Psychedelics, Birth, and Yoga Nidra: Part 2
[Continued from Psychedelics, Birth, and Yoga Nidra: Part 1]
Yoga Nidra as a form of psychedelic Micro-dosing?
Yoga nidra meditation is a 20-35 minute potent sleep-based guided meditation practice, sort of like a cosmic power nap. Unlike being born or giving birth for the first time, both of which can only happen once in a lifetime, yoga nidra is something that can be experienced every day if desired. While listening to Pollan’s book and thinking about this third wave of psychedelics that we are currently in, I became curious about yoga nidra as a sort of psychedelic microdosing practice.
As I drove north on I-95 a lot of questions swirled in my mind. “How does yoga nidra actually work? What’s happening in the brain to explain the profound stillness of the mind and dissolution of the ego? Can yoga nidra offer a low-risk, highly accessible, alternative to psychedelic assisted psychotherapy for those who want the benefits of psychedelics but for whom, for whatever reason, it is not a good option? Or could yoga nidra be a way to help integrate and maintain the benefits of a more intense psychedelic journey, a way to support and enhance neuroplasticity?” And more importantly, “When will Bridgette stop meowing and finally go to sleep?”
Liz Gilbert’s decision to stop using psychedelics as part of her recovery from sex and love addiction, as described in her 2025 memoir “All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation,” comes to mind as an example of how psychedelics and plant medicine can sometimes be more of an obstacle to spiritual growth than an aid. Gilbert describes how prior to being in recovery, she used ayahuasca, psilocybin, and MDMA because, “I loved tripping. I loved being able to leave my body behind while I got to roam freely about the universe, far beyond the reaches of time and space. I loved turning into animals, trees, air–and watching reality melt. Those drugs had felt like nothing less than a direct and immediate short-cut to God, and I couldn’t get enough of that feeling.” Once in recovery however, the message she received from the God of her understanding was that these drugs were unnecessary shortcuts and a means of escaping reality that were no longer helpful for her. She needed to learn to be in her body, actually trust God, stay present and be fully engaged in reality.(1)
My personal experience with yoga nidra
My first yoga nidra experience, while not as intense as a psychedelic trip, was nothing short of life-altering. It was 20 years ago and I was in slow recovery from what I now understand to be autistic burnout/existential depression/positive disintegration (depending on the lens), but at the time had been labeled Major Depressive Disorder (I mean it wasn’t NOT MDD, the DSM label just fails to provide any context and nuance). I was taking yoga classes at a small studio that had recently opened. Often I was the only student in the class. Wendy, the owner and only teacher, was a large woman with a commanding, yet nurturing, presence. Her story was something of a cliche in that she had a previous life as a corporate executive but after a midlife spiritual awakening she had quit her job in the big city, moved to the country, and bought a little house with a big barn that she subsequently turned into a yoga studio.
One day at the end of class she instructed me and the one other student to lay down in savasana pose and said today she would be leading us through a guided meditation. Having zero expectations and full trust in Wendy I surrendered to the experience which was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Wendy guided us through breathwork followed by instructions to move our attention to the different body parts as she named them. Partway through the body awareness rotation I couldn’t hear her voice anymore. I seemingly left my body and entered into a timeless space where I was free from the constant self-critical, self-analytical mind chatter that I had, up until that point in my life, identified with. I experienced myself as something other than who I thought I was, as pure awareness and empty spaciousness. Time, separation, and suffering ceased to exist. I had shifted out of self-loathing into a space of feeling at peace with myself, like, just maybe, everything was actually okay? After what I assume was only 20 minutes, Wendy guided us back into our bodies and normal waking consciousness. I lay there on my mat, awestruck and speechless. Had I been gone for hours, years, lifetimes? And where exactly had I gone? When I could finally speak I asked Wendy, “What the heck was that?”
“That was yoga nidra,” she answered with a knowing smile and a twinkle in her eye.
Alongside psychotherapy, yoga and yoga nidra played an important role in my healing and positive disintegration journey. Yoga nidra helped me to become enchanted with life after what had been a slow decline into existential despair starting in adolescence. I made the decision to become an art therapist and in 2008 I went back to school. After graduating with my masters degree, I completed 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2011, 100-hour yoga nidra training in 2015, and a 50-hour advanced yoga nidra certification in 2023. As someone with a neurotype that simultaneously craves and resists routine I have always struggled to create consistent, long-term habits. It says a lot that ever since that first initiation into yoga nidra in 2006 I have been a devoted disciple of the practice. Why have I stuck with it all these years? The most honest answer is that it is super easy to do and feels amazing. Minimal effort and profound results? Sign me up!
Additionally, as someone who gets bored with routine and bristles against obligation, I like yoga nidra because it is never boring, never dull. It feels like a treat rather than a chore. As a spiritual practice it is simple but not simplistic. Every yoga nidra journey is unique even if I listen to the same recording (I tend to cycle between only a handful of favorites). This is because it is not the verbal instructions themselves that are transformative, rather it is the experience of non-dual awareness and merging into oneness that makes yoga nidra so powerful. The script is the vehicle but yoga nidra is the destination.
The neuroscience of meditation
It was never my intention to become an experienced meditator with 20 years under my belt, I kept doing it because it felt good. In 2011 Dr. Sarah Lazar, a neuroscience researcher at Harvard, published a study that demonstrated that it took only 8 weeks of a specific type of meditation practice (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction or MBSR) to see changes in the brain that correspond to learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.(2) A more recent study published in 2022 was unable to replicate these findings,(3) so the jury is still out on the magic number of hours or mediation it takes to change the brain. Regardless, there is enough solid research and countless anecdotal reports going back centuries to know that meditation is good for us and the more we practice the easier it is to be calm and compassionate. For me personally, the long-term benefits of meditation have included being better able to regulate my emotions, remain calm during periods of stress, and be more compassionate towards myself and others. In IFS terms, it helps me to be more Self-led in all areas of my life.
Little side story: Dr. Lazar’s 2011 study made a huge impression on me. I showed the video of her TEDx talk to anyone who was interested and used Lazar’s research to help to justify the yoga and mindfulness contributions I was trying to make to the university-based eating disorder program I worked in at the time. Fast forward to 2025, I had moved from Florida back to the Boston area where I grew up, and I had the opportunity to participate as a subject in Dr. Lazar’s current study on the neural mechanisms of IFS. For 40 minutes or so I lay in the MRI machine while intentionally shifting back and forth (10 times to be exact) between being blended with emotional parts and being in Self. First of all, how cool is it that someone is doing an IFS MRI study?! Second of all, what a fun full-circle moment for me to go from using Lazar’s research to support my work to being able to contribute directly to the research as a subject! Who knows when the results of the study will be published but I look forward to reading the paper.
Research tells us that meditation does things like stimulate the vagus nerve and activate the parasympathetic nervous system,(4) decrease stress hormones like cortisol,(5) increase calming hormones like GABA(6) and melatonin, strengthen the immune response, and literally slow our brainwaves.(7, 8) Over time, meditation has been shown to reduce sensitivity in the limbic system and thicken the prefrontal cortex resulting in less emotional reactivity and better emotion regulation.(9) For me, subjectively, yoga nidra makes me feel happier, calmer, patient, peaceful, rejuvenated, energized, focused, clear headed, and more connected to my inner guidance and higher self.
Disrupting the DMN: The drop falls into the ocean
When I was reading Pollan’s book one of things he talks about as being directly related to the experience of ego dissolution during a psychedelic trip is disruption of the default mode network (DMN) in the brain.(10) The DMN is a set of interconnected brain regions that become active when we are not engaged in a goal-directed activity–for example, when we are daydreaming, mind-wandering, or self-reflecting. The DMN is thought to be related to our sense of self, our ego-identity, the narratives we have about ourselves, and our autobiographical memory. Studies show that too much time spent in DMN activation is associated with increased depression and rumination.(11) If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I need to get out of my head!” because you’re caught in a spiral of over-thinking or self-analysis, what you mean is, “I need to disrupt my default mode network!”
Research shows that DMT, the active chemical in ayahuasca (which is functionally similar to psilocybin) disrupts the usual pathways in the brain, creating an environment of hyperconnectivity in which novel neural connections can be made. At the same time, the default connection patterns in the brain that make up the default mode network breaks down. This temporary disruption of brain activity is associated with a loosening of the boundaries that define the self, along with vivid imagery and emotional release.(12) Like a drop of water that falls into the ocean, identity shifts from being a separate individual to being part of the greater whole.
I was curious if any research had been done on the effects of yoga nidra on DMN activity and a quick search revealed an interesting study from 2024 that compared fMRI brain scans of experienced meditators compared to controls that did not have meditation experience.(13) What the researchers found was that during a 20-minute yoga nidra mediation, there was a significant reduction of functional connectivity in all areas of the DMN for the experienced meditators but not in the control group. Additionally they found that greater meditation experience correlated with greater reduction in DMN connectivity, which is consistent with the results of previous meditation studies on the long term benefits of meditation as well as subjective reports that the more you practice the easier it is to quiet the mind and shift into a state of unity consciousness. In other words, for experienced meditators at least, yoga nidra could be comparable to psychedelic microdosing or even a mini psychedelic trip.
What exactly makes yoga nidra different from other kinds of guided meditation you might be wondering? From an outside perspective yoga nidra looks a lot like laying on your back and taking a nap. During yoga nidra the body is completely still and relaxed and the brain shifts into brainwave states typically only experienced during dreaming and deep sleep. The difference between yoga nidra (yogic sleep) and actual sleep is that you remain conscious, alert, and awake–or at least that’s the intention. When you first begin practicing it’s not uncommon to actually fall asleep and the research shows that the more you practice the easier it is to stay awake.(14) In this unique state of profound relaxation and conscious awareness you can break free from default patterns of thinking and make new neural connections, new thoughts and beliefs, that are aligned with who you are becoming rather than who you were in the past.
Through a metaphysical lens, yoga nidra works to clear energy blockages so that life force energy (prana) can flow more freely, ultimately returning to Source. In this way old karmic patterns stored in the energy body can be cleared. At the deepest point of the meditation journey, when the brain waves have slowed significantly and the mind is quiet (the default mode network has been disrupted), new intentions can be planted. In other words, neuroplasticity is optimized for karmic resolution, spiritual growth and healing.
An article published in the International Journal of Yoga Therapy in 2013 proposes a definition of yoga nidra that includes four distinct levels that can be obtained during a single practice.(15) Each level corresponds to specific changes in brain wave patterns moving progressively from Beta (frequency of > 13–30 hertz, alert wakeful state) to Alpha (8–13 hz, deep physical relaxation) to Theta (4–8 hz, associated with concentration, meditation, dreams, hypnosis, hypnogogic imagery) and Delta (≤ 4 hz, typically only experienced during deep non-REM sleep).
The first two levels involve specific breathing and relaxation techniques that are essentially preparatory practices that bring you into the deeper levels of stillness and silence–the yoga nidra state of consciousness. Levels 3 and 4 are where you surrender all doing and let go into a timeless state of being. The point in the yoga nidra script that corresponds to the deepest levels of integration is when the facilitator is silent for a period of time–there is no script for the ineffable.
There are several traditional styles of yoga nidra, usually extending from a particular lineage, and there are also post-lineage styles and practitioners who take a more freeform, intuitive approach. In the post-lineage, modern technological age anyone can instantly access thousands of yoga nidra recordings made by diverse teachers with a wide range of training and experience, however, in my opinion, not all contemporary “yoga nidra” meditations will take you beyond the preparatory stages into the deeper levels.
I am trained in the Integrative Amrit Method of Yoga Nidra (I AM Yoga Nidra™) which I learned directly from Amrit Desai and his daughter, Kamini Desai. Amrit Desai, currently 94 years old, is one of the few remaining living yoga gurus who brought the authentic teachings of yoga to the West in the early 1960s during the first wave of psychedelics. I AM Yoga Nidra™ stays true to its ancient origins in the Tantric teachings. Kamini has done great work to translate Eastern yogic philosophy and esoteric teachings into concepts and tools that are relatable and applicable in Western contemporary life.(16)
The I AM Yoga Nidra™ method guides the practitioner through several stages that are both a brainwave journey from Alpha to Theta and Delta as a journey through the five koshas, or nested layers of energy that make up the body, mind, and spirit. The koshas progress from the densest energy body (i.e. the physical body) to increasingly subtle energies (i.e. prana body, mental body, and wisdom body) and finally to the bliss body which contains our karmic seeds or imprints that have been passed down from past lives and influence all the other koshas on a subconscious level. Each yoga nidra session has the potential to clear energy blockages from all five layers of human existence, from the dense physical body to the ethereal bliss body, while also, progressively over time yoga nidra shifts our field of identification from the physical body, thoughts, emotions, and beliefs to our spiritual essence. In IFS terms, each yoga nidra session helps our parts relax and allows access to Self energy (and Universal SELF energy) and also, over time, yoga nidra can lead to inner harmony and Self-leadership in all areas of life.
If you are intrigued to learn more about yoga nidra or want support in developing a regular yoga nidra meditation practice, get on the waitlist for my new Yoga Nidra Course here.
References:
Gilbert, E. (2025). All the way to the river: Love, loss, and Liberation. Riverhead Books.
Kral, T. R. A., Davis, K., Korponay, C., Hirshberg, M. J., Hoel, R., Tello, L. Y., Goldman, R. I., Rosenkranz, M. A., Lutz, A., & Davidson, R. J. (2022). Absence of structural brain changes from mindfulness-based stress reduction: Two combined randomized controlled trials. Science advances, 8(20), eabk3316.
Koncz, A., Demetrovics, Z., & Takacs, Z. K. (2021). Meditation interventions efficiently reduce cortisol levels of at-risk samples: a meta-analysis. Health Psychology Review, 15(1), 56–84.
Desai, K. (2017). Yoga nidra: The art of transformational sleep. Lotus Press.
