Wednesday

Yoga Nidra: 3 Guided Yoga Nidra Meditations and Scripts

By Natalli Amato

An excerpt from the Shambhala blog

This article introduces the contemplative practice of yoga nidra: what it is, how to practice it yourself, and the range of benefits it can bring.

Whether you’re completely new to yoga nidra practice or never miss a guided session at your local studio, this article will walk you through what yoga nidra is and why it’s so effective, plus scripts and guided yoga nidra meditation videos for you to practice with at home.

Yoga Nidra Meditation: What is Yoga Nidra?

Even if you’ve never intentionally practiced yoga nidra before, you’ve probably glimpsed the state of “yogic sleep” that the practice aims to cultivate: the state of deep consciousness between waking and sleeping, where we might be apt to lucid dream if we stumble upon it in our own sleep life. It’s a practice designed to bring you to a state of deep relaxation and wholeness, with roots in ancient tantra traditions.

Although the practice has “yoga” in the title, you won’t be cued through poses like you would if you stepped into a vinyasa flow or even a restorative yoga class. Instead, yoga nidra brings you through a guided imagery-based meditation while you lay in savasana, or corpse pose.

From an outsider’s point of view, it might indeed look like you’re getting ready to fall asleep. However, when you practice yoga nidra, you still maintain an awareness of your body and your surroundings. You are engaging with the process just as you would during any other guided meditation session.

However, unlike other forms of meditation, the goal of yoga nidra is not to cultivate your observer’s seat. Instead, the goal of yoga nidra is to bring you to a very specific state of consciousness.

Swami Satyananda Saraswati, who introduced yoga nidra as we know it today to the public in the 1960s, said this about yoga nidra:

When awareness is separate and distinct from mental activity, when waking, dream and deep sleep pass like clouds, yet awareness of Self remains, this is the experience of total relaxation… That is why, in tantra, yoga nidra is said to be the doorway to Samadhi.

—Swami Satyananda Saraswati

On the yogic path, Samadhi refers to the highest state of mental absorption and concentration that we can experience on this plane of existence, still in our bodies. Samadhi finds its roots in Indian philosophy and is also an important concept in Hinduism and Buddhism. On the Buddhist path, we can think of Samadhi as Right Concentration, the eighth element of the Eightfold Path. 

There are different levels of Samadhi, and for most of us in this lifetime, the meditative stability of true Samadhi will be the course we set our sails to but inevitably veer from. That’s why all mediation practices are exactly that: practices. We always get to show up and try again, get our vessel back on course.

The great beauty of yoga nidra, then, is that, when we practice, samadhi becomes less of an abstract concept and more something we can actually begin to form a personal relationship with. I will not sit here and claim that I have reached Samadhi, but I will attest to the fact that Yoga Nidra has brought me to states where that “Self” I always cart around with me was utterly forgotten.

Yoga Nidra Meditation: Exploring Yoga Nidra’s Benefits

We might all be arriving to Yoga Nidra for different reasons — reasons that might have nothing to do with trying to reach Samadhi, and that is perfectly okay. 

In our modern world, deep rest and relaxation can often feel like a long left-behind reality. Like any yoga or meditation practice, yoga nidra offers practitioners an opportunity to slow down, to be with themselves and what is, to practice self-care and remember that the mind, body, and spirit are in fact connected.

The benefits of yoga nidra have been studied clinically, and tangible effects have been documented. A 2008 study showed that practicing yoga nidra led to decreased stress levels in the college students who participated. Meanwhile, a 2023 study (also on college students) confirmed yoga nidra’s ability to decrease stress, and also found that it had “a favorable effect on self-esteem.”

To continue reading, please visit the Shambhala blog here.

About the Author

Natalli Amato is an award-winning writer, 200-hr Bhakti yoga teacher, certified Reiki healer, podcast host, and marriage and family therapy master’s graduate (May 2025). 

She guides individuals, couples, groups, and teams to experience deeper levels of connection, creativity, and fulfillment in everyday life through in-person and online offerings. 

She has written for Rolling Stone, Vice, Chopra Global, Spirituality & Health Magazine, Her Agenda, and Saratoga Living, among other publications.

She has authored four books of poetry. Her most recent, North Wind, was shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Book Award.

Natalli lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, and hosts workshops throughout the North Country.