Latest / Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul / What Is Yoga Nidra? A Powerful Practice for Healing, Rest & Awakening with Jill Weston "The Stress Whisper"

Transcript

What Is Yoga Nidra? A Powerful Practice for Healing, Rest & Awakening with Jill Weston "The Stress Whisper" · Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

0:00
SPEAKER_02: Hello, my dear.
0:02
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to this week's episode of the Healing Her Story Podcast.
0:06
SPEAKER_02: Before we begin, I wanted to take a moment to orient you to our theme and our focus for this moon cycle.
0:17
SPEAKER_02: I did not mention it on our cycle check-in this week, but I did mention it in our last solo episode.
0:24
SPEAKER_02: And that was the solo episode that I uh reshared, where I reshared an episode that I had shared perhaps maybe three or four weeks ago about menstrual cycle awareness and how it can be a tool to transform our lives and really an incredible way to bring more harmony and sustainability into the healing process.
0:53
SPEAKER_02: And that closed out our focus for last month's uh focus where we really dove deep into menstrual cycle awareness and into the menstrual cycle and how to take care of ourselves during um the different phases of the menstrual cycle.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: And that concluded our our focus on those themes.
1:16
SPEAKER_02: And now we are in Gemini season.
1:19
SPEAKER_02: We entered Gemini season uh about a week and a half ago or so, not nine days ago actually, that uh at the time that I'm recording this.
1:29
SPEAKER_02: And with the start of Gemini season, we are shifting our theme to our focus for this month into more Gemini focus themes, uh, such as writing and new perspectives and duality.
1:45
SPEAKER_02: So you will hear these themes reflected in the next few episodes.
1:50
SPEAKER_02: And to get us started to get us started, I've got a wonderful guest episode for you today with a friend and colleague of mine who is an incredible yoga nitra practitioner.
2:06
SPEAKER_02: And in this discussion, I actually had my own perspective changes, and I not only came to understand the practice of yoga nitra in a more deeper and profound way, but I also had the opportunity to just invite in new ways of thinking and uh new ways of approaching the healing process and the healing journey.
2:32
SPEAKER_02: And so you may hear some things that maybe don't um align perfectly with some of the things we've discussed on this show, specifically around the lens of trauma.
2:44
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's okay.
2:46
SPEAKER_02: I think it's it's wonderful to have different perspectives and and frameworks and way of of looking at the world and ways of of uh looking at our healing process.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: So I hope that as those moments maybe arise for you where you might feel, hmm, this is a little different than what's been shared on the show before.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: As always, take what you need and and leave the rest behind.
3:13
SPEAKER_02: And with uh us being in Gemini season, there is a a gentle invitation here to begin to open up to new ideas and new ways of viewing the world and also embracing uh duality of it all.
3:29
SPEAKER_02: So I hope that you enjoyed today's episode on Eoganita.
3:34
SPEAKER_02: And I very much looking forward, uh I'm very much looking forward to continuing these things with you over the next couple of weeks.
3:43
SPEAKER_01: Let's go ahead and get into today's episode of Saying the Truth of the Wordsing the Phases of the Moon.
4:01
SPEAKER_02: Hello everyone, welcome to the Healing Her Story podcast.
4:05
SPEAKER_02: My name is Riva Jean-Paul.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: I'm a trauma-informed somatic practitioner, coach for women, and host for your show.
4:14
SPEAKER_02: Today I am very excited to be bringing on a very special guest who I've had the chance to connect with recently over the past couple of years.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: We have been in similar circles, and I've always kind of known about her.
4:28
SPEAKER_02: And people call her the stress whisperer.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: So she always was a person who um really stuck out to me.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: And so when we connected um kind of synchronistically because we're both teachers on Insight Timer, um, I thought she would be the perfect person to bring on to discuss today's topic.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: And I personally have been talking about Yoga Nidra pretty regularly on the show now.
4:53
SPEAKER_02: It's been a bit of a lifesaver for me, um, especially recently in the past.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: I feel like someone is dealing with some hormonal imbalances and realized a lot of it was due to stress and uh really started leaning into yoga nidra.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: I think everybody, I don't have many friends in my life, and I don't like saying that people you should.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I will say yoga nidja, that's one of those things I I generally say to people, you should at least try it.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: I say several times, it could be with a different facilitator, it could be at a different time in your life.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm especially happy to be here to help spread the word about um, you know, just another practice.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: You share many practices and lead practices that help, especially women that help with trauma, and Yoga Nidra can do all of that.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: It's also a very somatic reconnecting with your body type practice.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: So I'm really, really happy to be here.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
7:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, wonderful.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: And thank you for reminding me that we had actually connected years prior.
7:35
SPEAKER_02: Before I was like, oh yes, that's great.
7:38
SPEAKER_02: Which kind of just adds another um layer of the journeys and our paths kind of meeting here again.
7:44
SPEAKER_02: So it's really lovely to be able to connect with you in this way today.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I can share a little bit about um, you know, I've listened to your podcast and you know, the whole title like healing her story.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: Someone's probably like, well, what's your story about Yoga Nidra?
7:59
SPEAKER_00: And I get asked that often.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: So I'll give a um a little bit of a snapshot version.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: It's a little bit unique because very often people come to um either learning a practice, um, going into therapy, um, asking for support because of their own trauma, their own uh pretty deep experiences.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I think people have exhausted the traditional routes.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: So you've gone to a doctor, you've taken the medication, you've waited it out.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, nothing at all against therapy, but sometimes even I find people say, you know, I've been through 10 years of therapy and I don't feel any any different.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm sharing that because I have a little bit of a unique story, is I didn't come to Yoganidra through trauma, through any one experience.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, I've been very um both fortunate, and I think it's part of who I am, that I've been able to remain pretty healthy, work through different things, and again have a little bit of a unique background.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: Um so people listening may be saying, okay, well, if you weren't diagnosed with cancer, if you weren't trying to heal from family trauma, family violence, um, you know, any of that, what in the world was it?
9:18
SPEAKER_00: And I'll start first with kind of the unknown.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: So I am a very practical person.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm Virgo, I don't know a lot about astrology, but not only Virgo by birth time, but have a lot of Virgo going on, which, if your listeners aren't aware, that you know, I am very pragmatic, I research things, I like things organized, I like things to make sense, and I don't always lead with my heart or my intuition.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: So, having said that, I find myself years ago driving down a path to the Shivananda Yoga Farm in Grass Valley, California.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: I had never been there before, had never ever heard of Dr.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Mark Halpern, um, had never heard of Yoga Nidra, and had never practiced it.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Now it's a little bit of like I had heard of it because yes, I signed up for something, but Reva, I signed up for a teacher training in Yoga Nidra and had never taken Yoga Nidra.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: That is so not like me.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, I practiced Bikram Yoga for at that time almost 20 some years, and people are like, oh, you're so good, you're here every day, you work the front desk, you're going to teach your training.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: Nope, don't want to do that.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: So I had always been pretty clear in my life what I wanted to do, but sometimes there were circumstances that led me places.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: So I'm driving down this dirt road, and then I start to question, I paid how much money?
10:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm spending how much time to do what, like, what am I gonna do with this?
10:52
SPEAKER_02: And something just came with some roads like that.
10:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: So I just thought, well, just keep driving.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: And a little more of the backstory because people, you know, who may be doubting are going, well, okay, but you had to know how to get there.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: You obviously had to pay and sign up.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: To this day, I still don't know where I got the information about the teacher training.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, it was through the California College of Ayurveda.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: I was not on their list at that time.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: I don't think they were even on social media.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: I did not know Dr.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: Halpern.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know anyone who had graduated from California.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: So to this day, and I've stopped trying to figure it out.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, all that being said, after my very first experience with Yoganidra there at the teacher training, I knew it was something that I wanted other people to experience.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: I knew immediately.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: It was just a sensation of um, not in a scary way, but being both out of my body, but very connected to my body in a different way.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: My thinking mind, my practical Virgo mind turned off.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: And I was in this place of exploration, in this place of bliss.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I don't really care anymore how I got here.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: I want people to experience this.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: And I did go through a little bit of doubt of, you know, can I be a facilitator?
12:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm not as good as, you know, my teacher, all of that.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of physically how I came to it.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: And then it was during a podcast or request for the first podcast that I kind of put together what made sense.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: So I have always um loved to be of service to people.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: I immediately, even the other day, if we have a chance, I'll tell a story of a woman walking up to me in the street here in Mexico.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, I've always attracted people who have needed help, needed support.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it actually began when I started training horses at 14.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, I got professionally paid at 14, um, but ended up having the crazy horses, the horses no one else wanted, the horses no one could understand.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Fast tracking.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: My mom said, You have to go to college.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: You cannot keep training horses.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm gonna train.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: She's like, You're going to college.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: So through college, I ended up in an internship in the juvenile justice field, literally working in a correctional institution.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Had no experience there either.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: Wow, did not know it at the time, but again, that same being of service, chilly jilly, Jill can help.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: People were like, go get Jill if they don't want to cuff up.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: Go get Jill to explain that their parent has died.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: Go get Jill to get Reva to come to work on time.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: So I knew um, I knew I kind of had something only because when people would come to me, I was like, oh, they need a problem solved again.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: And there was no ego as in, oh, they're coming to me.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: It was just like, oh, here comes another opportunity to be of service.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: Here comes another opportunity to solve a problem.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: So once I retired from corrections or just before, again, I somehow ended up driving down this dusty road.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I said to myself, okay, it doesn't matter so much if I think I can't teach this yoga natsa as my teacher does, as Dr.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: Halpern does.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: I need to get this out to people, and I need to get it out to people who maybe are afraid of the mystical, people who were just afraid of the word yoga, um, people who are afraid to sit still.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: So it started to make sense that um, you know, looking back, I was a horse whisperer before that movie ever came out, and then it turned into being a stress whisperer.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, so just that um really the want to help people to it pains me to see people struggle.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's how I came to facilitating the Yoganindra.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: And it really made sense looking into my backstory.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Number one, my mom and dad always said, and I like I didn't push back against it.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: They always said, be of service.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: My dad was in the military, an officer, but did not distinguish.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: You know, there was a story that I came home and said, Dad, what's an enlisted person?
15:20
SPEAKER_00: And his response was, Who told you that?
15:22
SPEAKER_00: And I think that child's parent got a phone call because we just didn't differentiate between any of that.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: He was like, You always help people.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: And his mother was very much like that.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: My mom was a teacher.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: She always had the bad kids, the latchkey kids, the kids who would struggle.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: They were always in our classroom and always helping.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: So I think my story is very much being of service.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: Now, where I've had to heal my story, and then we can get to talking about Yoga Nidra.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, I would say for me, I've always been pretty self-confident, or I can play it off if not.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, what came up for me with Yoga Nidra was the am I as good as Dr.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: Halburn?
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Can I be as effective?
16:09
SPEAKER_00: And for some reason I started carrying my story of I don't like my voice.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: So every time I would think about doing Yoga Nidra, even when people reva were like, oh my gosh, that was amazing.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, I wrote a quote down or pulled a quote out that someone told me once, it feels like your voice is speaking to my heart and my cells.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: So someone said that, and yet still years later, there's a little of, oh, I don't really like my voice.
16:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: So that's, you know, that's a very um, I would use the word a mild story compared to some people.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, like it's not been traumatic for me.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but it's an ex a strong example that imagine if I had listened to the story that I self-imposed and didn't work through that and offer Yoga Nidra.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: So that's that's an example.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, obviously some of your listeners have much deeper, much tragic, more tragic, maybe more um unimaginable stories.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's how I came to Yoga Nidra.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: It was a bit of a mystery and magic, you know, as you mentioned.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then for me, I've just been working on healing that um, you know, I don't like my voice, it's irrelevant.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: That I don't like my voice, I know that this is the my path right now, and Yoga Nidra is my uh language for helping people.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: That's beautiful.
17:36
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for sharing all of that.
17:38
SPEAKER_02: I love to hear where it all started for you with training horses, and it made me think of equestrian, I hope I'm saying that right, equestrian therapy, and how that really does require a very refined special skill of attuning.
17:58
SPEAKER_02: And it's clear that you had that from the get-go, and then to see that same skill set to be used in a correctional facility, yeah, and then to now have it come full circle as a yoga nitra practitioner.
18:13
SPEAKER_02: I think that's really beautiful.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: And I also find it so interesting how in that journey you began to bump up against this belief that you had around not liking your voice.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: And I'm one so curious as to where that belief came from.
18:30
SPEAKER_02: I know a lot of times we can have these moments in childhood that are small, but they make a huge impact on us when you know maybe you're singing in the sh the car or something, and someone tells you your voice doesn't sound good, and you begin to internalize that.
18:45
SPEAKER_02: And then also to see the opportunity that you had to meet that belief and to work through it and to um not listen to it and to continue down your path as a yoga nitra facilitator.
19:00
SPEAKER_02: I just yeah, really love all of that beautiful story.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: And it didn't come, it was not my mom or dad.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: You know, there were other things that I could have, you know, made a story all of us can as kids.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, I was doing some stand-up teaching and corrections.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: And I think I started measuring not so much my voice, like, you know, one of my mentors that I really looked up to, he's very funny and could deliver like profound information.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: And I remember thinking, okay, I'm not funny like Dan.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: Literally, it was as I was at the training, you know, because we would teach back a lot.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: And I just remember thinking, oh, I don't really like my voice.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: Where it came from, which is which also leads into the Yoga Nidra, because the beauty of Yoga Nidra is you don't always have to question where your thoughts came from.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to question what you have done and not done with your trauma.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: It's a very subtle but deep practice.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: So it's like now I I literally when I go live, sometimes people are, oh, tell me more about Yoga Nidra.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: And I said, you know, my sonkalpa, my deep intention one that I work on is noticing that I still tend to think or say sometimes.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: I don't like my voice, and I do the Yoga Nidra anyway.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: Once I get started, you know, even right now as I'm speaking with you, that's the furthest thing from my mind because I want to share about Yoga Nidra with people.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: So I I really don't know where it came from, and I haven't had the need to keep going into inquiry.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: I know it's there sometimes, and I move on through.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
20:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that's really beautiful as well.
20:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, to not worry about where it came from and to just move through it anyway.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: When you can.
20:45
SPEAKER_02: When you can.
20:46
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
20:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:47
SPEAKER_02: Well, let's get into Yoga Nidra.
20:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, please.
20:51
SPEAKER_02: For those who are new to this practice, what exactly is Yoga Nidra?
20:55
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: I would love to share.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, usually I share both kind of a traditional, scientific, and then every day, and then that appeals a little bit to everyone.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: And I'll try to keep it short so that it is interesting.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, first of all, I do want to say it's not, it is not sleep as we know it, okay, but being asleep to who we really are.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: And I'll get back to why some people may say, yeah, but I do yoga nidja for sleep, and my favorite recording is yoga nidja for sleep.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: So the idea is it's not sleep as we know it, but being asleep to who we really are.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, some people teach it as the knee part, the NI part is um the void, the the state of consciousness, and then the DRA is meaning to draw forth from that.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: Other people will say just nidra is it is sleep, but it means we were waking up from our sleep.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Um and then I also have a kind of what I call a backpack explanation that I'll get into of just people like, oh, I don't know about.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: That nidra stuff and that word scares me.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: So Yoga Nidra is it's both a guided practice and then it's also a state of awareness.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes we say I'm going to do Yoga Nidra, that literally means you're going to listen to a class, you're going to take a class.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: But it's a state of just deep, deep awareness and consciousness, and you practice this laying down.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: The reason for laying down is you can get so out of your body and also so relaxed that you can kind of tip over.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: I had a person come into my class when I was doing in-person classes in Sacramento, and they brought their meditation cushion in.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, okay, he, you know, he knows something.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: I thought, okay, you're going to use that for a pillow.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: It's a little high, but okay.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: So he proceeds to sit up and I've given the instructions.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: Everybody else is laying down.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: And so I kind of whispered, like, Do you want a blanket and mat to lay?
22:52
SPEAKER_00: He's like, no, I'm fine.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm fine.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: I said, okay.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: So about three minutes in, I see him doing this, and he's weaving and can hardly stay upright.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: I was like, Do you want a mat and a blanket?
23:03
SPEAKER_00: He's like, please.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: So it's a it's a powerful practice that has to do with regulating your nervous system, downregulating your nervous system.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Um it can be practiced both in person and online.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: It's still just as powerful.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: And the the premise is and the the reality is when you're in a very awake but a conscious and deeply relaxed state, you can notice and release energy.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: You can release blockages or discomfort.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: And again, hopefully your listeners are not like, oh, when you talk about releasing energy.
23:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, just think a way that that um uh there's a practitioner, Joe Dispensa.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: I just did a three-week three day with him, talks about feeling like you're in the midst of a um electrical storm.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: So if you can imagine an electrical storm, it's loud, it's noisy, it's frantic, you can litter like your hair stands on end.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: There's frenetic and tangible energy.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: Well, think about the way we are sometimes is in that lightning storm, our system is saying, watch out, there's noise, like what should you do?
24:15
SPEAKER_00: There's lightning, is there thunder coming?
24:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, what we do in modern times is we pull out the video camera and we're out there in the midst of the storm videotaping, not paying attention that we might get hit by lightning or that there's too much rain, and we should take ourselves back inside the house, put down the camera and be safe.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: So in Yoga Nidra, for example, if you think of it as you were noticing all your personal electrical storms within that are either blocking energy, maybe causing discomfort, and you can temper those down a little bit so your body can do what it needs to do.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: And uh, for those of those listeners that like more of the science, right now Reva and I are in beta brainwave state.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: I know that there's a picture behind her, I know what time it is, I know I'm sitting in a chair, I know her name.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: It's the problem-solving to-do list everyday mindset.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: Part of the premises in Yoganidra and other practices is in that beta brainwave state, you're still a little hyper-vigilant, you're still having those storms going on, and you're a little distracted.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: Like right now, I'm not distracted, but if I stop talking, there might be a thought creeping of like, oh, my phone flashed, who's that on the phone?
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's water, oh, what's that noise?
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh, what do I have to do later?
25:39
SPEAKER_00: The beauty of Yoga Nidra is you go into theta and alpha brainwave state, and it's been studied, like literally, your brain waves change.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: You move out of the fight or flight, and you quiet the storm, you figure out what you really do need to do, you figure out if you are safe or not, and you probably step back out of the storm.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: And when I say, are you safe, especially the work that you do with trauma, it's not that someone else is making you safe, but you feel safe in your own body.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: So in the beta brain wave state, when you're thinking and you're doing, and very often maybe too closely relating back to your trauma, if you will, you cannot figure out what to do because you think you're in that trauma.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: Someone says, Jill, I don't like your voice.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: If I'm not careful, my my body goes, This is just like every other time someone said that they don't like me, they don't like my voice.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: When in fact, maybe they haven't finished their sentence and they want to say, I love your voice.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Or they're like, I don't like your voice, but they're not attacking me physically, it's not meaningful.
26:53
SPEAKER_03: Right.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: And I use that example very lightly because I know people have much, much deeper trauma.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: All I'm sharing is when we're in that lightning storm, whatever triggers truly PTSD, CPS, T D, it is very real, but your body is almost betraying you.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: So in Yoga Nidra, you go into this changed brainwave state.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: And the way, and somebody may be asking, okay, okay, you change your brainwave state, how?
27:25
SPEAKER_00: So a practitioner is guiding you through, and they're asking you to notice different things in your body.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: In the way that I was trained, uh, or the style of Yoga Nidra, we don't do the rotation of consciousness, which can be fairly fast, and we don't use the symbolism, nothing wrong with it, but we just truly do a body scan.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: It's fairly slow, fast enough, though, that you don't ruminate on any one point.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: So let's say that your wrist is broken or you have throat cancer, um, you have um PTSD from sexual trauma, not resting any one place that brings out the trauma.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: And then once the mind and the body has reached that theta and alpha state and you're out of the fight or flight, then you're prompted to set what we call a sunkalpa, S-A-N-K-A-L-P-A, or just a very, very deep heart's intention.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: So instead of being in the storm or being who you are in the storm, how would you like to be in the storm?
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you're a trauma.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna use the word survivor.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Some people don't use that like that word.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: You're a trauma survivor, you're not in the midst of your trauma.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: How do you want to think, feel, and behave outside of that without that ruling you?
28:51
SPEAKER_00: So you return to homeostasis.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, there have been studies done both with meditation and yoga nidra about how the body changes, how the brain waves change.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: And imagine again, you are out of the storm, you're in your most perfect scenario, and you create and imagine how you want to be from that place.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I'll give a little more example maybe of the backpack and then I'll pause.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's also a quote that I really like, and it's from Octavia Rahim, uh, who wrote the book Pause, Rest, and Be.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: So that's Octavia Rahim, and she says, Um, in Yoga Nidra, your future self can meet you and show you a way forward that you otherwise probably couldn't see.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: And the reference is your future self.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: So when you're in those beta brain waves of, I don't like my voice, you know, he said I'm a piece of you know what, the system said this, this, and this.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: My mother, you know, told me never, X, Y, and Z.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: It's real that you experience that, but your future self can show up when you're not in fight or flight and go reva.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: Those people aren't here.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: You are physically safe, you are emotionally safe.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: How do you want to be?
30:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: And it's legit in everyday life, especially right now.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: There's so much coming at us, and in everybody's world, we're like, how could we ever see that?
30:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the last example I'll kind of give that um it's a more modern way of looking at Yoga Nidra.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: And again, I I don't remember where it came from, but the idea that we carry around backpacks, and the backpack is the trauma.
30:36
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: In my backpack is I don't like your voice, I have no idea where it came from.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: And in a rested state, in a more safe state, in a state where it's just you talking to yourself, can you unzip the backpack?
30:53
SPEAKER_00: Can you take a look in there and then maybe stop?
30:56
SPEAKER_00: Or can you reach in and take something out?
30:59
SPEAKER_00: Can you ask for help unzipping the backpack?
31:02
SPEAKER_00: Can you set it down for a while?
31:04
SPEAKER_00: And so the the Yoga Nidra practice, um, again, it's uh, you know, historically, it's rich in lineage, can be mystical, it's more than relaxation, and it's really, really, really deep personal work, but those are some differing ways of um maybe looking at it, if that makes sense.
31:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it makes perfect sense.
31:26
SPEAKER_02: And I really appreciate all those different ways of explaining it.
31:29
SPEAKER_02: We all um take in information differently, and so it was nice to kind of go through and and understand it in these different ways.
31:38
SPEAKER_02: And I find it even more um mysterious now and even more powerful now knowing all of these different ways and what you shared about the brainwaves was very interesting too.
31:50
SPEAKER_02: And I had no idea that it was really um that deep of a level and being able to connect with this future version of yourself without all of the conditioning and the societal expectations and the trauma and the pain and whatever it is that we're all carrying.
32:07
SPEAKER_02: Really, really powerful and beautiful.
32:13
SPEAKER_02: Well, you talked a little bit about what Yoga Nidra is, and I'm wondering how you might explain to listeners how it's different from traditional meditation or sleep.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: Um I would say it's it's similar and different.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: So in some traditional meditation practices, you know, there there may be a particular focus.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: So you might have a mantra, which is like a word or a symbol that you're asked to, like in transcendental meditation, um, you have one mantra for life.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: And so no matter what you're going through, you always keep that soul focus.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, in vipassana, which I it's a 10-day silent retreat, which I recommend for a lot of people.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: I loved it because I love to be quiet.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, we started with for three days, I think it was noticing just the breath underneath the nose.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh my gosh, three days of this.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, other meditation is maybe a visualization, there's candle gazing.
33:14
unknown: Yeah.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: So it's a little different with Yoga Nidra in that you're doing the body scan or a different style is that rotation of consciousness, and there's a specific um, I guess a specific practice and that prompt.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: Once you are in that relaxed state, you are asked to set your sunkalpa, to visualize yourself.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: It's that deep, deep intention.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: The way my uh teacher, Dr.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: Mark Calpern, teaches it is like to see yourself well, physically, emotionally, spiritually, in all ways.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: So instead of being caught up in the storm, um, or maybe you have a um self-imposed, I say still kind of mantra affirmation, it's not the most positive, but we sometimes start saying to ourselves, um, I'm not smart enough to do a podcast like Riva is.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, I picked up and moved, you know, part-time to Mexico.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: People are like, oh my gosh, I, you know, you're so brave.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm not brave like Jill.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, I am my trauma.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, I am um, you know, I am a daughter of an alcoholic, therefore.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm not strong enough.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm too whatever it is.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: So the difference in this is yes, we're asking you to relax, to move into a different state.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: And then we're asking in this deep, almost subconscious state to come back to like pull from the ethers, if you will, or listen from the ethers.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: Who do you want to be?
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, in my Insight Timer uh sessions, I always title them Yoga Nidra Rest to Awaken.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: So it's not a foo-foo, oh, I need to awaken and and you know, be this wonderful person.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: It's like, can you quiet down your own voice that is probably deeply affected by other people's voices and decide how you want to be and go back to that.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: And in Yoga Nidra, you also tap into, um, very often you'll hear people say, tapping into your inner resources.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: So right now in beta brain waves, while I'm talking with you, I know you could be a resource for me, and I can reach out to you, and you're gonna talk to me, you're gonna reason with me, you're gonna talk me through, maybe give me some activities.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: There's still that bit of I'm relying on you for that.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: And I'm either correctly trusting or maybe overly trust.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: I'll just do what Reva says, and I'll be okay.
35:56
SPEAKER_03: Totally.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: The beauty with Yoganyidra, it's it's the deep you telling yourself what you need.
36:02
SPEAKER_00: And so that that can be a little different than some meditations.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: It is a meditative state.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, the other thing that someone asked me once, they're like, well, do I have to stop doing transcendental meditation?
36:16
SPEAKER_00: Do I have to stop praying?
36:17
SPEAKER_00: Do I have to stop doing a spiritual practice or a non?
36:21
SPEAKER_00: And I say they can all coexist um because the outcome is really all the same.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: That any practice that brings you back to wholeness that brings you back to going, you know what?
36:32
SPEAKER_00: My heart is okay.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: My heart through all this, my heart is okay.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: You know, Yoga Nidra is just a different way.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then to answer the other part of your question, there's multiple ways that I mentioned to be guided into it.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, we don't use symbols or the rotation of consciousness, that's fine.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: For me, that was just too fast of a practice and it just didn't resonate with me.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, and then the sleep part is you know, sleep restores your body, but when you go to sleep, you're you can do some powerful dream work or even um I just lost the name of um lucid dreaming.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: You could do lucid dreaming where you're interacting with your dreams, but yoga nitra really provides uh, I think pretty direct access to healing in a state of consciousness because you are awake.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: Um and then the brain waves different than sleep.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's different there's different brain waves in sleep, but to me it was fascinating when Dr.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: Halpern showed us that the relaxing and kind of high functioning, if you will, brain waves that exist in sleep exist in Yoga Nidra while you are awake.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: So there's high theta, alpha, and among some monks they were like gamma, which is like high state of consciousness, but you're awake.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you don't have to be asleep.
37:59
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: So those are some of the differences from my perspective.
38:03
SPEAKER_02: Okay, wonderful.
38:05
SPEAKER_02: That's helpful to know.
38:08
SPEAKER_02: And can you share a little bit about the history and the origins of this practice?
38:13
SPEAKER_02: As I've been practicing, I've heard people referring to this as a very ancient practice, and it's made me curious as to kind of where it started.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think like many practices, um there's there's discussion, disagreement.
38:31
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I like to say sometimes we don't know.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, we find the next fossil, we find the next ancient text, it tells us something different.
38:40
SPEAKER_00: Um but yoga nitza does have it has its roots in ancient yogic practices, and that's through um, you know, different texts, pictures, and different things.
38:50
SPEAKER_00: Um I was trying to remember because someone had asked me to, and I when I teach do the teacher training, um, we have some of the information.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: It was Napoleon, and then it seemed like there was an like a very creative person in history, was known for either sitting or laying down and going to these states where they were like, Don't bother me, leave me alone, and then they would come out of it with this burst of creativity.
39:15
SPEAKER_03: Oh, cool.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: I believe it was Napoleon was um that he would during heavy battles, he would say, Don't bother me for like 15, 20 minutes.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: There was a rumor that he was snoring during part of the time, but he would come out like refreshed and and basically like pull out a new uh playbook and say, No, let's do this.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: That is really interesting.
39:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so and I say allegedly.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: Um and then in um some of the Hindu studies, you'll see reference to the some symbolism of um literally the goddess Yoga Nidra, meaning waking up to or manifesting in the subconscious.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: Um in the 1960s, there was a um Swami who was studying in India.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, well known, I um it was Satyanda Saraswati.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't always throw out names because sometimes I'm on very non-yogic, non-healing podcasts, and people are like, who is that?
40:14
SPEAKER_00: Um so just know in the 60s that there was a revered um yoga teacher, meditation teacher, and he found that the rotation of consciousness was was I don't know that he created it, but he began using it, feeling like that was easier than people having mantras meaning words or sounds, and that focusing on that rotation of awareness gave easier access for Yoganidra.
40:42
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
40:43
SPEAKER_00: So again, that was in the 60s, also when um maybe more in the 70s when transcendental meditation came along, but there was more acceptance, I think, of meditation.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then in um I think it was in the 70s, there was a, I believe Richard Miller was a psychotherapist.
41:03
SPEAKER_00: He developed a specific Yoga Nitra practice um working with military personnel.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: So it was personnel coming back from wars.
41:13
SPEAKER_00: Um he continued with people coming back from Iraq, and specifically for PTSD.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: So he used the word eye rest, and some of his work um had more to do, like traditionally, we would say close your eyes, lay down.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: Um in yoga, we sometimes use the word corpse pose, for example.
41:34
SPEAKER_00: Those were not safe words and good words to use.
41:37
SPEAKER_00: So he developed a little different method and some wording that helped more.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: And then my teacher, Dr.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: Halpern, Mark Halpern, M-A-R-C Halpern, um, he healed through Yoga Nidra after being uh bedridden with various uh diseases.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: And so he started doing the trainings through the California College of Ayurveda, and that's how I um came to his practices.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: Um it is very popular now, sometimes in very shortened forms, um, which I don't like to be judgmental, just the idea that you can have a shortened form um and you may not be in the yoga nidra state.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: You may be um very relaxed, um, but you're probably not in the yoga nidra state.
42:23
SPEAKER_00: And then uh in more modern times, it's you know, if you can't sleep, somebody will say use Yoga Nidra for sleep.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: You can definitely go to sleep during Yoga Nidra because it's easy, you're relaxed, your eyes are closed, you know, you drift off.
42:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, but in my it is truly like my understanding for me, there's a difference because I do doze off in Yoga Nidra, and I will tell you I have a different outcome than when I stay awake.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: So there's nothing wrong with going to sleep, it can happen.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: But now it's that okay, I don't have time for a full 45 minutes, let's do something in 10 minutes.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: But I do have some clients that they can they can take their brainwave state to theta alpha pretty quickly, but most people cannot do that in 10 or 15 minutes.
43:10
SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of where we're at in the modern world of can I do this in 10 minutes?
43:18
SPEAKER_00: Likely not, but 10 minutes is better than nothing.
43:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
43:25
SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, now I'm curious to explore a longer practice.
43:29
SPEAKER_02: I typically in the past have done like my ideal time is like 36 minutes.
43:36
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, how long does it take for that shift in the brain waves to happen?
43:41
SPEAKER_00: And I would say for you, because of all the practices that you do, and and I think you know, just your lifestyle.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: I would believe that in 36 minutes you could get into it.
43:51
SPEAKER_00: Um I think some people could probably be at, you know, 20.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: I would say the typical person with the typical Pressures, that history of trauma.
44:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean, for some people, the first five, 10 minutes, even though I'm well into the dialogue, they might be a little bit like, Oh, I don't know if I can lay here with my eyes closed.
44:12
SPEAKER_00: I have things to do.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, a person came to me and she said, I'm not going to be able to do it.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: I have restless leg syndrome.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: I said, Go ahead and lay down.
44:22
SPEAKER_00: You move your legs as much as you want to.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: If you have to get up, that's fine.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: Within three minutes, she was still and she was in Yoganidra.
44:30
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
44:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, there are other people that they will tell me, Yeah, my body was still, but my mind was fighting it for 20 minutes, 35 minutes for the whole 45.
44:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: And I would suggest strongly, the more you practice, and I think we're going to talk about like some some different practices to do, the more you practice anything that gives yourself permission to be still and rest, it's going to be easier for you.
45:01
SPEAKER_00: Because your body, much as our bodies ramp up again, that electrical storm, we can go and go and go, Reva with or without caffeine, with or without anything else for weeks and months sometimes.
45:17
SPEAKER_00: So it's going to take a little bit more for the body to go, I can just sit here.
45:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, the um what do you call the fidget fidget spinners?
45:28
SPEAKER_00: Spinners, yeah.
45:29
SPEAKER_00: Not something I need.
45:30
SPEAKER_00: And when I first saw my nephews with them, I was like, wait a minute.
45:33
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay, Jill, be quiet.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: Just be quiet.
45:36
SPEAKER_00: For them, they're more toys because they can, they can self-regulate and they're in an environment where that's available.
45:43
SPEAKER_00: But I have seen people use the the fidget spinners really well.
45:49
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to say the problem, but the problem is if if that's your only practice, you're gonna have to fidget all the time because the body gets used to it.
46:00
SPEAKER_00: So just as the body gets used to being in movement, turning on the TV, having a glass of wine to self-regulate, eating all the things that we do, fidgeting, the body can and also has to get used to being still, and it may not uh come as easily as some people would like it to.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
46:19
SPEAKER_00: So be patient.
46:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
46:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
46:21
SPEAKER_02: It can take some time to unravel ourselves from um whether it's the societal expectations or the things that have happened to us in our past before we're able to be in a space where we're able to sit and be still.
46:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
46:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the trauma-informed way is to go um really slow too.
46:43
SPEAKER_02: And so I would encourage anyone listening to to keep that in mind if you're wanting to explore and um yeah, just explore ways of being still and ways that feel safe to you.
46:54
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't have to look like anybody else, it doesn't have to have a special name.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, I was sometimes on um, so I do both Zoom and Insight Timer sessions, and I had one person on the insight timer session, and they can only write to me.
47:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, so she's writing, I'm sorry, have to leave.
47:13
SPEAKER_00: I can't stay awake and aware.
47:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, part of the dialogue is awake and aware.
47:18
SPEAKER_00: And then I go through the arm and then I say, awake and aware.
47:21
SPEAKER_00: So I think she thought she had failed.
47:24
SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to continue the dialogue.
47:27
SPEAKER_00: And on Insight Timer, we don't have a mute button, which is an aside.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to quietly type back to her, like it's something I'm saying, but I'm not judging you.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: And luckily, I was able to say that.
47:38
SPEAKER_00: She thought there was something wrong with her because she couldn't stay awake and she couldn't lie still.
47:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, go at your own pace, give yourself grace and have it look whatever in a way that just feels safe.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, something else that Dr.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: Joe Dispensa talks about is you know, there's no good or bad meditation.
48:01
SPEAKER_00: A marker, however, for him is do you feel different when you get up?
48:06
SPEAKER_00: So if you continue to lay in Yoga Nidra or any practice and you're fidgeting, it doesn't feel good, it doesn't feel safe, like your body is literally rebelling time after time after time, I would say don't do it.
48:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: Or find another practice, or maybe it's the person's voice, or it's just not your time.
48:26
SPEAKER_00: Don't, don't, don't fight any so-called practices.
48:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love that.
48:32
SPEAKER_02: That's a wonderful invitation for everyone.
48:37
SPEAKER_02: Well, before we move on and talk a little bit more about the importance of rest, I'm curious if there's anything else that you feel people misunderstand or how this practice is diluted in modern wellness culture.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: Um I'll share from experience.
48:58
SPEAKER_00: So because some people know that I practice bikram yoga, the hot yoga, and I do, I love I love heat, I love sanas, etc.
49:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yoga nidra doesn't happen in a hot room.
49:09
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes people make that association with me.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: Um more for the general public, yoga nidra is they're not yoga postures or asanas.
49:18
SPEAKER_00: You lay down, you lay down or you recline.
49:21
SPEAKER_00: So the um story that I'm not flexible enough, I can't keep my balance, I can't do a handstand, I you know, I'm scared to practice yoga because it sounds mystical.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: Can you lay down with a pillow and a blanket?
49:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, is all you have to do.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, we I in my classes we don't chant, you know, you don't have to put your hands in a certain position.
49:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then also it's not for yogi.
49:47
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, you know, even the way we advertise.
49:50
SPEAKER_00: I mean, with Yoga Nidra, I sometimes have picture after picture of somebody laying down because that's really all we do.
49:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you don't need yoga clothes, it's not for yogis.
50:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I've done it in prison systems, I've done it in um, you know, uh day safe houses for um homeless teens, unsheltered teens.
50:13
SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
50:14
SPEAKER_00: Um I did it, I mean I've done it in offices with people in their suits and different things.
50:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, I would say another misnomer is it's sometimes marketed as a practice to take you into sleep.
50:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to say that that's wrong.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: Um it's just that if you if you use it and you fall asleep every time and go into sleep, you're missing the depth of Yoga Nidra because Yoga Nidra is about personal transformation.
50:45
SPEAKER_00: And you you can't set your intention, that's sankalpa, you can't visualize if you're asleep.
50:52
SPEAKER_00: Um and then I would say the last one because most listeners have probably heard of it, and it's not a dig at this person or the practice, it's just different.
51:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, Yoganidra to me is not interchangeable with, I get the initials right, uh NSDR, the non-sleep deep rest.
51:11
SPEAKER_00: And there's a wonderful neuroscientist, Andrew Huberman.
51:14
SPEAKER_00: He's done great interviews.
51:15
SPEAKER_00: He kind of uses the word interchangeably, and the differences in the um non-sleep deep rest.
51:24
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes there's actually the encouragement to go to sleep, even though the wording is non-sleep, and it's really just relaxing the body, which is wonderful.
51:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a great practice if you don't have a lot of time, but you're not connecting with your subconscious and you're not setting an intention.
51:41
SPEAKER_00: So nothing wrong with it.
51:43
SPEAKER_00: It's just not the full work of Yoga Nidra, if that makes sense.
51:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that does make sense.
51:49
SPEAKER_02: And I'm really noticing this um deeper appreciation for the practice of Yoga Nidra kind of arising within myself.
51:58
SPEAKER_02: Because I have admittedly used it to, especially if I wake up sometimes in the middle of the night, I can do a Yoga Nidra practice and it'll soothe me back to sleep.
52:07
SPEAKER_02: But you are so right because the times where I haven't gone to sleep, that's when I've had the most profound um experiences where I've set a sankopa and within hours or by like the end of the day, like some kind of miracle has happened that really surprised me.
52:26
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, oh my gosh, that that was my sankopa that I said earlier.
52:30
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, you're you're right.
52:32
SPEAKER_02: And um yeah, like you said, it's okay to go to sleep, and there's a missed opportunity um to kind of work with that mystical uh liminal space that can yeah, bring so much, I feel like, synchronicity and and opportunity into our lives without even trying, you know, things just happen.
52:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you said you said when we started like finding that kind of that magic and the mystery without it, I don't know, feeling like out of control or weird, like because sometimes people are like, I don't, I don't know if I want to be in a space where I don't feel in control and it's not it's not that matter of control.
53:08
SPEAKER_00: You're just in this such a restful, creative, unstimulated place that to me it's really beautiful.
53:16
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't feel like out of control.
53:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, wonderful.
53:20
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
53:21
SPEAKER_02: Well, we've we've talked a little bit about the benefits of Yoga Nidra and how it's connected to rest.
53:28
SPEAKER_02: And I'm curious if you have any thoughts on why so many of us struggle with allowing ourselves to rest.
53:34
SPEAKER_02: We've kind of touched on a few things, but wondering what your opinion is on that.
53:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think similar to you know what I've heard you state of uh, you know, sometimes, and I use the word conditioning, um, I mean, for years and years, generations and generations of I mean, I think our all of our ancestors, you know, whatever your um lineage, you know, had to work hard.
54:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we didn't have ways that were easy.
54:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, and sometimes by choice, sometimes by not choice, you were working hard.
54:08
SPEAKER_00: Um and then with you know, modern technology, I think sometimes we can work in a more lazy way, but then that becomes we're expected to do more, or we think we should do more.
54:22
SPEAKER_00: Even for myself, I find myself sometimes I'm I'm on my laptop, maybe on Facebook, then I pick up my phone looking at Instagram, and I might be texting to someone.
54:34
SPEAKER_00: Well, back when we were like hunting for food, or you're up at two in the four in the morning, you know, plowing the fields just for food.
54:43
SPEAKER_00: You didn't have time for that, and the devices weren't there.
54:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
54:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, or even, you know, sometimes I'm on Instagram and I love to travel.
54:51
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, oh, look at that person over there, and they're trying, and then I start making my list for before devices.
54:59
SPEAKER_00: We might get a letter from someone who had traveled somewhere and they would write and describe it.
55:04
SPEAKER_00: But we have this very visual, interactive.
55:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, and sometimes I think we sometimes in good ways, like it's that fear of missing out in a good way.
55:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
55:15
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I want to travel, oh, I want to do yoga nidra.
55:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I want to do this.
55:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it may not be out of ego, but it's just more information.
55:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
55:24
SPEAKER_00: And then more likely for sure, it's the um the shoulds.
55:30
SPEAKER_00: Well, look at everything that everyone else is doing and achieving.
55:34
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, you can go on, I don't have a LinkedIn, but I think you can go on LinkedIn and find anybody's salary when I worked for corrections because I was a public employee.
55:44
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
55:45
SPEAKER_00: You know, my salary's out there, and then it's like, oh, wait, you know, I want to make that much money.
55:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, you get a new car and they wrap it up in a red ribbon and you take a picture.
55:55
SPEAKER_00: So it's this um you know, sometimes value value is assigned by so here in Mexico, it's really interesting that I think only a few times, and it's been an American has asked me, Well, what do you do?
56:11
SPEAKER_00: Everybody else is just like, Do you love San Miguel?
56:15
SPEAKER_00: How long have you been here?
56:16
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to go to coffee?
56:17
SPEAKER_00: Want to be my friend?
56:18
SPEAKER_00: I have a phenomenal neighbor, he's um 83, I believe.
56:23
SPEAKER_00: And David says, when people ask him, Well, what do you do down there in Mexico?
56:27
SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you do?
56:28
SPEAKER_00: He says, Oh, I live.
56:30
SPEAKER_00: I live.
56:32
SPEAKER_00: That might mean staring up at this beautiful sky.
56:35
SPEAKER_00: It might mean volunteering at you know, and granted, for those who are listening, they're like, Well, yeah, at 82, he's retired, blah, blah, blah.
56:45
SPEAKER_00: Um a lot of people have to work.
56:49
SPEAKER_00: That's a given.
56:50
SPEAKER_00: You have to work.
56:52
SPEAKER_00: I think there's just ways to offset some of that, even if the larger structure, bureaucracy, capitalism, politics doesn't help us with that.
57:05
SPEAKER_00: You have to find a way, or you're gonna keep having health problems, you're gonna be unhappy, you're gonna be anxious.
57:11
SPEAKER_00: Like, just do the best you can.
57:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I would offer um find out why you're struggling with rest.
57:20
SPEAKER_00: Do you need to change the mindset of that?
57:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, some people have developed like really good businesses using the word radical rest, and rest is my birthright.
57:32
SPEAKER_00: I love it because people respond to it.
57:34
SPEAKER_00: But why do we, you know, why does rest have to be radical?
57:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, I'm it it's and I know why it's just that yeah, it yeah, it's something that is a very needed part of our overall health and well-being.
57:52
SPEAKER_02: And so I see why you would think, well, why is it radical?
57:56
SPEAKER_02: This is just something that we need, just like we need water and we need air, we need rest too.
58:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and sometimes you, you know, even within yourself, you you a radical response, um, a huge shift is necessary because we are so used to navigating a certain way.
58:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
58:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we live in a very fast-paced world, and uh as a society, I don't think we place a lot of value on unrest.
58:28
SPEAKER_02: And there are more people talking about it, and there's uh not enough of us making it a real priority in our lives.
58:38
SPEAKER_02: And I love what you shared about our uh devices and social media.
58:43
SPEAKER_02: I just did an episode on the impact of social media on women's mental health, and I did touch on some other topics as well related to the subject.
58:53
SPEAKER_02: And that was something that I noticed within myself was like comparing and trying to, you know, keep up with what other people were doing, especially as a creative and as a business owner.
59:04
SPEAKER_02: And I have found myself having more space for these practices like yoga nitra and just a mindful walk without nature, without my phone, um, since getting off of the app and it's been really supportive and beautiful for me.
59:21
SPEAKER_02: So thanks for tying that in.
59:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good for you.
59:24
SPEAKER_02: Congratulations.
59:25
SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
59:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because I feel like I'm free.
59:29
SPEAKER_02: That's nice.
59:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
59:31
SPEAKER_02: Well, um, you've mentioned that Yoga Nidra does support down regulation in the nervous system.
59:39
SPEAKER_02: And I'm wondering if there's any other benefits of Yoga Nidra that might help listeners with stress, anxiety, and burnout.
59:47
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
59:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, again, going back to you know, keep keep going to therapy if that works for you.
59:54
SPEAKER_00: Some people work out, whatever practices you have.
59:57
SPEAKER_00: I think the uniqueness of Yoga Nidra is it it really feels like you are having a deep conversation with your just with yourself of what you need.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_00: And then there's some um kind of new uh yeah, I would say new research, not not directly with Yoga Nidra, but meditation overall, um, of how much our thoughts, you know, affect our um affect our bodies, affect our genes.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_00: And it's more than, you know, if you have bad thoughts, you feel badly, if you have good thoughts, you feel better.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_00: But like the science of that, um and it one want sort of related to Yoganidra, is for anyone who out there who self-identifies as feeling stress, feeling anxiety, really look into some science of why that's happening because you can't wish your way out of it.
1:01:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's some there's just some things I'm just learning too and relearning about what the body actually does.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_00: And there's so much that we're understanding now that the body is trying to protect us and we don't really know it.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_00: So we're just like, this is just how I am.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_00: I just flinch at things and I'm nervous and I don't sleep well.
1:01:25
SPEAKER_00: The body wants something different for us, we're just not letting it find it.
1:01:31
SPEAKER_00: So in Yoga Nidra, um, your cortisol lowers, um, you get improved sleep when you do go to sleep because again, you're in a whole different state.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a sense of inner safety.
1:01:45
SPEAKER_00: And I know for a lot of people who experience trauma and anxiety, um, you know, even now we don't like to say, oh, I can offer you a safe space because can someone do that for you?
1:01:56
SPEAKER_00: But you can do it for yourself.
1:01:58
SPEAKER_00: And it's literally the way the body chemically is responding, um, it's the way our subconscious is responding.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, and again, if if listeners think back about that electrical storm, you can't think well in the electrical storm.
1:02:14
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I kind of gave the offhand, you see people nowadays running out in the electrical storm.
1:02:20
SPEAKER_00: That today there was an earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand.
1:02:25
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, and it's interesting watching people filming versus running.
1:02:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:02:31
SPEAKER_00: And just that caught up in the oh my gosh, what is going on?
1:02:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, the building is falling, there's water splashing out of swimming pools.
1:02:39
SPEAKER_00: Now, there are people who are running away, but we all of us have our different electrical storms, our storms we get caught up in, and it's really hard to self-regulate from a stormy place, not in the storm, but from a stormy place.
1:02:56
SPEAKER_00: So that's how it can really help that um without pushing, shoving, you know, it's different from hypnosis.
1:03:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm not giving you any suggestions at all.
1:03:07
SPEAKER_00: The body, pretty easy and willingly, is just like, I want to be out of the storm.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_00: And it will go there if allowed.
1:03:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, wonderful.
1:03:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love the storm analogy that you brought in today.
1:03:20
SPEAKER_02: It's really um yeah, it makes it really clear.
1:03:26
SPEAKER_02: Well, we are um slowly approaching the end of the episode.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_02: And I'm wondering for someone who maybe struggles with slowing down, how would you uh recommend they can uh start incorporating more rest into their day-to-day?
1:03:42
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
1:03:42
SPEAKER_00: Um again, I would take a look at any of your objections to, you know, again, I don't have time, it's too much, I don't have the money.
1:03:51
SPEAKER_00: And as Reva supported, start really small and don't judge yourself.
1:03:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, can you give up a little bit of time on Instagram?
1:03:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying give up all Instagram.
1:04:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying, you know, don't put your kids to bed.
1:04:05
SPEAKER_00: Um but can you find, I would say start with five minutes, three minutes even.
1:04:10
SPEAKER_00: Can you find a little bit of time to literally just say, I'm gonna, I'm gonna sit down right now and do nothing and see how it feels?
1:04:19
SPEAKER_00: And then maybe I'm gonna sit for five or six more minutes and maybe I'm gonna close my eyes.
1:04:25
SPEAKER_00: Um if you're literally, and I know some people who don't have that five minutes, if you drink coffee every day, can you taste your coffee more clearly?
1:04:34
SPEAKER_00: Can you taste all the different um elements of the coffee?
1:04:39
SPEAKER_00: Can you notice the warmth of the cup?
1:04:41
SPEAKER_00: If you were sitting at a signal light instead of raging because it's not turning red, because again, you're creating a storm.
1:04:48
SPEAKER_00: If you look over and the people over here or the people coming this way, have a green light, your light's not going to magically turn red because you're raging at it.
1:04:57
SPEAKER_00: Can you play a game of can I take three deep breaths before the light turns yellow, before the light turns green?
1:05:04
SPEAKER_00: So anything, again, you can't do yoga nitva in three minutes, but anything that brings your awareness back to your body, I'm making up because I'm I'm doing this out of my closet.
1:05:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, when you reach for your clothes to get dressed to go to the job that you hate, when you put your hands on your clothes, why are you choosing that outfit?
1:05:24
SPEAKER_00: Can you pick an outfit that maybe makes you happier, that brings more joy, you're wearing it for a reason?
1:05:31
SPEAKER_00: Can you put on, you know, earrings that maybe during the day you're like, you know what?
1:05:35
SPEAKER_00: I really, really love these earrings.
1:05:37
SPEAKER_00: So just anything.
1:05:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, we didn't talk too much about accessibility, but um any practices that you can't practice often that aren't affordable, that are not for you, that you don't feel good about the facilitator, don't keep don't keep up those practices.
1:05:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, find something that works for you, even if maybe culturally.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_00: It's something different, even age-based if it's something different.
1:06:05
SPEAKER_00: You know, business people don't do yoga nidra.
1:06:08
SPEAKER_00: Yes, they do.
1:06:09
SPEAKER_00: You know.
1:06:10
SPEAKER_00: So find out what your barriers are, maybe your objections.
1:06:14
SPEAKER_00: And laughingly, I say do yoga nidra on that or work on that.
1:06:18
SPEAKER_00: But just do something that is accessible, that you might start as, you know, three minutes, five minutes, and something that you feel results from.
1:06:28
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, you're not going to want to stick to it.
1:06:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:06:31
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for bringing that in.
1:06:33
SPEAKER_02: I think that's really important to remember as we're going on our journeys of self-discovery and healing.
1:06:39
SPEAKER_02: I remember my work as a fitness professional, and that was one thing that I was always telling my clients was to, you know, do workouts you enjoy.
1:06:47
SPEAKER_02: I'd have people come to me, oh, well, Riva, I hate running.
1:06:50
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, great, then don't run.
1:06:53
SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
1:06:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you want to make it as you said, as accessible as possible.
1:06:59
SPEAKER_02: So if it's the money or if it's the time or it's the facilitator or whatever it is, the story that you have around it, we want to find something that we're actually gonna want to do and something that's gonna be easy for us to do, as easy as possible, at least.
1:07:16
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
1:07:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, beautiful.
1:07:18
SPEAKER_02: I love what you shared about the car too, and um even just getting dressed in the morning.
1:07:24
SPEAKER_02: And I was kind of thinking of how I get dressed in the morning, and that's something I've really um enjoyed more than I have in in um in years past.
1:07:34
SPEAKER_02: And I work with my menstrual cycle, and so like my earrings and my lipstick color, it all kind of like ties into it.
1:07:41
SPEAKER_02: And I do notice by the end of the um, by the time I've gotten ready and I've gone through all of that, I do feel a lot better and more joyful and more excited for the day.
1:07:51
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, thank you for that.
1:07:54
SPEAKER_02: Wonderful.
1:07:55
SPEAKER_02: Well is there anything else that you feel listeners need to know that Joe?
1:08:03
SPEAKER_00: Um just as best you can, like uh, you know, wake up to your potential.
1:08:09
SPEAKER_00: I call it like a divine assignment.
1:08:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, that doesn't have to be anything that you do for others or that you have a certain title, but just you know, feeling good in your life, good in your body.
1:08:21
SPEAKER_00: Um I'd like to leave leave with a quote again that um from Octavia Rahim that uh in Yoga Nidra your future self can meet you and show you a way forward that you otherwise couldn't see.
1:08:35
SPEAKER_00: Um and there's many practices like that.
1:08:39
SPEAKER_00: Um but just don't don't sell yourself short.
1:08:42
SPEAKER_00: Um you know, find a way to be to be really in your body and just to navigate everyday life the way you want to.
1:08:51
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
1:08:52
SPEAKER_02: Love that.
1:08:54
SPEAKER_02: And Jill, where can people find you if they would like to come and explore Yoga Nidra?
1:08:59
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
1:09:00
SPEAKER_00: Um I am on Zoom, and so I have Zoom sessions that you can find through my website.
1:09:06
SPEAKER_00: I am also Insight Timer on Insight Timer app, and I usually do one to two live sessions every month.
1:09:13
SPEAKER_00: You can also find that information.
1:09:15
SPEAKER_00: I think the easiest thing, because again, we just talked about electrical storms and oh, you're on the app.
1:09:19
SPEAKER_00: But if you go to the website, my business is called Breathing Space, but the website that I could get was our breathing space.com.
1:09:29
SPEAKER_00: So if you go to our breathing space.com or also on Instagram, it's breathing spacejill.
1:09:37
SPEAKER_00: There's various ways that you can find me based on you know your preference.
1:09:41
SPEAKER_00: If you want to call, email, sign up for classes.
1:09:44
SPEAKER_00: Um and my Zoom classes are all um free/slash donation based, meaning you can absolutely sign up and not pay anything.
1:09:52
SPEAKER_00: Don't be ashamed to do that.
1:09:53
SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely fine with me.
1:09:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you do want to donate, that's fine.
1:09:58
SPEAKER_00: And then if you happen to be in Mexico where I am right now, you can come to a live class.
1:10:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm very often in California and you could come to a live class there as well.
1:10:07
SPEAKER_02: Wonderful.
1:10:08
SPEAKER_02: That's nice to hear you're doing live stuff in Mexico.
1:10:11
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:10:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, wonderful.
1:10:12
SPEAKER_02: And how are people responding to Yoga Nito down there?
1:10:15
SPEAKER_00: Very well.
1:10:16
SPEAKER_00: So even though it's uh, you know, San Miguel is just known for its kind of laid-back atmosphere, you know, people just have their, you know, personal stories and different needs.
1:10:25
SPEAKER_00: And um, we didn't talk too much today.
1:10:27
SPEAKER_00: We kind of talked more about trauma, but yeah, I have people who come to me who are creative artists and they're like, I'm just stuck in my creativity.
1:10:35
SPEAKER_00: People have some big decisions to make, and yeah, um and they find what they need with Yoga Nidra.
1:10:42
SPEAKER_02: Wonderful.
1:10:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, maybe we could do another episode down the road for more focused on creativity because that's sure that we talk about it.
1:10:48
SPEAKER_02: Maybe a small practice, absolutely.
1:10:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, wonderful.
1:10:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, thanks so much for your time, Jill.
1:10:53
SPEAKER_02: And I highly encourage and recommend and invite everyone to explore Yoga Nidra.
1:10:59
SPEAKER_02: It's an beautiful practice, it's been very supportive for me.
1:11:02
SPEAKER_02: And Jill is a wonderful spaceholder to explore the practice with.
1:11:06
SPEAKER_02: So definitely check her out.
1:11:08
SPEAKER_02: We'll leave all her info in the show notes.
1:11:10
SPEAKER_02: In the meantime, take care of yourself and take care of each other.
1:11:16
SPEAKER_01: Fighting for the voice of the wood living, clearing the pain from your wood living, creating new life from your wood, rebuilding with the faces of the movie.