Everyday Yoga: Evening Routine
Ten Minutes of Stretching and Breathing for more Peaceful Sleep
Jul 9, 2008
Yoga helps us relax the body and mind and can help you have more restful and rejuvenating sleep. Make yoga a part of your daily life by doing a short routine before bed.
You don’t have to make time for a 90-minute workout to make yoga a part of your everyday life. A few minutes of breathing and stretching each day can have a significant impact on your life.
Yoga is about changing your habits and attitudes, both in your body and mind. To that end, yoga can be a small part of your daily life, rather than something you do a few times a week.
The most effective times to practice are immediately after waking or before going to bed. This can prevent you from rushing into your day burdened with worries or tossing restlessly in bed filled with distracting thoughts.
The following is a ten minute nighttime routine. See Everyday Yoga: Morning Routine for a wake-up plan.
Bedtime Yoga
1. Soothe
- Foot Massage: Lie on your back with knees bent, Place one foot on top of the opposite knee and use your thumbs to massage the arches of the foot. Interlace the fingers of the opposite hand between the toes and flex them back and forth stretching the arch and ankle. Make circles with the ankle. Squeeze the sides of the foot and heel and then use the thumbs to massage the calf from ankle to knee. Repeat with the other foot.
- Face Massage: Lie on your back and use the very tips of your fingers to massage the brow bone and cheek bones, pressing gently while breathing deeply. Tap the face lightly all over with the fingertips. Rub your palms together vigorously until they are hot, and then place them over closed eyelids, until the heat dissipates. Repeat several times.
2. Calm
- Child’s Pose: Bring your feet together. The knees can be together or apart. Bring your sit bones onto your heels and let the torso relax over the legs as you bring your forehead to the floor. Close your eyes and let the muscles of the face relax as gravity pulls the skin and muscles toward the earth. Let go of all facial expression and breathe deep into the belly, feeling the torso rise and fall over the legs.
- Forward Bends: Bring your legs out straight in front of you. Sit up tall with the inhale reaching your finger tips above your head, shoulder width apart. Reach forward as you exhale. When you can bend forward no further, round the spine, let the head and hands fall toward the earth and let yourself relax. Feel your spine lengthen with each inhalation, creating space between the vertebrae. With each exhalation, deepen into the fold at the groin crease. Repeat this movement with legs spread wide.
3. Invert
- Legs up the wall: Any inversion is beneficial to the body. These relieve swelling in the legs, tone the internal organs, eliminate toxins from the body, and calm the mind. Inversions can be challenging and intimidating, but there are several simple and easy alternatives. The easiest is simply to lie on your back with your sit bones against a wall, legs extended up the wall. Sit with your left side against the wall, then lay on your right side and roll onto your back while extending your legs. Experienced students may want to try a headstand against the wall or a shoulder stand
- Snail pose: Snail is similar to the plough pose (halasana), but is a more passive posture. Lie on your back with knees bent, arms straight with palms against the earth about a foot from the body. Bring your legs overhead, knees bent or straight, supporting the weight of your body with the shoulders, arms, hands, and the back of the head. Be careful to maintain the natural curve of the cervical spine and keep pressure off the neck. This pose slows the metabolism and releases tension in the low back.
4. Release
- Tension and Release: Lie on your back with your arms and legs extended. Inhale deeply and tense every muscle in your body, clenching the fist and scrunching the face. With a loud sigh, release everything in the body. Repeat four to eight times.
- Savitri Breathing: Lying in the corpse pose (savasana), close your eyes and focus on your breath. Inhale for a count of eight, hold the breath in for four counts, exhale for a count of eight, and then hold the breath out for four counts. Repeat this pattern until the mind relaxes and you begin to drift away from counting. Remain in savasana for a few minutes before carefully rolling onto your right side and then slowly come up to a seated position, letting the head come up last.
The copyright of the article Everyday Yoga: Evening Routine in Mind/Body Fitness is owned by Laura Susan Henry. Permission to republish Everyday Yoga: Evening Routine in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
