Your Brain During Yoga Nidra
What Happens in the Brain During Yoga Nidra?
Yoga Nidra—also known as yogic sleep—is more than just guided relaxation. It’s a deeply restorative practice that takes your brain and body through profound shifts in consciousness and chemistry. But what’s actually happening in your brain when you practice Yoga Nidra?
Let’s break it down.
Brainwave Shifts: The Gateway to Healing
During Yoga Nidra, your brain naturally slows down its activity. You move from the fast-paced beta waves of everyday thinking to the slower, more meditative alpha and theta waves, and sometimes into delta waves, which are typically found in deep, dreamless sleep.
Alpha waves (8–12 Hz): Light relaxation, reflective state
Theta waves (4–8 Hz): Deep meditation, creativity, subconscious access
Delta waves (0.5–4 Hz): Deep rest and regeneration
Even though your body may appear to be sleeping, your mind stays gently aware, allowing for deep rest without losing consciousness. This is a unique quality of Yoga Nidra that sets it apart from ordinary sleep.
Neurochemical Changes: Nature’s Healing Cocktail
Yoga Nidra helps the body release a cascade of calming and healing chemicals:
↓ Cortisol – the stress hormone decreases, helping reduce anxiety, inflammation, and tension
↑ GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid) – promotes calmness and mental clarity, often deficient in people with anxiety disorders
↑ Serotonin – enhances mood and helps with emotional balance
↑ Melatonin – supports your sleep-wake cycle and encourages deeper, more restful sleep
↑ Dopamine – provides feelings of pleasure and reward, often released in meditative states
These shifts make Yoga Nidra a powerful tool for stress relief, emotional regulation, sleep improvement, and nervous system repair.
Parasympathetic Activation: Rest & Digest
Yoga Nidra activates the parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the "rest and digest" mode. This is the opposite of the stress-based "fight or flight" response. When this system is engaged, your heart rate slows, your breathing deepens, and your body begins to repair itself.
This is primarily achieved through vagus nerve stimulation, which connects the brain to vital organs and regulates relaxation.
In Summary
Yoga Nidra is like a reset button for your nervous system. It slows your brainwaves, reduces stress hormones, boosts mood-balancing neurotransmitters, and shifts you into a deeply healing state.
Whether you’re looking to reduce anxiety, improve sleep, or simply experience more peace in your body, Yoga Nidra offers a powerful and accessible path inward.