Questioner: Sadhguru, you recently said you sleep 4.5 to 5 hours. Do you practice Yoga Nidra to spend more time awake?
Sadhguru: I do not do Yoga Nidra; I neither do Yoga nor nidra. There are many methods to reduce our metabolic activity. Sleep is essentially repair and maintenance time for the system – the body, the brain, and everything else.
When you wake up after sleep, most of the previous day’s troubles and aches may be gone, though for some, they may be aggravated the next morning. But for most people, even when you thought you would die from too much exertion, when you wake up after sleep, the next morning, everything is gone. This is because repair and maintenance happen full-on when the metabolism is low.
So, there are many methods in Yoga to consciously lower metabolism. We do not call this Yoga Nidra. This term does not appear anywhere in the Yogic system; it seems to have come up in more recent times. If it is working, it is fine with me; it does not matter what they call it.