Yoga Nidra
The Power of Yoga Nidra: Restoring Women’s Bodies, Minds & Deepest Selves
When people ask me about my non-negotiable daily practices for rewilding, my answer always includes this most potent panacea: Yoga Nidra. It’s the steady anchor in the middle of everything I juggle (work, mothering, relationships, exercise, housekeeping, bills, my own health, etc.) and the respite in the middle of my day. Yoga Nidra is where I come to rest, to process, to reset. It soothes my sore muscles after intense workouts, clears mental fog, helps me release stored emotions, and reconnects me to myself. Sometimes it feels like a nap. Sometimes like a homecoming. But every time, it gives me exactly what I need to rise and meet the rest of my day.
In today’s fast-paced, hyper-connected world, rest is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. Especially for women, who are balancing so much (too much), deep rest is essential for hormonal balance, emotional well-being, mental clarity, and vitality.
Translated as "yogic sleep," Yoga Nidra is a deeply restorative, guided meditation practice that induces complete physical, mental, and emotional relaxation. But its benefits go far beyond rest, it also gently opens the door to the subconscious mind, helping you uncover and heal hidden patterns that influence your daily life.
Let’s explore what Yoga Nidra is, how it works, and why it’s such a transformative practice for women.
What Is Yoga Nidra, Really?
The word nidra means "sleep." So, Yoga Nidra translates to "yogic sleep", but it's much more than simply taking a nap.
Yoga Nidra is a specific meditative practice and also a unique state of consciousness. While lying comfortably still, you’re guided into a state between waking and sleeping where the body sleeps but the mind remains aware. In this space, layers of tension (physical, emotional, and mental) can dissolve.
Depending on your personal experience and level of practice, Yoga Nidra can feel like:
Deep sleep – A profound rest for the exhausted body and mind.
Conscious dreaming – Where images, emotions, or memories arise from the subconscious.
Sleepless sleep – A meditative state of deep stillness, insight, and even bliss.
Why Yoga Nidra Is Especially Powerful for Women
1. Hormonal and Nervous System Rebalancing
When you're constantly on alert, managing stress or overstimulation, your nervous system stays locked in "fight or flight" mode. Yoga Nidra shifts you into "rest and digest," activating your parasympathetic nervous system. This leads to:
Lower cortisol levels
Reduced inflammation
Improved menstrual health
Greater hormonal harmony across life stages (puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause)
2. Access to the Subconscious for Self-Healing
Yoga Nidra works directly with the subconscious and unconscious mind - the places where old stories, trauma, emotional knots, and limiting beliefs are stored. By accessing this deeper layer in a relaxed, non-reactive state, the practice:
Unearths suppressed emotions and memories
Gently releases psychological neuroses and conditioning
Awakens intuitive insight and inner wisdom
Clears space for conscious, aligned decision-making
This is not about effort. It's about surrendering to the process and allowing healing to happen.
3. A Tool for Emotional Liberation
Through carefully guided experiences, such as visualizations or recalling sensations like heaviness, lightness, heat, or pleasure, Yoga Nidra helps to surface repressed emotional energy (jealousy, fear, grief, anger, etc.) stored in the body. Over time, you can learn to release this energy diminishing emotional tension and reactivity.
4. Real, Guilt-Free Rest
Many women struggle to rest without guilt. Yoga Nidra reframes rest as a necessary, revolutionary act of self-care and healing. It requires no effort, no movement, just being present, and the results are powerful: just 30–45 minutes of practice can be as restorative as 3–4 hours of sleep.
5. Support for Insomnia and Sleep Disorders
Yoga Nidra is considered a non-chemical tranquilizer. It helps:
Induce and improve deep, quality sleep
Remove insomnia and restlessness
Reset circadian rhythms
Calm the racing mind before bed
For those who wake up exhausted even after sleep, Yoga Nidra can offer a new level of deep, cellular rest.
More Than Relaxation: A Practice of Rejuvenation and Insight
Yoga Nidra does more than soothe surface-level stress. It’s a profound educational and therapeutic tool that leads to:
Heightened learning and memory retention
Greater intelligence and clarity
Creative breakthroughs
Expanded awareness and spiritual insight
How It Works: The Science of Systematic Relaxation
Yoga Nidra systematically relaxes all layers of the human structure:
Muscles and tissues
Nervous system
Organs and brain
Emotions
Thought patterns
Each session typically includes:
A body scan (rotation of consciousness)
Breath awareness
Sensory and emotional experiences
Visualization
Sankalpa (a heart-centered intention or affirmation)
With regular practice, this leads to a state of total inner freedom - where physical, emotional, and mental tensions dissolve.
The Spiritual Dimension of Yoga Nidra
At its highest level, Yoga Nidra leads to a state called sleepless sleep - a moment of inner stillness where you hover between introversion and extroversion, between form and formlessness. It’s described as the path of sushumna, the central energy channel, and corresponds to deep spiritual insight, and the bliss of union (yoga).
As the yogic text Yogataravali says:
"When sankalpa (desires) and vikalpa (fancies and imaginations) are rooted out, one is influenced no more by karma... the ever-blissful state of yoga nidra dawns."
Why Every Woman Needs This Practice
In a culture that demands productivity and perfection, Yoga Nidra reminds us that healing doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from returning inward, surrendering to stillness, and trusting the wisdom of the body and heart.
It’s a return to self.
And for women who often forget their own needs while tending to everyone else, this practice is a powerful form of remembrance and reclamation.
Final Thoughts
Having practiced Yoga Nidra almost daily for the past 25 years, I can honestly say it has reprogrammed me - teaching my body and mind how to release tension I didn’t even know I was holding. I truly believe I would be an entirely different person today without it. This practice has been a lifeline, a sanctuary, and a silent guide through every chapter of my life. I’m deeply grateful to the lineage of teachers who introduced me to this profound resource.
In that spirit of gratitude, I’ve written and recorded a Yoga Nidra practice for you - to support your own healing, restoration, and self-discovery. May it bring you the peace, clarity, and transformation it has so generously offered me.
You don’t have to do anything.
Just lie down, listen, and receive.