The Case for Deep Rest – Why Yoga Nidra Is Worth Exploring
A while back, I had one of those evenings where I was absolutely exhausted but apparently nobody had bothered to inform my brain.
My body was done. Finished. Kaput. My brain, however, had scheduled an emergency evening meeting.
So there I was, lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling while my mind diligently reviewed everything I had done that day, everything I still needed to do tomorrow, several conversations that probably did not require further investigation, and at least one mildly embarrassing incident from several years earlier.
You know. Important stuff!
I remember thinking, I am tired. Why can't I just rest?
And I think that's a question a lot of us can relate to. Because being tired and being able to rest are two very different things.
We're very good at doing. But resting? That can be surprisingly difficult. Which is one of the reasons I became interested in Yoga Nidra.
First Things First – What Is Yoga Nidra?
The name sometimes gets translated as "yogic sleep," which admittedly makes it sound slightly more mysterious than it needs to be. You may have also heard it referred to as non-sleep deep rest (NSDR).
There are no complicated poses. We don't need to be flexible. We don't need expensive yoga pants. We don't even have to sit cross-legged. In fact, we usually lie down.
I realize I may have just won some of you over.
Yoga Nidra is a guided meditative practice that brings us into a deeply relaxed state while maintaining some degree of awareness. A typical practice may guide us through the body, breathing, sensations, imagery, or other areas of attention.
So, we're not exactly asleep. We're not going about our day either.
We're deliberately allowing ourselves to become deeply still while following the guidance rather than trying to figure out how to "relax properly."
And for those of us whose minds tend to treat silence as an opportunity to race ahead to whatever comes next, that structure can be extremely helpful.
We May Have a Rest Problem
I've talked a lot about the difficulty we have switching off from work. But I think there's a larger issue underneath it. We've become remarkably good at filling empty space.
Waiting in line? Phone.
Commercial break? Phone.
Sitting on the couch for thirty seconds without anything happening? Absolutely not. Somebody find my phone!
Even many of the things we call relaxation still involve taking in information. Television. Podcasts. Social media. News. YouTube. None of those things are inherently bad. I enjoy them too.
But they aren't the same thing as allowing the mind to settle. There's a difference.
And that's where I think Yoga Nidra becomes particularly interesting.
What Does the Research Say?
This is where we're going to briefly put on our science hats. Don't worry. We won't be wearing them long.
Research into Yoga Nidra is still developing, so I'm always a little wary when somebody starts promising that twenty minutes of it will fix everything from poor sleep to your relationship with your mother.
That's not where the evidence is. But what researchers are finding is interesting.
A 2026 meta-analysis looked at 73 studies involving more than 5,000 participants and found promising results for stress, anxiety, and depression. There's an important asterisk here: the researchers also found substantial variation and generally low methodological quality among the studies, meaning the size of those benefits may be overstated. In other words: promising, yes. Case closed, absolutely not.
A more tightly controlled trial out of the University of the Bundeswehr Munich backs this up. Over two months, people doing a 30-minute Yoga Nidra practice showed drops in stress, anxiety, depression, and rumination compared to a waitlist group. And, their cortisol (the hormone your body dumps out when it thinks you're being chased by something) started following a healthier daily pattern. Even an 11-minute session showed benefits.
That last part matters for anyone who has ever said "I don't have time to meditate"
Sleep is another area getting attention. A study out of the Armed Forces Medical College in India had novice practitioners do 20 minutes of Yoga Nidra daily for two weeks, then measured their sleep in a lab overnight. The result: more deep, restorative sleep (technically, an increase in delta-wave activity), better sleep efficiency, and faster performance on memory and decision-making tests the next day with no drop in accuracy. Faster and just as sharp. That's a combination most of us would take.
Because Who Has an Extra Hour?
This is where Yoga Nidra starts making a lot of sense for the people I tend to speak to.
We're busy. We're working. Commuting. Raising families. Maintaining relationships. Trying to exercise. Trying to sleep. Adding another elaborate wellness routine to the schedule isn't always particularly helpful.
But fifteen minutes? Now we have something to work with. This isn't a lifestyle overhaul. It's fifteen minutes on the floor with your eyes closed, and the data suggests your body treats that seriously even when your calendar doesn't.
And unlike practices where we may feel as though we're trying very hard to meditate correctly, Yoga Nidra gives us something to follow.
Lie down. Listen. Follow the guidance.
That's a pretty reasonable barrier to entry.
Deep Rest Without Having to Earn It
Yoga Nidra gives us practice at not doing. Think about how uncomfortable many of us have become with doing nothing. Rest often comes with conditions, like I'll relax when I finish this. I'll take a break after I answer these emails. I'll slow down once this project is finished.
Except another project appears. Another email arrives. Something else needs doing. And rest gets pushed a little further down the road.
Yoga Nidra turns rest into the activity.
For a brief period, there is nothing to accomplish. We aren't trying to improve a spreadsheet, answer somebody, solve something, or prove that we're making good use of our time.
We're practicing being still. And for people whose sense of worth has become tangled up with productivity, that can be an interesting experience all by itself.
It May Help Us Sleep — But It Isn't Just About Sleep
Because of the whole "yogic sleep" thing, it's tempting to think of Yoga Nidra as something we only do at bedtime. And it can certainly fit there. But I actually think one of its most useful applications for busy working people may be as a reset before we're ready for sleep.
After work. Late afternoon. During that strange period when the workday is technically finished but our brain is still reviewing the minutes from a meeting nobody else is thinking about anymore.
A short Yoga Nidra practice gives us somewhere to go with that energy. Instead of immediately reaching for another screen or carrying the same pace into the evening, we lie down for a few minutes and deliberately reduce the amount of input coming in.
There's No Medal for Doing It Perfectly
One reason I like guided practices in general is that they remove some of the mystery surrounding meditation. And Yoga Nidra is particularly forgiving.
Our mind wanders? Fine.
We lose track of the instructions for a moment? No problem.
We become so relaxed that we drift off? Well… it happens.
There isn't a panel of meditation judges standing nearby holding up scorecards.
The goal isn't to achieve some extraordinary altered state every time we practice. It's to show up, follow along, and see what happens.
Some sessions may feel deeply restorative. Others may simply give us fifteen minutes where nobody needs anything from us. Quite frankly, I'll take either.
Maybe We Don't Need to Get Better at Pushing
For years, much of the conversation around performance has been about doing more. More discipline. More focus. More productivity.
And there is absolutely a time for all of those things. We’re already pretty damn good at pushing. But maybe the skill we're missing is knowing when to stop. Knowing how to become still without feeling guilty about it. Knowing how to let the mind and body settle before asking them to perform again.
Yoga Nidra isn't the answer to every problem, and the research isn't strong enough to pretend otherwise. But it offers us something remarkably simple… lie down… close our eyes… listen. And for a little while, stop trying so hard.
For those of us who spend most of our lives doing exactly the opposite, that might be worth practicing.
Join Us
Reading about rest isn’t quite the same as actually getting some. Join us on Workforce Nation: Meditation for Work-Life Harmony, where we’ll explore Yoga Nidra through a guided session designed to help the mind and body settle into a deeper state of rest.
You can experience this session here on YouTube or on our podcast below. Give yourself a little time to slow down, settle in, and see how it feels.
