What is the Difference Between Yoga Nidra & Meditation?

This is a question I get asked a lot so thought I’d share my perspective. Meditation is, of course, a broad category with many different approaches nestled within it but for me, a seated meditation is a practice to help focus and calm the mind, there is often an object of attention such as breath, sensation, or a guided visualisation, something that requires wakeful, attentive awareness. Meditation can facilitate a movement into the slower brainwaves and can be relaxing but focused presence is a pre-requisite of most styles, a common cue being to ‘bring the mind back to the breath’ or to the object of attention.

Yoga Nidra on the other hand welcomes drifting as a part of the exploration of the liminal states of awareness that are a key aspect of the practice. There is a lot of crossover as there are meditation techniques weaved throughout the stages of yoga nidra but the key difference for me is that drifting is welcomed as a doorway to altered states of consciousness such as feeling the body deeply asleep whilst the mind is aware or experiencing waking REM as just two examples. Yoga Nidra can be seen as a practice of effortless meditation as nothing is required of the practitioner in order to reach deep states of relaxation and presence. It can be a highly effective tool for deepening a seated meditation practice.

Meditation can be taken seated or supine whereas Yoga Nidra is almost always taken lying down (with lots of support it is possible to offer a seated practice to those unable to lie down).

There are usually long periods of silence within a meditation practice whereas a yoga nidra practice is usually almost consistently guided with the intention being that the mind stays loosely tuned into the voice without needing to necessarily focus on what is being said. In some styles and practices, gaps are offered towards the later stages of the practice.  

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I hope that helps! Feel free to share your thoughts and insights too.