Yoga nidra – rest and to reset and reconnect with ourselves.
What is Yoga Nidra?
Yoga Nidra is one of the most nourishing ways to rest in a busy, modern life. Practised lying down and guided gently throughout, it helps settle the nervous system, release physical and mental tension, and support deeper sleep and recovery. We often come to Yoga Nidra when we’re feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or simply in need of a pause. There’s nothing to achieve and no experience required — just time and space to rest, reset, and reconnect with ourselves. So what does yoga nidra have to do with the tantric understanding of consciousness?
Yoga Nidra and the Tantric understanding of Consciousness
Lucy McCarthy takes us through a delicious Yoga Nidra series inspired by an ancient Tantric understanding of consciousness — from the Kashmir Shaivism tradition. The philosophy itself is rich and complex, yet the heart of it is surprisingly simple: the essential qualities of life — awareness, ease, warmth, wholeness, freedom, and aliveness — are not things we need to cultivate or achieve. They’re already present within us.
You don’t need to be spiritual, religious, or familiar with yoga philosophy. These qualities can be understood in very human terms. We all know moments of quiet awareness, natural ease, feeling enough, or sensing freedom — even if they’re fleeting. Yoga Nidra offers a way to rest deeply enough that these qualities can be felt more clearly and more often. Yoga Nidra is simply an invitation to rest deeply enough to notice what’s already here.
Each practice in this series focuses on one of six core qualities of consciousness:
Awareness (Chit in Sanskrit)
The simple knowing that is always present.
Not what you’re aware of — but that quiet, steady awareness without effort — that’s chit.
🌿You’re aware of sounds.
🌿You’re aware that you’re aware.
In yoga Nidra we are simply softening back into the simple sense of being aware.
Ease or Joy (Ananda in Sanskrit)
The natural relaxation that appears when effort drops away. The gentle sense of ease that comes when you stop pushing.
🌿The relief of lying down after a long day.
🌿The softness of a deep exhale.
🌿The quiet contentment of nothing needing to change.
As the body relaxes and the nervous system settles in Yoga Nidra, this natural ease resurfaces.
Warmth and care (Shri in Sanskrit)
The quality that makes something feel alive, meaningful, or worthy of love. A gentle radiance rather than emotionally intense.
🌿The tenderness in your chest when you see something beautiful.
🌿A quiet sense of appreciation for being alive.
In yoga Nidra, Ananda is allowing the heart area to soften and sense this warmth, as a presence not an emotion.
Wholeness (Purna in Sanskrit)
The feeling that nothing needs fixing right now. It’s being enough exactly as you are. At a deeper level, there can be a sense of completeness — not because everything is perfect, but because this moment doesn’t need fixing.
🌿Nothing needs fixing even if your life feels messy.
🌿You are enough even if you’re struggling.
In Yoga Nidra, we rest in the possibility that, right now, you don’t need to improve, heal, or achieve anything.
Freedom (Svatantrya in Sanskrit)
Inner spaciousness and the ability to respond rather than react. It’s not about controlling life, but sensing openness rather than feeling trapped
🌿The space between a trigger and your response.
🌿The moment you realise you have a choice.
As the body rests deeply in Yoga Nidra, the mind loosens its grip, allowing for a quiet sense of inner spaciousness.
Aliveness (Spanda in Sanskrit)
Being alive and life unfolding moment by moment. The subtle pulse of life moving through stillness.
In yoga Nidra we tune into the subtle aliveness moving through stillness — the quiet hum beneath rest.
Discover the awareness, warmth, freedom, and ease beneath the noise and striving
Rather than trying to understand these ideas with the mind, Yoga Nidra invites us to experience them directly, through the body and nervous system. Lying down, supported, and guided, the layers of effort slowly unwind. In that deep rest, something essential can be remembered and felt.
This series isn’t about bettering ourselves. It’s about meeting ourselves as we are, and discovering that beneath the noise and striving, there is already awareness, warmth, freedom, and ease. Yoga Nidra simply creates the conditions for noticing what has been there all along. An embodied remembering of the universal nature alive within you.
Props for Yoga Nidra
We suggest making a cosy yoga nidra nest, with some or all of the following:
- Cushion or pillow to support the head
- Blankets to cover the body
- Eyebag or eye covering
- Bolster or cushions to go under the knees
Join Lucy McCarthy’s live online yoga nidra classes based on the ancient Tantric understanding of consciousness every Sunday evening from 1 March until 5 April 2026.
Explore all our Yoga Nidra classes
Further reading:
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