - Unification with cosmos |
Yoga nidra helps in overcoming all these negative aspects of mind. It releases muscle tension, lower blood pressure, slow down the heart rate and regulate breathing. Further it heals the damaged body, the damages caused by various diseases. It’s regular practice energizes both body and mind and counter negative impacts of life style on body. It’s practice is very simple and any one can do it even while travelling by car, train or bus or in office. It is the easiest and simplest method to get rid of from various types of fatigues. It is so simple that anyone can learn it and practice it. Our ancestors developed it long back for the benefit of the humanity.
Thus we find ‘yoga nida’ a wonderful tool to counteract various adverse consequences coming out from the so called modern life style.
Audio recording for practicing 'yoga Nidra' by Sri Sri
