What You Need to Know About Yoga Nidra for Fibromyalgia

Yoga Nidra for Fibromyalgia is one of the most vital tools in my toolkit. It helps with multiple areas, especially the central nervous system dysfunction – or our stuck fight or flight mode.

In this post I share what it is, the benefits, some research (without boring you), my experience as a person with fibromyalgia and as a yoga and meditation teacher. Basically – why you need to try it.

This is an excerpt from my brand new book and has an accompanying video.

One of the core yoga tools, Yoga Nidra is also known as “yogic sleep”. The brain waves during Yoga Nidra mimic those in sleep. For some of us, it is the only way to reach some of the deepest stages of restorative sleep. There is a common belief that a session feels like three hours of sleep.

How you do Yoga Nidra

Nidra has a specific sequence. It begins with grounding into the moment (focusing on sounds, our breath). Setting an intention (or san kalpa) is an important part of it. This is a positive, present tense focus that you usually use until you see fruition. You then move through a body scan. Spend time witnessing thoughts and playing with the sensation of opposites. There is a period near the end where you are able to rest in the moment. This is my favourite part. Often by this point, I am so relaxed that I am able to enjoy a quiet body (limited sensations) which is a relief for someone with a loud body at all other times. At this point, for experienced meditators, it can feel like you have drifted off to sleep. If you wake as soon as the teacher guides you out, then you were not asleep, but were in deep meditation.

The connection between Yoga Nidra and Fibromyalgia

As I mentioned earlier, a theory about Fibromyalgia is that the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight response) may be stuck in overdrive. Meditation promotes a calming of this system, allowing the parasympathetic nervous system to activate. Yoga Nidra takes the benefits of “normal” meditation a step further with it’s sequencing and movement through brainwave patterns.

Yoga Nidra offers the following benefits:

Helps with chronic insomnia
Calms the central nervous system
Can improve the immune system
May help with depression and anxiety
Reduces pain and fatigue
Relieves stress

Best time to practice Yoga Nidra

First thing in the morning if you don’t feel you’ve slept well (most of the time with fibromyalgia?)
During a flare
In place of a rest/nap (especially useful if you cannot nap but really wish you could)
After work
When you need to destress, take time out or calm down
Before bed
During the night (it is great for those painsomnia nights)
Basically, whenever suits you

Yoga Nidra and Me

It took me a while to appreciate meditation – years, in fact, for me to consider giving up precious reading time for it. (When I first started improving, I was so happy to be able to read, which meant it was hard to give up).

In 2014, I read a book about mindfulness meditation and found a YouTube video of a Yoga Nidra session – it’s called Yoga Nidra – Deeply Restorative Guided Relaxation/Meditation – that I particularly liked (avoiding the spiritual/religious aspects of it) and then I was away running. I’m not sure what made me choose Yoga Nidra as opposed to the many other wonderful meditations to try on YouTube, but I am forever thankful I did.

I have meditations, body scans and Yoga Nidra of varying lengths that I switch between as I like. I also use the body scan technique most nights to relax into sleep. The focus on the breath is like second nature to fall into. Now, when I am stuck awake in the middle of the night (usually after the kids have woken me) instead of tossing and turning in frustration, I do a body scan meditation. Not stressing about not sleeping combined with the effects of the deep rest are both restorative and usually lead back to sleep.

When I was pregnant and desperately tired and sore, meditation made a huge difference to my quality of life. Sometimes, I would even catch 5-10 minutes of sleep after the meditation finished and feel uniquely restored. On days when I have not slept well, it is deeply soothing to be able to rest completely without wishing I could nap.

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