The practice of Yoga Nidra investigates the world of archetypes and symbols by touching a very special point of our consciousness: the one that lies halfway between sleep and wakefulness. Lying down with eyes closed, the practitioner abandons himself to a deep relaxation similar to the state of sleep. During the Yoga Nidra experience the teacher's voice guides towards the awareness of body parts and sensations and, depending on the intent that motivates the practice, memories, images, sensory elements, places and people can also be evoked. Contrary to what happens when we fall asleep, during practice we never lose awareness of what is happening: in sleep properly understood we are not aware of sleeping, we completely lose contact with the outside world (we no longer know who or where we are) and we are not making a distinction between dream and manifest reality. The experience of Yoga Nidra is instead very different because a conscious bond with the outside is maintained (the guiding voice of the teacher) and even if images emerge that have the same nature as dreams, we maintain a detachment that allows us, in practice concluded, to perfectly remember the experience. The practitioner's task is therefore to follow the guiding voice of the teacher and maintain concentration without falling asleep, observing the spontaneous manifestation of what emerges from the depths: in Yoga Nidra the attitude of the silent witness (sāksin) is essential so that the practice does not turn into a nap. The proposed route the classic technique disclosed by Satyananda Saraswati with a reading linked to the inner analytical perspective of CG Jung. The classic technique of Yoga Nidra is in fact a deep relaxation, an aspect of fundamental importance for the well-being of the person. It is a very beautiful and very valid technique too
in its original matrix, i.e. devoid of an analytical reading of the symbol. Over the years, however, I have seen in this practice a fascinating possibility of investigation: to penetrate the world of archetypes and symbols so as to explore more closely our inner images and the messages that each symbol brings with it. The visualization phase, already present in the original technique, is structured in such a way as to provide useful material for interpretation. In addition to relaxation and the symbolic perspective, another of the strengths of this extraordinary technique lies in the sankalpa, a simple sentence, a purpose, the affirmation of a will mentally repeated in the depths of our Self, a real seed which, planted in the fertile soil of our conscience, over time it will sprout giving us its fruits. The sankalpa unites the conscious forces with the forces of the unconscious and if it is true, as also supported by Jungian psychoanalysis, that our past, our present and our future reside in the unconscious, the sankalpa is then the seed of consciousness in becoming, the expression of an extraordinary intuition that has spanned the centuries and le consciences of masters and practitioners and that has come to us as a precious gift that allows us to activate, in full awareness of our deepest needs, the changes in our lives.