Floor Show

I know this looks weird but hear me out.

If you were to walk into my house early on most mornings, you might be a little surprised to see me reclining on the living room floor.

And you might be tempted to ask yourself, “hey, what is this stupid bald bastard stretched out in front of the TV like the town drunk when he’s got a perfectly good bed to sleep in?”

A fair question, no doubt, and you deserve an answer. While I may look like I’m on an indoor camping trip, I’m actually working doing myself a world of good.

I recently discovered a meditation technique called yoga nidra, or yogic sleep, a guided meditation practice aimed at creating a deep state of relaxation between sleep and wakefulness.

Unlike most yoga routines, this one doesn’t involve twisting yourself up into a pretzel and getting all bent out of shape.

Yoga nidra is typically performed in the corpse pose, or Shavasana, which, on the surface, could easily be mistaken for lying on your ass. But there’s so much more going on here.

I came across a couple YouTube channels were the instructors talk you through these relaxation techniques and there are mornings when I’m so freaking peaceful I feel like I’m melting through the floor.

The videos can last anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours, and personally I enjoyed the 60-minute routines. I have trouble getting a full night’s sleep, so I’ll get up early and put on one of these recordings.

You can do a routine anytime you want, of course, but I prefer the early morning when the world is still relatively quiet, and I can gear up for the day ahead.

I’ve done guided meditations before—in fact, if I recall correctly, I did a yoga nidra routine on New Year’s Day to welcome in 2024. But I’ve only recently gotten more serious about it.

I’ve been meditating for a quite a while now and I will continue to do so, as it has helped me so much.

But yoga nidra is different--honestly.

The Tool Box

Judi Bar, a yoga therapist, told the Cleveland Clinic that while there are similarities to meditation, the goal of yoga nidra “is to move into a deep state of conscious awareness sleep, which is a deeper state of relaxation with awareness.”

“This state involves moving from consciousness while awake to dreaming and then to not-dreaming while remaining awake — going past the unconscious to the conscious,” she said. “In this state, the body and mind rest and the consciousness is awake.”

Yeah, well, whatever. All I know is that this shit works for me big time.

I did an hour-long routine one morning last week and the effect stayed with me for most of the day.

I wasn’t flying off the handle at minor things like I do all too often, I wasn’t rehashing the past over and over, which is another one my unhealthy habits. I just was moving through the day--and it felt so good.

My problems hadn’t all magically disappeared. I just wasn’t making them any worse.

I’ve tried listening to rain forest sounds, mood music and binaural beats, and, although they can be very relaxing, I haven’t found anything to match yoga nidra.

Now in all fairness, I live alone, and I currently work from home, so I’m spared interruptions and a daily commute and I don’t have the distractions or commitments that other people may have.

Nevertheless, I would encourage anyone looking to slow a little to give it a try.

In addition to meditation, my morning mental health routine includes qigong, a series of exercises that has its roots in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts and is intended to cultivate life-force or qi.

And there’s also affirmations, visualization, journaling and, of course, prayer. I am an Irish Catholic, after all.

These are all part of what Fred the Shrink liked to call the toolbox, which is any kind of emotional routine that is good for my noodle.

Yoga nidra will be the latest addition to my toolbox.

Now, admittedly I tend to pounce on any New Agey routine and immediately decide that it’s the answer to all my problems and I will be instantly reborn as the Star Child superbeing that I always meant to be.

Yeah, so maybe we want to tone that down a little bit. But I am greatly encouraged by this technique, and I want to continue working with it.

So, yes, I am lying on my ass on the living room floor. And I’m loving every minute of it.