92: Sleep Science Today with Andrew Colsky and it is all about Yoga Nidra!92: Sleep Science Today with Andrew Colsky and it is all about Yoga Nidra!
UK Health Radio Podcast
Sleep specialist Andrew Kolsky talks with psychotherapist and yoga teacher Ruthie Eisenberg about stress, breathing, Yoga Nidra and ketamine-assisted therapy. Their conversation outlines practical ways to encourage deeper rest, calmer nerves and new patterns of healing.
45:08•23 Jun 2026
Yoga Nidra, Better Sleep and Ketamine Therapy with Ruthie Eisenberg
Episode Overview
- Chronic stress and constant input through the day make it hard for the body and mind to remember how to relax at night.
- Many adults breathe shallowly or "backwards", which is linked to anxiety; relearning fuller, forward breathing can calm the nervous system.
- Yoga Nidra offers structured, guided deep rest that progressively relaxes the body and different layers of the mind, supporting better sleep and daytime ease.
- Short Yoga Nidra sessions can be used in the morning, as an afternoon reset, or pre-bed to feel more grounded, present and less reactive.
- Ketamine-assisted therapy, done with medical and therapeutic support, can create a window of increased neuroplasticity that helps people shift entrenched patterns linked to trauma, depression or anxiety.
“"Sleep, it's not something you can force. It's not like a switch that you can just flip on and off, but it's a state that you naturally fall into under the right conditions."”
How do people find rest in a life packed with stress, screens and racing thoughts at 3am? This conversation on **Sleep Science Today** with sleep expert host Andrew Kolsky and psychotherapist–yoga teacher Ruthie Eisenberg zooms in on that exact question. Ruthie starts by explaining why modern life makes sleep so hard. Days overloaded with input, stress and constant busyness mean many people "live from the neck up" – stuck in their heads and cut off from their bodies.
She breaks down how even something as basic as breathing often goes "backwards" in adults, feeding anxiety and poor rest, and contrasts this with the easy, full-body breathing of babies. From there, the chat moves into yoga and, especially, Yoga Nidra – a guided "non-sleep deep rest" practice done lying down. Ruthie describes it as "the art of shavasana", where you systematically relax the body, the emotional mind and then the deeper mind.
Unlike regular sleep, where you might carry tension and worries into the night, Yoga Nidra is structured to give every muscle and layer of mind a real chance to let go, helping the nervous system settle into a deeply restful parasympathetic state. Ruthie shares how Yoga Nidra supported her during a highly stressed postpartum period and how she went on to create culturally-sensitive guided sessions rooted in Jewish spirituality.
She also offers very practical ideas: using short practices in the morning, as an afternoon "reset", or before bed for those who struggle with insomnia. Later, the focus shifts to ketamine-assisted therapy. Ruthie outlines how medically supervised ketamine can open a "neuroplastic window", making it easier for people dealing with trauma, depression or anxiety to form new mental and behavioural pathways when combined with careful preparation and integration in therapy.
Anyone interested in sleep, anxiety, trauma recovery or building a calmer nervous system will find plenty to relate to. Could setting aside twenty minutes for deep rest be the missing piece in your own recovery toolkit?
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