Show Notes
Join Jivana as he talks with Theo Wildcroft and Beverley Nolan about their new book Leading Safe and Simple Yoga Nidras. Theo and Beverley unpack the complex history of yoga nidra, its relationship to sleep science, and why demystifying the practice is one of the most important things we can do to make it safer. Together they explore the ethical responsibilities of anyone who leads this practice and why yoga nidra is ultimately a neurological process that any skilled yoga teacher can learn to lead with confidence and care.
In the second part of the episode, Jivana and co-host Deanna Michalopoulos reflect on why yoga nidra is so powerful and why that power has historically attracted some of yoga's most problematic teachers. They discuss the importance of giving students information before guiding them into vulnerable states, connecting the conversation to broader themes of accessibility and agency. We also hear a voicemail from Jeanie Jyanti of The Alchemy School of Yoga in Cork, Ireland, who asks Jivana to offer a dedicated yoga philosophy training. Jivana shares about his on-demand course with Anjali Rao and reflects on how yoga philosophy is most powerfully taught through presence and practice.
Topics include:
The five-part structure of yoga nidra and how it differs from guided meditation
The influence of relaxationism and Western psychotherapy on modern practice of yoga nidra
Staying and awake and falling asleep during yoga nidra
How to reduce the power imbalances that make yoga nidra vulnerable to misuse
Leading Safe and Simple Yoga Nidras's practical tools for teachers, including audio samples
Writing books through collaboration
Check out:
Get your copy of Leading Safe and Simple Yoga Nidras today!
Pre-order Beverley's forthcoming book Bodyscapes, also available as audiobook
Tracee Stanley
The Essence of Yoga: Making Yoga Philosophy Accessible with Jivana Heyman & Anjali Rao - available On-Demand
**Learn more about the Accessible Yoga Mentorship Program and join today! We look forward to seeing you there.**
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Connect with Beverley:
Beverley Nolan is a yoga teacher-practitioner and a somatic movement educator with forty years’ experience. She is the founder of Barefoot Body Training (UK) offering professional trainings and further education programmes. Her offerings span the inquiry, integration and application of her work in experiential anatomy, developmental movement, embryology, somatic psychology, and Authentic Movement. Drawing on this wealth of experience and her inexhaustible curiosity, Beverley writes on Substack at Field Notes from the Body, and is the author of Bodyscapes, published by North Atlantic Books.
www.beverleynolan.com | www.barefootbody.com | @beverleynolan.writes (IG) | @gardenofyoga (FB)
Connect with Theo:
Theo Wildcroft, PhD is a yoga teacher-trainer, writer and scholar who is interested in the democratization of yoga post-lineage, somatic literacy, meaning-making and the counter-culture. She is a university lecturer, former Coordinator of the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies, Advisory Council Member for the American Yoga Council, and Secretary of the British Association for the Study of Religions. She has collaborated on numerous books, including The Yoga Teachers’ Survival Guide, Yoga Studies in Five Minutes and Leading Safe and Simple Yoga Nidras.
www.theowildcroft.com | @theowildcroft (Substack) | @theodorawildcroft | @theowildcroft (FB)
Connect with Jivana:
Check out Jivana’s books, Accessible Yoga, Yoga Revolution, and The Teacher’s Guide to Accessible Yoga, and get more information about Accessible Yoga at accessib
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