In a sense then, yoga nidra is a play on words, to be both awake and asleep. Nidra means “sleep.” To be a yogi is to be on the path of “awakening” (awake to one’s True Nature). I’d like to de-mystify yoga nidra and demonstrate how this modernized and secularized ancient practice can be an invaluable practical tool to help us live life with ease, resiliency, equanimity and authenticity. This is a deep body of work that never ceases to amaze me! I continue to study with a supervisor and am registered to attend Richard’s Advanced Practitioner Retreat at Santa Sabina this summer. Currently, I am qualified as an iRest Level 2 Teacher. Since attending that retreat, I have attended three more week-long retreats as well as Level 1 training with Richard and Level 2 training with a senior iRest trainer. Among other studies, he has been practicing, studying and teaching Yoga Nidra since the 1970s, and has compiled, integrated and adapted these ancient teachings to create a contemporary approach to yoga nidra called iRest. In addition to being a Doctor of Psychology, Richard is a true yoga master. My time and energy were stretched but I consoled myself with the thought, “oh well, what can I lose by laying around and relaxing for a week?” I was in for a surprise the retreat was that and so incredibly much more! But in 2014, Anita Sielecki, president of the Yoga Association of Alberta at the time, convinced me to attend a week-long yoga and meditation retreat led by founder of iRest Yoga Nidra Meditation, Dr Richard Miller. I knew something of the philosophical and psychological underpinnings from my training up to that point. I marveled at how peaceful I felt afterwards. I remember leisurely relaxation sessions in which everyone was content to be “simply” lying down, guided through magical imagery and into a deeply restful experience. But I received a lovely and fairly thorough introduction to iRest Yoga Nidra by Kathleen Ludwig in my yoga therapy training at Mount Royal University in 2009, which was complimented by more training with Amy Weintraub, founder of Life Force Yoga®, in 2013. I can’t quite recall my first experience of yoga nidra because I sense that it made its way into guided meditations and end-of-class relaxation sessions given by my initial teachers. Yoga nidra is one of the practices that is gaining considerably more attention, and for good reason. As yoga continues to extend its reach into mainstream use, more people are finding their way to practices beyond yoga asana or posture, into breath work, meditation, and the subtler aspects of the tradition.
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