It's a Wrap!

In the deep forward bend Yoganidrasana, you wrap your limbs around your torso and hug in, which brings forth a state of inner stillness and calm.

By Nicki Doane with Eddie Modestini

The first time my four-year-old son Matteo saw me inYoganidrasana (Yogic Sleep Pose) he said, "Mama, that's crazy!" I have to agree with him; this pretzel-like pose can look a bit extreme at first. But once you're able to get into the pose safely, you'll find that the experience is anything but crazy. In fact, the shape of Yoganidrasana—a deep forward bend with the limbs drawn in close to the torso—stimulatespratyahara, or the deep state of peaceful relaxation that comes from withdrawing the senses.

Pratyahara is the fifth of the eight limbs laid out in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra. In classical yoga, pratyahara is studied after the first four limbs, which include asana and pranayama, and beforedharana (concentration) and dhyana (meditation). There's a reason for that sequence. To cultivate pratyahara, you must apply what you've learned from the physical poses and breathwork; in turn, pratyahara prepares you for the deep inward concentration required for meditation.

Plus, the experience of pratyahara just feels good. As you draw your awareness inward, like a tortoise retreating into its shell, your breath slows, your muscles relax, and you feel yourself completely letting go. The sights and sounds around you feel far away, but at the same time you feel connected to the universe. The goal of pratyahara is not to tune everything out, but instead to find the source of stillness and calm that resides within you, even in the midst of chaos. It may be a state you've never felt before, but once you do, you'll want to return to it.

After years of practicing yoga I am most grateful for such moments of utter calm that arise during my practice. Like little drops of nectar, they are surprisingly sweet, and they are far more satisfying than those times when I "achieve" a difficult pose I've been working toward. They offer a chance to let go of any commotion around me, of the effort I put into my practice, of any ideas I have about how things should be—so that I can just be. And in my experience, though Yoganidrasana may look kind of crazy, once you're in it, it provides that rare experience of true stillness.

But just as a yogi doesn't tackle pratyahara without establishing a foundation in asana and pranayama, so you wouldn't want to try Yoganidrasana without ensuring that your body is ready for it. Open hips and loose hamstrings are essential to practicing this pose safely. Let me emphasize the word "safely" for a moment. Much as you might want to put both legs behind your head, doing so before your body is ready puts you at risk for an assortment of unpleasantries ranging from sacroiliac pain, to lumbar problems, to torn hamstrings, to neck pain.

For example, if your hip rotators and hamstrings are tight but your knee joints and sacroiliac are flexible, you'll unknowingly recruit those joints to compensate for the lack of flexibility in your muscles. And that can lead to injury. So it's critical that you stop doing Yoganidrasana—or any of the poses in this series—if you feel any knee, lower back, or neck pain.