Alright, so visualize this. Tuesday night, I'm sprawled on my bedroom floor like a dead animal, listening to some woman with a soothing voice tell me to "release my jaw and soften my eyeballs." For weeks, my sister had been pestering me about this thing called Yoga Nidra because it was going to "change my life" or whatever.

"It is like sleeping but you're awake," she told me, which to me sounded like all the other wellness bullshit that anyone with a brain would roll their eyes at so hard that it may even cause permanent damage.

But here's the thing: I was completely without hope. My sleep was completely fucked for months. Work sucked, my anxiety was at an all-time high, and I was doing 3 am *screen scrolls* that left me a zombie the next day. I had tried everything and I mean everything: melatonin that made me sleepy the next day, sleep apps that were annoying, and those stupid blue light glasses that cost way too much and made me look like an idiot (some sort of cyberpunk reject).

Nothing worked. Not one thing. Zip. Zero.

So when my sister texted out of nowhere a YouTube link with "JUST TRY IT FOR TWO WEEKS," I thought, "what's the worst that could happen? I waste an hour and lie on my floor? Who cares. Maybe I will finally sleep well for once in my stupid life."

**Spoiler alert**: It was WAY weirder, and WAY more life-changing than I ever thought possible.

What The Hell Is Yoga Nidra, Anyway? Before I get too far into this quirky little experiment of mine, I should clarify what Yoga Nidra really is because I sure as hell didn't know when I started. It's an ancient practice from India, as in thousands of years ago, in which you basically lie down on the floor like a starfish while someone guides you into the most ridiculous state of relaxation.

It's like meditation's laid back cousin that doesn't hassle you about sitting up straight or chastise you to empty your mind of every thought. You just lay there and follow along.

The instructor takes you through relaxing different parts of your body, maybe add in some breathing or visualization exercises, and you are somehow floating in this weird state of neither being awake or asleep.

I had dabbled in yoga before (primarily doing various Yoga with Adriene videos when I felt guilty enough about not exercising whatsoever), and Adriene is actually really solid. She makes yoga feel like something that is accessible instead of something that is completely unattainable (and she's actually funny, which helps when you're trying not to teeter over like an idiot when you're halfway to a warrior pose).

But Yoga Nidra is completely different; no downward dogs, no attempts to touch your toes while saving whatever dignity you have left, no sweating because of overly complex positions. Just you, the floor, and some other person's not so inconsolably calm voice guiding you deeper and deeper into relaxation.

The goal is to reach what they call "yogic sleep," which is that your body becomes completely limp, yet your mind stays conscious and aware. Seems simple enough, right?

Not quite.Establishing My Ridiculous New Routine

I pledged to myself to do it for fourteen consecutive days. No skipping, no half-assing, no excuses. My practice varied from quick five-minute incarnations when I was racing around to hefty forty-minute deep dives when I had the space to completely disappear from reality.

I practiced most nights right before bed because that's when my brain typically took off like a hamster on a wheel. I also tried to practice earlier on occasions when I had some plans to go out drinking (which, by the way, started happening way less recently—I'll get to that!). Gut feeling or anecdotal evidence shows that alcohol and deep meditation go together like oil and water.

I became obsessed with Youtube. I fell headfirst down the rabbit hole—and all of a sudden, ten-minute quickies turned into hour-long marathons; I was voicing out loud requests for new months and weeks to turn into days so that I could punch reality in the face. The Insight Timer app also became essential—there's tons of free content on this app and best of all there are no annoying ads popping up to mess with your zen moment right before dazzling away from real life.

Finding the right instructor voice was immensely important. Some sounded like they were trying to hypnotize me to buy a vacation timeshare. Others once again possessed a tone that made me want to endlessly reorganize my sock drawer rather than chill. After seemingly having tried out hundreds of different guides, I finally discovered a few voices that actually helped me instead of making want to chuck my headphones out the window.

I kept everything reasonably simple in those first two weeks. No elaborate or overly complicated intentions and visualizations—just basic body scans and attempting not to fall asleep immediately.Spoiler alert: I fell asleep instantly for the first few days.

My Initial Attempt was a Complete Failure

My initial Yoga Nidra was honestly pretty terrible. I found a twenty-minute guided practice online, rolled out my yoga mat and had high hopes for enlightenment, and sat and waited. Unfortunately, most of my time was spent stirring around the mat, checking my phone every couple of minutes, and wondering if I was missing some obvious point.

The voice of my instructor led me to relax specific parts of my body - "soften your forehead, release your jaw, melt your shoulders away from your ears" - and my mind kept ping-ponging through lists of groceries, work presentations, and that awful thing I said to that girl in seventh grade that still haunts me all these years later at random times.

Is this what is supposed to be meditation? I felt like I was in a graduate course for professional fidgeting.

But there was always something pulling me back. Maybe it was feeling that I experienced right after those early sessions-somehow calmer; like someone turned down the volume on my internal radio of anxiety for a while. Maybe I was just that stubborn. Either way, I was all in and was determined to give this thing an honest effort.

Week One: Welcome to Weirdsville

Day one was honestly uncomfortable. Lying completely still for twenty minutes sounds easy until you try to do it. My back started to ache, my leg was developing and incredibly persistent itch, and my mind had absolutely no interest in shutting up about anything and everything.I must've checked my phone six times to see if time had somehow frozen. But something shifted around day four. Somehow, I went from dreading it to looking forward to it. It was this little oasis from whatever chaos my life decided to serve me. Even when my mind created chaos like a caffeinated squirrel, my body was figuring out how to dissolve into the floor.

The first thing I felt was energy, which was surprising. I am usually someone who needs coffee to get into a form of semi-normal human functioning at my baseline level, then all of a sudden, I was waking up naturally at six in the morning feeling... good? Actually alert? It was deeply disturbing.

Then my anxiety levels began to drop too. I can usually out-wire myself to worry about anything and everything, like being three minutes late and catastrophizing it, or checking the stove respectfully fourteen times before I would walk out of my door. The constant layer of background panic started to dissipate. Not entirely, mind you, but definitely moved down from eleven to something like six.

Here is where it gets really strange; I began needing less sleep. I kept seeing all these claims about thirty minutes of Yoga Nidra being equivalent to two to four hours of regular sleeps, and it sounded like complete marketing BS. Every day, I was waking up refreshed and with six hours of sleep, instead of my usual eight or nine. It was like my body was saying, "Oh, we are actually resting?"Great, we can definitely work with that"

One night, I woke up at two in the morning feeling my brain was in full worry mode, and instead of worrying about conversations that would never happen, I took my headphones and put on a Yoga Nidra track. Knocked me right back out.

Week Two: Down the Rabbit Hole

Now, this was when things started to get truly weird. My deepest sessions were happening after I had been active - after a workout, or long walk, and when I settled into Yoga Nidra it felt a lot like getting into a warm bathing suit catered to my nervous system.

Around day ten, my body was starting to do some wild things during practice. Just random muscle twitching, weird little leg jolts - almost like little seizures of my nervous system. The first time it happened I thought I was having some form of physiological episode. Apparently this is completely normal, it was my body releasing stored tension and old patterns of stress. It was weird as hell, but the peace that followed was absolutely amazing.

I also began to notice an increase in lucky synchronicities. Just random good things kept happening - finding the exact amount of change in my pocket I needed, bumping into the exact right person at the exact right time, getting offered opportunities with no effort. Maybe confirmation bias, maybe I was just more relaxed and opened to good things happening - either way I wasn't complaining.

By week two, the drinking evidently became obvious.I have always been a social drinker, nothing too over-the-top, but all of a sudden even two beers one night would leave me feeling totally terrible the next day. My body had made the decision it was done with poison. Totally done. This eventually led to me quitting drinking altogether and it has been amazing for my wallet and skin.

You're probably wondering what the hell is going on...

The Science Behind It All

When I started learning Yoga Nidra, I figured it was just some cool relaxation technique with a sanskrit name. But there is real science that explains why this stuff works so well, which made my skeptical little brain more comfortable.

When you are really in it, Yoga Nidra has you going through the exact same patterns as natural sleep - starting with normal waking brain waves and then slowing down to those super slow oscillations we get accustomed to during deep sleep. Except you somehow manage to stay conscious the entire time, which is actually unbelievably cool when it happens to you.

During that brain wave space, your body starts releasing human growth hormone, which fully repairs everything that is broken and regenerates your cells at the deep level. You are essentially getting a total software update for your entire system, while you are just laying there and doing absolutely nothing.

Dr. Kamini Desai, who has written extensively about this practice, says that as we age, we gradually lose access to these slow recovering brain states. Our minds get trapped in anxious, fast-cycling mindsets. Yoga Nidra is just teaching your brain how to remember how to chill the hell out.The anti-aging claims are more than hopeful thinking too. Chronic stress will quickly age you, faster than almost anything, and Yoga Nidra is astoundingly effective at releasing cortisol - the stress hormone that makes you look and feel like total crap. Just think of it as sunscreen for your entire nervous system.

The Breakthrough That Changed Everything

Day twelve was where I experienced what I can only describe as a complete ego meltdown. I was listening to this particularly deep guided session when I just completely… disappeared. Not in a cause for alarm way, but more so that I completely lost the idea that I was a person with problems and responsibilities and a credit score.

For what felt like five to ten minutes, I existed in this pure awareness, floating in infinite space and time. I was not thinking about who I was, my never-ending to-do list, or those mortifying memories from middle school that occasionally bubble to the surface at three in the morning. I was simply residing without all of the spokes that usually spin in my head defining who I think I am.

When I slowly returned to my regular way of being, it was as if someone had hit the complete reset button on my entire personality. All of the petty thoughts I have for people and my mental hamster loops that usually hold the main stage in my entire world felt completely absurd. I felt that way for days.

Dr. Joe Dispenza discusses this type of ego dissolution at length in his work—those feeling states of transcendence where you abandon your self-concept and connect with something infinitely larger than any problem or concern you characterize yourself with. When you are relaxed enough to completely let go, you cannot make this happen or wrangle it to happen with effort.It was honestly one of the weirdest experiences in my entire life, but in the best way possible.

How This Compared with Other Stuff I Tried

I have tried meditation both on and off for years now, but typically with less than mediocre success. When meditating sitting, it always felt like I was wrestling with my own crazed brain while trying to stay upright. My brain is naturally very active and attempting to "vacate" it while maintaining perfect posture felt like trying to quiet a childcare center full of hyperactive kids on sugar.

But, Yoga Nidra gets around all of that. Because you are on the ground lying down, and because you are following instructions, there is much less opportunity for your brain to wander and start down random tangents. The guided nature of it allows your mind to focus on something, without a ton of requirement for the mental energy or "concentration" that these other meditation styles typically require.

It's also significantly more accessible than being on an actual yoga mat performing a typical yoga flow. I love Adriene's approach she has shown in her Yoga with Adriene videos. She makes yoga seem so accessible instead of off putting, and her sense of humor keeps it light when the going gets tough in the poses getting difficult. But, even her most basic flows have some degree of coordination and physical energy attached to them. Yoga nidra requires literally nothing more than the ability to lay still, and listen.

The results came a little quicker too.I really enjoyed the other meditation practices I tried, but often it felt like mountain climbing with a backpack of rocks. It would take me a month or longer of hard-headed determination to get any real value from meditation. With Yoga Nidra I was feeling real value in days, not months.

Getting into a Stage-Appropriate Routine

After two weeks of practice I was sold. I also had a sense that doing this as an earnest long-term commitment would take genuine mindfulness because I am terrible at keeping habit changes for more than a few minutes!

Consistent practice is better than duration any day of the week. Practicing daily even for 10 minutes was way more impactful than practicing weekly for an hour. In the early weeks on days when I was crazy busy I would do <5 min sessions sometimes, if for no other reason than to keep the ‘streak’ going. On the weekends was when it really became a time to luxuriate and I'd binge out for longer sessions - I would really disappear!

I wouldn't say the environment was crucial - but in the end I ended up getting a proper yoga mat, a cozy blanket, and blackout curtains for my bedroom. None of this was expensive and I didn't go overboard - but it made me feel like I had a "real" practice and made some intentional choices about my setup.

Temperature was also super important. If I was hot or cold, it didn't take much to knock me off balance and made relaxing almost impossible. Thankfully I found I could adjust the thermostat and change into some comfortable clothing before I began. Comfort is kind of everything when your trying to surrender.

The Unforeseen Side Effects Nobody Mentioned

In addition to feeling signs of better sleep quality and lower anxiety, there were Yoga Nidra benefits that I never saw coming. All of a sudden I was generating creative ideas. My mind started generating project ideas, potential solutions to ongoing problems, and random ideas, almost as if I cleared all the road blocks clogging my mental pipes. And it became evident, I was also clearing out the mental noise; there was lots more interesting stuff to think about!

My relationship with technology improved drastically. The compulsive need to check my phone, scroll mindlessly on social media, or even search the internet with no real objective, all slowly simplified themselves. I became much more intentional on screen time - I became conscious of my impulse and distractions and actively made an effort to minimize them.

I noticed (limited but better) physical recovery post exercise. Muscles that before would take days to recover from exercise, would somehow restore faster! My digestion improved, probably since I spent a lot more time in 'rest-and-digest' than in 'fight-or-flight'.

In a similar capacity, my social interactions also shifted if subtly. I was considerably more mindful in my conversational exchanges, and less likely to interrupt or pre-rehearse what I was going to say next in my head. People even started mentioning that I seemed to have calmed down or centered. Which was a bit strange because I didn't feel like I was consciously trying to be different.

The Challenges Nobody Tells You About

Let me share some of the challenges of Yoga Nidra because, trust me, it is certainly not all floating on bliss and knowing everything instantly. First off, the most challenging part was to learn to stop constantly judging my practice. Some days felt highly transcendental and some days felt like an overpriced nap and sometimes I was even more agitated after the session turned off than before it started.

I had to learn that never had a "perfect" Yoga Nidra session. Sometimes I fell asleep (totally okay), other not. My mind would not stop yapping (also okay), I could feel restless and huffy (again, completely okay). The practice is about showing up regularly, as opposed to dropping into some mystical state from the ether each. single. time.

It also took a good amount of patience to find the best guidance. Some of the people I tried made me want to throw my headphones across the room with how irritated the sound of their voice made me. Some went painfully slow, some included visualizations that felt fake and contrived, etc. Trying a dozen different teachers took some time before I finally found the right collection of teachers that supported me and not hindered my practice.

It also turned out timing was trickier than I expected. Some of my morning sessions would leave me in such a mellow state I couldn't function in my day. Some of my evening sessions would leave me in a state of invigorated energy when I wanted to calm down. I needed a lot of trial and error activity to determine what worked best for my natural rhythms and energy flow.

How It Totally Changed My Concept of Rest

Perhaps the most revolutionary piece of Yoga Nidra were the total paradigm shift it created in how I think about rest. In a culture so steeped in productivity, relaxation can feel like laziness, or wasteful use of time.This practice helped me learn that rest is a skill--one that, if developed well enough, can help you improve your performance, creativity, and overall well-being. I began to see downtime as productive rather than doing nothing and feeling guilty about wasting time. The times I was "doing nothing" were actually doing something very important--they were giving my nervous system the chance to reset and my brain the chance to consolidate and better process information.

This shift changed a ton of things in my life in ways I didn't see coming. I stopped feeling guilty around taking breaks from work, said no to social things when I actually needed to be alone, and read a book on a Sunday afternoon instead of "being productive."

The Ripple Effects in So Many Areas

The changes went beyond just feeling more relaxed. My relationships became more personal because I was more patient with people and sense I could really be present with them. My performance at work took a huge upswing because I was focused and creative. I had improved physical health as my nervous system was actually finally operating at full capacity.

I began to just automatic select healthier options without putting the effort into finding healthier strategies. Nutritious options appeared suddenly more appealing than they ever had before. Often, I was simply more drawn to things in life that provided energy and vitality rather than depleting them.

The alcohol thing I mentioned above, was just one example of this change. The practice seemed to sharpen my body's intuitive senses for what served me best and what didn't. I was suddenly much more sensitive to all things that clouded my sense of inner calm and balance.

Even my finances were better. I know this sounds insane but in the context of the entire process, it made perfect sense.When you're not stressed and your head is clear, you can make better decisions. I've learned to avoid impulse buying stuff I don't need, I started using the gym membership that I was paying for, and I generally was more deliberate about how I was spending my money.

Different Solutions for Different Problems

One of the things I love about Yoga Nidra is the flexibility it offers. During periods of stressful work, I can take short Yoga Nidra sessions as a quick reset break. If I am struggling with insomnia, I use it as a sleep aid. When I am facing emotional difficulties, I can use it to create a safe space to work through my feelings without completely drowning in them. I have suggested it to colleagues that have been dealing with various difficulties, and the results have been impressive. My neighbour uses to help manage her chronic pain more easily than some of the prescriptions she was taking. A coworker going through a nasty divorce has been using it to keep his emotions in check. Another friend that came back from an experience of severe burnout has been using it to redefine his relationship with rest and receptivity.

I have found that the practice seems to be especially helpful for people that work in high-stress jobs, parents that are sleep-deprived, students who feel academic pressure, or for people going through major life transitions. It has also been tremendously helpful for athletes that want to enhance their recovery during training sessions.

The Community I Didn't Expect

Even though Yoga Nidra practice is typically solo, I found that there is a community of practitioners to tap into on the internet and in many yoga studios. When I started sharing my experience and learning from others, I was able to create more perspective and I no longer felt as if it was only a solo journey.I participated in multiple group sessions at local studios, which changed the experience completely. There is something truly transformative about deeply relaxing, with others. The group energy elevates the experience for individuals in ways that are hard to articulate.

The online communities, specifically through dR apps like Insight Timer provided ongoing inspiration and accountability. Learning about the experiences of other practitioners helped normalize the weird, wonderful and 'hard' experiences of the practice that I might have dismissed as my own 'thing'.

The experiences were incredibly varied, too! People practicing in small apartments, hotel rooms, hospital rooms, anywhere they could find enough room to lie down. Parents sneaking in their practice while their kids took a nap, health care professionals using yoga nidra merely to 'relax' after intense shifts, stressed out students, seniors trying to maintain mental acuity and emotional balance.

Deepening the Practice

Before long, as I got more comfortable with Yoga Nidra, I began to explore deeper into advanced practices and alternate approaches to Yoga Nidra. Some sessions incorporate a 'sankalpa' or specific intentions—positive affirmations that you are planting deep into your unconscious mind while you are relaxed. Some sessions utilize detailed visualization techniques that feel more like guided dreaming than simple body awareness.

The practice of sankalpa became very meaningful to me over time. Essentially while in that deeply relaxed state, you repeat a simple, positive statement regarding yourself or your life. The idea is that when you make suggestions to your unconscious mind while in that highly receptive state, because your unconscious mind accepts suggestions in that state as a 'given', these suggestions have many times the weight of typical conscious affirmations.

Over the course of several months, I experimented with several different sankalpa phrases.Some were exclusively about physical health ("My body is strong and vital"), some were about emotional health ("I am peaceful and content"), and some were even about personal growth ("I trust my internal wisdom completely"). What mattered was keeping them simple, genuinely positive, and personally meaningful.

With the more advanced practices, there are also much more sophisticated visualizations. Rather than systematically scanning body parts, there are sessions that walk you through elaborate inner journeys—for instance imaging yourself in serene nature vistas; visualizing healing light moving through your entire body and allowing it to enter and exit your being; exploring symbolic landscapes that represent facets of your psyche.

These more sophisticated practices helped open up layers of this experience I didn't think existed. Sometimes, I felt like I was accessing memories or knowledge that were normally out of reach in my conscious experience. Other times, the visualizations catalyzed powerful emotional releases that I was left feeling totally cleaned and renewed afterwards.

One day at a time: Making it work

The two-week experiment morphed into a permanent change of lifestyle. I embedded yoga nidra as part of my day-to-day life as if it were second nature, just like brushing my teeth, or drinking coffee in the morning. It wasn't something I do as I remember or feel particularly stressed—it's now a non-negotiable practice because it maintain my mental and physical health.

I've also begun to engage with the theoretical underpinnings of the practice. And it certainly is a rabbit hole with an endless opportunity to explore because there are links to neuroscience, psychology, as well as ancient traditions of wisdom. You don't need to be an academic to be in relationship with the practice! You'll be benefited regardless of your byline of academic understanding.

It's also quite unexpectedly made me appreciate the other forms of yoga I have done even more!Now that I am regularly practicing yoga flows (still mostly with Adriene’s videos, because she is just so great), I am taking the awareness and presence I learned from Yoga Nidra into the physical practice. These two practices are completely synergistic and provide a much fuller way to experience well-being.

Integration Into Everyday Life

The real magic happens, not just when you practice, but the impact is has on your everyday life. After a while I was amazed at how naturally present I was throughout the day! I felt like every conversation I had was more in-depth and meaningful, my food tasted better, and even washing dishes turned into more present experience instead of a chore that needed to be checked off my list.

I developed (what I can only describe as) an internal “pause” button. When a situation became stressful, I would immediately find the settled and relaxed state into which I had been practicing. It was like having an internal and portable reset button that I could access, anywhere, anytime.

My understanding and relationship to productivity completely shifted in ways I never expected. Instead of pushing through exhaustion and stress, I learned how to recognize when rest would actually make me more effective. Then, rest more to do more became an extremely big game changer.

Sharing what I had learned

Before long, my family and friends started asking what I had done to transform myself from someone who was almost always stressed and continuously feeling physically uncomfortable, to someone who seemed genuinely calm and centered almost all of the time.Every time someone asked what had changed, I would unthinkingly begin to talk about Yoga Nidra.

This created informal teaching opportunities – I would lead friends through simple breathing or share resources with whoever was experiencing stress or insomnia, allowing people to try the basic techniques when they complained about anxiety... It reminded me of my early skepticism and breakthroughs watching them experience the practice.

I learned that there are so many different places people can come to the practice from, like some people will have to be convinced via science and others will dive right into spirituality, some will want lots of instruction and others will just want to experience the benefits without too much analytical thinking.

I think the key is to meet people where they are and not where you think they should be. No judgment, no pressure, just showing them what worked for me and allow them to find their own way.

Why is this more important than ever?

In a world of hyperconnectivity and constant input, practices like Yoga Nidra feel more necessary than ever. We are constantly overloaded, never truly resting, and always consuming some type of information or entertainment. Our nervous systems must be fried from the chronic stimulation and noise.

Yoga Nidra offers a truly revolutionary act: permission to do nothing, while still being productive in the deepest possible way. It is not just about the act of relaxation - it is about remembering what it is like to just exist without needing to work towards some goal or trying to become something else.

It is a practice that reminds you that you are enough, as you are, and in the moment you are in. It sounds simple, but simply being enough - in a time when the culture profit from your egos dissatisfaction and ever present searchable self-improvement - is frankly, a radical message.

The bottom line

Look, I'm not saying that Yoga Nidra is some miracle cure- all that will resolve every problem you have in your life, overnight. It is a tool, an excessively effective tool when used regularly, but it is a tool that requires you to be willing to show up consistently, and especially when you don't want to.

What I will say for sure is that this practice has altered my relationship with my body, my mind, with my capacity to give effort and capacity to rest. It has shown me that relaxation is a genuine skill that can be practiced and develop that rest is productive and that, do nothing can be the most important thing you do all day.

The best part - don't worry about being flexible or spiritual, or zen, to benefit from this. You just need to be open to trying - to show up, as often as you can and be slightly kinder to yourself in the process.

If you are even the slightest bit intrigued, start. Find a comfortable place to lay down, plug into a guided session and just see what happens. You could find, as I did, that allowing conscious rest to be present in your life could change everything about the way you experience life.

And in a perpetual world of scattered attention, being present with yourself in a meaningful way may be the most radical act of your day.