Summer Ease: Beginning with Yoga Nidra

Summer is often filled with sunshine, activity, travel, gatherings, and long, beautiful days. While this season offers so much to enjoy, it can also leave us feeling a little depleted by all of the doing.

This summer, I'd like to invite you into a different rhythm.

Over the coming weeks, I'll be sharing simple practices to help cultivate more ease, balance, and rest. Opportunities to pay attention and to do less. Together we'll explore gentle ways to support the nervous system, soften the effects of stress, and create moments of quiet in the midst of full summer days.

Our first practice is one of my favorites: Yoga Nidra.

Yoga Nidra, often translated as yogic sleep, is a guided meditation practiced while lying down or reclined comfortably. You aren't asked to stretch or move, and you don't have to quiet your mind or "meditate well." Your only job is to get comfortable and listen.

Many people compare Yoga Nidra to the feeling of drifting into a daydream or enjoying a summer siesta—that delicious space between sleeping and waking where the body deeply relaxes, and the mind becomes quiet. While Yoga Nidra may feel similar, it is also a time-honored yogic practice designed to guide you into a state of profound rest and healing.

As the body settles, the nervous system has an opportunity to shift out of "doing" mode and into "being." In this deeply restful state, we can release tension, replenish our energy, improve sleep, enhance clarity, and reconnect with a sense of inner steadiness. Even if you happen to fall asleep during the practice, your body is still receiving the benefits of rest.

Summer naturally encourages us to be outwardly engaged. Yoga Nidra offers a beautiful counterbalance—a chance to pause, cool the mind, and replenish ourselves so we can more fully enjoy the season.

I invite you to set aside 20–30 minutes, find a quiet place where you can lie down comfortably (outside is highly encouraged), and allow yourself to be supported by the practice. Use blankets, pillows, or anything else that helps you feel completely at ease. I also highly recommend an eye pillow or other eye covering.

There is nothing to achieve.

Nothing to fix.

Simply rest.

I hope this practice becomes a refuge you return to throughout the summer whenever you need to restore your energy and reconnect with yourself.

You can listen to the practice here on my website. This will be the landing place for the free practices I offer in the coming months:

https://www.jmountainyoga.com/online_store

Additionally, I am now an instructor on Insight Timer, a free app that offers guided mediations like Yoga Nidra. You can find my profile here, as well as explore other offerings:

https://insighttimer.com/joannedennis1641

And lastly, a reminder that my Summer Ease Class Series in Newport kicks off on Sunday July 19th. Space is limited to 8 people and I invite you to join me in exploring the deeper and more subtle practices of yoga through movement, breath and rest this summer season. You can register here: https://www.jmountainyoga.com/offerings/summer-ease-series