#Yin yoga sequence for sleep how to#

You can allow the head to hang or place a block or bolster underneath the forehead for support. Unlike a typical Vinyasa practice, don't worry about keeping a long and engaged spine. Take a deep inhale and elongate your spine, then exhale and fold over your legs, allowing the spine to round and head to be heavy.

Keep your feet slightly further away from your body than you typically may in this posture, creating a diamond shape. Hold for five minutes, focusing on cultivating a deep diaphragmatic breath, softening with every exhale.Ĭome to a seated position and bring the soles of your feet together, and allow your knees to fall out wide. Place one of your cheeks on the bolster and allow your body to be heavy. Allow your chest to rest on the bolster, and either extend your arms out long in front of you or behind you at your sides, keeping a gentle bend in the elbows. Spread your knees out to a comfortable width, and sit back onto your heels. Place your bolster vertically in the center of your mat. You can use a book and pillow or rolled blanket if you don't. If you have a bolster and block, please keep them handy for this practice. Enjoy this evening Yin practice when you feel like you need a dose of relaxation before bed. This style of yoga helps to soothe the nervous system and ground excess mental energy so that we can sleep better, longer, and deeper. Yin yoga specifically is a deeply grounding and soothing style of yoga involving long static holds that are deeply breath-focused. Certain practices like pranayama, yoga, and meditation can all assist in giving us the night of sleep we all need and deserve.Ĭalm the mind with guided meditations and personalized practices, available now in the Chopra App. Taking the time to properly ground and intentionally transition from your day into the evening can help calm the mind and prepare the body for sleep. Unfortunately, it can feel difficult for many of us to turn off the mind's chatter and release the stress of our days enough to get a good night of rest. Have a couple of yoga blocks or large books for this practice, and keep a couple of pillows and a blanket close by for comfort.A good night's sleep can make all of the difference in our emotional well-being, energy, and how we show up for the day. Of course, you can practice it any time your hips are feeling stiff, but we recommend turning off your electronic devices an hour before bed, trading the glare of overhead lights for soft lamps and enjoying this practice in the evening to promote a good night of deep, restorative sleep. This yin yoga sequence is designed with relaxation in mind, focusing on forward bends and hip openers which many of us find to be grounding. The resulting relaxation activates your Parasympathetic Nervous System, which is essential for sleep. Yin yoga uses long holds in passive stretches to encourage you to release tension in your soft tissues that may be lingering there as a result of everyday stress. Yin yoga can be an effective practice for relaxing your body and mind before bed. Many people who struggle with sleep are apprehensive about relaxing during the day in case it makes it harder to fall asleep at night, but experts agree that relaxing before bed actually helps you sleep better.

#Yin yoga sequence for sleep how to#

When it comes to the latter, training your nervous system how to relax with practices like yin yoga and meditation can prove to be a great resource when it’s time to lie down for sleep. But this is easier said than done there are lots of factors that contribute to disrupted sleep such as age, certain behaviours like too much alcohol and caffeine, as well stress and anxiety.

The answer, clearly, lies in getting enough sleep – a minimum of seven hours a night according to the National Sleep Foundation. A new study published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine has found that just one night of sleep loss results in impairment of mood, energy and performance the following day, while getting less than six hours of sleep a night results in significant deterioration of physical and mental wellbeing after only three nights. On the other hand, waking up feeling groggy after a night of tossing and turning tends to sour your mood and makes it difficult to accomplish even the simplest of tasks.