NSDR is a way to refresh and reset faster than (and dare I say, better than) napping. NSDR can help you learn new things and unlock creativity. It can help you wind down at the end of the day. It can help you get back to sleep on restless nights. It can even compensate for sleep that you have lost.
NSDR; aka, non-sleep deep rest is a guided meditative practice with its roots in yoga Nidra. Before I delve into the science and the whys and hows, I will share my own experience with NSDR.
While I had practiced and taught yoga for years and had a (half-assed) meditation habit, NSDR was not a term that I had heard before when it was recommended to me by the psychiatrist at the inpatient rehabilitation hospital that my husband spent 2 months in after his massive stroke. In preparation for his discharge, she took me into her office. She took me through several likely bad scenarios that might occur once I got my husband home. It was likely that he would fall, and I would not be able to help him up. It was likely that we collectively would have trouble with just about every aspect of everyday. And it was certain that we would both be exhausted.
The psychiatrist and I found that we had a love of yoga in common, and that she now taught the Saturday morning power yoga classes that I had taught at our local YMCA for several years before opening my dance studio. Had we not had that common ground, this priceless advice that she was giving me may never have landed. I am eternally grateful that in that chaotic and terrifying time, when it was hard for me to listen to anyone or process anything, I heard this loud and clear.
She guided me specifically to information on NSDR presented by Andrew Huberman Ph.D. on his podcast, Huberman Lab. Dr. Huberman is a neuroscientist and associate professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. You can find timestamped info he presented on his podcast about Non-Sleep Deep Rest here.
The synopsis: A 10 to 60-minute session of NSDR can be your saving grace after not getting a good night’s sleep or being exhausted and generally strung out for any reason. There have been lots of nights taking care of my husband during his recovery that I got very little sleep, and the sleep that I did get was interrupted many times. But morning still comes with it all its usual responsibilities. Using NSDR made a huge difference in my ability to keep going. Now that I know what a power multiplier it is, I love to practice it and share it with others.
Of course, I am in no way advocating for not getting a good night’s sleep, but we all know that sometimes we don’t. We have babies. We have competition weekends. We have other dependents. We have worries. Sometimes we just don’t have the sleep we need. Sometimes, even if we have what might be deemed a reasonable amount of sleep, we are still feeling exhausted from the demands or mental stresses of life. Here are some other instances that NSDR will come in handy for you as a dance studio owner.
- Getting ready to teach in the afternoon and you’re tired already from working all day to get ready to go teach.
- Choreography must be done, and you are creatively blocked.
- You need to get a moment of clarity to solve a new problem or see an old one from a new perspective.
- You need to go into super learner mode and download a new skill or set of information quickly.
So, what is this magic elixir and why does it work?
NRSD is a relaxation technique that involves breathing, visualization, and moving your attention to different parts of the body as well as different senses. The result is a quieting of the sympathetic nervous system (the fight of flight system), and an awakening of the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest system). The result is a feeling of calm, increased dopamine in the brain, and even lowered heart rate and blood pressure. The best part is that practicing for 20 minutes can make you feel like you just got a couple hours (at least) of great sleep in a fraction of the time.
The parasympathetic nervous system, sometimes called, the “rest and digest” nervous system is what is in action in our bodies when we are relaxed. A cocktail of chemicals including Acetylcholine and nitric oxide tell the body and mind that all is well. As a result, stress hormones like cortisol take a back seat and our brain can get out of survival mode and into a rested, creative and receptive state.
As busy people, we studio owners often overlook the value of what we may initially perceive as doing nothing. I assure you, though, that taking 20 minutes to engage in any meditative practice, NSDR being a just one example, will have immense returns. It’s a POWER MULTIPLIER. It magically turns those 20 minutes of timeout into more energy and BETTER energy.
Let’s face it, if you’re exhausted, or stuck on a problem, you’re losing time anyway. You’re likely staring at a computer screen with tumbleweeds rolling through your brain, or you’re sitting in your studio with a song playing over and over with no idea what step should come next, or you’ve picked up your phone and started mindlessly scrolling through social media. The time is slipping away from you. You could be doing some NSDR and hitting the reset button. Or, better yet, you could make a habit of it in your life before it becomes an emergency.
Here are some ideas of where you can work a practice like NSDR into your life. You won’t notice the time lost. You will notice the gains in your ability to focus on deep work and get more done with better energy.
- First thing in the morning. Set your alarm for 30 minutes before you need to be up. When it goes off, get up and go pee if you need to, them pop back into your cozy bed or find another relaxing spot in the house and listen to a guided practice.
- Right after lunch. It is usually a time that I would otherwise waste scrolling social media mindlessly.
- When you climb back into bed at night. It will help you get to sleep faster and have a better night of sleep.
Use a habit tracker and make NSDR a part of your day. Send us a note about your progress. We want to share in your victories.
Check out the guided practice that I use here, or find a different one and share it with the Studio Planner Pro community here.