Quick Bedtime Yoga for Better Sleep Tonight

Quality sleep is one the most important activities we can engage in… I’d say it’s right up there with breathing.

Getting comfortable, calming your mind, and actually falling asleep can be a challenge for many.

According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) 43% of Americans between the ages of 13 and 64 aren’t getting the sleep they say they need and more than half (60%) say that they experience a sleep problem every night or almost every night. Yikes!

These people are searching for ways to cope — and you may be among them.

Yoga is known for its ability to invite stillness in the mind and body so that you can fall asleep without the use of drugs or other aids that have potential side effects.

Here is a simple yoga sequence for a better nights’ sleep. Do this series right next to your bed — the second half you will actually do in bed so you can fall right to sleep.

Read through these simple cues then follow the video!

• Begin standing next to your bed with feet hip width or wider. Ground through your feet, soften your knees and fold over at the waist. Place hands on opposite elbows to hang in Rag Doll Pose: Take 3 Deep Breaths into your upper back.
• Slowly uncoil your spine finding Tadasana: Mountain Pose
• Inhale arms overhead. Exhale into a Side Bend to the right. Inhale arms overhead. Exhale into a Side Bend to the left. Repeat once more for each side
• Exhale into Forward Fold. Step back to Low Lunge with right leg; sink the hip forward and Inhale arms overhead. Exhale hands to the floor then step to Forward Fold. Repeat on the left.
• From low lunge, transition into Child’s Pose for 3 Deep Breaths.
• Transition to Savasana lying in bed: Take 3 Deep Breaths
• Inhale right knee into chest with hands clasped around knee. Exhale to hug knee slightly across body feeling a stretch in your glutes.
• Open into Star Twist to the right: Hold for 1 deep breath. Return knees to chest and repeat on the left.
• Finish in Savasana for 3 deep breaths then fall asleep

Sleep is so critical to your daily energy, mental function, and long-term health — it only takes a few minutes to relax and fall into a restful night’s sleep.