Faire 10 minutes de Yoga Nidra la nuit réduit de moitié le temps que je passe habituellement allongé au lit

Il s’avère que ce n’est pas le cas assez ce que c’est. Le yoga nidra est « une séance de yoga sans posture qui vous aide à ralentir et à libérer les sentiments liés au stress que vous avez pu ressentir tout au long de la journée », explique la professeure de yoga Keriki Purkiss. En réalité, c’est le yoga qui vous aide à vous détendre en écoutant des images guidées et en vous concentrant sur votre respiration pendant que vous êtes en savasana, ou « pose du cadavre », la position allongée généralement pratiquée à la fin d’un cours de yoga traditionnel.

«Le yoga nidra est la pratique du sommeil conscient», a déclaré un jour Jana Roemer, instructeur de yoga nidra, à Well+Good. « Essentiellement, nous cherchons comment permettre au corps de s’endormir tout en gardant l’esprit éveillé. »

Les bienfaits du yoga nidra

Même si cela ne semble pas grand-chose, cette pratique présente de nombreux avantages fondés sur la science. « Lorsque nous entrons dans le yoga nidra, nous passons à un état d’ondes cérébrales alpha. Ici, [levels of cortisol are reduced] et nous entrons dans un état de guérison », explique Roemer. C’est peut-être la raison pour laquelle la recherche a montré que le yoga nidra peut entraîner une réduction du stress, une amélioration du traitement cognitif et même une amélioration du nombre de globules rouges et de la glycémie.

« Il a été officiellement reconnu par l’armée américaine comme une thérapie alternative complémentaire dans le traitement du SSPT et de la douleur chronique », a déclaré un jour Hilary Jackendoff, guide de yoga nidra et de méditation, à Well+Good.

Mais l’avantage le plus connu est peut-être l’amélioration du sommeil. En fait, des études ont montré que le yoga nidra pourrait même être un traitement efficace pour les personnes souffrant d’insomnie chronique.

« Cela permet au corps et à l’esprit de se détendre, réduisant ainsi la production d’hormones de stress », explique Purkiss. « Lorsque le niveau de stress diminue, il devient plus facile de s’endormir et de rester endormi. La pratique régulière du yoga nidra, surtout avant le coucher, établit une routine relaxante avant le sommeil. Un rituel du coucher cohérent signale au corps qu’il est temps de se détendre.

En quoi le yoga nidra diffère de la méditation

Dernièrement, j’ai personnellement vécu beaucoup de stress, et cela se manifeste par des difficultés dans mon cycle de sommeil, principalement en termes de difficulté à dormir profondément. Je viens de fêter mon anniversaire et une meilleure hygiène du sommeil était sur mon radar (pour conserver mon éclat et mon énergie de jeunesse).

So when an editor from Well+Good reached out asking if I wanted to try yoga nidra for a week and see what happened, I was intrigued, if a little hesitant. The practice sounded a lot like meditation to me, and I’ve struggled mightily with meditation in the past. I always end up more stressed than relaxed because I can’t get my mind to slow down, which just leaves me frustrated—not exactly the intended effect.

But Purkiss explained to me that yoga nidra is actually a bit different from meditation—mostly because, traditionally, you are lying down during yoga nidra. “Although not a part of standard practice, some people are in such a calm state they usually fall asleep,” she says. “Yoga nidra is a form of guided meditation that has you in a relaxed state or a state of consciousness between being awake and asleep.”

What happened when I tried it for myself

Armed with this information, I was ready to test it out. I would try a yoga nidra session every night for a week before I went to bed to see if it helped me clear my mind and get deeper sleep. To start my journey, I went to YouTube and found there were a ton of videos on there with varying run times. I decided I would start with 10-minute sessions, and work my way up to 30-minute sessions over the course of the week.

I’ve gotta tell you the truth: I was only ever able to fully get through 10-minute sessions, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Two times I attempted a 30-minute video, but I could only make it about a third of the way through before I had to stop. I just could not lay still long enough. I started to experience what I can only equate to restless leg syndrome, but in my whole body. At the beginning of the session, you are instructed not to move, and because I was trying so hard not to, that’s all I wanted to do.

During the practice you are told to scan your body and relax different body parts from head to toe. And when I say head to toe, I mean down to each individual finger. This drove my mind wild! As I was laying there, actively thinking about relaxing the muscles without actually feeling them doing anything different, I just grew restless.

You are instructed not to move, and because I was trying so hard not to, that’s all I wanted to do.

Maybe the problem was that I was in bed under all of my sheets, feeling too restricted, I thought. I started to practice under a lighter blanket. That did help, a little, but I still felt antsy by the end. The best part was always the guide telling me to start wiggling my fingers and toes—both because it finally gave me permission to move and was a signal that the darn thing was over.

I also found that it was difficult for me to focus. There is a part during most practices where you count down from 27 as you breathe deeply, but I lost count every time. My mind was actively thinking about relaxing each body part but also wondering if I was actually feeling myself relax. Was anything happening, or was I just laying there? Then, if I did move even a little bit, I started to wonder if the yoga nidra would have the intended effect. This led me to try to focus even more on not moving, in turn making me even more restless. In the session I used, the guide would say that if you lost count to start over from 27, which leads me to believe it’s a common occurrence, but it drove me nuts that not once was I able to get past 19 or so.

All that said, despite my struggle, I did actually see a change in my sleep. I tracked my sleep with my Apple watch, and saw that the time I spent in my REM, core, and deep sleep all increased from previous weeks. I also didn’t have as much time spent awake: When I’ve tracked my sleep before, I would average 15 minutes of time awake and 53 minutes of REM. In the seven days of doing yoga nidra, my time awake averaged seven minutes, with 77 minutes of REM. A solid improvement. On a few nights, I even slept through the entire night without having to get up to go to the bathroom, which is huge for me (though that could have been a hydration thing). I found these stats to be consistent even when I only got four or five hours of sleep. The sleep that I did get, even if it was minimal, was better.

My takeaways about the practice

If you’re someone who’s looking to get better sleep, and doesn’t get restless while meditating like I do, I’d suggest giving yoga nidra a shot. The benefits for your sleep quality are legit, and if you’re able to stay still for longer than I can, they might even be more powerful.

Personally, even though yoga nidra is a challenge, I plan to keep trying to incorporate it into my bedtime routine more often—and maybe even work my way up to more time. I know me, and I won’t commit to every night. But the night after I stopped doing it, I noticed a marked difference in the lack of deep sleep I got. And as a night owl with an early bird schedule, I need all the quality sleep I can get.