Recent research (led by brain researcher Troels Kjær of the Kennedy Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark) on the practice of Yoga Nidra showed significant increases in globally coherent Theta rhythms during the meditation period. With the added observation that decreases in Alpha were insignificant, this evoked state was easily distinguished from common sleep states. All participants described the evoked level of concentration and relaxation as being effortless, spontaneous, and self-arising—nothing more than the result of employing a simple method of releasing all obstacles to such effortless being.

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"It proves," stated the researchers, "that the 1.5 kg [brain mass] with the unknown content can control its own activity in an astonishingly precise manner. From a holistic point of view, it indicates that the soul and body act in unity.">>

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The occipital and parietal lobes were principally activated during the practice of Yoga Nidra, implying that (because of their connections to the limbic system) this practice opens access to emotions and particularly vivid visualization practice. And because the parietal lobe's correlation with tactile (body) and directional (spatial) imaging, an inference can be made about Yoga Nidra's capacity to enhance the meditator's egocentric spatial representation system; namely, that significant improvements in an individual's three-dimensional body representation and coordination are possible benefits of daily practice of Yoga Nidra.>>

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Interestingly, the junction at which the parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes meet has been associated with excessive self-referencing with the emergence of an infarct in that area. In the words of James H. Austin, people suffering from such an infarct (i.e., the death of tissue due to decreased blood flow) "seemed to have lost the normal frame of reference that we use to define, and cross over, a particular conceptual boundary, the boundary that separates our own construct of self from that of another living person." This being the case, it may be possible that Yoga Nidra practice enhances and cultivates the ability to integrate one's concept of "other" into the concept of "self," thus more profoundly harmonizing them.

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Austin, James H. Zen-Brain Reflections. Cambirdge, MA: MIT, 2006.

Lou, H C, et al. "A 15O-H2O PET study of meditation and the resting state of normal consciousness." Human Brain Mapping 7.2 (1999): 98-105.