Can't stay conscious enough during Yoga Nidra

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I"ve been doing a guided yoga nidra pretty frequently for a week or so now. I’m a very tense/anxious person when I do this I get relaxed very quickly. Soon, however I find myself slipping to the edge of consciousness and any thoughts degenerate into subconscious gobbledygook. I can pull myself back, but the ability to place my attention where it is supposed to be lasts less and less long. Sometimes I will even be too unconscious for the spoken instructions to register. And I’m certainly in no shape to get any benefit from it by the time I’m to rest in silence in the heart center at the end.

Does anyone else have experience with how to sustain awareness during the deep relaxation of yoga nidra?

#2

The only antidote I can think of here is to maintain awareness as much as you can. Whenever you find yourself drifting away, just bring it back. Focus on something physical like the sensations in your body or your breath. Do not worry, sometimes even I fall asleep during Yoga Nidra. The ability to remain awake throughout Yoga Nidra will come with regular practice.

#3

the mind is like a man on a mountain repelling down. your grip on the rope is too loos. you are repelling to fast. focus your mind on breathing perhaps.
when breathing becomes a hindrance " ie you cannot get deeper because your mind is on breathing" then focuse on making the breathing silent. make the rough silent. for the noise of breathing is a sign of the breathings tension/roughness.
but ! simply an idea.

#4

Some small benefit occurs if you sleep during yoga nidra since the subconsious mind is always operating - receiving the YN information. The most benefit of course occurs while hovering in the state IN BETWEEN sleep and wakefulness. There is a strengthening in the structure of the mind that occurs and a development of the will while developing the capacity to be deeply rested AND aware during YN. I train people to develop the capacity to experience true yoga nidra though in-person workshops, Distance Learning Programs and a CD program on Amazon. Not all YN programs know how to teach a student’s mind to develop this capacity. Be patient with yourself. Make a sankalpa before and during class to stay aware and awake during class. Take notes after your class to determine if there is an increase in your ability to stay awake. Stay with it. Blessings.

#5

Have you tried sitting for YN?

Or you can raise one hand so the forearm is perpendicular to the floor.

Or you could lie on your front.

Or if all else fails, stand up.

#6

Hello Matt,

Prey tell, what is it that makes you believe your particular experience is not the appropriate experience? What is it that has led you to conclude you need to fix or alter something in your doing during Nidra?

gordon

#7

Seriously Gordon? He wrote that he was falling asleep during Yoga Nidra. If you are trained in authentic yoga nidra you would understand why Matt was asking the initial question.

#8

Curious response.

The question wasn’t designed to project what I know of nidra. It was designed to probe the state of mind of the student - a necessary requisite before offering a sound reply. It is a method for determining the student’s state, perception, studies, et al.

It has nothing at all to do with MY training or it’s authenticity and I wonder about the motives in your reply.

So “yes, seriously”.

#9

I guess it seems like if I cannot stay conscious enough to even hear the instructions, then I cannot reap the benefits of the experience they are intended to produce.

#10

[QUOTE=333Matt;74253]I guess it seems like if I cannot stay conscious enough to even hear the instructions, then I cannot reap the benefits of the experience they are intended to produce.[/QUOTE]

Thank you Matt.

You know, we live in a society where we plant a fruit tree sapling at sunrise and expect to have fruit by sunset. And, of course, seedlings in the soil should not be watered by a garden hose with a fully open valve. Such a powerful feeding will overwhelm the seedling and often cause irreparable damage.

How does this relate?

Beginners typically are not proficient. They are new. They are, as we all are, in process, still learning, scaling the curve, getting some stuff into their being. It takes time to bear fruit. It’s imperfect and there are questions, and things to practice, and refinements and yada yada yada. And you say you’ve been doing a guided practice FOR A WEEK? My god man what did you think? You’d simply lie down and perfect the practice by Thursday? Of course you’re falling off the edge into gobbledegook. Absolutely expected.

And my second point in the gardening analogy is that while there is a very powerful stream of water in the garden hose of Yoga it is completely not appropriate to turn it on full blast on neophytes. It is a mistake from Ego or from poor teacher-training. Let’s show everyone how much we know and how grand we are and how committed and dedicated and learned. And this is work I, as a teacher, have to look at with daily vigilance. So I would not pour the teaching of yoga nidra onto a chap who has a week of practice.

There are various mental states and just because you cannot cognitively listen to the instructions they are still disseminating into your consciousness, or subconsciousness - but that is its own topic.

Yoga Nidra is not about retaining the state of mind you have when awake. It is designed to facilitate a completely different state in terms of brain activity. For the beginner however just follow along as best you can and you will grow as you continue to practice. Its all about joy brother, don’t sweat the small stuff

gordon

#11

Nice post Gordon. Thank you. My teacher keeps saying that progress in meditation is measured in decades.

#12

When I am on the edge between awake and asleep my consciousness is just gobbledy gook. I thought that was part of the progression, to be aware and just experience that gobbledy gook unattached. When the gobbledy gook stops I am either asleep or fell out of the meditation. I can at will (as you described) tune back into the teacher and hear what he/she is saying sometimes because they say something that interests me. Me not listening to it does not make me less aware of it.

I have experienced many things in meditation from flashing lights that I later realized were anxiety of letting go to the sensation that I could see me and those gobbledy gook thoughts but not be attached to them or paying attention to them and everything else was just quiet, as if I existed outside of myself. However I did not realize what I was experiencing until afterwards each of these times because it is just so new. Maybe what you are feeling is going in the right direction but you have not followed that path because you think it is wrong. I was afraid of falling asleep the first time the attachment to myself came because it is just like right before I fall asleep. When go to bed my head is usually full. I let it play out and when it gets board of that and starts to get ready to fall asleep is when I get the gobbledy gook. I get the same feeling when I am waking up. That is the in between phase for me. Sort of like getting to the edge of a cliff, you are afraid of falling off but you cant see what is below until you get close enough. Unlike standing on a ledge if you fall of of this you merely get a nice nap :).

#13

Thank you all. I have no problem being patient… well… that’s not true :wink: but you know what I mean. I just don’t want to repeat the same experience endlessly.

Another point of interest: this same thing seems to happen during “regular” seated meditation. I was wondering if the nidra sleepiness was due to actual sleepiness but I woke up quite refreshed yesterday morning and did seated meditation as soon as I felt fully awake but still felt myself nodding off. :confused:

#14

There are various mental states and just because you cannot cognitively listen to the instructions they are still disseminating into your consciousness, or subconsciousness - but that is its own topic.

There is little scientific evidence that this is true. Many of the subliminal tapes you hear while asleep or overnight do not really produce any real effects. You need to be fully awake to hear the instructions. If you remove the active wakefulness state you need to maintain in Yoga Nidra, then it would just be regular sleep. Thus the OP’s initial concern about falling asleep during YN is a very legitimate concern, and though they maybe a beginner to the practice, it is natural for a beginner to wonder if they are doing the practice correctly or not, otherwise they may end up doing a practice incorrectly for a wrong time and never make any progress :slight_smile:

#15

wrong time and never make any progress

Lol, i mean long time :stuck_out_tongue:

#16

[QUOTE=333Matt;74296]Thank you all. I have no problem being patient… well… that’s not true :wink: but you know what I mean. I just don’t want to repeat the same experience endlessly.

Another point of interest: this same thing seems to happen during “regular” seated meditation. I was wondering if the nidra sleepiness was due to actual sleepiness but I woke up quite refreshed yesterday morning and did seated meditation as soon as I felt fully awake but still felt myself nodding off. :confused:[/QUOTE]

On point one -
Admirable intention. We are obviously doing rote things all day long and the practice of yoga is to move away from rote and toward aware or mindful. When you get a little closer to “endlessly” that might be a more real concern. After a week, not so much. The process of proficiency in something mandates it be repeated (properly). It is the seed of learning. But you are correct, staying in that place doesn’t serve an evolutionary process.

On point two-
The muscles at the base of the neck in the back are designed to elicit a particular physiologic effect when they are supported. This is one reason drifting off is so likely when supine.

The other issue is that in any sort of stillness we meet our true self or true nature and that is almost always a jarring experience. The mind and ego resist stillness and it mandates they quiet. And like untrained children they don’t like to be quieted. So they create crafty hindrances - like nodding off, or feeling an itch, or thinking about food, etcetera.

Cultivating the skill of discernment allows the student to continually look at what is real and what is crafty blockade:-) If you can go through it and it’s not harmful, do so. But don’t judge yourself either way.

#17

[QUOTE=333Matt;74296]Thank you all. I have no problem being patient… well… that’s not true :wink: but you know what I mean. I just don’t want to repeat the same experience endlessly.

Another point of interest: this same thing seems to happen during “regular” seated meditation. I was wondering if the nidra sleepiness was due to actual sleepiness but I woke up quite refreshed yesterday morning and did seated meditation as soon as I felt fully awake but still felt myself nodding off. :confused:[/QUOTE]

Beautiful. Stay patient and watch how all of this ebbs and flows. Like a gently flowing river, watch the thoughts come and watch the thoughts go.

#18

Very good stuff guys. Life is amazing, how each breath and each captured moment in consciousness can give clarity and purpose. Keep it up!

Lena Ausby

#19

As a college student, I have found that it is near impossible to finish a full hour of yoga nidra meditation. My reasoning for this is that at the end of every session, my body is still in a state of relaxation, but my mind has begun to wander and I find myself back in the real world. This is a problem because I feel as if I am supposed to be able to stay unconscious the whole time.

I have tried multiple times to stay conscious during this meditation, but can never maintain enough awareness throughout the whole session. Sometimes when I start feeling my body relax, I will begin to notice and observe all of the thoughts that are going through my mind. Then suddenly, I will become aware of where I am again. When this happens, I feel like I have ruined hours of work.