Does Yoga Nidra Help You Sleep? How to Incorporate This Practice Into Your Daily Routine

Yoga nidra is a practice that is meant to be deeply relaxing. It is also known as “yogic sleep,” though you’re not actually sleeping when you do it. But even though you’re awake, it can help improve your sleep — and provide other health benefits. Sleep therapists can guide you through yoga nidra. But you can also do sessions at home. We’ll walk you through the eight steps of yoga nidra.

What is yoga nidra?

Yoga nidra is a calming yoga practice that focuses on deep relaxation. Yoga nidra combines guided meditation with the yoga pose shavasana — also known as corpse pose. Shavasana is a simple position of lying on the ground on your back with arms at your sides. 

Other yoga practices focus on mindfulness or increasing strength and flexibility. But yoga nidra’s main goal is relaxation. Relaxation in yoga nidra helps you to ignore sensory signals from the environment. With emotions calmed, you enter a sleep-like state while still being awake. This relaxed state can help you manage stress and improve self-awareness. 

Studies have reported many benefits of yoga nidra. These include improvements in:

• Sleep

• Anxiety and depression

• Hormone imbalances

• Blood sugar control

• Blood pressure

• Cholesterol levels

• Pain management

Does yoga nidra for sleep really work?

There’s evidence that the practice of yoga nidra is helpful for sleep. A study of people with chronic insomnia showed that yoga nidra can improve many aspects of sleep, including:

• Getting to sleep

• Total time spent asleep

• Reported sleep quality

• Anxiety about sleep

The study even mentioned that yoga nidra may be better for falling or staying asleep than cognitive behavioral therapy for sleep (CBT-I) — a gold-standard therapy for insomnia. 

Several other studies also support the claim that yoga nidra is helpful for sleep:

• A study of men with normal sleep patterns showed improved sleep quality and less time awake in bed after practicing yoga nidra. Yoga nidra also improved performance on thinking tests during the day. 

• A study of people with high blood pressure showed better sleep quality with a combination of yoga nidra and “om” chanting. Anxiety, depression, and heart rate also improved.

• Another study of people with insomnia showed that practicing yoga nidra slowed their breathing rate. This might indicate a more relaxed state.

• A study of healthcare workers showed that yoga nidra was better than relaxing music for treating insomnia. It also helped anxiety and depression.

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How to practice yoga nidra

People usually practice yoga nidra for 30 minutes to 1 hour at a time. It’s a guided practice. An instructor talks you through the steps, or you can learn to perform it on your own. 

One study recommends five sessions with an instructor or sleep therapist to learn how to do it. A recording can be used instead of an in-person session.

Yoga nidra is performed in the following steps.

1. Preparation

Start your yoga nidra practice in a state of relaxed awareness:

• Lie on your back with arms to the sides and palms upward. 

• Close your eyes. 

• Think about “letting go,” and let your body completely relax. 

• Try not to let the limbs touch each other. Release all the tension in your muscles, to quiet the body and mind. 

• Take slow, deep breaths throughout the practice — in through the mouth and out through the mouth.

2. Set a positive intention

Think about a short and positive statement and repeat it in your mind three times. This step is also known as “sankalpa.” The sankalpa is a wish or intention you proclaim for yourself. It can be an affirmation or resolution. Some examples include:

• “I am calm.” 

• “My body feels strong.”

• “All is right in my world.” 

3. Body part awareness

This part of the practice requires that you focus on one body part at a time. Take the time to think about the body part and relax it.

• Start by shifting your awareness to the right side of your body, starting with your right thumb.

• Move through all of your right fingers and then up your right arm. 

• Now move to your torso and down your right leg.

• Focus on one toe at a time on your right foot. Start with the big toe, then end on your little toe. 

• Repeat these steps on the left side of your body. 

• Next, focus on your heels. Move your awareness up the back of your body until you reach your head. 

• Then, shift awareness to your forehead. Move down the front of your body until you reach your toes.

These might seem overly detailed, but you’ll likely notice a big difference in the way you feel after going through each step. 

4. Breath awareness

Focus on the breath coming in and out of your body. Pay attention to your breath as it moves through each part of your body, one part at a time. Visualize your breath as it goes in and out of your nostrils. Next, notice it flow through your throat, then your chest, then your abdomen. 

5. Imagine weightlessness

Shift your awareness to the weight of your body on the mat or floor. Imagine that your body is much heavier than usual. Feel the weight of your body as very heavy. Feel how your legs are heavy, your arms are heavy, and your head is heavy. 

Next, imagine your body is weightless. Feel how your legs have no weight, your arms have no weight, and your head has no weight.

6. Visualizations

Shift your focus to an imaginary spot in front of your closed eyes. Visualize a nature scene, like a garden or an ocean. Try to choose a scene that makes you feel calm. Imagine yourself in this setting. Picture what you would notice while you are there. Think about how the objects in this setting would look, feel, and smell.

7. Return to your positive intention

Mentally repeat your positive intention again, three times. Try to feel calm and confident about your intention and your yoga practice today. 

8. Ending the practice session

To gently awaken your body from yoga nidra:

• Take a deep breath in and let it out. 

• Slowly awaken the body, part by part. 

• Gently shake your right leg, then your left leg. 

• Rotate your right hand, then your left hand. 

• Rotate your head, then move it from side to side. 

• Take another deep breath and let it out. 

• Sit up from the lying position and open your eyes.

When is the best time to do yoga nidra?

There isn’t a lot of research on what time of day is best to do yoga nidra. Many people choose to practice it at night to help transition into a relaxing sleep. But you can do it any time of the day that works for you. And there is some evidence that practicing yoga in the morning can be helpful for nighttime sleep. Morning yoga is thought to increase the parasympathetic drive of the nervous system the following night. Parasympathetic drive puts the body in “rest and relaxation” mode. It makes your breathing and heart rates slow down. This is thought to improve the quality of sleep.

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Written by:

Katherine Krive, DO

Katherine Krive, DO, is a freelance medical writer and editor. She is also a psychiatrist who has practiced in hospital, academic, and community settings.

Edited by:

Katie E. Golden, MD

Katie E. Golden, MD, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and a medical editor at GoodRx.

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