A new study finds that practicing a guided meditation known as yoga nidra can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. The research, published in the journal Stress and Health, also shows that even ...

Yoga Nidra is a systematic method that involves complete physical, emotional, and mental relaxation. In it, we learn to surf between wakefulness and sleep.

In many ways, yoga nidra is closer to meditation than to what most people think of as yoga. It's one of many forms of guided meditation, but also uses the movement and relaxation common to yoga.

Given meditation's ancient Hindu roots in the practice of yoga, the modern technique of yoga nidra, also called yogic sleep, is a fitting connection point between the worlds of meditation and yoga.

Here are the reasons why one meditation pro swears by using the 5000-year-old practice of yoga nidra for sleep quality when sleep quanitity isn't available.

Sleep yoga is a form of deep relaxation meditation, explains Hilary Jackendoff, a Los Angeles-based yoga nidra teacher. "In yoga nidra, we're seeking to disengage entirely from the senses in the ...

Yoga nidra, she said, "so easily addresses the pain points that most people are experiencing on a daily basis—chronic stress, 'overwhelm,' anxiety and insomnia." ...