Jennifer Reis Yoga

Lorraine came from Montreal to attend Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra Teacher Training in Boston. She was very quiet and thoughtful with the presence of a Buddha – or Buddhess! I was not surprised to find out that she was a meditator. Not only did Divine Sleep help her meditation practice deepen, give her more options of meditations to practice, but helped her to get grounded, confident, and clear in her mind and actions! Originally from England, she has a beautiful accent – imagine being guided in Divine Sleep with an English accent? Beautiful! Here is her story.

My life was pretty good. I’d been doing meditation which was helping me live life in a way that was generally happy each day – but not always. I use to give myself a headache from having two inner parts of me saying, ‘why don’t you do this’ or ‘why don’t you do that’ like a tennis match. And these two opposite parts were always trying to work out what I should do in life…

Should I take this job? Should I keep working on writing this book I’ve been working on the past few years? Or lay it to rest? I would let my thoughts get far too carried away without actually listening to what I actually wanted to do, from a place of feeling or intuition. It made me an indecisive person. I’d been doing so many different things in my life and not really following anything through with any one thing.

My family lives in England and I used to just not enjoy going there. I went to a few therapy sessions a couple years ago and we focused on working through childhood things. It did not help me find many answers to my issues.

I took the Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra Teacher Training with Jennifer in Boston last year and it was life changing! All the stepping-stones have lined up for me in that practice and now I have become much happier. This practice has really freed me up so that I can effectively deal with everything that comes up in life. All types of emotions arise during yoga nidra and this practice has taught me how to be the neutral ‘witness’ to my emotions, without getting drown or overwhelmed by them. Divine Sleep yoga nidra also improved my other meditation practice of Vipassana. Jennifer’s training helped me to step back and not get tied up in the thoughts and emotions, and this made me feel a lot stronger inside – empowered!

From practicing Divine Sleep, I know ‘oh, I don’t have to listen to those thoughts’ and actually recognize they’re not helping me. They represent a part of me that wants to help, but in actuality is merely grasping, and doesn’t really know because it’s not listening to deeper self. After Yoga Nidra, I was much more clear and focused on what I wanted to do. I started going back to the book I am writing, but now I’m taking it at a pace that is right for me. It helped me step back from that and give me some space to actually make a decision.

I feel transformed inwardly and eternally. Now I feel I have a lot more control and do not get carried away with emotions – that is great! It feels very grounding. I feel an increased sense of clarity and decisiveness. Now I am clear about what I want to do and I’m doing it!

The training drew together a lovely group – compassionate and caring – it was such a nice environment to be in, with all these real women. We were there for each other. It became a very close-knit group, even though we had just met! The training was a beautiful experience. And also felt like going a retreat because of the deep practices and community group that was fostered. What a great thing! Like a vacation, but really learning Divine Sleep thoroughly and something I could take it back to my life in Montreal.

My life is altered! Today when I have something to decide, or have a problem, I just lie down on my yoga mat, put a blanket over me and I’ll run a Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra through my being. It’s made life so much easier because I am able to calm myself down now. I’m able to act from an inner place and I feel clearer for it.

I went to visit my family last month and found it a lot easier that in the past! My relationship with my parents had never really been easy – classic case of clashing temperaments and never really been able to truly understand each other. But now, I recognize increasingly who they are.

Before, I was looking at their personalities and expecting them to respond to me how I would respond, and not really appreciating that they were different than I. Now I get that they view the world differently – and that it’s okay. The ability to know myself better through Divine Sleep helped me know them better, instead of having the differences stand in the way. I can just relax and it’s easy to visit now! I don’t feel like I have to ‘fix’ them so much, they just are who they are.

Divine Sleep somehow taught me how to give more space to let my mom and dad be who they are. Then I could be myself more. This has made a big difference in my relationships. Even my brother – whom sometimes we had been shy around each other – this visit the shyness was gone! From knowing who I am more, all my relationships improved. In this way, I find yoga nidra helped me a lot quicker than going to therapy.

I’ve been teaching Divine Sleep one class on a Sunday mornings. People say ‘oh, that was really good.’ They seem to appreciate it. Yoga nidra is just such a lovely practice, it’s nice if more people can get into it because a lot of us think we need to go to therapy. But actually when you get into a practice like this, which is very much needed today, it calms that need to go to therapy and perhaps even takes it away.