(LINK)“Yoga Nidra”, by Swami Satyananda Saraswati (link)
© Bihar School of Yoga 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1993, 1998; Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar, India
Contents
Introduction 1
Theory
The Art of Relaxation 11
Training the Mind 17
Experiences in Yoga Nidra 23
Process of Pratyahara 28
Yoga Nidra and the Brain 35
Symbols of the Unconscious 43
Beyond the Body and Mind 53
Emerging into Samadhi 59
Practices
Outline of the Practice 69
General Suggestions 74
Yoga Nidra 1 81
Yoga Nidra 2 90
Yoga Nidra 3 100
Yoga Nidra 4 108
Yoga Nidra 5 120
Complete Scheme of Practices 1–5 132
Short Class Transcription 134
Long Class Transcription 141
Chakra Visualization 151
Yoga Nidra for Children 158
Scientific Investigations
Sleep, Dreams and Yoga Nidra 169
Educating the Whole Mind 179
Counteracting Stress 186
Controlling Centres of the Brain 191
Therapeutic Applications 195
Psychosomatic Diseases 202
Cardiovascular Diseases 208
Appendices
Stress and Heart Disease 217
Yoga Nidra and Biofeedback 228
Pictures of the Brain’s Activity During
Yoga Nidra 238
Yoga Nidra – Altered State of Consciousness 245
References 256
Satyananda Yoga Nidra™ is a simple yet profound technique adapted by Swami Satyananda Saraswati from the traditional tantric practice of nyasa. This text explains the theory of yoga nidra in both yogic and scientific terms and includes class transcriptions of the practice. It also
presents the various applications of this versatile technique, which has been used for deep relaxation, in stress management and therapy, to enhance the learning process in education, to harmonize the deeper unconscious and awaken inner potential, and as a meditative technique. A research section is also included. This systematic method of inducing complete mental, emotional and physical relaxation is suitable for all practitioners.
About the Author: Swami Satyananda was born in Almora (Uttaranchal) in 1923. Drawn to spiritual life from an early age, he left home at the age of eighteen, and in 1943 surrendered himself to Swami Sivananda in Rishikesh who initiated him into Dashnami sannyasa in 1947. He
served his guru for twelve years, perfecting every aspect of spiritual life. Thereafter, he travelled throughout the Indian subcontinent as a wandering ascetic.
Realizing the need of the times as scientific rendition of the ancient system of yoga, he founded the International Yoga Fellowship in 1956 and the Bihar School of Yoga in 1963. During the next twenty years, Swami Satyananda hoisted the flag of yoga in every corner of the world, consolidated BSY into a foremost institution of yoga, and authored over eighty major texts on yoga, tantra and spiritual life.
‘Satyananda Yoga’ became a tradition which combines classical knowledge with experiential understanding and a modern outlook. In 1984 he founded the Yoga Research Foundation to synchronize scientific research and yoga, and Sivananda Math to assist the underprivileged. In 1988, at the peak of his achievements, he renounced everything and adopted kshetra sannyasa, living as a paramahamsa ascetic. In 1989 Rikhia was revealed to him, where he came to live and performed higher vedic sadhanas in seclusion. Receiving the command to provide for his neighbours in 1991, he allowed the ashram to help the underprivileged villages in the region. From 1995 onwards, he performed a twelve-year Rajasooya Yajna with the sankalpa of peace, plenty and prosperity for all, and in 2007 he announced the establishment of Rikhiapeeth with its mandate to ‘serve, love, give’.
Swami Satyananda attained mahasamadhi, a yogic accomplishment of discarding the body at will to become one with the universal consciousness, in 2009, in the presence of his disciples.