Yoga for Better Sleep: 5 Poses to Try Before You Go to Bed

After a full day of work, countless notifications, and a racing mind, you may often find yourself lying in bed, which tends to feel like wrestling with disturbing thoughts and less like relaxing. Well, I’m happy to share that a few years ago I discovered an easy trick that changed my evenings with yoga poses for sleep! I created a nightly routine of gentle stretching that I mixed with mindful breathing turned into a nighttime ritual to calm my mind, and prepare my body into restful sleep.

After a few repetitions of your yoga poses for sleep, you will notice an increase in blood circulation, relief from tight muscles, and a chance to release feelings from your day.  Yoga also signals the central nervous system to slow down. Scrolling through a phone creates mindless rhythms, while purposeful, slow yoga poses to promote body awareness reduce tension and stress hormones, allowing the body to process readiness to enter lower brain wave frequencies natural sleep transition. For the majority of people, it has even become an integral part of their yoga practice for stress relief, so now you are getting a double win with both physical and mental release!

Have you ever thought that you could reverse the effect of the tiredness from the day with a very simple action like just lying on the floor and placing your legs up the wall? This relaxing pose not only energizes your legs but also enables better blood flow and sends a rest signal to your brain. Do it for 5-10 minutes with slow and deep breaths.

It is a calming posture that thoughts can be of embracing your entire being. Beginning with the knees, these go to the floor. Sit back on your heels and then stretch your arms forward, folding the body. This acts like a gentle back massage, it calms your shoulders and it also gives one a sense of security ideal to do before sleeping.

One completes this as she lies flat on her back, draws a knee across her body, and springs into a twist. This pose stretches your spine, releases fatigue and tension, and gives your internal organs a nice massage which helps with digestion and relaxation. This is one of the yoga poses for sleep that is helpful especially when stress is held heavy within the body.

For performing this pose lie down on the floor with your back, cup your feet in such a way that the soles are touching, and your knees are gently opening to the sides (also, you can put cushions under your knees if you like). As a heart opener, it relaxes the brain while soothing the muscles, thus allowing more oxygen to the lungs.

The simplest pose, and perhaps the most powerful is to lie on your back, completely still, arms relaxed by your side with your eyes closed. Your only job is to pay attention to your breath. This pose is like hitting the “off” button on your day, it holds all the calming effects of your bedtime yoga practice.

Instead of making only occasional movement, make it a nightly event. Practice the poses for sleep in the dim light and softly play instrumental music. You will not only see this not only in the time it takes you to fall asleep tonight, but also in how refreshed you feel in the morning. 

When relaxation is considered a luxury in this fast paced world, these little changes will enable you to not only slow down but also get relaxed in your body and mind. Therefore, tonight, spread your mat, take a deep breath and allow yoga to lead you into the restful sleep that your body and mind have craved for.