At times Yoga classes incorporate a body scan practice. The body scan is a mindfulness meditation practice that allows the practitioner to tune inside the body. Meaning, the practitioner deliberately brings awareness to each part of the body and or sensations experienced as per the instructor’s guidance. The goal is to turn the focus inward and observe how one’s body feels from within.
Meditation can be best understood as a state we become, not necessarily something that we do. Guided Imagery is often used at the end of Yoga and meditation practices where the instructor takes practitioners through various images and sensations which can be perceived by the senses. A Yoga instructor will often ask the practitioners to visualize imagery and guide them through emotions felt due to sensations.
Body Scanning and Guided Imagery practices are essentially Yogic practices that fall under the umbrella of Pratyahara. If an instructor guides his/her practitioners through breathing techniques, the Yogic practice of Pranayama is involved in the process as well.
Pratyahara is the fifth step of Maharishi Patanjali’s progressive eight-limbed or Ashta-Anga path. Pratyahara is followed by Pranayama and the goal of Pratyahara is to engage the five senses while drawing them inward. Given that the practice of Yoga is an inward journey, bringing awareness to the self and engaging the mind to feel sensations – touch, smell, sound, taste, and sight – is the goal of this step. Tools such as Yoga Nidra, also often translated as body scanning or guided imagery are common meditations which allow a practitioner to draw further inward, or practice Pratyahara.
There are eight stages of Yoga Nidra which practitioners might be familiar with body scanning and guided imagery practices. The practice begins with getting ready for relaxation; making a Sankalpa or a resolution for the practice; part-by-part rotation of body awareness; pranayama and energy or awareness of Prana; perceiving the senses; visualization in the mind’s eye; repetition of Sankalpa and the last stage is gentle externalization and becoming aware of the present moment.
Rotation of awareness in Nidra practices works well when a practitioner repeats the body part after the Instructor mentions it. The body recognizes one’s internal voice and thereby internalizes the relaxation by bringing awareness to a particular part. A comprehensive practice will take the practitioner through rotating consciousness throughout the entire body including details such as toenails, eyelashes, etc. This practice allows a practitioner to focus on and bring awareness to various body parts that s/he might not usually focus on the day-to-day.
The guided imagery or visualization in Nidra practices works wonders to bring relaxation when a practitioner is engaged and imagining feeling hot, or cold, imagining snow, desert, floods, rain, and smelling the sweet scents of flowers or the mist from an ocean.
Yoga Nidra is often translated as psychic sleep, or wakeful sleeping but there is no accurate way to describe it; one must experience the practice to understand the process and the benefits. Unlike the mindfulness practices of body scanning and guided imagery which only partly incorporate the various stages of Yoga Nidra, a complete Nidra practice might last up to 45-60 minutes. Yoga Nidra or body scanning and guided imagery is currently being utilized in various areas of research including mitigating symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, trauma, and other Generalized Anxiety Disorders.
If you love the relaxation which body scanning and guided imagery bring, do try to practice a full, Yoga Nidra practice. It will do wonders for relaxing the body and mind and improving the quality of your sleep.