Yoga Nidra Meditation and the Quiet Mind

Yogaschitta vritti nirodhah.
Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 1.2

Tada drastuh svarupe vasthanam.
Then the seer is established in his own essential nature.
Sutra 1.3

Heyam duhkhamanagatam.
Suffering which has not yet come should be avoided.
Sutra 2.16

This is the crux of Classical Yoga, the philosophy of the Yoga Sutras. The goal of Yoga and the way toward the goal is to quiet the mind. When the mind is quiet, we are able to realize our greatest potential and future suffering may be avoided.

The fluctuations of the mind are thoughts and when the mind is full of chatter, we see the world as we are, rather than as it really is. Thoughts act as lenses that distort our perception of reality. Thoughts may be like a big dog that we are attempting to walk but who is really taking us for a walk, dragging us around to wherever he would like to go. The Gita says that for one who has control over the mind, the mind is an ally, but for one who does not have that control, the mind is the greatest enemy. The idea is that we train our dog, our mind, so that we are in control and no longer a victim to negative self chatter. Healthy thoughts create health. When the mind is quiet, we are able to hear the voice of Inspiration and Divine Guidance. In that silence is infinite possibility and potential.

As the Yogi gains more control over her mind, she also finds that she begins to gain some control over her physical body. Swami Rama, a grandmaster in our lineage, was one of the most studied Yogis in modern history. He was able to, documented in front of western scientists, lower his blood pressure, stop and start his heart at will, change his brain wave frequencies and even to change his weight on a set of scales as scientists looked on! Just recently, while teaching a Yoga class, at the end of class in the very quiet relaxation portion, I felt the need to sneeze. I told myself that this would be a very inappropriate time to sneeze because it would disturb my students and to my greatest surprise, I was able to suppress a very strong urge to sneeze. This may seem trivial, but at the time, it was very practical and important to me. Even to be able to will our bodies to get up and out of bed when we need to or to follow through with an intention to not eat, not smoke, etc- having some control over the physical body would be handy.

On a larger scale, as we control our minds, we also find that we have more of an influence over our outer world. Dr. Wayne Dyer says that we draw to us in life not what we want, but rather what we are. We are essentially what we think. What a person believes either is true or will become true. If our thoughts are peaceful, then we are peaceful. If our thoughts are of worry, anxiety and fear, then we are afraid. If our thoughts are of anger, then we are angry. If our thoughts are of gratitude, then we are joyful.

In the 60's, psychologists were experimenting with new modalities for anger management- primal scream therapy or hitting pillows. Even the Beatles were practicing the primal scream. The theory was that by physically acting out our anger this would encourage anger to leave the system. But, over the years as the data from studies was compiled, scientists discovered that the opposite was actually true. The more we express our anger, the more anger we feel. The emotions we feel draw to us like a magnet more experiences and situations that allow that emotion to express itself again and again. The Buddha said that this is the difference between pain and suffering and between one arrow and 1000 arrows. The first arrow is the painful event, but the other arrows that keep coming are our holding onto that pain and our refusing to simply let it go. It would be helpful to allow emotions to be like food, we take them in and then we release them. Experience the emotion fully, but then let it go. There is some aspect of choice in expressing our desire to change a situation in a calm, peaceful way rather than in an angry tirade and this is where mind training becomes invaluable. An angry person is at their weakest state really because they have chosen to be a victim in that moment and because we draw to us what we are, more situations and events come our way for us to play out that victim role over and over. Whole lifetimes for some.

So these are the benefits of a quiet mind, but exactly how does one quiet the mind? In an asana class, as we anchor our awareness in concentration, the mind naturally becomes quiet. In our tradition, we use the 3 concentration techniques, or tristana.
At the end of asana class, we practice Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra is the Yogic sleep and a form of meditation. Yoga Nidra is an attempt to move into the deep sleep state in a conscious manner and to maintain wakeful awareness. Not an easy task, but like all meditation techniques, the more we practice, the easier it becomes. When we fall into the deep sleep state each night, we completely disengage from our thoughts. While we sleep, we have no idea of our names, what color we are nor what our fears and worries are. Our attempt is to replicate this state of distance from our thoughts in Yoga Nidra. As we create more distance between us and our thoughts, the thoughts begin to lose their power. Because energy follows awareness, in the quiet mind state of Yoga Nidra, prana begins to build in the body rather than going off into the past or the future with each thought. Prana has enormous healing potential so each practice of Yoga Nidra is a window of opportunity to restore radiant health. It is said to be 4 times more restorative than regular sleep and sends energy to the immune system and the body's cellular repair network. With a 15 minute practice of Yoga Nidra, the body produces a substance that is very similar to Valium so it is very peaceful and even pleasurable and studies show that with regular practice, practitioners need higher levels of exposure to stress to produce the same chemical stress response as before. These benefits are spontaneous and progressive. We do not need to worry if we are doing it "right". We simply practice and attempt to keep the body still and to stay awake.

One of the reasons that I practice Tantra is because it is a householder's lifestyle philosophy rather than being for renunciates. (monks or nuns) The Tantric practice of Yoga Nidra uses the Sankalpa technique to enhance our worldly and material life. A Sankalpa is a profound resolution of something we wish to achieve or become in the next 6 to 18 months. We formulate an affirmative statement to encapsulate the intention and drop it in to the settled mind of Yoga Nidra. Some guidelines for the formulation of your sankalpa are: it is a short concise affirmative statement of gratitude, it is in the present tense, it is only about us not anyone else (not your business nor your karma) and it is what we would want for ourselves even if the situation did not change. The idea is to get to the heart of the matter. Often, when our intention is about money, what we really want is to feel safe and secure. So a sankalpa about prosperity might be Thank you that I am safe now.
Or:
Thank you that I am peaceful.
Thank you that I am joyful.
Thank you that I am loved.
Thank you that I am connected to my Source.

Yoga asana is a great start, but at some point you need to meditate.
May Ezraty, Yoga Works founder and long time Ashtanga Vinyasa and Iyengar Yoga practitioner and teacher