Many people think that Yoga Nidra and lucid dreaming are the same, but although both are beneficial and related to sleep, they are two, similar but still different practices.
Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep) is a relaxation technique, a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. Your brain shifts from the beta waves (typical of a chatty, restless mind) to the alpha waves (a sign of blissful peace and complete relaxation). In Yoga Nidra, the mind stays awake. It’s like sleeping, but being aware of everything going on around you at the same time.
This is a simple exercise and anyone can practice it. You need to lie down on your back. Relax, close your eyes, calm your mind, and follow the simple instructions. In Yoga Nidra, we first release physical and muscular tension that comes from an imbalance in the nervous system. After that, we release emotional tension, mental tension, and negative thoughts.
It is believed that practicing 30 minutes of yoga Nidra is equal to two hours of deep sleep.
The main benefit of Yoga Nidra is improving mindfulness but also, Yoga Nidra relieves stress and various types of tension in the body and mind, it is an aid in different diseases (anxiety, asthma, mild depression, etc.), relieves from various forms of addiction, improve sleep quality, improves memory, concentration, develops creativity, gains strength, connects with higher consciousness, raises the energy, balances the nervous system.
Lucid dreaming is a term given to “dreamers” who are aware that they are dreaming. In lucid sleep, a person is fully aware that he is dreaming, and he has a certain degree of control in sleep.
One can control what one says or does, choose who will appear in the dream, and even stop the dream if it is unpleasant. People often consider their lucid dreams to be the most wonderful experiences in life.
With lucid dreaming, we can try various experiences that we cannot afford or have. With the help of such dreams, we realize the visualization of some wanted events or results, which we later more easily turn into reality. For starters try to remember the dreams as soon as you wake up. The easiest way to do this is to write them down right away. Then try to mentally prepare and to convince yourself that you will be aware of your dream that you are dreaming.
Dreams have been proven to unlock the deepest emotions and feelings in the brain. With the control that comes with lucid dreaming, an opportunity is created to correct deep psychological problems. Many use lucid dreaming to get to know themselves better, solve a problem, for personal growth, or self-healing.
Although lucid dreaming was considered a myth in the past, science has confirmed that lucid dreams exist and that there are methods that increase the chances of people achieving such dreams. Lucid dreaming is a technique that needs to be practiced for a long time, but for a start, you can try music that evokes such dreams. These isochronic tones can help you to easily achieve to be aware that you are dreaming while sleeping:
https://unexplainable.com/item/lucid-dream-isochronic-204
Whatever your desires, do not forget that in a lucid dream there are no limits.
So, you can use Yoga Nidra technique when you need to feel rested, and you can use lucid dreaming when for some reason you need to be in control of the things that you are doing in your dream, to improve some kind of performance, to resolve some personal conflict or some nightmares, and a lot more things. Both techniques are safe, interesting, and very helpful if you can master them.