Plant A Seed In Your Mind For Positive Change With Yoga Nidra

by Michelle

Have you ever wished you could go to sleep and wake up a new person? Setting and achieving goals is hard work, and sometimes the hardest part of becoming a successful person is clearing away the psychological baggage that drags us down and keeps us from living our dreams. Psychological housekeeping isn't easy stuff, and facing up to those old crusty skeletons in the closet isn't exactly a fun thing to do when you get home from work. In order to challenge ourselves to grow and make radical new changes we must clear out the old, dead branches and plant the seeds that will grow into the characteristics we want to see in ourselves. The ideal time to do this kind of work is while the brain is in one of the sleep states, when the brain is open to suggestion and the door to the subconscious is left ajar.

Yoga Nidra is a yogic meditation technique that brings the practitioner into the state of deep sleep, while maintaining conscious awareness through the entire practice. Yoga Nidra can be used as a simple relaxation technique, but this powerful and ancient practice can help you to achieve your goals and manifest changes in your life through the use of the Sankalpa, or resolve. A Sankalpa is a short, positive statement, which is always used in the present tense. If you suffer from illness, your Sankalpa could be "I am healthy," instead of "I am not sick." By repeating this statement three times at the beginning and end of the Yoga Nidra practice, a seed of change is planted. Each time you practice Yoga Nidra this statement is reinforced in your mind and provides focus and direction for your meditation practice. Old problems and psychological grime are gradually swept away as you see yourself appear in the truth of your Sankalpa during your daily life. Yoga Nidra takes you beyond positive visualization and into positive actualization as your Sankalpa reshapes you and your life.

| 01/10/08 | Yoga