This is a guided meditation to accompany restorative yoga practice. Yoga Nidra inspires the release of physical stress, anxiety and mental tension: an essential companion for achieving core relaxation and subtle transformation! This is an album that takes one into a profound state of relaxation, where the deeper mind can be accessed to release tension and achieve rejuvenation on a subtle level. Features the spoken voice, keyboards, alto and soprano flutes and pan pipes.

Literally translating to "yogic sleep," Yoga Nidra focuses on relaxation and guided imagery to create a sense of deep rest and peace. It's a perfect path for acclaimed U.K. flautist Terry Oldfield and his wife, yoga instructor and holistic health practitioner Soraya Saraswati. The Australian-born Saraswati spent eight years in an ashram before leaving to continue to pursue spiritual health practice and instruction, eventually joining Oldfield in a merging of love, healing, and music, and their collaboration on Yoga Nidra is infused with their universal love. With Oldfield's flute providing minimal but highly effective accompaniment to Saraswati's gentle, powerful, and easy-to-follow yoga breathing and visualization instruction, it's as if they embody some astral set of parents soothing the tired, stressed world below them into a lulling afternoon trance.

Divided into three tracks of varying lengths, Saraswati knows how to not stress out her listeners with too much instruction, preferring to get us centered and then give us a series of comforting images that work like symbolic poetry to soothe the deeper regions of the soul, with Saraswati's pleasant Aussie accent and intentionally slow, drowsy pronunciation ably lulling listeners into a contented alpha-wave flow. Oldfield's flute comes in gently when Saraswati mentions, "If you are working with an affirmation, repeat it now silently three times." Even if you didn't think you were working with one, now might be a good time to bring one up. Whatever you manifest in that state is likely to occur.

Authors : Terry Oldfield and Soraya Saraswati CD pub 2009 Running time  61mins