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For the majority of my adult life, I’ve been a night owl who hits snooze multiple times every morning. Waking up and actually feeling awake was pretty much a foreign (and seemingly unattainable) concept to me, and even though I’d accepted my wolf chronotype status, did I really have to accept being so groggy every morning?

Much to my delight, I recently discovered a big benefit to a practice that, until now, I’d only done once. It’s called Yoga Nidra, and when I started doing it just to unwind before bed, I found that I felt so much more rested the following morning.

Yoga Nidra has me sleeping like a baby

I did Yoga Nidra for the first time back in 2018 during my first yoga teacher training. Nidra is the Sanskrit word for “sleep,” so you can think of it as exactly that: yogic sleep.

It’s a practice that involves the practitioner lying in savasana for upward of an hour (though you can do shorter practices), as they’re guided into a deeply relaxed, dreamlike state. You move your awareness around your body, notice your breath, visualize calming things—and eventually feel like you’re somewhere between awake and asleep.

It was incredibly relaxing the first time I tried it, but I admittedly never incorporated it into my personal practice or my classes. Recently, though, I was trying to get out of the habit of doomscrolling before bed, so I decided to pull up a Yoga Nidra video. Half an hour later, I was out like a light—and the next morning, I remember being struck with the realization that I actually felt alert.

So I did it again, and again, and again. Each time, I woke up the next morning without a problem, sometimes even before my alarm. And now on the nights that I don’t do it, I can definitely feel the difference in the morning, so it’s become somewhat of a newfound staple in my routine.

And it’s really no wonder, considering this ancient practice has been trusted in yogic culture since as early as 1,000 BCE—not to mention the scientific literature is starting to catch up.

In one study1 on Yoga Nidra for insomnia, researchers concluded that Yoga Nidra is a “well-tolerated, feasible intervention for adults reporting insomnia.” In additional research, study authors say that Yoga Nidra practice “improves cognitive processing and helps improve nighttime sleep in healthy novices.”

How to try it yourself

The good news is, Yoga Nidra really is one of the simplest and cheapest things you can do to benefit everything from your sleep to your mood and more. The aforementioned research even notes that both veteran and novice yogis can reap these benefits—and it doesn’t have to cost you a cent.

There are countless guided audios and videos for Yoga Nidra that can be found on YouTube and Spotify, though you can also venture into yoga studios for Yoga Nidra classes. If you want to try it in the comfort of your own home, and especially if you want to do it to help fall asleep at night, free online options are where it’s at.

Personally, I like to do 20-30 minutes once I’m already in bed, ready to go to sleep. I’ll pull up the video on the TV, set the sleep timer to turn off when the video is done, and that’s all there is to it.

The takeaway

Whether you have a hard time falling asleep or waking up in the morning, take it from someone who’s been there: Yoga Nidra might seriously surprise you.

It’s been a tried-and-true technique for centuries and one that still holds up today for maximum relaxation and blissful sleep.