Yoga Nidra and NSDR Timer
Embed this timer
Copy and paste this snippet into your website or blog post. Free to use — please keep the credit link so others can find the timer.
Add to Home Screen
Tap Share in Safari, then choose "Add to Home Screen".
Common uses for a yoga nidra and nsdr timer
- Afternoon rest without sleeping
- Wind-down before sleep
- Recovery between work blocks
- Guided body scan practice
Yoga nidra is a guided practice performed lying down, moving attention systematically through the body while remaining awake. NSDR — non-sleep deep rest — is a secular framing of substantially the same thing, popularised more recently and usually shorter and simpler in structure.
Twenty minutes is the most common length: long enough for a full body scan at an unhurried pace and short enough to fit into a day. Ten minutes works for a compressed scan or a break between work blocks; thirty gives room for a slower scan and a longer settling period at the start.
Pacing the body scan
Most of a session is a systematic pass of attention through the body, usually starting at the hands or feet and moving through in a fixed order. In a twenty-minute session that scan takes roughly ten to twelve minutes, leaving time to settle at the start and to return at the end.
Rushing the scan is the most common error and it defeats the point. Each region needs only a few seconds, but they need to be unhurried seconds rather than a checklist run at speed.
Staying awake is part of it, and falling asleep is fine
The traditional intention is to remain aware while the body rests deeply. In practice a lot of people fall asleep, particularly early on and particularly if tired, and this is not a failure — it usually means the rest was needed.
If falling asleep every session is a problem for you, practising sitting propped up rather than fully lying down, or moving the session away from your usual sleepy hours, generally resolves it.
What it does and does not replace
It is a rest practice. It is not a treatment for a sleep disorder, and it is not a substitute for actual sleep — persistent difficulty sleeping is worth taking to a doctor rather than to a longer nidra session.
Used as what it is, it is a low-cost habit: a twenty-minute practice that requires no equipment, works in a quiet room, and is one of the few things that genuinely fits into a working afternoon.
How the phases divide across common session lengths. The body scan is the bulk of any of them.
| Length | Settling | Body scan | Close | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 min | 1–2 min | 6–7 min | 1–2 min | Work break |
| 20 min | 3–4 min | 10–12 min | 3–4 min | The standard session |
| 30 min | 5 min | 18–20 min | 5 min | Deep rest, slower scan |
| 45 min | 5–7 min | 30 min | 5–7 min | Extended practice |
- Rushing the scan defeats the practice — each region needs only seconds, but unhurried ones.
- Falling asleep is common and not a failure. If it happens every session, try sitting propped up or moving the session earlier.
Sources
- Session lengths and body scan pacing reflect widely taught yoga nidra and NSDR conventions rather than a single published protocol , TheTimerLab — accessed 2026-07-28