A deeper Yoga and Yoga Nidra

A deeper yoga and Yoga Nidra is a journey into the secrets and interconnections of yoga. Not only does it go to the sources of the millennia-old yoga tradition that the writer, Swami Janakananda, originally became acquainted with through his teacher in India, it is also based on his lifelong experience with yoga and meditation. The book touches upon subjects like the origin and development of yoga, and gives a picture of the nature and dimensions of the human being as described in classical yoga literature.

The book gives expert guidance in using yoga and the meditative deep relaxation Yoga Nidra as a very different practice from mere gymnastics and relaxation. The book, moreover, contains recordings that include two guided deep relaxations from Swami Janakananda’s earlier work, Experience Yoga Nidra. 

With its text, illustrations and sound recordings, A deeper yoga and Yoga Nidra provides for easy navigation between its different sections and allows the reader to choose one of the guided deep relaxations (20 or 45 minutes) according to need.

Swami Janakananda explores subjects like:

• the use of a personal resolution during the deep relaxation
• the reason sounds and tones are used together with the experience of the psychic centres, chakras
• deep‑reaching methods like Nada Yoga (sound yoga) and Kriya Yoga
• the Nyasa method in Yoga Nidra, from which ‘body-scanning’ has been taken and regrettably used in connection with shallow therapies
• the position of the body. The purpose and effect of being motionless in savasana
• the relationship between sleep and the waking state, and the alpha state in relation to meditation and deep relaxation
• the ability to experience

The writer looks beyond the methods of yoga to their origin and the concepts that have influenced yoga in this era, showing how the reality we all share as psychic beings is independent from the culture we were born into, and how we can reach this insight through yoga.

The book sheds light on the connection between the content of Yoga Nidra and the shamanistic tradition. An ethnological connection between common human symbols and their influence on our subconscious is shown to be far from accidental, and is used deliberately in Yoga Nidra.

The writer gives an account of some illuminating results of scientific research. These relate to: 

• increased dopamine production in the brain during Yoga Nidra
• stress management and yoga
• the strengthening of the immune system
• the ability to influence the mind in a deep state

A deeper yoga and Yoga Nidra gives insights into applying yoga, its methods and ‘keys’ to opening the door to your innermost self and to deep inner peace. The book inspires the reader to use yoga and Yoga Nidra in a conscious way and thus achieve its intended effect.

Given competent introduction and guidance, yoga and the Yoga Nidra deep relaxation supplement and strengthen each other, and provide those who participate in this experience with profound insight. In common with proper meditation, Yoga Nidra and various other aspects of yoga are tools that can be used to relinquish inhibiting influences and impressions – a way to get the body to relax and trigger the mind to let go and empty itself. One can call it a journey towards one’s true identity, one’s centre. However, for this you need methods and guidance that ensure you do not cheat yourself, but reach your goal.

Swami Janakananda is the founder of the Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School, one of the most respected yoga schools in the Western world. He emphasises the vitalising, stress‑reducing and spiritual essence of yoga. Through his profound teaching of meditation, yoga, Kriya yoga, breathing exercises and Yoga Nidra, he contributes to the preservation of authentic yoga.

Swami Janakananda has since 1970 experience as a teacher and is renowned for his book, Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life, and the CD recording, Experience Yoga Nidra, both available in several languages. Through these works and through his teaching at the International Haa Retreat Center in southern Sweden, he has inspired thousands of people from all over the world to get to know themselves and to lead a creative and harmonious life.