I'm writing this as my response to @frostdragon's post #506635 and question "What's something you've learned or discovered over the last week or two?"

The discovery I have made this week that already has had an immediate and profound benefit on my life has been the implementation of yoga nidra. Yoga nidra also referred to as yoga sleep is a practice of deep relaxation in which you lay in a comfortable position and simply follow the instructions of a yoga instructor as they lead you through a structured practice of guided meditation. Whereas most forms of meditation revolve around developing the skill to focus and refocus either internally or on something external, yoga nidra's sole purpose is to promote deep relaxation and rest.

I decided on trying out yoga nidra because the past month or so I've been ramping up my training in preparation for the upcoming football season, and I was noticing that my recovery was beginning to take a hit and that decent sleep wasn't enough for my body to bounce back. I curiously typed in yoga nidra on YouTube and it sent me to a channel that has numerous yoga nidra guided meditations with a range of meditation durations depending on how much time you have. The first one I tried was 20 minutes long, and from there I have been hooked and have tried some shorter practices as well as longer ones.

Subjectively speaking, I feel so much more rested, calm, peaceful, and just grateful for existing after doing a session of yoga nidra. It's still less than a week, however, within that time I have had two football games, one small sided, and the other a full field, 90 minute game, and in both games I was much more physically and mentally in tune, focused, and fully immersed in the game. What was even more interesting was that normally after a game my recovery the next day would dip which makes sense given the physical and mental demands of the sport, but by practicing yoga nidra post game my recovery the next day did not go down, in fact it rose slightly. On top of this, my heart rate variability has consistently been going up regardless of whether or not I had a game or high intensity training the previous day. My sleeping has also improved as the amount of total restorative sleep (deep and REM sleep) has consistently been on the rise. My daily stress levels have been regularly declining too.

Still early days for me to judge whether or not yoga nidra has truly long lasting benefits or if there is an element of placebo, but it is something I will continue to practice as there are clear indications that yoga nidra does in fact have restorative and resting benefits based off anecdotal experience and off the metrics on my Whoop wearable.

In this hustle and bustle culture it can be very easy in getting caught up in just going non stop and adopting the mentality that sleep, rest, and recovery are for the weak, but speaking from experience, just going hard may work for a bit or sometimes even a while, however, sooner or later the body will start breaking down. I've learned the harder I want to train and push myself, the more critical it becomes to bring the same amount of attention and energy towards proper rest and recovery, and honestly, yoga nidra may be one of the most powerful and easily implementable protocols that all of us can take on board right this second!

Don't take my word for it, try it out! And feel free to comment your experiences with yoga nidra! What are other protocols stackers incorporate to feel better rested and rejuvenated?