Non-Sleep deep rest is a powerful practice that guides your brain and body into a state of deep relaxation without falling asleep.
Dr. Andrew Huberman (a neuroscientist) coined non-sleep deep rest as the term for mindfulness practices that lead to a state of deep relaxation without falling asleep completely, including yoga nidra and some forms of meditation. You may have also heard the terms ‘sleep hypnosis’, ‘sleep meditation’, ‘body scan’, or ‘yogic sleep’, which all describe NSDR practices. Try this 20 minute guided mediation, you won’t be disappointed.
These relaxation techniques use the body to affect the mind: rather than trying to think your way into feeling relaxed, you lean into a state of physical relaxation that your nervous system then matches. Whereas we often think of being awake or being asleep as a binary, research has shown it is more accurate to consider it a spectrum, with NSDR landing somewhere in the middle.
The practice of Yoga Nidra (also called yogic sleep) is a more specific NSDR practice that uses guided meditation paired with intention setting and includes more typical ‘yogic’ language (similar to what you would hear in a yoga class).
Andrew uses the term non-sleep deep rest or NSDR so that the name of a more specific practice doesn’t serve as a barrier – regardless of what a specific NSDR practice is called the neuroscience and stress reduction benefits are the same. If you regularly attend yoga classes, you might prefer the language used in Yoga Nidra guided meditations. Some people avoid anything with ‘meditation’ in the name. You might appreciate the small differences between NSDR practices or find that the voice narrating the NSDR script affects your ability to fully relax.
Want to learn more, follow Dr. Huberman for some great tips here!
