Restorative Yoga + Yoga Nidra
From the comfort of your own home
What is Restorative Yoga?
Restorative yoga is a gentle, calming practice designed to promote relaxation. It uses props like blankets, bolsters, and blocks to fully support the body in various comfortable poses, allowing for deep relaxation without straining or exerting effort. The key focus of restorative yoga is to experience poses for extended periods, typically between 5 to 20 minutes, which gives the body more time to release tension, fully engage the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest response), and promote a sense of calm and relaxation.
Restorative yoga can be especially supportive during times of high stress, grief, loss, burnout, and life change by helping to regulate the nervous system to reconnect with our bodies and emotions. This practice promotes relaxation and breath awareness, fostering acceptance of emotions and physical sensations as they unfold. This compassionate practice nurtures the spirit, encouraging resilience and inner peace while honoring loss.
What is Yoga Nidra?
Yoga Nidra practice involves lying down in a comfortable position and being led through a traditional and intentionally designed meditation that includes body awareness techniques, self-inquiry, breath work, and visualization techniques. The practice generally lasts anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.
Yoga Nidra meditation is considered more accessible than many other forms of meditation because it builds on what our bodies naturally do: sleep. The meditation guides the mind through sleep stages while you remain awake. This can lead to brain wave changes similar to what we experience in deep sleep, while maintaining awareness of the outer world, allowing for a meditative state. In this state, stress effects are reversed, blood pressure and cortisol levels decrease, heart rate slows, and the body enters a more optimum state for healing. Research shows that regular Yoga Nidra practice can reduce symptoms of insomnia, tension, anxiety, depression, addiction, trauma, and PTSD, improve sleep quality, and help deepen self-connection and enjoyment of life.