Photo by Josh Spano’18 | Students sleep in the former Brophy weight room as part of the Yoga Nidra Club on Tuesday, December 12, 2017.
The Yoga Nidra Club currently meets once a week and students are encouraged to rest and relax.
By José Acuña ’20
The ROUNDUP
At lunch on Tuesdays in the Loyola Hall Weight Room, any students can participate in guided yoga meditation with the ultimate goal of falling asleep.
There are no physical requirements to join the Yoga Nidra club. There is also no paraphernalia required: all mats and blankets are provided by Yoga Nidra club moderator Mrs. Leslie Goodwin.
Mrs. Goodwin, who runs a Yoga class at Xavier, started the club to get students to catch up on sleep and receive the wholesome benefits of relaxation.
Mrs. Goodwin was inspired to start the club after seeing her children’s sleep habits. “As a mother of three, I see how much my older ones don’t sleep. Yoga Nidra is like a power nap but also so much more.”
“Most people think yoga is a physical thing, but Yoga Nidra is more of a sense of physical and emotional withdrawal,” said Mrs. Goodwin. “We go through sleep with awareness and try to enter the deepest state of relaxation in a time of 30 minutes.”
“There are varieties of positions that are used towards achieving our deepest relaxation,” said Mrs. Goodwin. “We travel through higher brainwave states throughout classes so students often find themselves in a lesser brainwave and more relaxed state when they are participating in the yoga.”
“Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation where students follow along while lying down on Yoga Mats,” said Yoga Nidra student moderator Max Mayfair ’18. “Whoever chooses to participate for thirty minutes will gain the sleep benefits of four to six hours of sleep.”
Mayfair said that a lot of the time students think that they are asleep but able to wake up with ease. They are in a state of awareness in which they are receiving the benefits of Yoga Nidra.
Mrs. Goodwin said that students can organize more Yoga Nidra gatherings and can meet up to twice a week.