4.5 Yogic Relaxation, Yoga Nidra & Dhyana
Key Takeaways
- Yoga Nidra is a state of conscious deep relaxation between waking and sleep - Pratyahara maintained with alertness - and is not sleep, guided imagery or hypnosis.
- The eight-stage Bihar School method of Swami Satyananda Saraswati runs preparation, Sankalpa, rotation of consciousness, breath awareness, opposite feelings, visualisation, Sankalpa repeated, externalisation.
- The Sankalpa is repeated identically at stages 2 and 7, in the present tense and the positive form, and is not changed until it is fulfilled.
- Dhyana is defined at PYS 3.2 as pratyaya-ekatanata - the unbroken flow of a single cognition - and is distinguished from Dharana by continuity and from Samadhi by the survival of the meditator.
- The Level 3 practical prescribes body and breath awareness, Yoga Nidra, Antarmauna, recitation of Pranava and Soham, recitation of hymns, and the practice of Dhyana.
4.5 Yogic Relaxation, Yoga Nidra & Dhyana
Two syllabus items sit here: 1.19, an introduction to yogic relaxation techniques with special reference to Yoga Nidra, and 1.20, an introduction to Dhyana and its role in health and well-being. Practical item 5.9 names the specific practices leading to Dhyana Sadhana. Taken together they cover the entire inward end of the syllabus.
Part 1: Yogic relaxation
What relaxation means yogically
Ordinary rest reduces activity. Yogic relaxation withdraws identification while awareness stays fully alert — technically it is Pratyahara practised deliberately. The classical formulation is Prayatna-shaithilya (PYS 2.47): the release of unnecessary effort, which is a skill and not merely an absence.
The prescribed relaxative postures are Shavasana (supine) and Makarasana (prone). Shavasana is the more demanding of the two to teach well, because the temptation for the student is to fall asleep and for the teacher to talk too much.
Depth of relaxation
Traditional teaching distinguishes three depths, and it is worth being able to name them:
| Depth | What is released |
|---|---|
| Physical / Sthula | Muscular tension; tension-relaxation cycling, body scanning |
| Mental / Manasika | Mental chatter; breath awareness, counting, witnessing thought |
| Spiritual / Adhyatmika | Identification itself; resting as awareness rather than as the body-mind |
Part 2: Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra = "yogic sleep." The name is a paradox on purpose: the body sleeps while awareness remains. It is not sleep, not guided imagery, and not hypnosis — the practitioner is not suggestible and retains volition throughout.
Provenance. Yoga Nidra as a structured practice was developed and systematised by Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga, drawing on the Tantric practice of Nyasa. Its scriptural ancestry is the Mandukya Upanishad's account of the states of consciousness (Section 2.3) — Yoga Nidra deliberately holds awareness in the borderland between Svapna and Sushupti.
The eight stages
| # | Stage | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preparation | Settle in Shavasana, body still, eyes closed, internal awareness established; the resolve to stay awake is stated |
| 2 | Sankalpa | A short, positive resolve repeated three times with feeling |
| 3 | Rotation of consciousness | Awareness moves rapidly through the body in a fixed sequence — right hand thumb through to the toes, then left, back, front, major parts — without moving |
| 4 | Breath awareness | Counting the breath backwards at the nostrils, chest or navel, without altering it |
| 5 | Opposite feelings and sensations | Deliberate evocation of paired opposites: heaviness/lightness, heat/cold, pain/pleasure, joy/sorrow |
| 6 | Visualisation | Rapid succession of images and archetypes, or a single sustained image such as a candle flame or a mountain |
| 7 | Sankalpa repeated | The same resolve as stage 2, repeated three times, now at a deeper level |
| 8 | Externalisation | Gradual return: awareness of breath, body, room, sounds; small movements before opening the eyes |
The rules governing Sankalpa
These are the details examiners test, because they distinguish a trained teacher from someone who has listened to a recording:
- Short, clear, and in the same words each time. A changed wording is a changed Sankalpa.
- In the present tense and the positive form — "I am healthy and at peace," not "I will stop being anxious." The subconscious does not process negation reliably.
- Repeated identically at stage 2 and stage 7.
- Not changed until it is fulfilled, which may take months or years.
- The Sankalpa is the practitioner's own, never imposed by the teacher.
Why the practice works
Rotation of consciousness follows the sequence of the homunculus — the somatotopic map on the sensory cortex — beginning at the thumb, where cortical representation is densest. Systematically moving attention across that map without moving the body induces a rapid drop in cortical arousal, which is why EEG in Yoga Nidra shows a shift from beta into alpha and theta while the practitioner remains responsive.
Opposite feelings trains the capacity to evoke and dissolve an emotional-physiological state at will — the operational core of the practice's use in stress management, hypertension, insomnia and post-traumatic conditions.
Safety and limits
Yoga Nidra is very safe, with three caveats a Level 3 teacher must hold: the visualisation stage may surface difficult material in trauma survivors, so keep imagery neutral and offer permission to open the eyes; the practice should not be led to someone in acute psychosis; and it should not be practised while driving or operating machinery, which sounds obvious until someone tries it on the commute.
Part 3: Dhyana
Definition
Tatra pratyaya-ekatanata dhyanam — PYS 3.2
Dhyana is the unbroken flow of a single cognition (pratyaya) toward the object fixed upon in Dharana. The classical simile is the difference between water falling in drops and oil poured in an unbroken thread (taila-dhara-vat).
| Limb | Sutra | State | Test |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dharana | 3.1 | Binding the mind to one place (desha-bandha) | The mind wanders and is repeatedly brought back |
| Dhyana | 3.2 | Unbroken flow toward the object | It no longer wanders; effort continues |
| Samadhi | 3.3 | Only the object shines; the meditator's own form is as if absent | The sense of being a meditator drops away |
The three together, applied to one object, constitute Samyama (PYS 3.4).
Prescribed practices leading to Dhyana (practical 5.9)
| Practice | Description |
|---|---|
| Body awareness and breath awareness | The entry point; awareness without alteration |
| Yoga Nidra | As above |
| Antarmauna | "Inner silence." A staged practice of the Bihar School: awareness of sense perceptions; awareness of spontaneous thought; deliberate creation and disposal of thought; awareness of a single chosen thought; and finally no thought |
| Recitation of Pranava and Soham | Om chanted aloud, then mentally; Soham — "I am That" — synchronised with the natural breath, So on inhalation, Ham on exhalation. This is Ajapa Japa, the recitation that continues without being recited |
| Recitation of hymns | Selected Shlokas and Stotras; sound as a support for concentration |
| Practice of Dhyana | Sustained meditation on a chosen support |
Antarmauna is worth naming precisely because it is the one practice on this list a candidate is unlikely to have met outside a YCB-aligned course, and it is therefore a good discriminator in a viva. Its distinctive stage is the third: deliberately creating a thought and then dismissing it at will, which converts the practitioner from a passive observer of the mind into an agent — the bridge between Pratyahara and Dharana.
Role of Dhyana in health and well-being
| Domain | Effect |
|---|---|
| Autonomic | Increased vagal tone, higher heart-rate variability, lower resting heart rate and blood pressure |
| Endocrine | Reduced basal cortisol and catecholamines through HPA-axis down-regulation |
| Neural | Thickening of the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate; reduced amygdala reactivity; increased hippocampal grey-matter density |
| Psychological | Reduced anxiety and rumination, improved attentional control and emotional regulation, improved sleep quality |
| Yogic | Reduction of Vikshepa, weakening of Kleshas, movement of the Chitta from Vikshipta toward Ekagra |
The yogic frame is worth keeping alongside the physiological one. Patanjali does not offer Dhyana as a stress-reduction technique; he offers it as the limb immediately preceding Samadhi. The health benefits are real and they are also, in the tradition's own terms, incidental.
Summary of Exam-Key Points
- Yoga Nidra: Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Bihar School; derived from Tantric Nyasa; a state between waking and sleep, not sleep.
- Eight stages: Preparation → Sankalpa → Rotation of consciousness → Breath awareness → Opposite feelings → Visualisation → Sankalpa repeated → Externalisation.
- Sankalpa: short, positive, present tense, identical at stages 2 and 7, unchanged until fulfilled.
- PYS 3.1/3.2/3.3: Dharana (desha-bandha) → Dhyana (pratyaya-ekatanata, oil-thread) → Samadhi (svarupa-shunyam iva).
- Antarmauna stage 3 = deliberate creation and disposal of thought.
- Soham: So on inhalation, Ham on exhalation — Ajapa Japa.
In the eight-stage method of Yoga Nidra, at which stages is the Sankalpa taken?
Which formulation is correct for a Yoga Nidra Sankalpa?
How does Patanjali distinguish Dhyana from Dharana?
Which stage distinguishes Antarmauna from ordinary thought-watching meditation?
In the practice of Soham as prescribed under practices leading to Dhyana Sadhana, how is the mantra synchronised with the breath?