This is the second part in the two part series on Yoga Nidra.
This is the time to resolve. Resolve what you want. The statement should be very clear and simple to understand. It should be short and positive.
Now at this stage you can consciously make suggestions to your mind. This suggestion/sankalp should be chosen before you start with the technique. It has to be very carefully chosen.
Following are the few short, positive and clear statements which can be used:
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I will realize myself, as enlightened ones have.
I will be an optimist from now onwards.
I will do all my work sincerely and honestly.
I will be successful in all the tasks I take up.
I will be more efficient in my work and more aware of myself.
I will achieve a perfect and total health.
As stated above you can make your own sankalp. This should be only one at a time. Do not be in a hurry of getting more at one session. Once you have chosen a sankalp, do not turn it over to another. Do not expect miracles to happen overnight. Time is required depending upon the intensity of the sankalp and stage of mind. The Alpha stage, which is a stage where the conscious and subconscious communicate, is the most efficient stage of making sankalp come true. Sincerity is needed to achieve your goal/sankalp. Whatsoever is your sankalp, it should be intensified with strong emotions. And while putting this sankalp in the subconscious mind one should be confident enough that this sankalp will come true very soon as desired. There should be not even a 0.1 percent doubt regarding the truthfulness of the sankalp becoming true as it will be a resistance towards getting what you want to achieve. The sankalp should be felt deep within the heart.
Once you have sowed the seed, relax a while and remain in the same state of achieving the goal. While doing this one has to be aware of the sankalp. To be Aware of emotions attached with the sankalp.
After a while, visualize that your sankalp has become true and you have achieved that state which you longed for. Feel the happiness and greatness of your achievement. Be in this state for sometime. Be aware of this happiness also. Now the state of visualization gets over. And now starts the prayer state. State of thankfulness, state of dissolving ones self into supreme. Thank God for fulfilling your desire. I REPEAT, THANK GOD FOR FULLFILLING YOUR DESIRE and not requesting to fulfill it, as in the last stage of visualization we have felt that our goal is achieved.
The subconscious is a supreme self. Thank Him, pay Him obsciences, have a grateful heart for He has given you everything that you desire, He has given you more than what was required and more than what we were capable off. Be thankful and let your ego be dissolved in this gratitude. BE AWARE OF THIS STRONG EMOTION also.
Remain in this state for a while and then slowly start becoming aware of the body on the floor. Develop body awareness from head to toe. Mentally recite OOmmmmmm slowly. Move your body and bring back your consciousness to a superficial level. Open your eyes like an innocent child, with eyes showing that you have achieved everything. Get up slowly with a smiling face and feeling of gratitude in your heart. Do not be in a hurry to get up. Take your own time.
Now one may ask about the functioning of yoga nidra. Well our mind is divided in to the conscious and the subconscious minds. Most of our researches are based on the conscious mind. And it is a well accepted fact that the conscious is used to only about 5 to 7 percent in the most intelligent individuals on this planet. Rest of the mind is subconscious which is unused.
Now our mind undergoes 4 states several times a day. These are the beta state, alpha state, theta state and delta state. The conscious mind that is in a wakeful state shows the beta state, subconscious is in alpha stage, sleep is in theta stage and unconsciousness is in delta stage of electroencephalogram recording.
The process of yoga nidra is to enter this alpha stage, which is to enter the subconscious mind. In the beta stage our mind is very active and logical while our subconscious is inactive at this stage. When we are in the theta stage of the mind, we are deep asleep. At this time our subconscious is highly active but our conscious is inactive.
Between these two stages is the alpha stage, where both the minds can communicate with each other. And therefore the alpha stage seems to be of utmost importance as messages from the conscious mind can be fed into the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is illogical and therefore accepts and does whatsoever is input in it and therefore the message which has to be input should be carefully made and positively framed.
It is the alpha state of the mind where the mind is very receptive of all the messages given by the conscious mind. The alpha stage is naturally achieved once just before sleep and once immediately on rising up in the morning. The other method is meditation, mind control, yoga nidra etc.
Yoga nidra is an effortless technique and an easy method to enter the alpha state of the mind and achieve everything and anything one wants in life with the help of the subconscious mind.
One more important aspect of the rotating consciousness at different parts of the body, starting from toes, ankle, knee, hip, trunk, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, little finger, ring finger, middle finger, index finger, thumb, neck, brow, eyelid and eyeball, face, lips, jaw, tongue, swallowing, is the same sequence of body map on the cross section area of the motor cortex along the precentral gyrus. This is known as motor homunculus – the symbolic man lying within the brain matter. This is an abstract form of body in neurons where the consciousness rotates in the form of electrical impulse through neurotransmitters along the nerves/ nadis connected to the pranic body. And this is the reason that one must always follow the sequence of rotation of consciousness throughout the body parts while doing yoga nidra.
Once you have practiced this technique several times, then there starts a flow of pranic energy within the neuronal circuit of the motor homunculus.
Practical applications of yoga nidra:
There are two factors involved in the process of memory. The first is the brain’s ability to absorb information and the second is to recall the information. The technique of yoga nidra works at both these levels by enhancing receptivity in the subconscious mind with simultaneous increase in awareness.
During yoga nidra, both the hemispheres are of brain are in task, i.e., the logical conscious left and non logical subconscious right, and therefore it is in an appropriate state in which one can learn something new.
Recognizing that the state of active and relaxed awareness in students awakens the desire to learn, improves memory and reduces inhibitions, a teaching technique can be devised where students are in a very relaxed state which conventional classrooms do not have. This will effortlessly increase the learning and retaining capacity.
Psychic receptivity and extrasensory perceptions known as ESP increase with the increased levels of relaxation. In yogic terms, this is a function of agnya chakra, the third eye. But as the age advances, say till 8 years, this chakra which we call pineal gland somehow becomes autonomous and the ESP is gradually decreased. Moreover as age passes by, this gland shows little calcification. Yoga nidra is an antidote to this problem. It preserves and enhances the natural abilities and develops the child’s creative faculties in the most effortless and spontaneous way.
Depression, stress, anxiety, frustration and anger result in varied physical responses like palpitation, seating, headache, diarrhea, increase in blood pressure, skeletal muscle tension, rise in noradrenalin and cortisone hormone, disturbances in autonomic nervous system, endocrine glands, etc. further results in psychosomatic diseases like asthma, peptic ulceration, hypertension etc. Yoga nidra decreases sympathetic i.e., excitatory activity and increases parasympathetic i.e., relaxatory functions. Due to deep relaxation of all the body organs during yoga nidra, the body develops regenerative mechanism thereby making the body less susceptible to harmful influences of stress.
Worries originate from stress and make our self confidence weak, followed by more anxiety, nervousness, and diseases state. But with the help of yoga nidra, our imagination succeeds. By utilizing the power of imagination at the alpha stage of the mind, we can consciously plot what we want without leaving place for failure. We can get unpredictable results, which we could have only imagined.
The third eye, agnya chakra is the command centre. The word agnya is a sanskrit word meaning command. The centre which guides the individual for correct doing, with the practice of yoga nidra, this area becomes more sensitive and one gets the guru inside ones own self. It gives a proper understanding of life, gives intuitions with which we can walk safely in life.
The practice of this technique reduces dependency on tranquilizers and hypnotic group of allopathic medications used for psychotherapy.
Dependency on barbiturate or sedative group of drugs is well-known for causing nightmares, disturbing sleep patterns, brain wave patterns and other nervous disturbances. They cause dependency on long term use. Yoga nidra is the best medicine to cure insomnia.
By reducing deep seated guilt and conflicts, tensions, yoga nidra promotes a feeling of well-being which help to decrease and stop intoxication and tobacco use.
It reduces labor pain by reducing mental anxiety. Reduces pain of dysmenorrhoea, an excessive level of pre-menstrual tension.
Healing process can be initiated on the mental plane for any sorts of incurable diseases or chronic disease. This is done by the creative visualization technique. Say for example cancer. In cancer we have to imagine as if the cancer cells are shrinking and a strong army of white blood cells is defeating the cancer cells.
The body has to be visualized at a state of perfect health again and again. This is mental healing. In the same way we can apply this technique on cardiovascular disorders, coronary vaso spasm and various diseases.
By – Dr. Hiren Parekh