meditating daily
cultivating peace
elevating vibes
i love meditating and helping others experience the benefits of meditation through yoga nidra.
Yoga Nidra is a totally effortless, fully guided meditation that methodically induces deep relaxation to alleviate physical, emotional, and mental tensions.
what is dhyana?
Dhyana is a Sanskrit word translated as meditating, absorption, or union. All classical yoga texts originated in Sanskrit, an official language of India. Dhyana is also the seventh stage of the Yogic path.
I experience dhyana as a dreamy bliss when I achieve present-moment awareness, transcending thoughts, feelings, and senses. It is a heart-warming and soul-felt embodiment with universal energy and consciousness.
My daily meditation practice has anchored this blissful state into my daily life, bringing an abundance of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual benefits.
why meditate?
Meditation is a state of being, a ritual, an art. It’s a balance of concentration and surrender. It’s the unification of mind-body-soul awareness. I enjoy exploring various techniques and philosophies of meditation, and primarily spend my time practicing Kundalini Kriya Yoga, Buddhist Meditation, and Yoga Nidra.
A consistent meditation practice can help to:
• Improve sleep
• Improve memory
• Improve airflow to lungs
• Improve focus + concentration
• Increase creativity
• Increase alpha waves
• Increase energy levels
• Increase mindfulness + awareness
• Increase ability to regulate behavior
• Decrease levels of cortisol (stress hormone)
• Decrease pain + pain perception
• Decrease heart + respiration rate
• Decrease blood pressure
• Reduce anxiety + depression
• Slow the aging process
Yoga Nidra is the easiest way to meditate
In my experience, Yoga Nidra is the most effortless way to meditate, especially if your goal is relaxation. Yoga Nidra is a fully guided meditation that uses a systematic method of directing your awareness to induce relaxation and help alleviate physical, emotional, and mental tensions. Even a brief Yoga Nidra practice can offer a deeply restorative experience.
Known as “yogic sleep,” the method brings the participant into the hypnagogic state, a state of consciousness that naturally occurs between waking and sleeping. It is neither full conscious awareness nor unconscious sleep. This state of being allows the participant to experience a deep state of rest, decreasing brainwave activity into more helpful states. Sleep itself is not guaranteed to be restful; oftentimes, we carry over stress and tension, which can hinder proper rest and rejuvenation.
Yoga Nidra is also a powerful tool for rewiring subconscious thoughts and habits. Our life experiences leave impressions in our consciousness, referred to in Sanskrit as Samskaras. Samskaras are stored in the subconscious and can be even more deeply rooted in the unconscious. Deeply seeded impressions can result in recurring tensions, negative habits, and unproductive thought patterns that cause stress.
Yoga Nidra uses the mind to relax the body, and once the relaxed and receptive subconscious state is reached, new, beneficial thought patterns are planted. The Sankalpa is a short, affirmational statement used in Yoga Nidra practice for this intention.
Yoga Nidra stimulates the brain by heightening awareness of the body
During the process of Yoga Nidra, the brain becomes disengaged from sensory channels while maintaining awareness on an auditory level. The progressive movement of awareness induces relaxation and clears nerve pathways to the brain by placing attention on different locations throughout the body.
The precise order of rotation of awareness generates energy flow complementary to our brain’s motor processing neural circuit. In addition, awareness of breath is utilized to deepen relaxation, encourage energy flow to body cells, and assist with disengaging from sensory stimuli.
After relaxation, feelings and sensations can be roused to stimulate nerve terminals and brain centers responsible for maintaining harmony between one’s inner and outer experiences. Pairing alternate sensations supports homeostatic balance by bringing typically involuntary functions under control. Experiences of heat, cold, heaviness, lightness, and others are recreated to awaken physiological responses.
This exercise reinforces one’s ability to create, command, and embody any experience upon their own will, establishing greater control over emotional and autonomic responses.
Yoga Nidra also uses objective visualization to unlock stored content in the mind
These samskaras are stored in the form of symbols in the unconscious, each symbol representing a container of more extensive information. In a sense, we are intentionally dreaming to awaken, release, and integrate deep-rooted beliefs, fears, memories, complexes, and conditions. Dreams represent our subconscious activities and deeper, unconscious instincts and drives.
As unique imagery appears for each individual, it must be viewed with an objective detachment to disengage the ego. When the ego becomes inactive, and the images can be viewed without analysis, judgment, or condemnation, the individual will no longer suppress materials reinforcing their initial prejudices. As a result, energy formerly used to repress deep-rooted conditions is freed up and can be redirected into other activities.
Over time, this technique allows us to bridge the gap of awareness between waking and dreaming, ultimately leading to a greater understanding of one’s own nature.
how I discovered the power of daily meditation
My meditation journey began in 2015 with a mindfulness meditation workshop. Meditation didn’t come naturally to me, but a small voice within motivated me to continue practicing.
In 2017, I decided to test the impact of my meditation practice, recording my daily efforts and corresponding moods over four weeks. Each day, I rated my mood for individual emotions and traits, such as calmness, happiness, and strength. These acted as levers to measure the impact of my meditation practice on my wellbeing. Each day, I recorded my practice (or lack of) and rated my moods on a scale from 1 (unsatisfied) to 7 (satisfied). The results were so positively impactful that I gained a new dedication to meditating regularly.
In 2019, my mother left this earthly realm. I turned to meditation to cope with my grief and set the intention to meditate daily for thirty consecutive days. Instead, I meditated for more than seventy days.
Now, daily meditation is a part of my lifestyle, not just a task on my to-do list. With daily dhyana, I feel more peaceful, more confident, and more aligned with my authentic self and personal path. Every day, I look forward to taking my sacred solitude, knowing each day I complete my practice, I prioritize my wellbeing and personal commitment to live as my best self.