Yoga Nidra Journey: Sunday 16 August
Book the next Yoga Nidra Journey in Wellington / Pōneke
More Than Relaxation
Join the next Yoga Nidra Journey in Pōneke / Wellington at the Wellington Meditation Centre. A guided session of gentle movement, breath practices and structured Yoga Nidra - designed to support nervous system rest and emotional and mental clarity.
WHEN: Sunday 16th August 2026
TIME: 10.30 am - 12 pm
WHERE: Wellington Meditation Centre
COST: $30.00
Looking Beyond "Dysregulation"
Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself noticing a similar energy across different yoga studios.
People are tired. Not just “I need an early night” tired, but a deeper kind of fatigue that seems to have settled in over Winter.
It isn’t surprising, especially when Winter brings fewer hours of natural daylight and more time under artificial light. This change in light can shift many of the biological rhythms that sunlight helps regulate.
I’ve also been noticing how often the term “dysregulated” is showing up, both in conversations and online. We can all understand why. Current life places enormous demands on us, and our nervous system plays an extraordinary role in how we experience and respond to the world around us.
What I’ve been wondering, though, is whether the language itself is subtly changing the way we relate to ourselves.
When we say, “My nervous system is dysregulated,” it can begin to sound as though our nervous system is something separate from us, rather than an extraordinary part of who we are.
Yet we are not separate from our nervous system, our hormones, our breath or our biology. We are one integrated human being, constantly responding to our environment, our relationships, the seasons and our experiences.
For me, Yoga has always been an invitation to remember that.
Your nervous system isn’t something you carry around. It’s one part of an extraordinary, integrated body, constantly communicating with your hormones, immune system, muscles, heart, lungs and metabolism.
When we feel deeply tired, overwhelmed or disconnected, it’s rarely one system in isolation. It’s often the experience of the whole body.
Perhaps that’s why this seasonal transition feels so significant. The days are slowly becoming longer. The sun is returning. Birds are beginning to sing a little earlier. Nature is quietly preparing for Spring.
We humans don’t change overnight. We need time, rest and the right conditions to adapt. This month’s Yoga Nidra Journey is an opportunity to create exactly those conditions.
Rather than trying to fix ourselves, perhaps we begin by creating the conditions that allow us to do what we always have known how to do: rest, recover and gradually find balance again.
For me, that’s one of the gifts of Yoga Nidra. Not because it promises to “fix” one part of us, but because it creates the conditions for our entire being to experience deep, integrated rest.
We’ll begin with gentle Hatha yoga, explore simple breath awareness, then settle into a guided Yoga Nidra, giving you an opportunity to slow down, restore and move more naturally with the changing season.
During a Yoga Nidra Journey, you can expect to be led through the following:
Easeful yoga asana flow to warm up the body and activate the subtle energetic fields
Simple Breath practices/Pranayama
A full Yoga Nidra Journey - guided, extended 8 or 9-stage practice
Yoga Nidra is a powerful tool to shift yourself into a natural state of peace and calmness, release tensions and cultivate contentment and creativity.
Suitable for all levels.
Yoga Nidra: Coming Home to Yourself
If you long to feel more at ease, more connected and more you, a Yoga Nidra Journey offers a space to recalibrate. You’ll leave feeling deeply restored, with a renewed sense of inner clarity.
Each session is a unique experience, yet every journey guides you through a blend of ancient practices - gentle movement, breathwork, and deep sensory withdrawal.
Yoga Nidra is more than relaxation; it’s a powerful gateway to self-discovery.
You access a state where transformation happens effortlessly through guided visualisations and story-based meditation.
Stress patterns held in the body and mind begin to dissolve, allowing you to return to a natural state of balance. If you’ve been carrying mental tension, emotional overwhelm, or physical discomfort, this practice helps awaken your body's innate healing intelligence.
If sleep challenges disrupt your life, Yoga Nidra can offer the equivalent of 2–4 hours of deep sleep in one session. And if you already feel at peace in your world, this practice amplifies inspiration, creativity and emotional coherence.
With regular practice, you’ll uncover deeper insights, expand your creative potential, and experience a sense of wholeness. Yoga Nidra is an invitation to rest, to listen, and to reconnect with the essence of you.
Some unique benefits of a Yoga Nidra Journey
1. Deep Rewiring of Subconscious Patterns
Unlike regular meditation, Yoga Nidra taps into the subconscious and unconscious mind, helping to release deep-seated emotional patterns, limiting beliefs, and stress responses stored in the nervous system.
2. Supports Brainwave Shifts for Healing
Yoga Nidra guides you from beta (thinking state) to alpha, theta, and even delta brainwaves, where deep healing and cellular repair occur. This state is often associated with enhanced creativity, intuition, and neuroplasticity.
3. Enhances Emotional Resilience & Facilitates Trauma Relief
Regular practice of Yoga Nidra has been shown to reduce PTSD symptoms and
stored trauma by gently allowing suppressed emotions to surface and integrate without overwhelm.
4. Mimics from 2 to 4 Hours of Sleep in 30 Minutes
Because Yoga Nidra slows brainwave activity and deeply relaxes the body, it can provide the restorative benefits of up to 4 hours of sleep in just one session, making it powerful for sleep-deprived professionals.
5. Strengthens the Endocrine & Immune System
Yoga Nidra supports hormonal balance, immune function and menopause well-being by nourishing the nervous system to reduce cortisol (stress hormone) and activate the parasympathetic nervous system response for rest-digest and heal.
6. Enhances Learning & Memory Retention
Since the mind is in a highly receptive state (characterised by theta brainwaves), Yoga Nidra can enhance memory, focus, and information retention, making it particularly beneficial for lifelong learners and professionals.
7. Activates the Body’s Natural Anti-Ageing Process
Deep relaxation enhances the production of human growth hormone (HGH), which supports cellular regeneration, skin repair, and overall well-being.
8. Balances Left & Right Brain Hemispheres
By activating both hemispheres of the brain, Yoga Nidra promotes cognitive clarity, emotional balance, and a sense of wholeness, making it a powerful tool for decision-making and intuition.
9. Enhances Spiritual Awareness Without Effort
Because Yoga Nidra takes you into a borderline sleep state, it naturally creates a gateway to expanded awareness, deep insight and even mystical experiences.
without requiring extensive meditation training.
10. Deepens Your Connection to Sankalpa (Intention Setting)
The relaxed yet aware state of Yoga Nidra supercharges intentions, making it one of the most powerful practices for reprogramming habits, behaviours and life direction.
Why should I try Yoga Nidra?
Simply put, Yoga Nidra is "a systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation".
Modernised by Swami Satyananda from the Bihar School of Yoga, Yoga Nidra is designed to help us to thrive in our current hectic city/materialistic lifestyles.
Living our best, fast-paced lives, we are all constantly in an activated state of 'fight
or flight' even at lower levels - and we have become somewhat numb to this phenomenon, as our super busy lifestyles require us to be 'on' a lot more than we are naturally adept at being.
This overstimulated state, of being in the sympathetic nervous system response, is indicated as a contributing cause to a variety of health challenges, including but not limited to:
chronic stress disorders
fatigue
immune issues
emotional and socio-behavioural issues, which we have normalised to cope with life.
Yoga Nidra is accessing 'the state of deep relaxation with inner awareness'. It is simple to undertake and offers profound changes to the physical, mental and emotional body.
The yogi lies or sits comfortably and keeps a light awareness on the instructions of the yoga guide. It can be practiced by anyone, it has many benefits and is well supported by science and research.
Read more: The Boring Art of Deep Rest
RECENT RESEARCH ON THE EFFECTS OF YOGA NIDRA
Clinical studies have shown that yoga nidra meditation is associated with positive physiological changes, including improvements in several haematological variables, red blood cell counts, blood glucose levels, and hormonal status. Two neuroimaging studies have shown that yoga nidra produces changes in endogenous dopamine release and cerebral blood flow, a further confirmation that its effects on the CNS are objectively measurable.