Staring at the bedroom ceiling, thinking about your to-do lists, what’s happening in the news, and whether you remembered to lock the back door while your partner, cat, and the rest of the world snore beside you. Does this sound like something that you experience every night?
Nighttime yoga may be a solution to the thief of your sleep! Yoga is well-known for its ability to alleviate stress, activate the parasympathetic nervous system, and help us get to sleep!
Read on for everything you need to know about incorporating yoga into your evening routine and how to use it to increase your chances of falling asleep at night.
What is insomnia?
Insomnia is a common sleep condition (or should we say no sleep condition) where you find it very difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep at night. Around ¼ of Americans suffer from the condition, with symptoms including:
- Lying awake at night
- Waking up early and being unable to go back to sleep
- Waking up regularly during the night
- Feeling tired and irritable during the day
- Difficulty concentrating
- Inability to nap even when tired
- Feeling tired upon waking
What causes insomnia?
Insomnia can be linked to a variety of things going on in your life – and though it might feel as if there’s no end to the struggle, recognizing the causes and making some changes could help you. Biological factors can cause insomnia, but it is often triggered or magnified by outside factors such as:
- Stress and anxiety
- Too much noise
- Drinking caffeinated drinks
- Being too hot or too cold
How to deal with insomnia
If you believe that you have insomnia due to external factors such as noise, caffeine, and temperature, the first step in finding a solution is easy…make some changes!
For most of us, however, stress and anxiety are the primary cause of insomnia, and the cause of feeling this way can be a lot more challenging to tackle.
One thing you could do is change up your nightly routine. Yoga for insomniacs is an easy way to unwind.
Yoga for insomniacs
Picture this: You get home from work feeling frustrated with your boss, and you numb out watching TV for 3 hours before heading to bed feeling just as uptight and replaying your stressful day in your head.
Sound familiar? Try yoga.
Yoga is the ultimate relaxation. We spend time moving through positions that feel great in our bodies, focusing on movement and breath to let the stress begin to ebb away and leave our practice feeling great about having treated ourselves to a little self-care.
How does yoga help you sleep better?
Yoga enables us to turn off our fight-or-flight response and turn on our rest-and-digest response. This allows us to relax, feel less stressed, and have a much better night of sleep.
If you’re thinking yoga is a lean, muscular person getting into pretzel-like twists, standing on their heads, and balancing on one arm, you’ve got it wrong. Sure, yoga can look like this, but it can also look like 30 minutes of floor-based stretches that allow you to soften the body and ease the mind.
Yoga for insomniacs is an easy, low-cost, and modifiable practice. Let’s have a look at some of the best yoga poses to ensure that you start to have a great night of sleep, every night.
Yoga poses for insomniacs
Here are some of the best yoga poses to ensure a stress-free mind and a wonderful night of sleep.
Legs up the wall
A yoga for insomniacs basic (and powerful) pose: put your legs up. Legs up the wall is an entirely passive inversion, which gives your heart a little rest from working hard to pump blood around your body.
This is a simple pose that any beginner can add to their nightly routine. Use this pose with the breathing technique below for an extra injection of sleepiness.
- Start by laying against the wall with the left side of your body pressed up against it.
- Bend your knees, and then turn your hips towards the left until your legs are laying up against the wall and your sit bones are in contact with the bottom of the wall.
- If the stretch feels too intense on your hamstrings, push yourself slightly away from the wall.
- If you would like more of an inversion, you can add a pillow underneath the lower back and glutes.
- Close your eyes and stay here for up to 10 minutes.
Alternate nostril breathing
By focusing on the breath, we are focusing on the present moment and moving our attention away from the day’s stresses. This breathing technique is a great way to relieve stress and leave you feeling ready for a good night of sleep.
- Take a deep breath in through the nose.
- Using the right hand, block the right nostril with the thumb and exhale through the left nostril.
- Inhale through the left nostril.
- Block the left nostril with the ring finger and exhale through the right nostril.
- Inhale through the right nostril, then block the nostril with the thumb and exhale through the left.
- Repeat for up to 5 minutes, finishing by inhaling through the right nostril.
Supine butterfly
Another yoga pose for insomniacs is the supine butterfly. Supine poses lead to our bodies slowing down and entering a more relaxed state. With the addition of butterfly pose in the lower body, we can gently open the hips to release further tension.
- Start by laying on the back and drawing the lower spine down to the mat.
- Bring the soles of the feet together and let the knees fall out to either side.
- Place the hands on the belly or either side of the body.
- Close the eyes and relax here for 2-5 minutes.
- If the stretch feels too intense on your hips, place a pillow or a block underneath each knee to relieve the tension.
Savasana
If you have trouble sleeping, you’ve probably laid across your bed. Intentionally practicing savasana is a great yoga for insomniacs.
Savasana is a state of ‘rebirth’ that we usually practice after a yoga sequence to spend time absorbing all of the good that our practice has done for us. Slip into savasana pose after any kind of bedtime yoga sequence, focus on your breathing, and hopefully you’ll start to drift off in no time.
- Lay on your back with your legs wide and your arms out to either side – don’t be afraid to take up space.
- Close your eyes, let your hands and fingers naturally curl, and use your exhales to, one-by-one, release every part of your body.
- Stay here for as long as you like…ideally until you fall asleep!
Forward fold
This pose activates the parasympathetic nervous system through stimulating the liver and kidneys. The parasympathetic nervous system triggers a rest-and-digest response so that you feel more relaxed and can fall asleep more easily.
- Come to a standing position.
- Take a deep breath in, as you exhale hinge at the hips to bring the belly to the thighs – bending your knees as much as you need to allow this connection.
- Place the hands on the floor, blocks, or hold onto opposite elbows.
- Let the upper body and the head hang heavy.
- Stay here for 1-3 minutes before carefully standing or coming to a seated position.
Child’s pose
There’s a reason that children sleep in this position! Child’s Pose is wonderfully calming for the body and mind, and a great way to start relaxing. It allows us to gently release tension and stress that we hold in the hips whilst feeling stable and supported by the ground.
- Start on all fours.
- Bring the knees as wide as the mat and keep the big toes touching together.
- Sit back onto your heels and walk the hands forward until your forehead comes down to a block, a pillow, or the floor.
- Close the eyes and rest here for as long as you want to.
Supine twist
Reclined postures can help to maintain constant blood pressure and relax the whole body. To try the supine twist:
- Lay on your back and hug your right knee into your chest.
- Draw the right knee across your body and over to the left.
- Rest the left hand on the right knee to increase the stretch.
- Lay the right hand out to the side and look over the right shoulder if it feels good for your neck.
- Stay here for 1-2 minutes before repeating on the other side.
Conclusion
Add yoga into your self-care evening routine.
Try heading up to your bedroom 30 minutes before you would usually go to bed to dedicate time to your yoga practice. Use lamps, light candles, diffuse essential oils, and do anything else that will help you to create a calm space for you to de-stress.
Sure, you can practice yoga on your living room floor in front of the TV, but it won’t have the same benefits as practicing in a more relaxing environment. Though it might be difficult to drag yourself up to your yoga space instead of watching your favorite show, this will soon become easier, and pre-bed yoga will start to become a part of your routine!
Use online classes or move through a flow built up of the poses that we covered in this article to help you relax the body, alleviate stress, and spend your nights sleeping like a baby.
If falling asleep or finding deep sleep is difficult for you, consider adding yoga to your evening self-care routine. May you find a relaxing and peaceful sleep. xoxo Mo
