Yoga Nidra : Purpose of Yoga Nidra

Purpose of Yoga Nidra

The word “Yoga” can be translated as “the joining together of two things that have never been

separate” and the word “Nidra,” from the Sanskrit, means “sleep.” When taken together, one common

interpretation of “Yoga Nidra” is psychic sleep or deep relaxation with inner awareness, where one

appears to be asleep, but consciousness is functioning at a deeper level of awareness. (Bhushan 2001)

In psychology, the state achieved in Yoga Nidra is termed the hypnogogic state, a state between sleep

and wakefulness. It is thought that when we are in this state, we have access to the latent or

subconscious level of the mind, and are even able to influence it. For instance, we are able to directly

attenuate the deep habit patterns of attachment or aversion that drive our actions in the waking state.

(Bharati)

Miller goes one step further; he interprets sleep as a state of being unconscious or unaware. As such,

he says that from the perspective of Yoga Nidra, we are asleep when we view the world as consisting

of solid and separate objects. He defines the yogi as one who, whether asleep or awake, is aware of the

fundamental nature of reality – that all things are inherently One, and there is no separation anywhere.

He purports that the aim of Yoga Nidra is thus to come to the first-hand experience that “we are not

the limited, finite creatures that we mistakenly take ourselves to be,” but rather, “we are non-separate

awareness, a joyous Beingness that is always present.” (Miller 2002)

Swami Janakananda Saraswati, founder of the Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School, as well as

the disciple of Swami Satyananda Saraswati, supports Miller’s argument. He too says that the purpose

of Yoga Nidra is to touch and experience the various dimensions of our being and to awaken

consciousness in areas where it is usually dormant due to tensions. The aim is that by doing so, we are

able to experience that we are not bound to just one plane of consciousness, but rather that we

consciously contain them all. That in turn is meant to lead to the insight that our true identity is the

experiencing consciousness behind it all. (Janakananda 1998)