Meditation · Practise on your own
Yoga Nidra
Yogic sleep. Deep guided rest lying down, moving through eight stages from preparation to return.
Awaiting subject reviewWritten from our source material and not yet checked by a teacher of this practice. Read it as reference, and learn the practice from someone who teaches it.
- Technique
- Guided rest
- Time
- 20 to 30 minutes
Deep guided rest in eight stages. The body sleeps while awareness stays.
Take care
If you fall asleep, that is fine. Come back to it another day. If difficult memories or feelings arise, open the eyes and rest, and practise with a teacher.
Preparing
Lie in Savasana on a mat, with a blanket for warmth and a cushion under the head or knees if needed. Read the stages through once before you begin, or practise with a teacher's guidance.
The stages
- 1
Preparation. Settle in Savasana and let the body become still. Decide to stay awake and aware.
- 2
Sankalpa. Make a short, positive resolve in your own words, and repeat it three times silently.
- 3
Rotation of awareness. Move the attention quickly through the body, part by part, without moving.
- 4
Breath. Watch the natural breath, or count the breaths backward.
- 5
Sensations. Bring to mind pairs of opposite sensations, such as heaviness and lightness, warmth and cold.
- 6
Visualisation. Let a series of images arise and pass without holding on to them.
- 7
Sankalpa again. Repeat the same resolve three times.
- 8
Return. Become aware of the body, the room and the sounds. Move slowly, roll to one side, and sit up when ready.
Sit with a timer
To prepare
Ideas behind it
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, pp. 8–9, meditation table