Yoga Nidra Journey
A Serenity Sessions workshop - providing an antidote to fast-paced living
Are you craving to transform, and alchemise the stresses held in the body and mind?
Come along, find your way back to your natural state of being, feel content and experience deep relaxation.
Every session is a little different, but in each session we flow through practices that enable you to experience the rejuvenation of your body, mind, and nervous system, based on traditional Hatha Yoga; asana, pranayama and pratyahara, completing with
a sound journey to provide an ease of connection back into daily life.
UPCOMING SESSIONS:
YOGA NIDRA JOURNEY - 9 stage
WHEN: Saturday 1st March
TIME: 2 pm - 4 pm
WHERE: Wellington Meditation Centre
COST: $35.00
OUTLINE:
Introduction
Easeful yoga asana flow to warm up the body and activate the subtle energetic fields
Simple Breath practices to get connected to our bodies
9-stage Yoga Nidra Journey where you will be guided into an extended 9-stage practice including Story.
Sound experience to feel connected back into the day
Q&A - an opportunity to answer any queries that may arise
Yoga Nidra is suitable for all levels. It is the most powerful tool to shift yourself
into a natural state of calmness, releasing tensions, and cultivating contentment
and creativity.
Yoga Nidra has countless positive impacts on all systems of the body.
With regular practice, the benefits become limitless.
If you are experiencing mental tensions, emotional overwhelm, or physical discomfort, Yoga Nidra helps your body access its inner superpowers.
Yoga Nidra assists the body, mind and spirit in finding deep relaxation, releasing outdated narratives, processing emotions, and attaining profound physical rest.
If sleep issues are impacting your life a guided Yoga Nidra journey offers the equivalent of 2-4 hours of deep sleep, in one 30-minute session.
If you feel content with your current world and life, Yoga Nidra can further enhance all aspects of your life.
With regular practice, you can find further inspiration, and tap into deeper levels of yourself, and your creativity.
Yoga Nidra provides opportunities for creative visualisation, through guided story, enhancing self-awareness and manifestation of your heartfelt desires.
NZSpirit Festival
Thursday 23 January - Sunday 26 January 2025
Te Wai Pounamu - Orton Bradley Park,
Charteris Bay, Banks Peninsula
Orton Bradley Park
I will be holding a Yoga Nidra Journey at this South Island NZSpirit Festival
Friday 24 January, 11.30 am.
A Yoga Nidra Journey is for those who want to feel better.
You will leave feeling re-calibrated.
You will have an enhanced sense of peaceful well-being and inner calm.
The complete 2025 schedule is yet to be confirmed.
Message me to register your interest.
Read more: Yoga Nidra: A Journey to Deep Relaxation and Beyond
The Four Essential Stages of Yoga Nidra
There are four essential stages of Yoga Nidra. The system has been developed to work with the somatosensory cortex enabling the most effective relaxation outcomes.
If you have participated in a Yoga Nidra class or online offering, and if these stages weren’t provided, then you would have been practising a guided meditation, not Yoga Nidra.
Four additional stages can be included in different ways to develop intentions, create deeper states of relaxation, and enable the processing of feelings and emotions. Visualisation stages release symbolic elements from the subconscious, enhancing our well-being and the release of emotional, mental and physical tensions.
Depending on the type of practice, such as 4-stage or 8-stage sessions, Yoga Nidra can help release unconscious tensions, activate visualisations and symbolic release of past impressions, enhance abilities to manifest your reality, and to process emotions. For spiritual seekers, a regular practice that increasingly taps into the visualisation aspects can provide insights into the superconscious mind (turiya).
Suppose you have experienced Yoga Nidra in other classes, online or apps and have not been conscious of moving through specific stages. In that case, you most likely were experiencing a guided meditation, not an authentic Yoga Nidra practice. Not to detract from guided meditations; they are also very beneficial and powerful. But they aren't Yoga Nidra.
The four essential stages of an authentic Yoga Nidra practice are:
SETTLING - INTERNALISATION - Bringing awareness inward, preparing the mind for relaxation and developing a ‘witness’ awareness.
ROTATION OF AWARENESS - Systematically moving awareness through different parts of the body. relative to the homunculus (or her/homunculus) aiding in deep relaxation
BREATH AWARENESS - More relaxation is achieved by focusing on the breath, calming the nervous system, further developing ‘witness’ awareness
and activating subtler energies at the cellular level.
EXTERNALISATION - The gentle process of gradually bringing conscious awareness back to the external environment.
What is Yoga Nidra?
Simply put Yoga Nidra is "a systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation". Modernised by Swami Satyananda, Yoga Nidra is designed to help us thrive in our current 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 to be.
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 and many emotional and socio-behavioural issues, that 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 instruction of the yoga guide.
It can be practiced by anyone, it has many benefits (to be showcased in a longer talk/blog) and is well supported by science and research.
Teaching Yoga Nidra
An authentic lineage connection enriches my Yoga Nidra teachings. I had the privilege of learning directly from Swami Karma Karuna, who trained extensively with Swami Satyananda, the creator of modern Yoga Nidra.
Living at Swami Karma Karuna's retreat for eight months provided me with an immersive experience where I absorbed many teachings, both consciously and subconsciously. This unique training has allowed me to bring the genuine essence of Yoga Nidra to my students.
Through these teachings, I offer the traditional Yoga Nidra practice that transitions the mind through various brain wave states. This practice is deeply rooted in wisdom, research, and dedication.
I feel the responsibility of my gained knowledge and am passionate about sharing these transformative teachings with others.