Hello curious person
I hope you are enjoying these articles and you are slowly building up a greater understanding of Yoga Nidra.
There are generally eight stages to the practice. Each stage takes you deeper into a state of conscious rest - starting with the physical body and moving towards a state of bliss/deep relaxation. The structure is freely adapted and can be modified depending on the needs of the facilitator. For example, they may repeat or remove certain sections depending on timing or purpose.
The eight stages of Yoga Nidra with a brief summary:
Preparation and settling - Checking in and releasing tension
Sankalpa - Invoking your intention
Rotation of consciousness - Moving awareness around the body
Breath awareness - Noticing the breath
Pairs of opposites - Experiencing sensations in the body
Visualisation - Imagining/seeing a place, setting or imagery
Sankalpa - Invoking your intention again
Waking and grounding - Arising from rest and stepping back to reality
I am planning on writing more articles to describe these further. This will allow you to build a greater understanding of what to expect and the reason behind each section. Once they are published, I will link them into this section too!
As always, thank you for taking the time to read this
Sam