Study finds direct impact of Yoga Nidra on deep relaxation, awareness

A study conducted by researchers at Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Mahajan Imaging has shown a direct impact of Yoga Nidra practices on deep relaxation and increased awareness, IIT-Delhi said in a news release Thursday.

In the first functional MRI study exploring the neural mechanisms underlying Yoga Nidra found more significant brain changes occurring during Yoga Nidra practice in individuals with experience in yoga/meditation than those with less or no experience, it said.

This work carried out at IIT’s National Resource Centre for Value Education in Engineering was supported by the Department of Science and Technology under the Science and Technology for Yoga and Meditation programme.



Yoga Nidra practice, often referred to as 'yogic sleep' or 'non-sleep deep rest', is designed to induce a state of deep relaxation while maintaining heightened awareness.

The study, titled "Functional connectivity changes in meditators and novices during Yoga Nidra practice," provides new insights into how Yoga Nidra affects brain function, in individuals experienced in meditation and yogic practices and in novices, the news release said.

The study was conducted on two groups: one comprising 30 meditators (householders with an average of 3,000 hours of experience in meditation and/or yogic practices) and the other with 31 novices with no such experience.

The study found that the Default Mode Network (DMN) behaves differently (less connected) in experienced meditators compared to novices.


DMN connectivity refers to how well different regions of the brain communicate and work together. The difference in brain communication patterns helps understand how Yoga Nidra modulates brain functions, promoting a state of deep relaxation while staying aware, according to the statement.

“The more hours participants spent practicing meditation and yoga, the more noticeable the changes in their brain activity during Yoga Nidra,” it stated.

“According to Yogic texts, Yoga Nidra helps bring the ‘samskaras’ buried in deep subconscious minds to the surface and eventually helps release them, thereby promoting health,” IIT-Delhi professor Rahul Garg said. “The activation of brain areas involved in processing emotions is a very interesting finding in this context. This may explain why it has been found effective in anxiety in certain studies,” Garg said.