How Stillee works
NSDR and yoga nidra: how Stillee's deep rest tracks work
Stillee's NSDR is three guided yoga nidra tracks, at 8, 20 and 60 minutes, on their own shelf in the Sleep tab. You lie down, a voice guides your attention through the body and the breath, and you don't try to sleep. Each track fades to silence instead of ending with a wake-up sequence.
What NSDR is
NSDR stands for non-sleep deep rest. It is a modern name for yoga nidra, an older practice. The name was popularized by Andrew Huberman on his podcast.
In the app, the NSDR collection opens from the Sleep tab, with a "What is NSDR?" sheet one tap away. The sheet says what the practice is in four sentences: you lie down, you close your eyes, you don't try to sleep, and the voice guides your attention through the body, the breath and some simple sensations while you stay still and almost awake. It also says plainly that it is not a substitute for sleep.
The three lengths
Each length has a different job, so you pick by the moment you're in.
| Track | Length | For |
|---|---|---|
| Yoga Nidra | 8 min | A quick reset between two things. The entry to the practice, with a sankalpa (a short intention), body awareness and a slow descent toward the edge of sleep |
| Replace a Lost Hour | 20 min | The day after a bad night. Lie down anywhere, eyes closed |
| Yoga Nidra for Insomnia | 60 min | The night you can't sleep. You lie in bed in your sleeping position, and falling asleep partway through is the design |
All three are in the app's catalog. The 20 and 60-minute tracks take the classical route: a rotation of attention through the body, breath awareness, and opposites of sensation.
Why they end in silence
Most recorded yoga nidra ends with a return sequence: wiggle your fingers, roll to your side, the practice is complete. That suits a studio class at 11 AM. It is a bad ending for someone who pressed play in bed and was close to sleep.
So the NSDR shelf follows one rule. The voice tapers first, the ambient sound carries on alone, then there is silence. There is no return sequence, no closing line and no chime. The 60-minute track has no return at the end at all. Its voice quiets and the silence lengthens.
If you sleep through the end, the track did its job. No streak counts your sessions, and nothing in the app asks you to keep one.
What the research says
Yoga nidra has research behind it. These are the three studies we lean on.
- A brain imaging study. Kjaer and colleagues scanned people with PET during yoga nidra meditation and found signs of increased dopamine release in the ventral striatum. It showed a mechanism in the brain while people meditated. It did not test whether anyone sleeps or feels better afterwards. [1]
- A large online trial. Moszeik and colleagues gave an 11-minute yoga nidra audio to 341 people for 30 days and compared them with 430 people on a waitlist. The meditation group had lower stress, better sleep quality and higher well-being, with very small to small effect sizes. The authors call for active control groups and biological markers. [2]
- A small trial in chronic insomnia. Datta and colleagues randomized 41 patients to yoga nidra or CBT-I and measured sleep with diaries and polysomnography. Both groups improved. The authors say yoga nidra could be used for chronic insomnia after supervised practice sessions. [3]
For chronic insomnia, sleep medicine's first recommendation is CBT-I, usually with a clinician or a dedicated program. For the longer read, see the Journal's non-sleep deep rest explainer.
What it won't do
- It isn't a substitute for sleep.
- It isn't a treatment for insomnia. The track's name describes the night it is for. If you've had trouble sleeping most nights for months, ask a doctor about CBT-I.
- The guide is one synthetic voice, generated from text to speech.
- It won't open the subscription screen on its own at 1 to 5 AM or during a session.
Looking for wordless deep rest instead? That's Sound Bath, covered on its own page.
What's free
All three NSDR tracks are part of Premium. The panic flow, the 3 AM mode, the breathing exercises and the journal are free for everyone.
- Free, forever
- The panic flow · The 3 AM mode and the 3 AM tracks · The breathing Shapes · Your journal · After the Wave, from the Sound Bath shelf
- Premium
- $3.33 a month, billed $39.90 a year, or $6.99 month to month. Free trial on the yearly plan in the App Store. Cancel anytime. Adds: Every program, including the full 8-week MBSR course · The sleep library and the Sound Bath shelf · The deeper insights.
- Where it runs
- iPhone today. Android is planned.
FAQ
What's the difference between NSDR and yoga nidra?
NSDR is a modern name for yoga nidra. In Stillee, the tracks are guided yoga nidra: a rotation of attention through the body, the breath and opposite sensations, while you lie still. The 8-minute track is called Yoga Nidra, and the 60-minute one follows the classical structure.
Is it meant to put me to sleep?
Not the shorter tracks. The sheet in the app says you lie still and don't try to sleep, and the 8 and 20-minute tracks are for rest during the day. The 60-minute track is different. It is for the night you can't sleep, you lie in bed, and falling asleep partway through is the design.
Which length should I start with?
The 8-minute Yoga Nidra. It is the entry to the practice, and it fits between two things, before a meeting or after a hard hour. Use the 20-minute Replace a Lost Hour the day after a bad night, and the 60-minute Yoga Nidra for Insomnia in bed when sleep won't come.
Will the end of a track wake me?
It shouldn't. Most recordings end by telling you to wiggle your fingers and come back. Ours don't. The voice tapers first, the ambient sound carries on alone, then it goes silent. There is no return sequence and no chime. If sleep arrives before the end, nothing interrupts it.
Is it free?
No. All three NSDR tracks, Yoga Nidra, Replace a Lost Hour and Yoga Nidra for Insomnia, are part of Premium. What stays free for everyone is the panic flow, the 3 AM mode, the breathing exercises and the journal. The site's pricing block has the current price and trial details.
References
- [1] Kjaer TW, Bertelsen C, Piccini P, Brooks D, Alving J, Lou HC. Increased dopamine tone during meditation-induced change of consciousness. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 2002;13(2):255-259. Link
- [2] Moszeik EN, von Oertzen T, Renner KH. Effectiveness of a short Yoga Nidra meditation on stress, sleep, and well-being in a large and diverse sample. Curr Psychol 2022;41:5272-5286 (online 2020). Link
- [3] Datta K, Tripathi M, Verma M, Masiwal D, Mallick HN. Yoga nidra practice shows improvement in sleep in patients with chronic insomnia: a randomized controlled trial. Natl Med J India 2021;34(3):143-150. Link
- [4] Edinger JD et al. Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an AASM clinical practice guideline. J Clin Sleep Med 2021. Link
- [5] Qaseem A et al. Management of chronic insomnia disorder in adults: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med 2016. Link