Yoga Nidra translates to “yogic sleep”. It is a type of meditation typically done lying in a supine position, although any position is acceptable. Yoga Nidra is characterized by a sequenced order it follows through the different layers of awareness, and results in delta wavelength sleep for a short period of time, even as, over time, the practitioner is able to remain alert throughout their practice (Parker, 2017; Miller, 2011). Yoga Nidra is distinct from other types of relaxation meditations or mindfulness meditations in that it prioritizes radical welcoming. So, for example, instead of mindfully attempting to relax the body or breath, the practice is to welcome the body and experience it as it is, even (or especially) if uncomfortable. The practice of being comfortable with discomfort is another way of saying “tolerance for ambiguity”, which is one of the top qualities found in the world’s most creative people (Andreasen, 2005). Research shows that even an 11 minute recording of Yoga Nidra practice per day for a 30 day period makes a profound difference in the practitioners’ ability to bolster themselves from the negative effects of stress and life, and the difference can still be felt 6 months later (Moszeik, von Oertzen & Renner, 2022).
In my workshops, we incorporate this practice so that each participant can prepare his or her container for receiving the most unexpected solutions to the creative problem-solving opportunities presented in our session. Outside of my workshops, this practice can be traced back for millennia and has applications for PTSD recovery or simply, living more deeply. I originally received training in this form with Richard Miller in 2009. Miller is a psychiatrist and yogi who went on to do extensive research of yoga nidra at his iRest Institute. He focuses his research on populations with PTSD—veterans, victims of trafficking and abuse, and the homeless. I continued training with another senior teacher, Joan Ruvinsky, until her passing in 2016.
Why is it important to radically welcome the fullness of each layer of your experience rather than to attempt to mindfully relax? This shifts who the “doer” is. When you realize that “you” aren’t the one who needs to make relaxation happen, when relaxation simply happens, you start operating from a place of power larger than yourself. This is why there is extensive research around using this technique with people with PTSD. Miller explained during my training in 2009 that the way this works is: the container of who the person operates from becomes much larger; they learn to receive support from a flow of life that is much more vast, and in that container, they begin the work of welcoming the trauma. It seems counterintuitive, but, welcoming the trauma from that vast place not only allows the truth of the trauma to be there, but also, the trauma starts to seem less large and consuming, instead, it becomes integrated into a greater vastness and effortlessness.
It is well known that creative problem solving requires openness. How many times have you been in the shower letting your mind wander, and had a flash of insight into something you were mulling over? Chances are, you forgot who you were for a moment and the solution slipped in. Yoga nidra operationalizes radical welcoming—this radical shifting of “who” the doer is—which connects to creative practices and is supported by the other systems-based work around creativity in the literature. Csziksentmihalyi (1996), Gaztambide-Fernandez (2013), Clapp and Hanson (2019), and other creativity researchers would say that no person is an island and no creative idea exists in the vacuum of one creative person’s mind. Creativity happens in a collective, we just participate in it. The more open we are, and the more we make space for the unexpected to happen (Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein, 1999), the more likely for effortless creative solutions to arise.
There is some scientific explanation for why this particular practice is indicated for both survivors of trauma and creative thinkers. During the guided practice of Yoga Nidra, the brain shifts to a theta brainwave state for a substantial portion of the session. Theta is the state that we typically enter when dreaming. Neuroscience research would say that theta brainwaves are implicated with the imagination in working and episodic memory function (Hsieh & Ranganath, 2014) and that they can coordinate dynamic mental imagery during spatial working memory maintenance, with implications for mental simulation and fictive planning (Buzsaki & Moser, 2013; Byrne et al., 2007; Kaplan et. al, 2017). Yoga Nidra research would say that the theta brainwave state is therapeutic because the phase of creativity, decision-making, and visualization can help us connect to the larger truth of who we are and support more unlikely connections for healing (Parker, 2017). Connecting with our vision consciously, in what would normally be an unconscious state, helps with seeing the truth of who we are and the truth of what is available, both for healing and for creative problem solving.
Richard Miller’s work can be found at: www.irest.org
Joan Ruvinsky’s work lives on at: www.pathlessyoga.com
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Clapp, E.P. & Hanson, M.H. (2019). Participatory creativity: Supporting dynamic roles and perspectives in the classroom. In R. Beghetto and G. Corazza (Eds.) Dynamic perspectives on creativity. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 27-46.
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Root-Bernstein, M. & Root-Bernstein, R. (1999). Sparks of genius: The thirteen thinking tools of the world’s most creative people. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
