Has anyone had this experience during yoga nidra?

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The Question

Started doing yoga nidra recently, mostly to use a sankalpa to recondition my social anxiety. I’ve been noticing something kinda weird though. At some point in the middle of the practice I start getting random memories. Like stuff that doesn’t really seem connected to my day to day life at all. It’ll be things like me walking alone outside in high school after skipping class (I graduated 2 years ago), or some random conversation I had years ago. Sometimes it’s childhood memories too, like grade …

— via r/yoga

Our Response

Yeah, this is normal.

You're doing a relaxation practice. Your nervous system is downregulating. When that happens, the mind starts pulling files.

Random files.

Old files.

It's not a message from the universe. It's not repressed trauma surfacing. It's just what minds do when they're not being directed.

You're not supposed to do anything with them.

Don't analyze. Don't follow the thread. Don't turn it into therapy.

Just notice they're there and go back to the instructions.

The practice is yoga nidra. Not memory archeology.

If the memories are intense or disturbing, that's different — talk to someone qualified. But random flashes of high school hallways? That's just your brain on idle.

Keep practicing. Stay with the structure. The sankalpa work will do what it does.

You're fine.