39. How to develop a consistent Yoga Nidra practice (even with a busy life)

There’s so many things that we want to do as yoga teachers; including keep a steady practice going for ourselves and add to our knowledge and ability to keep our offerings absolutely great for our yogis (and all our other roles and responsibilities too!)… 

This episode addresses the barriers to setting up and executing a regular Yoga Nidra practice, and - spoiler alert - it’s basically a repeating reminder to be kind to yourself. To refine that balance of the discipline, the tapas of setting goals and sticking to them, whilst layering in an understanding that life is busy, so how can we work with the busy in the most effective and enjoyable way. 

Here’s what we’re looking at:

• Prioritising kindness
• Removing all barriers
• Plan A and plan B
• Creating a virtuous cycle

Much of this episode has been inspired by the completely inspiring and practical Yoga Nidra handbook - Radiant Rest by Tracee Stanley. Get your copy here 

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Chapters

• 4:28 Prioritising kindness
• 5:34 Removing all barriers
• 6:10 Have an area with all of your yoga nidra things already in it
• 7:08 Make it short
• 7:50 Be realistic in your expectations of the environment
• 9:08 Plan A and Plan B
• 10:43 Create a virtuous cycle
• 11:57 Learnings from the Bhagavad Gita

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to for yoga teachers. This podcast has been designed to help yoga teachers teach with passion, avoid burnout, and earn a fair living.

There's so many things that we want to do as yoga teachers, including keeping a steady practice going for ourselves, and to add to our knowledge and ability for our yogis. 

We want to run our houses and see our friends and keep on top of our finances, and. That sound familiar? There's a few things I think are incredibly effective for achieving basically most of what I've just mentioned. And one of them is yoga nidra. The last couple of episodes have focused on yoga nidra and it's many [00:01:00] benefits and episode 38 brings us very special yoga nidra, specifically for yoga teachers. 

This episode addresses the barriers, the everyday inconveniences and hurdles to setting up a regular consistent yoga nidra practice. And next week, we'll look at the business of teaching yoga nidra. So if you were thinking of undertaking a yoga nidra training, or you have already done so, you can get an idea of the financial opportunity available for you when you graduate. Okay. Back to this episode. As a mum of two and studio owner. I 100% am in that camp of life is busy and a regular practice is a real luxury. Except one, it's not a luxury. It's a necessity for a vaguely [00:02:00] sane life in my opinion anyway. And two let's rethink what a regular or consistent practice looks like. 

When working with yoga teachers on a mentoring basis, when yoga teachers say that they're struggling for time, to keep a consistent practice going. I'll stay on that topic for a little bit and I'll dig into it. And often what the yoga teacher is saying is that their expectations are something like an hour's flow practice followed by a 15 minute meditation practice. They would additionally like to practice yoga nidra. And. Yeah. That probably most certainly is not achievable. If it is. I applaud you. I honestly, I commend you. Uh, you have set your life up like a boss. Please, can I book in a mentoring session with you?

Uh, well-done. Um, But if [00:03:00] your practice isn't like that, you know, if you're juggling jobs and houses and families and responsibilities and the teaching of yoga. And your life, doesn't a space like that. At least not consistently. Well, what then? Well, that's exactly what this episode will be addressing. 

The whole episode is basically a reminder to be kind to yourself, to refine that balance of the discipline of the tapas of goal and intention setting and sticking with that. Whilst balancing in the compassion and kindness and understanding that life is busy. So how can we work with the busy, rather than work against the busy so that we're working in the most effective and enjoyable way. 

If you have the time and the Headspace, I would really recommend Tracee Stanley's book, Radiant Rest. 

It's totally inspiring and [00:04:00] practical and addresses the benefits and challenges of bringing yoga nidra into your days, into your weeks and into your life. There's links to buy the book in our show notes. 

So here's what we're looking at today. 

Prioritising kindness. 

Removing the barriers. 

Plan a and plan B. 

And then lastly, creating a virtuous cycle. 

Here we go. 

Prioritising kindness. 

You're probably expecting me to say, be kind to yourself. If you don't get to do your yoga nidra practice because you're too busy, don't worry about it. Be kind and. Okay. Yes, something like that. But if you want my humble view here, I know I'm a much kinder person when I've done my practice. I know I am. So for me. Prioritising the kindness for me to myself, but [00:05:00] also for me to those around me means doing the practice, it means doing the work. Yes, I'm doing it for me. I enjoy it. You know, I love it and I feel great afterwards, but I'm doing it for my teammates, for my yogis, for my family, for my friends. 

So, let your brain think about, how Prioritising kindness looks for you. Because yoga teacher Prioritising kindness should never mean putting yourself at the bottom of your to-do list. Never. 

Removing all barriers. I think if I was only allowed to give one piece of advice to yoga teachers for the rest of my existence, it would be this. Remove the barriers, make whatever you're doing, and whatever you want to do as easy as possible. 

So you want to set up a weekly yoga nidra practice? Well, make it easy. Some tips here [00:06:00] are: 

Find a recording in advance and have it bookmarked, so you're not wasting your valuable time and energy, trying to find the perfect one. 

Have an area with all of your yoga nidra things already in it. Yoga mat, blankets, plural. A pillow or a bolster for behind your knees, if you're going to be lying on your back. A small cushion or a folded blanket to support your head. An eye pillow if you use one, et cetera. Get everything together and already in your nidra area. So you're not running around the house, trying to find everything that you need. Just a little aside here or a little bit of food for thought. Perhaps your yoga nidra practice could be after a class that you teach in a studio if the studio will be empty, you'll probably have a quiet, warm, clean space, access to loads of equipment. Rather than expecting that you'll [00:07:00] do it when you get home where you're more likely to get tied up in house things. 

Make it short. If you're time poor, don't set yourself up to fail by having the expectation that you'll do fortyfive minutes every single morning as the sun rises. Be realistic. Do 10 minutes, do five minutes. You can increase the length of the practice in time, but for now, just do what you can. Later on this episode, we'll look at how yoga nidra is one of those things that causes a virtuous cycle. So it might be that as you practice a shorter yoga nidra, Your life starts to make space for a longer one. But you have to start somewhere. 

Be realistic in your expectations of the environment. 

I mentioned before that quite commonly yoga teachers will expect themselves to [00:08:00] be able to practice for a long time, every day. Another thing that comes up a lot when speaking to yoga teachers about setting up um, a nidra practice meditation practice is expecting the environment to be perfect or nearly perfect. It won't be. And thank goodness. Because the perfect silent. Um, Environment that doesn't tickle the senses doesn't really teach us that much. 

Meditation helps us live in the real world with less pain. If you can set up a meditation practice or yoga nidra practice with the roadworks going on outside, with the dog barking next door. Then that's gonna set you up to be more skilled at pratyahara in your real life. So rather than waiting for this noise to stop or that stimulus to stop, or those people to go out. Can you say [00:09:00] to yourself that the experience is what it is and do it anyway. 

Plan A and Plan B. 

This is something that we look at in our yoga nidra and yoga wisdom training. Create your Plan A; your realistic, but ideal goals for example, a weekly uninterrupted 30 minute yoga nidra practice. You'll put everything that you can in place to achieve this. Make it a plan that's beneficial to your life, but that doesn't cause you extra stress. And your plan B, is just for those days where you need a Plan B. So for example, Plan A: 30 minute Nidra every Saturday morning, you put everything you can into making sure that it happens. But for when it doesn't, you just have one of those days, you're really under the weather, this has happened, that has happened. You have your Plan B, which is non-negotiable. Maybe it's a five minute [00:10:00] yoga nidra in your car, in the supermarket carpark or whatever it is. 

So yoga teachers let's recap so far. We're Prioritising kindness, which let's face it. If you're going to be kind to yourself and the people around you, it probably means that you need to practice. We're removing barriers. Finding a yoga nidra that works for you, having an area that's ready to practice in and being realistic about environmental expectations. With all that in mind you create your plan, a, the goal and plan B for the days that it just hits the fan. 

Create a virtuous cycle. 

I think many things in yoga and in life become vicious cycles or virtuous cycles. A vicious cycle I see a lot is having the intention to practice in order to feel [00:11:00] better, then not getting around to practising, so feeling worse because you've not kept your word to yourself and because you've not practiced, so then you feel more busy and more scattered, which means that you're even more likely to not get round to your practice, and then you feel even worse. 

Looking at that another way. You have the intention to practice, your area is ready, you're managing your expectations of the environment around you. And, you know, you can only do 10 minutes today, and that is totally fine. You do the 10 minutes. You feel, I mean, let's be honest, smug, and why not? You've cleared your head a bit, so you're focused for the rest of the day. You tick lots of things off your to-do list and lo and behold, you've freed up 10 minutes to be able to practice tomorrow. A virtuous cycle. 

Finally some food for thought here from the Bhagavad Gita. One of [00:12:00] the loveliest, most reassuring, most practical things that the Bhagavad Gita says is "on this path", meaning the path to all ultimate contentment and peace. "On these path effort never goes to waste and there is no failure." So yoga teacher, if you've been giving yourself a hard time about not doing enough, then stop. Go back to basics. Find a realistic, beneficial way to practice yoga nidra and make it happen. Prioritise kindness, remove the barriers, create your Plan A and have your Plan B there for days that you need it. Be realistic. Do what you can and enjoy the fruits. 

Yoga teacher, I hope that's provided some inspiration for developing a consistent yoga nidra practice, even in a busy life. If you'd be so kind to share this episode with another yoga teacher, I [00:13:00] would be so grateful and as always happy teaching.