Yoga

Yoga for Sleep: 5 Best Poses for Deep Rest for Body and Mind

Quality sleep is everything! Here’s how yoga can help, plus bonus practices you can use starting tonight. Read to learn more.

The power and importance of sleep can’t be ignored by anyone. Sleep is valuable for the mind to rejuvenate and for the body cells to repair themselves. The right amount and quality of sleep greatly enhance the quality of time spent when we are awake.

Does yoga help you feel relieved and relaxed?

Yes! Certain yoga poses can make incredible subtle, minute changes to our bodies. With just a gentle yoga sequence done at home, we can relish a wide array of soothing benefits.

All that you need to do is simply take some minutes at the end of the day to center yourself in your body and feel more comfortable at bedtime. The right yoga poses at the end of a busy day can help you unwind and get better sleep.

Although the quality of your bed, pillow, and bedding matter the most for a good night’s sleep at night, yoga impacts it no less. The following yoga poses can enhance the quality of your sleep.

Read on to learn the best yoga for sleep poses and bonus practices:

1. Vajrasana

vajrasana
Vajrasana is considered one of the foremost yoga poses to get good sleep at night because of its calming nature.

Steps:

✓ You start in the form of a conveniently seated pose while resting your glutes on the heels.

✓ Make sure that the tops of your feet are on the floor. This kind of pose encourages a gentle stretching action to your ankles and knees.

✓ Don’t forget to lengthen your spine upward and open the chest wide while following a calming breathing pattern.

✓ This pose can help in digestion, decreasing the discomfort and heaviness after meals, and thus helps you have calm sleep at night.

✓ If you are comfortable, gently lean your torso back with the support of your hands and elbows and rest your head on the floor. You can use a bolster or a pillow to support your back.

2. Cat Cow Pose

cat cow pose
Cat Cow Pose is yet another effective yoga pose, which can help you sleep well at night.

Steps:

✓ Starting from the hero pose, roll forward so that you rest on your hands and knees in the tabletop.

✓ When you're in the cat pose, exhale as you tilt your head’s crown and tailbone down the ground.

✓ Now, arch your spine into a C-curve and pull the shoulder blades apart.

✓ Next, inhale into the cow pose while pulling the crown of your head and tailbone up towards the ceiling.

✓ The cow pose will allow you to hollow out your lower back.

✓ You can flow between these two subsequent poses for whatever time you want. Keep moving with your inhale and exhale patterns. This can make you feel like you’re putting a consistent space between every vertebra and loosening up your spine.

✓ After you’re done, just revert back to a neutral spine in tabletop.

Experts suggest that the cat and cow pose is certainly one of the best yoga poses for good sleep.

3. Child’s Pose

child's pose
Child’s Pose is yet another yoga pose that can help you enjoy sound sleep at night.

Steps:

✓ Start from any tabletop while sinking your hips back to your heels.

✓ Rest your forehead on the ground or a blanket.

✓ Walk your fingertips out in front of you and stretch through the arms.

✓ Take care that you are settling your chest between the thighs.

✓ Here, you need to make sure that your big toes are touching each other.

✓ Your knees must be as far apart as they can be. It ensures you can comfortably breathe deeply.

✓ Additionally, you might roll your forehead from side to side on the ground to get a mini face massage.

4. Rock-a-Bye Roll

rock and roll pose
This is one of the most comfortable yoga poses, and it helps you get a good night's sleep without straining your body.

Steps:

✓ Lie on your back.

✓ Hug your knees into the chest.

✓ Cross your ankles and wrap both arms around your shins with clasped hands.

✓ Slowly inhale and move your body up to a sitting position. Exhale when you roll back.

✓ Continue doing this for 1 minute.

✓ Finally, roll back, extend your arms and legs, and just drift off to sleep.

✓ Alternatively, from this position, you can come into Happy Baby Pose. While lying on your back, bend your knees toward your chest at a 90-degree angle, reach and grab your big toes. This pose is not recommended for pregnant women.

5. Legs Up the Wall Pose

legs up the wall pose
Legs Up the Wall Pose is one of the most common ones practiced for getting proper sleep.

Steps:

✓ Unfold your legs straight up the wall.

✓ Now, just bring your tailbone closer to the base of the wall.

✓ It might be even up to the point where you can allow your glutes to touch the wall.

✓ This pose will loosen your lower back.

This pose is considered to be an excellent, gentle hamstring stretch. It can help in the proper drainage of lymph and lactic acid from your legs. This pose can also further prevent injury and decrease any pain and soreness in your feet. Finally, it can help you feel comfortable and sleep very well.

Bonus poses and practices

Here are four other yoga poses that also aid in a better quality of sleep when practiced as part of a daily routine:

Practice various combinations of all these yoga postures in your daily life, and let every night be a night of quality sleep. Before you know it, you will be sleeping like a happy baby and waking up each morning with a fresh mind and body!

Deep breathing is another yoga practice that you can use during yoga postures or as a standalone technique to help you fall asleep and improve sleep quality. Ocean breath, sometimes called Ujjayi Breath or Victory Breath, is the ideal technique during your yoga practice and when you are having trouble falling asleep. Watch this video to learn how.

You could also enjoy this relaxing guided Yoga Nidra (body scan) practiced in the Corpse Pose for a midday power nap, or play it while you are getting ready to sleep at night.

Stress management for better sleep quality

Besides practicing yoga before bed, and adding simple breathing exercises, you can manage your stress and improve your sleep quality by learning SKY Breath Meditation. Here are some of the benefits practitioners and researchers report: