Yoga Nidra is both a practice as well as a most rarified state. The practice is intended to lead one to an experience where deep, dreamless sleep merges with the sublime heights of meditative experience. On the surface, Yoga Nidra appears to be synonymous with complete relaxation––deep physiological rest––a way to access total physical and mental healing and regeneration. However, deep rest is only the beginning of Yoga Nidra––stage one of a four-stage progression. In this immersion, you will experience and learn how Yoga Nidra is less about rest, relaxation or good sleep, and more about awakening and why it can rightfully be called “Enlightened Sleep.”
In this course we approach Yoga Nidra from its traditional roots and explore the sublime teachings that elevate the practice. We dive into the theories related to its deeper states and how to enter them, the practice’s five different intentions––and how to modify the practice depending upon which of those five aims you wish to achieve.
Throughout the immersion we move through one of the most essential texts to shed light on the true nature of the practice and how you can use it to enter the deeper states of meditation and deep, dreamless sleep consciously. You will learn about its role in healing, methods for preparing for the practice and utilizing it as a means of self-inquiry and transformation. Throughout the course, as you become increasingly intimate with the actual state of Yoga Nidra, you will learn how to authentically transmit it.
Please note: this 40-hour training is the foundation curriculum for our Yoga Nidra Teacher Certification program.
Our study will be systematic, progressing from the most accessible to the most subtle practices––all of which is combined with deep study, self-reflection and intention setting. We explore the practice as described in Buddhist, Tantrik, and Upanishadik texts. We consider its various approaches, and decode the ancient yogic knowledge that reveals its foundational principles and how to contextualize the way it is commonly practiced today.
Our approach to Enlightened Sleep is based on the Himalayan tradition which, features five different templates, depending on the emphasis of the particular aim (healing, transformation, sankalpa or resolve, transcendence or for accessing timeless wisdom) and utilizes it as a process of self-inquiry as well as healing and transformation.
Some of the themes we address:
- The Four Levels of Yoga Nidra
- The Gateways of practice: Homeostasis, Resilience, Coherence, and Enstasy
- The Principles of Teaching
- Stages of Sleep
- History of Yoga Nidra
- Brainwaves
- Beyond Waking, Dreaming and Deep Sleep
Book: ENLIGHTENMENT WITHOUT GOD: MANDUKYA UPANISHAD by Swami Rama
This 40-hour online course allows you to learn at your own pace through new, pre-recorded lectures and guided audio practices, and still have access to live-stream sessions with Rod.
Rod will lead live-streams (lectures and Q&A) June 27, July 11 & 25, and August 8 (1:00-2:15PM MST)
Tuition includes:
The course manual
12-week access to the course ALL NEW curriculum recordings
4 live-stream Q&A sessions (and subsequent recordings) with Rod Stryker
This course counts fully toward the 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training and
the ParaYoga Nidra Certification Program.
Tuition: Early-Bird (before May 20th) $550 | Regular: $695
Recommended Reading
Required Reading: Enlightenment Without God: Mandukya Upanishad by Swami Rama
In order to receive credit toward ParaYoga certification and Yoga Alliance RYT programs, as well as your certificate of completion for this training, you must complete a short google form quiz for this book, submitting it to us within six weeks following the completion of the training.
Link to quiz: https://forms.gle/ef9tAHJEyoi4CQvEA
Once you have viewed all recordings and submitted both quizzes (the link to take the second course quiz will be sent to you upon completion), you are eligible to receive a certificate of completion which counts fully toward Yoga Alliance continuing education credits (40 hours total).
Cost
Tuition is non-refundable and non-transferable and includes access to the course curriculum recordings, the 4 lives-streams Q&A sessions with Rod, and the course manual.
- Recordings will be stream-only, viewable on this website, and made available for twelve weeks. The 12 weeks begin with the first live-stream on June 27th, so the sooner you sign up, the more time you have with them!
- A Zoom invitation will be sent to all participants the day before each live-stream. Following each live-stream, a recording of the session will be shared, also with a 12-week access. Attending the four live-streams is recommended but not required for course credit.
- The course manual is fully downloadable and yours to save on your local computer or print out.
- Because access to recordings for this training is granted immediately upon registration, refunds are not possible. This cancellation policy is firm. If you have questions about the course content or format, please email info@parayoga.com before registering.
Black Yoga Teachers Alliance
Since 2018, ParaYoga has been pleased to offer scholarships for this training through the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance whose mission is to support the educational and professional development of black yoga teachers, establish a standard of excellence and elevate the presence of black yoga teachers in the world. Please email kerry@parayoga.com to request an application. You must be a member of BYTA and have completed prerequisites in order to apply.
Click here to learn more.
What students are saying about Enlightened Sleep: Yoga Nidra:
“Enlightened Sleep is deeply transformational. When the constrictions of breath and body and the stains of the mind dissolve, we can see clearly. When the source of suffering is revealed by our Soul and higher mind, we can plant the seeds of new ideas in the fertile field of consciousness. At the most elemental, Yoga Nidra relaxes and heals. At its most profound, you will be awakened to the fourth dimension, Turiya. Between those two, Yoga Nidra, when administered skillfully, serves as a tool to change unhelpful mental patterns and wrong self-perception and even heal the effects of trauma. Transformation is gradual but sometimes there are sudden leaps…I felt myself bursting out of the golden egg as a new person.”
“This training has been profound for me on a healing level, I have had so many breakthroughs & deep insights. I’m very grateful that I came into this training with a background in yoga as that depth allowed me to access the layers I did. Recognizing, seeing and feeling “the stain” was revolutionary for me––I’m so excited to work with my new sankalpa, it’s going to transform everything! I could never have arrived there on my own!”
“I am extremely grateful that I was able to have this transcendent experience with Yogarupa. I am not a teacher, but the Enlightened Sleep: Yoga Nidra training gave me so many invaluable tools to use in my personal practice.”
